Chapter 2 Unexpectedly an hostage

ALRIA

“On the ground! Do it now!" one of them yelled, his voice cracking with a mix of fear and anger.

I kept my hands up, but I couldn't stop looking at Edward Ashbourne. He was sprawled on the floor, and he looked like he was dying right in front of me.

The small cut on his arm wasn't bleeding much, but the skin around the wound was turning a disgusting shade of charcoal black, and it looked like the color was spreading through his veins.

"He’s not breathing," I said, but my voice was drowned out by the clicking of their guns.

I didn't care about the weapons anymore because I knew if he died in this room with me, I was never walking out of this building alive.

My mind went back to the village and the lessons my Gran had forced me to learn.

She was always talking about "metal poisoning" and how some people had bad reactions to certain materials, and she had made me practice first aid until my hands ached.

"Stay down, girl!" the lead guard shouted. He was a massive man with a buzz cut and a scar running down his neck, and he looked ready to pull the trigger.

I didn't listen. I dropped my hands and lunged forward, moving faster.

The lead guard, whose name tag said Theo, reached out to grab my shoulder, but I ducked under his heavy arm and scrambled toward Edward.

I heard the guards curse behind me, but I didn't stop until I was kneeling right next to the billionaire.

I reached out and grabbed the wooden hilt, feeling a strange coldness, and I tossed it as hard as I could across the room. It skidded over the floor and hit the far wall with a sharp clang.

"Get away from him!" Theo barked, but he didn't shoot. He was standing right over me now, his gun lowered but his face full of fury.

I ignored him and reached for Edward’s neck to check his pulse. The second my fingers brushed against his skin, a massive shock went through my body. It wasn't like a static zap; it was bigger, like a wave of heat that started in my chest and rushed down to my toes.

I gasped and almost pulled away, but then I felt his heart. It was thudding wildly, and then it suddenly slowed down.

Edward’s eyes snapped open.

They weren't the dark, cold eyes from before. They were a bright, glowing gold, and they were staring right at me.

A low growl started deep in his throat, and I could feel the vibration of it in my own chest. I froze, waiting for him to lunge at me or choke me, but he didn't move. He just stared at me, and then he leaned his head slightly into my hand.

I watched the black color on his arm. To my surprise, the spreading stain stopped moving. His breathing went from short, wet gasps to deep, even pulls of air.

He looked like he was coming back to life just because I was touching him, and it made no sense to me at all.

Theo and the other four guards stopped in their tracks. They looked at each other and then back at Edward, who was still clutching at my arm like I was a life raft.

The room went very quiet as Theo slowly lowered his gun and signaled for the other men to do the same, but he didn't look happy about it. He looked at me with deep suspicion, his eyes narrowed into slits.

"What did you do to him?" Theo asked, his voice low and dangerous.

"I didn't do anything," I snapped, trying to pull my hand back, but Edward’s grip tightened on my wrist. "He tripped, the chest broke, and that knife hit him. I was just trying to help him breathe."

Theo walked around the desk and looked down at the wound on Edward's arm.

The blackness was still there, but it wasn't growing anymore.

"The Alpha has a condition," Theo said, and he made the word Alpha sound like a title of a king. "He has a very rare and deadly allergy to silver. That blade you brought into this office just poisoned him, and if he dies, you’re going to wish we had shot you when we walked in."

"I didn't know there was a knife in there!" I yelled, finally managing to yank my arm away from Edward. I scrambled to my feet, but two of the guards moved to block the door. "I just deliver the packages, I don't pack them. Look, he’s breathing now. He’s fine. Just let me go and I’ll tell my boss the delivery was finished."

Theo stepped closer to me, and he was so tall I had to crane my neck to look at him and I knew I couldn't push past him.

"You aren't going anywhere, Alria Ryan," he said, reading my name off the courier badge clipped to my hoodie. "You brought a weapon into a secure zone and used it on the head of Ashbourne Enterprises. You have to pay for what you did."

"Pay for what?" I felt my temper rising, and I didn't care that he was twice my size.

"It was an accident! I have rent to pay by tomorrow morning, and I have a double shift starting at the laundromat in four hours. I don't have time for this billionaire drama. Just give me my signature and let me leave."

Theo let out a short, cold laugh. "You think your rent matters right now? Look at him."

I looked back at the floor. Edward was sitting up now, leaning against the side of his desk. His skin was still pale, and he looked exhausted, but those gold eyes were fixed on me.

He wasn't saying anything, but the way he looked at me looked like he wanted to say something, but he just gripped the edge of the desk until his knuckles turned white.

"The poison is still in his system," Theo continued, stepping between me and the exit. "We don't know why, but your touch stabilized his heart rate. Every time you moved away, the monitors in his watch started red-lining again. You’re the only thing keeping him from going into cardiac arrest right now.”

"That's a lie," I said, backing away. I felt trapped in a room full of killers.

"I'm not a doctor. I'm a courier. Send for a real medic and let me out of here."

"We can't call a regular doctor," Theo said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"Nobody can know he was hurt. If word gets out that Edward Ashbourne is weak, this whole city will turn into a war zone by midnight. You’re staying here until he is fully recovered. Consider yourself a guest, or a prisoner, it doesn't matter which. You are now a hostage of the North Pack."