CHAPTER 18 : TEETH AND SILK
1232 Words
POV: Alessia De Luca Volkov
The footsteps echoed again. Slow, measured, deliberate. The sound seemed to travel through the tunnel walls before reaching me.
My pulse accelerated. Every instinct told me to move, to run,to do something. Instead, I stood frozen beside the locked steel barrier. Listening, waiting.
The silence stretched. Then another step, closer.
The flashlight trembled slightly in my hand as I aimed it into the darkness. Nothing. Only rail tracks disappearing into blackness, only stacked cargo containers, only shadows. The tunnel suddenly felt much larger than before. Much emptier and far more dangerous.
“Who’s there?”
My voice sounded smaller than I intended. The darkness didn’t answer. A cold feeling crawled down my spine.I backed away from the sealed gate. One careful step, then another. The beam swept across the tunnel.
Still nothing. Maybe I was imagining things. Maybe movement.A figure appeared between two cargo containers. My breath caught. Black clothing, face covered. Not security, not Volkov, not anyone who belonged here.
For one brief moment neither of us moved. Then the stranger pulled a knife. My body reacted instantly,I turned and ran. The tunnel exploded with sound behind me. Footsteps, fast, heavy coming directly toward me. Fear slammed into my chest.
This wasn’t intimidation, this wasn’t a warning. Someone wanted me dead. I sprinted past loading platforms and stacks of crates. The tunnel seemed endless, every turn revealed more darkness, more places to hide, more places to die.
Another set of footsteps joined the first. Then another. My stomach dropped.
Three.
There were at least three of them. A trap. The realization hit hard. The shadow upstairs, the open operations room, the unlocked tunnel door. Someone had wanted me here, someone had known I would follow the clues. I rounded a corner and nearly crashed into a wall of cargo containers.
Dead end. Panic surged.
No.
No.
No.
The attackers emerged seconds later. Three masked men. One with a knife, one carrying a pistol fitted with a suppressor, the third simply watched me. Calm, patient as though he’d done this before.
My breathing turned ragged. I searched desperately for a weapon, anything, a pipe, a wrench, a loose piece of metal. The knife wielding attacker moved first. Fast, too fast. I threw myself sideways as the blade sliced through the air where my throat had been.
Pain exploded across my shoulder when I hit the concrete. The flashlight skidded away, darkness swallowed everything. A gunshot cracked through the tunnel. The suppressor muffled the sound, the danger remained very real, the bullet struck metal inches from my head.
Sparks erupted. I scrambled behind a container. Another shot followed, then another. Concrete shattered beside me. My heart hammered so hard it hurt.
Think.Think. Think. There had to be a way out, a hiding place, a chance, anything.The knife attacker moved around the crate. Searching, closing in. The tunnel suddenly felt smaller like it was shrinking around me.
Then somewhere above, a roar erupted. The sound froze everyone including me. It wasn’t human, It wasn’t even close. The attackers stopped moving.
Silence followed.
Then came another roar. Closer, far closer. The men exchanged nervous glances, fear flashed across their faces. Real fear the kind people couldn’t fake. Something moved in the darkness behind them. Huge, fast, impossible.
The first attacker barely had time to turn. The impact launched him across the tunnel. His body smashed into a cargo container with enough force to dent the steel. The sound echoed like an explosion.
I stared. Unable to breathe, unable to blink. A massive figure emerged from the darkness. For one horrifying second my mind refused to understand what I was seeing. Broad shoulders, torn clothing, silver eyes, claws, actual claws. Dark fur spread across his arms and neck. Muscles strained beneath partially transformed skin. Not entirely man, not entirely wolf. Something in between, something terrifying.
Cassian.
The realization hit like a lightning strike. The Alpha had found me or perhaps the monster had. The second attacker opened fire immediately.
Three shots. Rapid, desperate.
The bullets struck Cassian. He didn’t stop, didn’t even slow down. The wolf exploded forward, the attacker screamed, the gun clattered across the floor then the screaming stopped. The third man ran. Smart, very smart.
Unfortunately for him, Cassian was faster, far faster. The distance vanished in seconds. A crash echoed from deeper inside the tunnel. Then silence. heavy, terrible silence.
My pulse thundered in my ears. The tunnel suddenly felt too quiet, too still. Cassian stood motionless in the center of the loading platform. His chest rose and fell, silver eyes burned in the darkness.
The wolf remained close to the surface. I could see it, feel it.For the first time since entering the Volkov world, I truly understood why people feared him. Why enemies avoided war, why entire organizations negotiated instead of fighting because beneath the tailored suits and expensive watches,there was this.
A predator, ancient, violent, terrifying. Slowly he turned toward me. My breath caught. For one horrible second I wasn’t sure he recognized me.
The silver eyes locked onto mine, the wolf stared. Watching, evaluating. The air felt electric then something changed. Recognition.
The tension eased, slightly.
“Alessia.”
My name came out rough, almost painful. Like speaking required effort, like he was fighting something inside himself. I swallowed.
“Cassian.”
His gaze dropped immediately to my shoulder. The bruise, the dirt, the evidence that someone had hurt me. A low growl escaped him, the sound vibrated through the tunnel not directed at me. At them, at anyone foolish enough to touch what belonged to him.
Boots thundered from the staircase. Nikolai appeared moments later with armed security teams. They stopped abruptly. Every single one of them because they saw what I saw.
Not Cassian Volkov, the wolf. Nikolai’s expression darkened.
“They found her first.”
“Yes.”
The single word sounded barely human.Security quickly secured the unconscious attackers. Nobody looked comfortable doing it, not while Cassian stood nearby.
Nikolai approached cautiously.
“The tunnel has been compromised.”
Cassian didn’t answer.
His attention remained fixed on me. The wolf hadn’t retreated, not completely. It was still there, waiting, watching, protecting. He crossed the distance between us. Slowly, carefully.
As though afraid of himself or perhaps afraid of what he might do if anyone else came too close. He stopped directly in front of me, close enough that I could see the silver still glowing in his eyes, close enough to notice the claws hadn’t fully disappeared.
His hand lifted, for a second I thought he might touch my face. Instead, he stopped. The restraint looked painful and almost impossible. Something flickered across his expression. Relief, anger, fear.
The combination stunned me because Cassian Volkov rarely looked afraid yet somehow he looked terrified now. Terrified of what might have happened, terrified of what he’d nearly lost.
Then he spoke quietly, quietly enough that only I heard.
“You shouldn’t have been here.”
I almost laughed.
“You think?”
For a moment something that looked suspiciously like amusement flashed across his face. Then it vanished.The wolf returned, the silver eyes held mine and when he spoke again, the words landed harder than any threat. Harder than the attack, harder than the monster I had just witnessed because they sounded completely honest, completely true.
“You’re becoming my weakness.”
- Writer
