An Unwavering Promise--Completed

Chapter Twenty-Six

Eleanor’s POV

The moment the elevator doors opened, my eyes grew large in wonder. The whole inside of the building was extravagant and beautiful. There were huge open windows, and an in-house coffee shop, seating, and escalators leading further up into the building. What truly amazed me the most, however, were all the glowing auras of the people walking to and fro. Natalie had seemed like such an anomaly because I’d never seen an orc before. But here, there were so many that my eyes were having a hard time focusing. There were too many people hustling and bustling around us anyway. This place seemed like a beehive, where everyone knew exactly what they were doing and where to go.

I felt out of my element. Put me in werewolf territory, and I would flourish. However, here? Not so much. I felt intimidated by both Alexander’s and Natalie’s stances. They were so at ease and neither were gawking at the place like I was. It made sense to me logically, and I understood why they were used to it, but it still put me on edge. Ever since knowing that there was more to this world than simple werewolves and humans, I had felt a knot growing in my stomach as if something was telling me that I didn’t belong in the greater scheme of things.

Alexander led us to the escalators, where he took out a badge and swiped it on the scanner. It dinged and gave a flash of green light, and we all passed through.

“How come it just let us through? Shouldn’t I need a badge? Or to check in? Or something?” I asked.

Alexander smiled at me. “They know you’re coming with us. Everything has already been approved through the proper channels. You don’t need to worry about anything here.”

“Oh,” I mumbled, blindly following him onto the escalator.

As we rose higher up, I not only got a clearer view of the ground floor, but also looked up to see the maze of passageways and other escalators taking even more people to places I would probably never see.

“Where are they holding Dominic?” I questioned as we began walking towards yet another escalator.

Frowning at me, Alexander answered my question with one of his own, “Why?”

“I feel like I have a right to know. We were in the middle of a conversation, which you unceremoniously disrupted.”

“It’s classified.”

“So you really won’t tell me?”

“I can’t. It’s nothing personal.”

I bit my lower lip and sank into my thoughts.

I still say you should let it go. This is your sign to scrap your plan and go about it the right way.

I’ve already made up my mind, Rae. And, I’ve already laid out my reasoning. I don’t need you to agree with my decision; I just need to accept it. We’ve been over this.

Rae huffed at me and then shut off my communication with her. It hurt to know that she would resort to this behavior, but I couldn’t deter from the plan I had created. Very few people were willing to help me in the ways I wanted or needed, so I had to find my own path in order to get my answers.

After several more floors and walking through confusing hallways, we arrived in front of a door. It looked like every other door we passed, and I couldn’t see any numbers or markings to show what was behind the door.

“We have to memorize the entire layout of the building. It’s part of the entrance exam,” Alexander chuckled, seeing my confusion.

“What for?”

“If anyone breaks in, they're unable to easily go after whatever it is they’re looking for,” Natalie chimed in. “Unless it’s an inside job, there’s practically no way to find what you’re after in a timely manner. The only two break-ins on record were foiled within minutes because of this system.”

I filed that bit of information away, knowing that it would put a hitch in my plans. I could feel Rae perk up and have a sliver of happiness that I may not go through what I had planned.

Alexander, opening the door, dragged my attention back to the situation at hand. He gestured for me to go inside, so I followed directions. Inside was a basic office. Behind a large, wooden desk sat an older human man. He had glasses and grey in his styled hair. He wore a black suit and seemed bored as he stared at his computer.

“Is this her?” he asked without even looking up from his monitor.

“Yes, sir,” Alexander stated curtly, standing right behind me.

“Good. Shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. Take your leave, please.”

I frowned and turned to see Alexander leaving and closing the door in my face.

“What is this?” I questioned harshly. “No one said anything about this.”

“Calm down, Ms. Reece. You’re perfectly safe.”

“Says who?”

“Says the agency.”

He finally shifted in his chair, sat back, and met my eyes. I quickly found that his brown eyes were as dull as his personality.

“Ms. Reece,” he droned on. “I am Mr. Smith. You are to undergo an examination to determine whether you are worthy enough to be trusted with the information you have received about our agency as well as the race of the Orcs.”

“What? Alex said that I was good to go. Why would you need to question me?” I asked.

The man cleared his throat. “I will be the only one asking questions. Please take a moment to calm yourself down, so that you can proceed with the process. I will be asking a series of questions, and you will answer them honestly. Any detection of withholding the truth will result in the immediate removal of pertinent information.”

“Excuse me? You’re going to do what?”

Upon hearing this, I immediately turned inward to contact Alexander through our shared link. I called out his name several times, hoping for a response and an explanation.

Mr. Smith folded his hands together and gave me a tired look before saying, “Remember, I will be the one asking questions. I will not answer any of yours. I am tasked to see whether we can trust you. Shall we begin? Oh, and just so you’re aware, the werewolf ability to mind link won’t work in this room. You can stop trying.”

I balked. “I’d like to discuss this further before we start this weird test.”

“What is your relationship with our agent, Alexander Williams?”

Folding my arms, I glared at the man.

He sighed and said, “Refusing to answer will dock points from your score. This is a shaky start to begin with, so I recommend that you start cooperating.”

“He’s my mate,” I begrudgingly answered.

“When did you learn about our agency?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Like a week ago? Maybe?”

Mr. Smith paused from writing my answer down in order to look over at the computer screen. He nodded once before resuming. “How did you learn about the Orcish race?”

“From people I have previously worked with.”

“Care to be more specific?”

“No.”

Looking up from his notebook, he practically pleaded with me, “Come now, Ms. Reece. For the sake of simply getting through this, please just answer the questions fully.”

“I did answer the question. You want details, but I’m not necessarily willing to divulge them,” I retorted.

“I have a report telling me everything already. I just need you to verify who told you. Then, we can move on to the next question.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I said, “If you already have the answers, then why bother asking me? Just to see if I’ll be truthful?”

“Ms. Reece, who told you about the Orcs?”

El, just answer the questions and stop being difficult. This won’t win you any favors.

“I learned about the Orcs all at once. I was researching with another werewolf and his team, and it was there that I discovered that there were more races on this planet than just werewolves and humans.”

“Are you leaving anything out of your answer?” Mr. Smith asked with skepticism.

I felt my anger boil over at that moment. “Oh my f*****g goddess! If the f*****g Lord of Dragons trusts me with his secrets, why can’t you believe me that I’m not going to tell anyone about this stupid organization and there are several more races?!”

The moment I finished my outrage, I saw the error in my answer. I was purposely being provoked. Mr. Smith’s smirk was proof of that.

“s**t,” I whispered, as I watched the man lean back in his chair.

He held up his notepad, which merely had scribbles on it. He then turned his monitor around to show me a blank screen.

“Thank you, Ms. Reece, for giving us confirmation that the Dragons do still exist. Your mate wouldn’t actually tell us. I guess we trained him better than we had hoped to,” Mr. Smith grinned.

Two armed security guards burst through the door and latched onto my arms. Dropping my weight to the ground, I was able to wrench one of my arms free and swing it into the guard’s stomach. He staggered, while the other guard yanked me into him. I attempted to twist my arm in his grip, but before I could get a step away from the guy, I fet a needle sink into my shoulder. Turning around, I saw the guard I had punched in the stomach grin at me.

“Not so fast, wolf,” he laughed.

I groaned and tried to swipe at him, but my body was already sluggish and heavy. I could feel Rae snarling and trying to break through, but the world was growing dim, and I slumped into the guard, who was holding me.

“This one sure is feisty. I’m excited to see what she can do,” I heard a guard say.

“Oh, I’m quite pleased with her. I’m confident she’ll put on a show,” Mr. Smith said before I blacked out.