CHAPTER 2: THE BLACK LEDGER
1190 Words
Three hours later, Elena was ready to scream.
She had been set up in a conference room adjacent to Elias’s office. The files they had given her were a joke. Public records, press releases, redacted environmental studies that looked like they had been attacked with a black sharpie. It was a stonewall. A billion dollar stonewall.
She sat surrounded by stacks of paper, her laptop glowing in the dim light. The storm outside had turned into a full blown gale, battering the glass.
“Coffee?”
She jumped. Elias was leaning against the doorframe, holding two ceramic mugs. He had shed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, revealing forearms that were corded with muscle. A faint, jagged scar ran down the inside of his right arm.
“I prefer tea,” she said instinctively.
“Earl Grey, two sugars, 1 spoon of lemon,” Elias said, walking over and placing the mug on her table. “I had Marcus check your preferences.”
“That’s invasive.”
“That’s thorough.” He took a sip of his own black coffee, watching her over the rim.
“Find anything interesting? Or are you ready to admit that Thorne Industries is a model corporate citizen?”
Elena swivelled her chair to face him. “I found a discrepancy in your land acquisitions. Sector 7, the North Woods. You bought forty thousand acres of untouched timberland three years ago. You haven’t developed it. You haven’t logged it. You haven’t even surveyed it. You just... walled it off.”
“It’s a conservation effort,” Elias said smoothly.
“With twenty foot electrified fences and thermal cameras?” Elena countered. “That’s not conservation, Mr. Thorne. That’s a containment zone. What are you keeping in there? Or what are you keeping out?”
Elias’s expression hardened. The playful charm evaporated, replaced by a cold, sharp intelligence. “Industrial secrets, bio-research. We work with volatile compounds.”
“I pulled the energy usage reports for that sector,” Elena pressed, sensing blood in the water. “There’s no facility there. No labs. No factories. But the power draw is massive. Enough to light up a small city. Where is that power going to?”
Elias set his mug down. The porcelain clinked loudly on the glass table.
“You ask too many questions, Elena.”
“That’s the job description.”
“Maybe you should consider a career change. Before this one becomes... hazardous.”
It was a threat. A subtle one, but a threat nonetheless.
Elena stood up, matching his height as best as she could.
“Are you threatening a federal adjudicator?”
“I am warning a guest,” Elias said softy. “There are things in this city, things in those woods, that do not obey federal laws. I am trying to keep you safe.”
“From what?”
Elias opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly, he froze. His head snapped toward the door. His nostrils flared again.
The lights in the conference room flickered.
“Get down,” Elias commanded. The tone wasn’t a suggestion.
“What....”
BOOM.
The glass wall of the outer office, the one facing the hallway, shattered inward.
Three men dressed in tactical black gear rappelled through the skylight in the atrium, swinging through the broken glass into the reception area. They carried suppressed assault rifles.
Elias moved before Elena’s brain could process the violence. He grabbed her by the waist, lifting her out of the chair as if she weighed nothing, and tackled her behind the heavy oak conference table.
Bullets shredded the air where she had been standing a second ago. Papers exploded into confetti.
“Stay down!” Elias roared.
He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the attackers. And he wasn’t afraid. He looked... furious.
“Who are they?” Elena screamed, the ringing in her ears deafening.
“Mercenaries,” Elias growled. “Hunters. They’re here for me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the King,” he muttered, almost to himself.
One of the gunmen advanced into the room, scanning. “Target acquired. Alpha is cornered.”
Elias looked at Elena. His eyes were glowing again—brighter this time, unmistakable. “Elena. Close your eyes.”
“What? No!”
“Do it!” he barked.
“Do not look at me. No matter what you hear.”
Terrified, Elena squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her face into the carpet.
She heard a sound that didn’t belong in a high-rise office. A weird sound like a tearing sound.
A roar shook the room, deep, chest-thumping, and utterly inhuman.
Then, the screaming started.
It was chaos. The sound of gunfire was drowned out by the thud of bodies hitting walls. She heard snarls, snaps, and the terrifying sound of metal being sheared. It lasted ten seconds.
Then, silence. Heavy, panting silence.
Elena lay trembling. She could smell blood. A lot of it. And that musk woody smell again.
Something heavy approached her. She could feel the heat radiating from it. A hot breath huffed against her neck.
“Elias?” she whispered, terrified to open her eyes.
A rough, calloused hand touched her shoulder. It was human, but the nails were long, sharp.
“Open them,” Elias’s voice rasped. It sounded wrecked, like he had swallowed stone.
Elena opened her eyes.
Elias was kneeling beside her. He was shirtless, his pants shredded at the calves. He was covered in blood, most of it not his own. His chest was heaving and sweat slicking down his skin. There were deep claw marks healing visibly on his shoulder, knitting together before her eyes.
But he was human. Mostly.
Behind him, the conference room was a slaughterhouse. The three gunmen were... broken. Tossed aside like ragdolls.
“What are you?” Elena breathed, scrambling back until her back hit the overturned table.
Elias stood up, looming over her. The amber fire in his eyes was slowly fading back to human brown, but the intensity remained. He wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I told you,” he said, offering her a bloody hand. “This is a dangerous city.”
He looked at the door. “We have to move. Those were just the scouts. The Pack is coming.”
“The Pack?” Elena stared at his hand, then at his face. “You... you’re one of them. The rumors... The woods.”
“I am the Thorne,” he said, as if that explained everything. “And right now, you are under my protection. Which means you are part of the territory.”
He hauled her to her feet.
“Why protect me?” she asked, her voice shaking. “I’m trying to destroy your company.”
Elias pulled her close, scanning the hallway. He looked down at her, and for a moment, the predator softened.
“Because,” he murmured, “you smell like the rain. And I haven’t smelled anything clean in a very long time.”
He kicked the door open.
“Run.”
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