The Deadliest Weapon

Chapter2

The question wasn't directed at Marley. It was aimed at me, a verbal shot right between the eyes. “Aren't you also human? “ Marley asked, muttering under his breath. He was ignored.

​"Am I supposed to know who you are? " I asked, my heart starting to thrum against my ribs. “Are you like a dangerous person? Was that why you were shot?"

“ SHOT?” Marley yelled.” What the hell is going on here?” A cutting look from Alexei shut him up.

​Alexei pushed his plate away and rose to his feet. He was unsteady, but he was also six-foot-something of pure intimidation. He stalked toward me, forcing me to take a step back until my hips hit the edge of the counter. He leaned in, one hand coming to brace the counter beside me, caging me in. He was so close I could feel the heat radiating from his body, could smell the faint, lingering scent of whiskey and blood, and something else… something wild and musky, like a forest after a rainstorm.

​He lowered his head, not looking at my face, but at the column of my throat. He inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring slightly. My breath hitched. I was aroused and terrified, but mostly aroused.

​"You smell… wrong," he murmured, his voice a guttural vibration against my skin. "Not human. But not… like us. What are you?"

​My mind blanked. "What? I'm just— I'm a person. I don't know what you're talking about." I could see Marley approaching, looking irritated about Alexei all up in my personal space. A quick gesture from me and he stopped, ready to intervene if necessary.

​Alexei’s storm-grey eyes finally lifted to meet mine. They were searching, demanding answers to questions I didn't even understand. There was a flicker of something in them—confusion, frustration, and an undeniable spark of attraction that sent a jolt straight through me, and apparently I wasn't his type. I was terrified and captivated in equal measure.

​"Don't lie to me," he growled, the sound so low it was more felt than heard. "You saved my life. You cut a silver bullet out of me, and you're not screaming, you're not afraid. Just… calm. And you have this scent…"

​"I don't know what you're talking about!" I insisted, pushing against his chest. It was like pushing against a brick wall. "I found you bleeding in an alley. I did what anyone would have done!"

​"No," he said, his voice dropping even lower, becoming dangerously soft. "They wouldn't have. They would have run. But you didn't." He leaned closer still, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. "I owe you a debt. My life. And I always pay my debts. Which means, until this is settled, you're mine to protect."

​My stomach did a violent flip. Before I could process the possessive, archaic claim he’d just laid on me, his entire body went rigid. His head snapped up, his gaze darting toward the front window of my apartment. His body, which had been relaxed when pressed against mine, suddenly coiled tight, like he was preparing for a fight.

​"s**t," he hissed, the casual danger in his voice gone, replaced by urgent, lethal focus.

​"What is it?" Marley asked, grabbing and yanking me towards him in the face of Alexei's sudden alarm.

​Alexei ignored him, grabbing my arm. His grip was like iron. "They're here."

​"Who's here?" I gasped, trying to pull away. "My ex? I told you he was—"

“Micah? That cheating bastard?” Marley snapped.

​"Not your ex," Alexei growled, his eyes scanning the room, "The hunters. The bastards who shot me. They smelled me. They've found this place."

​My blood ran cold. Hunters? The casual way he said it, as if it were a common problem, was more terrifying than any threat my i***t ex-boyfriend could pose.

​"We have to go. Now." He started pulling me away from the kitchen. Marley was still holding on to me as Alexei tried to drag me out.

​"Wait! What about Marley?" I cried, digging my heels in.

​Alexei spared my friend a fleeting, dismissive glance. "He's a civilian. They don't care about him. They want me. And now," his gaze locked onto mine, a terrifying mix of regret and grim resolve, "they'll want you, too. Because you smell of me now. You're drenched in my pheromones."

“I'll follow you, but I'm not leaving without Marley.”

​He growled but nodded his assent. Not waiting for another protest, he herded us toward the back of the apartment, toward the rickety fire escape outside my bedroom window. The sounds of the city suddenly seemed muted, distant. All I could hear was the frantic pounding of my own heart as the life I knew was torn apart in a matter of seconds, leaving me with only one terrifying certainty: I was being dragged into the comforting darkness all over again, but this time, I was wide awake.

Ashyanti Pov

My heart was pounding erratically as I run behind Alexei, Marley right behind me. The man didn't seem winded by the impromptu exercise while I was huffing and puffing like a train. He held my hand, dragging me along and since he had much longer legs I was struggling to keep up.

“Alexei,” I huffed “Please slow down”

“If you don't want to look like Swiss cheese, you'll stop complaining and try to keep the f**k up.” Marley made an undignified sound behind me.

“Want to tell us why we're running? And hunters? What's that about?”

Alexei growled, a sound that should not be humanly possible and stopped running.

“I don't have to explain myself to you, human. You're slowing me down so shut the hell up and-MOVE” he yelled, shoving Marley backward as the loud report of a gun sounded above us, a hole where Marley had been standing.

“Get up, “ Alexei snapped, pulling me up roughly by my arm. I hadn't even realized I had ducked in fear. Suddenly I was airborne, Alexei picking me up like I weighed nothing and tucking me under his arm. He grabbed Marley and threw him over his shoulder and ran. We screamed alarmed because a human being should not be able to run that fast while carrying other human beings. Bullets flew over our heads as he ran. I lived in Harlem and it wasn't unusual to hear gun shots at night or at dawn from rival gangs but to actually be involved in what looked like a gang related fight was a first for me.

“Can you swim? “ Alexei yelled.

“What?” I yelled

“Are you asking because we're black? That's racist” Marley yelled. His nervous habit of running his mouth was not helping

“The hunters will be thrown of our scent if we get wet, brace yourselves”

“Wha-” I couldn't even finish asking my question as I watched the Hudson river suddenly in my face. Me and Marley screamed as we hit the water.

I surfaced with a gasp, frantically looking around for the others. “MARLEY, ALEXEI”

I shrieked as I was grabbed around the waist and carried to the shore. Alexei looked like some water god as he walked out. His bare chest gleaming, rivulets of water dripping down his body. I coughed and gasped looking around.

“He-where's Marley?” The Adonis in front of me groaned and walked back into the water, surfacing a few minutes later with an unconscious Marley in his hands. He dropped him unceremoniously on the bank beside me. I could only glare at him as I turned Marley over to check him over.

“He's not breathing, what-what do I do? Mouth to mouth resuscitation?”

Alexei made that inhuman sound again and yanked me away from Marley.

“You're not kissing anyone” he snapped and turned Marley over. Before I could even blink, he bastard hit Marley in between his shoulders a couple of times.

“What is wrong with you?” I yelled, shoving him away from my best friend. Alexei glared at me but didn't answer. A hacking sound behind me made me whirl around, ignoring the obnoxious man.

“Marley! Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Can you walk?”

“Why do I feel like I was beaten? “ he groaned as I helped him sit up.

“You were,” I confirmed, my scowl deepening as I shot daggers at Alexei’s impassive face. “And you,” I said, poking a finger hard into his rock-solid chest, “are going to tell us what the hell is going on. Right now.”

​“Not here,” he stated, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through my finger. He scanned our surroundings, his eyes sharp and missing nothing. We were partially shielded by the bridge abutment, but we were still dangerously exposed. “We need to leave the open.”

​He started walking, expecting us to follow like obedient puppies. I shared an exasperated look with Marley. We didn't have much of a choice. Trudging behind him, our clothes squelching with every step, we emerged onto the busy New York sidewalk.

​It was one thing to be soaking wet and covered in river grime. It was another thing entirely to be doing it in the middle of spring in Manhattan. People stared as we slogged on. We looked like we’d crawled out of a sewer. Marley, ever the dramatist, muttered, “Is this a walk of shame or the beginning of a gritty indie film? I can’t decide.”

​The stares, however, weren’t all looks of disgust. A significant number, mostly from the female population, were fixed squarely on Alexei. With his wet hair slicked back, his bare, sculpted chest gleaming, and an aura of dangerous confidence, he looked less like a drowned rat and more like a cologne model who had just emerged from a mythical spring. Women openly gawked, some even slowing their pace to get a better look.

​“Well, at least one of us is having a good time,” Marley quipped under his breath, nudging me. I just rolled my eyes, my irritation mounting.