Torn Between Enemy Alphas

Chapter 47- Escape

"I've never done anything like this in my entire life." Dani and Alice had talked about tying together bedsheets and attaching them to one of the many heavy pieces of furniture in the room to climb down to the ground to begin the first step in their journey to rescue Emery. But after peering out each window in the suite, they'd come to the conclusion that the narrow window in the bathroom, just past the shower, was really the only choice. It just happened to be next to a very conveniently located fir tree, with branches that were perfect for climbing.

The branches didn't go all the way to the ground, but they went far enough that any seasoned tree climber worth their salt would be able to make it the rest of the way to the ground unscathed.

Dani insisted that she lead the way. After all, she pointed out, the guards wouldn't lay a hand on her. After a long pause in which Alice's eyebrows had risen in disbelief, she clarified. The guards did, in fact, have firm orders to keep her in line, even if that meant using physical force. But they couldn't hurt her. And that, obviously, gave her a clear advantage. And while Luca had spent years encouraging her to take time off from training, pointing out that she had an entire species of supernatural creatures guarding her, she had never for a second actually considered letting the skills she'd worked so hard to sharpen, rust. Once upon a time, she had been vulnerable and she never wanted to feel that way again.

While Alice couldn't really relate she felt a renewed interest in following in her mother's footsteps and taking up warrior training more seriously again. It had been something she'd been seriously interested in when she'd been younger, but after she'd become so depressed and anxious, and then so swept up in boys and acting out, it had sort of fallen by the wayside. She was still definitely one of the best female fighters in Amber Moon. But watching how Dani moved, so graceful and confident, she was reminded of her own mother all those years ago, and she knew exactly what she wanted to work towards if she and Fin ever managed to get out of the situation that they found themselves in.

"Let's hope this thing isn't noisy." Dani whispered the words as she slowly slipped open the window. Alice breathed a sigh of relief when it didn't make a sound.

"Okay." Alice stood to the side as the Queen slipped a leg through the window before looking back over her shoulder. "Try not to think of me as the Queen. It will probably make it less weird." Her words were only a whisper now that the window was open. She paused then, half in and half out of the room, her eyes focused at the forest below as she listened.

Alice finally sat down on the edge of the enormous bathtub as she waited for Dani to tell her that it was time to go and her eyes were almost beginning to close when the other woman's voice brought her immediately back to full wakefulness.

"That's odd." Dani was still whispering, but she immediately had the younger woman's attention. Alice was on her feet and at the window, trying to see exactly what was odd, but whatever it was Alice couldn't see any side from where she stood.

"I don't see anything," she whispered in reply.

"That's just it. There's nothing. I haven't seen a single guard pass by. And I should be able to. Our guards are good, but they aren't invisible. And they certainly wouldn't try to be invisible to me. If Luca left a half dozen men guarding me on the ground he would want me to know they were there, even if he played his little game of saying there were less than there were. If I tried to leave, he would want me to see them, to discourage me trying to go out. But I haven't seen a single guard here."

Alice bit her bottom lip.

"What do you think? Is that a reason not to go out?" Alice hoped that it wasn't. Staying inside while everyone else was out there either in trouble or doing something to at least try to find Cadman and Emery, sounded like the worst fate, apart from those who were being held captive by far crueler captors than the ones keeping her and Dani inside this room.