The Love Risk [boyxboy]

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty (Storm)

"Something feels wrong." Mark managed.

We'd sat quietly in the basement for about ten minutes after Alexander was taken away. And as much as I hated to admit it, I agreed with Mark. Something churned in the pit of my belly and I felt like someone had beat me in the head with a hammer from the dull aches in my temples. I reached up to massage them as Mark eagerly stood by the base of the stairs, peering up and waiting for Alexander to return.

I could only hope our bad feeling had nothing to do with Alexander, or my father for that matter.

Which I highly doubted it wasn't.

I ran my hands through my hair in frustration, my elbows resting on my knees as I stared down at the dirt floor of the basement. Luca sat beside me silently, staring straight ahead before frowning slowly, making me sit up.

"Someone's coming." He stated. I lifted my head and sure enough, I heard footsteps moving toward the basement door. I shot to my feet quickly and went to Mark, grabbing him and pulling him back, making him yelp in surprise just as the door opened. I kept my grip on Mark as Luca got to his feet.

I watched as a couple Zephyra members came down the stairs, one pausing near the foot to glare at us sternly.

"You're coming with us." He stated firmly, then brushed past Mark and I to grab Luca by the elbow to lead him along. The rough treatment made Luca stumble and almost fall over, but he managed to catch himself. Mark glared, grabbing Luca's other arm.

"You lead the way, I'll hang onto him." He stated. The enemy glared back at Mark coldly, but to his credit, Mark didn't back down. I tightened my grip on Mark's shoulders, locking my gaze on the other man to let him know that Mark had back up. He gave up and let go of Luca, who instantly latched onto Mark's arm. The man came up the stairs, gesturing for us to follow as he joined the others at the top of the stairs.

We followed close behind, moving as a group as we made it to the first floor of the house, the basement door closing behind us. I grimaced at the brightness of the sunlight that poured in through the windows. I could already feel it making my skin warm, and the lack of blood was not helping at all.

We moved through the house, down the empty halls. Oddly enough, the house had gone silent now. There was no music, laughter, chatter, nothing. It was like everyone had abandoned ship, which only made the bad feeling in my gut worsen. We came outside, the sun making my skin burn. I gritted my teeth, watching my skin pinken. Mark noticed first and gave me a look of alarm, but I shook my head and held a finger to my lip for him to be silent.

I didn't want him making a scene now. He'd already pissed these people off enough. The last thing we needed was for them to starve him or beat him too. In which case, I'd have to kill someone.

Thankfully, we made it to the warehouse before my skin could blister. I took deep breathes upon entering, relieved at the cool air that touched my skin, but agonized by the powerful scent of blood that hung thick in the air. Mark kept looking at me worriedly, but I would shake my head for him to ignore it. Luca didn't seem to know what was going on and just stayed close to Mark as he was led along with the group.

We didn't walk too far before we came to the lounge area at the very end of the warehouse, but all the chairs and tables had been pushed aside for a meeting going on inside. I frowned, narrowing my eyes when Mark stiffened at the sight of the people inside.

Several members of Zephyra as a couple I recognized as people who pretended to work for my father, but thankfully none of them included William or Archibald. Claude was also standing nearby, leaning on a wall with Kristophe standing beside him. Kristophe looked better compared to the last time I saw him. He was still deathly pale, but he was now wearing a pair of snug leather pants and the blindfold was gone to reveal his tired, dark circled blue eyes. His hands were still cuffed in front of him and there was an occasional splatter of blood on him. His mouth was pinched closed, however, which made me grimace.