Enigma

Chapter 22

Two videos filled the screen, side by side, showing a dark room in the green and black colors of the night vision cameras.

The view shook for a moment before stabilizing. The room was skewed on the screen. Lillian groaned, then the cameras turned upright.

Glowing eyes filled the screen. Half starved males and females, sitting or crouching, looked at the new intruder through blazing eyes.

"Ugh, my head..." Lillian said. Noah's heart raced. Deep growls rumbled as some of the figures in the room stalked toward Lillian.

Lillian scrambled up, the camera view shakily moving up with her. Her breathing was too loud. "It's okay, I'm here to help. I'm not going to hurt you. Amanda, you there?"

Noah hated the fear he heard in her voice. His hands tightened on the device.

"Oh my God," Amanda's voice in the recording sounded as petrified as Lillian's. "Yes, I'm with you."

"What should I do?" Lillian said.

"I-I don't know, just stay alive, help is coming...just-just don't look them in the eyes."

"But-"

The figures crept forward. Their eyes blazed with the intent to defend themselves against an unknown threat. Lillian backed up. "Stop! Please. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help."

The wolves moved closer still, not showing any sign of hearing Lillian's plea.

But then Lillian spoke in a voice that reached deep into Noah's core and ruffled his wolf's fur.

"Stop!" A voice Noah knew belonged to Lillian, but had more authority and dominance than some of the alphas' he knew. "I'm not here to harm you, stop right now. Calm. Down."

Everything froze. Growls ceased and glowing eyes blinked. The wolves stopped moving and cocked their heads to the side.

One of them approached Lillian, movements slow. Noah recognized the small female who'd been stuck to Lillian's side since they left the club.

"Stop!" Lillian said again, her voice shaking.

The female stopped, a heart wrenching whimper escaped her throat as she lowered herself to the ground.

Lillian dropped on the floor with a ragged breath. "It's okay, I'm sorry. It's okay," she said, sympathy choking her voice.

The female slid closer and closer, whimpering and whining, until she reached Lillian. She put her head on Lillian's lap and curled her small body around herself. All the while the wolves in the room watched the interaction with unwavering attention.

"It's going to be okay," Lillian said. "Help is coming."

Noah stopped the video, silently handing Amanda the datapad. His mind churned with all the possible explanations of what he'd just witnessed.

"You felt that, too?" Amanda asked. "Her tone... no normal human being would've been able to wield such a tone."

Noah felt it, alright. The tone of voice Lillian had used to calm those wolves down was that of an alpha. A dominant being ordering others.

But no human would ever have the capacity of ordering immortals around. Humans were at the bottom of the food chain. They were prey.

"She has twin sons, right?" Amanda said. "Do you know who the father is?"

Noah shrugged. "No idea. Why? What are you thinking?"

"I don't know, if the father is an alpha wolf, then the twins will most likely grow up to be alpha wolves, too," Amanda said, running a hand through her hair. "My point is, maybe her sons have passed on something to her during the pregnancy? I don't know, I'm just grasping at straws here, trying to make some sort of sense out of this."