Alpha Shield

Inevitable - Abby

Blank. Everything was blank. Vaguely, Abby heard Selah's voice next to her, but she felt as if she were sitting in a tunnel with a vague echo of voices and sounds surrounding her. Nothing made sense. Muffled sounds vibrated against her too sensitive skin. Were they words or just her inner screams reverberating in her head?

Escaped.

How could they let him escape? Killian had been right in that she'd been comforted by the idea that Tobias would be executed. She'd felt a moment of guilt over feeling relief from the death of another until she'd rubbed her fingers over the raised scars on her neck from his blade. A wave of freedom had wiped out the tiny kernel of guilt she'd felt. Her father's notes put her on edge. She didn't know how he'd carry out his threats, but now that Tobias had escaped OSF custody mere hours before his execution, she had a feeling she knew who would be the instrument of her capture.

She'd testified against him. There was no way Tobias would let her live even if her father wanted her back in Haven. She imagined she have some kind of "accident" on the way back to the community. Something suitably brutal and bloody to satisfy his thirst for revenge.

Vaguely, she felt her chest starting to rise and fall rapidly. Small, soft hands rubbed her back and her upper arms, and Selah's citrusy scent wafted around her, but it didn't provide the reassurance it normally did.

Nothing could protect her from Tobias and her father. It was only a matter of time before she was either returned to the horrors of her father's household or killed in a fit of Alpha rage from Tobias.

Black dots entered her vision, and she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. Something wrapped around her chest keeping her from taking a full breath. Was she already trapped? Had they taken her already? Maybe she could escape into that darkness and find peace there.

Gravity lost its hold on her, and she knew it should concern her. She couldn't find it in herself to care, but a purr vibrating through her shoulder and arm worked its way into her chest. Her awareness latched onto the sound that should have scared her witless. In her experience, Alpha sounds meant nothing but pain and fear, but this low, throaty rumble spread a warmth through her that radiated from her chest throughout the rest of her body. As the comforting heat reached her neck and tingles ran over her scalp, her vision and awareness sharpened enough to feel that she was no longer sitting on the couch, but in the air and cradled against a massive, rumbling Alpha chest. Her eyes focused on Killian's face, and where she should have felt absolute terror at the anger of his face, a soft lassitude made her tilt her head and rest it against the muscled shoulder next to her ear.

He glanced down at her, and she couldn't make herself say anything to him. Out of the corner of her eye, she recognized they were moving through the visitor room where she'd been called to visit with Killian, Malcolm and Selah. The room where they'd gently set her isolated world on fire and unintentionally sent her spiraling into a panic.

He seemed to reach his destination, and Abby recognized it as a door in the room that she'd never had cause to open. His arm under her legs shifted, and she found her lower half moved to wrap her legs around his waist. The arm that had previously been supporting her shoulders pressed against her spine on its way to wrap around her hips to hold her to him. With his now free hand, he opened the door to reveal what looked like some kind of large closet with shelves of pillows and blankets neatly folded.

Killian reached in and quickly grabbed a folded blanket and flicked it open with a quick twist of his wrist. Two more blankets joined the crumpled pile of the floor before he used his huge arm to sweep several pillows onto the heap. He entered the shadowed space, and once he shut the door behind them, pitch black surrounded them. She again felt the movement of his free arm, and then a dim light radiated from the small dome push light stuck to the wall next to the door. The warm glow kept the space dark enough to feel safe, but it radiated enough light to see the sharp jawline of the Alpha who smoothly twisted her in his arms to settle her on the makeshift next of blankets and pillows.