Pheromonal: One Night With the Alpha-Chapter 101: Roar

There’s a roar.

A great, shrill, shrieking sound that tears through my skull. It’s like thousands of shards of glass, so piercing it feels as if my brain’s going to explode. I curl into Logan’s chest, pressing my face against his shirt and covering my ears to muffle the ungodly noise. Princess Paws digs her claws into my arm, but I barely register the pain.

Logan’s voice comes through like I’m underwater, distorted and far away. "...fall back to secondary position... maintain perimeter..."

The purple lines under my skin pulse in time with each piercing note of that otherworldly screech, still echoing in my head. My bones vibrate with it, as if something inside me recognizes and responds to the sound. The sensation spreads through my chest, down my arms, into my fingertips until I’m certain I’ll shake apart.

Logan runs, his footsteps jarring through my curled body. I squeeze my eyes shut, but it doesn’t help. The sound isn’t just in my ears—it’s inside me, resonating with whatever Eliana and her twisted experiments put in my blood.

"Make it stop," I whimper, though I doubt Logan can hear me over the chaos.

Through slitted eyes, I see the tactical team moving with precise coordination, weapons raised, completely unfazed by the sound that’s tearing me apart. Even Princess Paws seems more concerned with keeping her balance than the shriek that’s liquefying my insides.

The realization hits like ice water: I’m the only one being affected this way. Whatever that sound is, it’s meant for me. The purple threads beneath my skin flare brighter, a spiderweb of pain spreading through my body.

Logan shouts something else, but the words dissolve into the overwhelming screech. My fingers clutch his shirt, trying to anchor myself to something real as the world spins and blurs around us. The blue spirits scatter and reform in frantic patterns, their usual playful dance turned desperate and erratic. A part of my head lingers on the fact they’re still blue, not orange and scared like at the hospital. Strange.

The sound changes pitch, higher and sharper, and a scream tears from my throat. My back arches involuntarily, every muscle seizing as if electrified. The purple lines burn like fire.

And there it is again. The rhythmic beating of massive wings. My heart pounds in recognition, even though I definitely have never heard it before.

"Dragons," I rasp against Logan’s chest. My throat feels raw, as if I’ve been screaming for hours. Have I been screaming? I don’t think I have. Oh. Maybe it’s the dust. "They’re here."

"I know." His arms tighten around me.

The purple lines under my skin pulse faster, each beat sending fresh waves of agony through my body. A whimper escapes my lips before I can stop it. Princess Paws burrows deeper into my arms, her tiny body trembling.

"What’s wrong?" Logan’s voice sounds distant, like he’s speaking through layers of cotton. "Nicole?"

I try to answer, but the words won’t come. The shrieking fills my head, drowning out everything else. The blue spirits swirl frantically around us, their light pulsing in time with the pain coursing through my veins.

An explosion rips through the air—so loud it drowns out even the otherworldly screech. The pressure in my head suddenly releases, like a bubble popping. The cotton-wool feeling in my ears disappears, leaving blessed clarity in its wake.

"Where are the fucking incendiaries coming from?" Logan snarls, his voice crystal clear now. "Report!"

"Unknown, sir!" A soldier’s voice cuts through the chaos. "We’ve swept the perimeter twice. Still can’t locate the source."

The purple lines under my skin continue to burn, but at least now I can hear. I press my face against Logan’s shirt, breathing in his familiar scent as another explosion rocks the ground beneath us.

His pheromones clear my sinuses and head, leaving me feeling more myself. The pain is gone, leaving only fear. And worry.

"The dragons," I say again, clutching at his arm. "They’re watching us."

"I know," he says, running a hand over my hair. "They’ve been following us for a while."

His lack of urgency only concerns me more. "They’ll attack."

"We’re ready for that. Don’t worry, Nicole. I’m bringing you home."

Static crackles from Logan’s walkie. "Delta team in position at extraction point Charlie."

"Copy. ETA one minute." He adjusts his grip on me, his pace quickening.

The purple lines under my skin pulse with each step, but the pain has faded to a dull throb. Princess Paws peeks her head out of my arms as we round a corner. A fleet of black SUVs comes into view, their engines idling.

Logan guides me to the nearest vehicle, helping me into the backseat before sliding in beside me. The leather interior smells new, and the air conditioning hits my face in a cool blast. After the chaos outside, the quiet feels almost surreal.

My relief lasts about three seconds before reality crashes back. We’re sitting in cars. Stationary, exposed cars. Against dragons. freewebnσvel.cøm

"They’ll pick us off one by one."

"Not yet." Logan’s voice is low, meant only for me. "The dragons can’t get near us right now."

I blink at him. "What do you mean, they can’t—"

"See the man in the center vehicle?" Logan nods toward a silver-haired figure ducking into the backseat. "He’s using a wardstone."

"What?"

"Dragon repellant, basically. Very rare, very illegal." Logan’s jaw tightens. "But we’ve stretched it to its limits. We have maybe five minutes before it fails completely."

Dragon repellant wardstone. I’ve never heard of anything like it. We have security measures, of course, but nothing that can be carried around to repel an entire species at this level without some serious power involved. And, as much as anti-magic security has improved in the past couple decades, it isn’t foolproof.

For example, a single wardstone is never enough to cover an entire home. And, you need to overlap their spheres of influence, because they can occasionally fluctuate. It’s not as easy as one would think, and there are always weak points where a vampire could infiltrate an anti-vampire ward, if they know about it.

Not to mention, the magic required to feed these security measures is not insignificant. Your land’s magical resources directly affect what you’re able to install; otherwise, they will fail for lack of power.

Of course, these are all risks that are clearly identified to our clients, and they do work well.

But this? One man, one wardstone, covering an entire... what’s this? A company? Squad? Platoon? I don’t know. A bunch of military people in formation.

There’s no anti-magic security—that I know of—strong enough to handle this situation.

"And then?"

"Then things get ugly."