Maddy stabbed a rogue in the stomach using her dagger. Maddy and Xander were fighting back-to-back, trying to make their way back to hotel. They had underestimated the number of rogues who would be after Xander and Maddy. An endless wave of rogues seemed to be coming into the courtyard. It was Maddy's 9th rogue and don't even ask about Xander. He was a fricking machine in battle, jumping on top of rogue after rogue in his wolf form.

Bodies littered the ground of the field of both the rogues and the pack. There was strange stench of what Maddy assumed was human bodies. After what seemed like hours, Maddy and Xander got out of the courtyard. They jogged towards the hotel.

It was nearly deserted when they came in. Clearly, this little escapade had frightened all the humans. Maddy was thankful for the deserted hallways. The last thing they needed was humans getting hurt, just because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

As soon as the receptionist saw them, she scowled and told them to go away. Maddy smiled sheepishly at her. Xander and Maddy exchanged looks and at the count of three, they broke into a run. Maddy went towards the elevator but was stopped by Xander. He insisted that they use the staircase as elevators were enclosed places with less place to fight in, if the need arises. Huffing and puffing, they reached the fifth floor, the floor where they had encountered the tooth-necklace lady. Stupid Xander and his overprotectiveness.

Maddy had taken no more than two steps into the hallway, when she froze. A knife was being held right in front of her throat. From the corner of her eye, she saw that Xander too was in a similar position.

"Hello there," tooth-necklace lady cooed from behind Maddy.

Maddy clenched her fists and gulped loudly. Their plan had gone wrong. They had expected all the rogues to desert this place but clearly, two of them were still there. Tooth-necklace lady used the same trick as Xander, and was now wearing a full sleeved t-shirt.

"Move forward slowly. Any fast movements and both of you'll be dead," the guy behind Xander said. The voice sounded extremely familiar. Maddy slowly moved her head to the side to get a glimpse of the guy behind Xander, carefully so that she didn't kill herself by mistake. Xander growled loudly on hearing the voice and Maddy gasped when she saw the Beta of the Amalthea Pack holding the knife to Xander's throat. It had been him all along!

"You!" Xander snarled.

Suddenly everything made sense now. It had been the Beta all along who had been giving the information to the rogues. Maddy remembered how the Beta had insisted that Elijah's death was a natural one even though Justin thought it wasn't. She thanked the gods that the Beta hadn't been present during the second war meeting when they had discussed about how they were going to attack the rogues. Had the Beta been there, their attack would have turned into a bloodbath.

Maddy took a deep breath in, trying to calm herself down. 'There is no point in hyperventilating right now,' she reminded herself.

"Yes, me. Now move!" he barked.

Xander and Maddy started walking slowly. Suddenly, Xander stopped walking. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the Beta relax his hold on Xander. The Beta was clenching his jaw and with a small shout, he handed the knife over to Xander. What the hell? What was going on?

Seeing that the Beta was no longer helping her, tooth-necklace lady pushed the knife deeper into her throat. Maddy gurgled and clawed at tooth-necklace lady's hand, desperately.

"No!" Xander shouted as he lunged towards tooth-necklace lady. And then there was darkness.

***

Maddy opened her eyes. This was like the hundredth Maddy had passed out. Why on earth were the bad guys obsessed with making her pass out? She looked down to find herself holding the very knife that had been slitting her neck two seconds ago, to tooth-necklace lady's neck. Tooth-necklace lady herself, was sprawled on the floor with her arm bent at an awkward angle. Did Maddy do that? Maddy blinked thrice. What happened? Maddy had thought for sure that she had died. Tooth-necklace lady whimpered with her arms raised, fear written all over her face. Xander strode up to her and grabbed tooth-necklace lady and made her stand.

"Where is the matefinder?" Xander growled at tooth-necklace lady.

Tooth-necklace lady didn't say anything.

"Take us to the room where she is kept," he said shaking tooth-necklace lady like a rag doll.

Maddy winced. Xander could be terrifying when he was pissed. Tooth-necklace lady nodded quietly and started leading the way. Meanwhile, the Beta stood frozen there with his jaw clenched.

"That was amazing, Maddy. How did you even...?" Xander asked with awe.

Now was probably not the right time to tell him that she had no idea what the hell she had done. Instead, she just smiled and followed tooth-necklace lady.

She cast a glance at the Beta wondering if he would start attacking them again.

Xander winked and replied. "Don't worry. He isn't going anywhere. He forgot the fact that he is still part of the Amalthea Pack. As an Alpha, dad can command him to do whatever dad likes. I pack linked dad and voila, the Beta is no longer a threat."

'Maybe I have underestimated Xander's smartness,' Maddy thought. She sure as hell wouldn't be able to think of something like that when someone is holding a knife to her throat.

Near the seventh door to the right of the hallway, tooth-necklace lady stopped walking, indicating that this was the room where the matefinder is being kept.

"You get the matefinder while I stand outside as a guard with her," Xander said.

Maddy nodded and went inside. The interior of the room was similar to Xander and Maddy's room. On one corner of the room was a gorgeous woman with her mouth gagged and her hands tied behind her back. How was it that werewolves always managed to look good, even when they were tied up? The matefinder had the eternal beauty kind of look, her hair shimmering in the room. Suddenly, the door opened and tooth-necklace lady barged in. Maddy immediately reached for her dagger, but tooth-necklace lady wasn't interested in her. Instead, she ran towards the window, falling outside. Maddy ran up to the window expecting to see her body sprawled on her floor but instead, she saw tooth-necklace lady land on some kind of a car. Tooth-necklace lady flashed a maniacal smile at Maddy and waved at her as the car drove away.

Xander rushed in a few seconds later. When he realized that tooth-necklace got away he cursed and went back to guard the doors after closing the door. Maddy ran up to the matefinder. She quickly cut off the ropes tying her hands and took off the gag. Maddy tried to help the matefinder get up but she batted Maddy's hand away.

With a sad smile, the matefinder, "You shouldn't worry about me, Madison Joshi. Instead, worry about Xander. I'm sorry for what is about to come."

Maddy's eyes widened. Worry about Xander? What had happened to him?

Just as the matefinder finished her sentence, something crashed loudly outside their room, the sound echoing. The crash was followed by a long howl that sent chills through her. She knew the wolf.

'This might be the last chance you ever get to kiss me,' Xander had said.

What if he had been right? 

Make sure to vote, comment and share this story. -Aroha