Manuscript Monday Akito (Alpha's Reign Book Two): Akito gets into trouble with an alpha

Sorry this is a day late. I'm still without Internet most of the time. It's annoying, but the wilderness makes up for it most days. I found another cafe with wifi, this time in Port Angeles. They also have wonderful burgers, so that helps. ^_^

I'm working on editing Akito (Alpha's Reign Book Two) right now and I come bearing a snippet!

However, first I have some fan art drawn by Yoneda Kou! Of Free! I know. Fangirl with me! She has lots of pictures of Sousuke. And if one can draw, they'd want to draw Sousuke, right? I know I would! Enjoy!

Akito finds himself in a spot of bother with a new alpha. Oops! This is still being edited so it's subject to change a bit. ^_^

Shadows swallowed them as they slipped into the tunnel. Akito stopped at the old map on the wall to get a vague idea where they were. Half of it faded into obscurity, but he did catch the name of what this station used to be.

Sengawa.

He ran his finger over the warped plastic.

He’d never heard of it. How far out were they?

Cole was the type of person who wondered about the past. What it must’ve been like to live before the virus. Before the alphas gained control of them all. They talked about it in the pens late at night, tucked into their bunks and shivering under those moldy blankets. The dim overhead light buzzed out one by one, leaving them in total darkness.

“What do you think it was like back then?”

Akito never considered that before he met Cole. Why the fuck should he? Survival mattered more than thinking about how the world got to be the way it was. What happened in the past, Akito’s past, was best left there where he didn’t have to think about it or live with it. “Crowded. A lot of people died. There are still bones in the Wilds. Piles of them. Or that’s what people say. Were there piles of bones at your home?”

Cole took a shaky breath. “I never saw anything like that – not that old. New bones, yeah. Lots of new bones.”

A shiver shot up Akito’s back. All those bones used to be people with the same needs and emotions he had now, yet there was nothing left of them. He knew that all along, but dwelling on it got him nowhere. Only then, in the stillness of the night, that truth pressed in on him until it was difficult to breathe.

Then Cole shuffled next to him, and a strong arm slipped over Akito’s slim shoulders and pulled him close. “I won’t let that happen to you.”

“You can’t protect me forever.”

“I can try,” Cole whispered in his ear.

Akito thought about kissing Cole then, but bit his lip instead.

Makiko whined, and Akito’s thoughts returned to the present.

His stomach grumbled, and he knew how she must feel. Still, he’d gone hungry before. He could do it again. He’d survive long enough to find out what happened on the temple grounds and be reunited with Trent and Cole.

Nothing else really mattered.

Makiko led the way, and he followed since he couldn’t see much in the near total darkness. The tunnel was too deep to let in any light from the world above, and Akito held on to her coat as they walked, though he still tripped over more debris than he thought possible. It all must’ve jumped in the way of his feet just to get on his nerves.

The farther they went inside, the cooler it got, but that was the only good part about slinking down there as far as he was concerned.

The things in the darkness around them scuttled as much as the bugs in the root cellar had.

Suddenly, Makiko stopped and growled.

Akito didn’t know what was going on.

One moment, he had was buried in her fur and the next she was gone. Movement rustled around him – the snarls of wolves and the snap of jaws. He tried to back into a wall and bumped into the solid strength of a man’s chest instead.

Akito started and swept around, fists raised.

Silver eyes glowed in the darkness.

Silver. That meant one thing: alpha.

“Look what wandered into my web,” the alpha said.

Arms wrapped around him, and no matter how he struggled, Akito couldn’t move. He felt the rope snag around his wrists and a gag covered his mouth before he could make a damn sound.

Soon, he stopped fighting and focused on breathing. Saving his strength. Was this the same pack that attacked the temple or a different one? He had no fucking clue. They were on the cusp of the Wilds, and as far as he knew there were no packs out there, only monsters unfit for the city.

Since he was a Level L, they might keep him alive for later use, but what about Makiko? What would they do to her?

Shit!

Most packs didn’t have use for rival wolves, and she’d gone through all that trouble to protect him. His gut clenched and he peered into the darkness.

A spot of pale light shone in the distance, and whoever carried him did so carefully, their hands tight on his bare skin.

He’d been through this before.

Captured.

Sold.

Used.

As long as he had Trent to look forward to – Cole’s sweet smile – some kind of motherfucking joy in this bleak existence – he’d survive.

Right now, that didn’t seem likely.

He expected the light to be electric of some kind, but instead it came from a large hole in the tunnel before him. The rain still poured from the sky, and a few small fires burned around the edges of the hole which filled the entire area with the scent of cooked meat.

Rusted rebar stuck out of the area where the concrete had crumbled away like spokes on a great wheel. Grass grew into the hole at the edges, and moss continued after it, bright green in the gray light.

They were several meters underground, but the debris from the hole must’ve been cleared away at some point since the area was covered in a vegetable garden instead of piles of junk.

If Akito had to guess, they were a few kilometers from the edge of Trent’s territory, and this was out here? He didn’t think anyone lived here, least of all the mish-mash of wolf and humans who glanced at him curiously as his captors carried him into the open.

While they were as ragged as the humans inside the greater Neo-Tokyo area, their eyes didn’t hold the same sense of distress – hopelessness – that he was so used to seeing in everyone. Well, the humans in Trent’s territory didn’t always look like that, but they had in Sari’s.

And in Akito’s former alpha’s territory too.

One of the captors carried Makiko as well, her paws bound and her jaw tied shut, though her eyes were as wide and furious. She hadn’t shifted back into a human yet, which would’ve helped her get free if she’d tried.

No doubt she could slip her binds and escape like that.

Then it hit him – she couldn’t escape while he was still a prisoner of whoever the hell this group was. That lump in his throat felt like a damn chunk of concrete, and Akito frowned.

He focused on the men who’d captured them – all wolves – but the one who Akito bumped into brought up the rear, and he couldn’t get a good look him yet.

The alpha.

Funny thing was, if Trent pulled a stunt like this, he’d have been all kinds of turned on. Let Cole capture him and tie him up – then Trent would play with him – tease him into total arousal before he did anything else. Yes. That’d be a perfect night for the three of them.

This situation was anything but.

His captors turned down another tunnel, one that broke away from the hole but didn’t lead into total darkness. Weak light strips cast a dim glow down the tunnel. Solar powered, probably.

They passed a few pens, empty at the moment, and Akito’s heart slammed more quickly. Were these traders of some kind?

However, they didn’t put Akito or Makiko into the cages. Instead, they carried both wolf and human into a large room lit with golden light and lined with worn pillows, blankets, and a plethora of different items to make oneself comfortable if sitting on the floor.

“Tend to the female’s wounds,” the alpha ordered and slipped in front Akito.

He glanced at Makiko, and she struggled in their grip, whining and padding her feet. Akito shook his head and hoped she understood. Though he wasn’t sure he understood what he meant.

Don’t try anything stupid, maybe. Yeah, he’d go with that.

Then Akito glanced at the alpha.

His status wasn’t only due to his silver eyes, it was the power that radiated off of him as well. But that’s not the thing that struck Akito like a punch to the gut.

This alpha’s hair was dark brown and fell in loose waves around his face, and his skin was golden tan – darker than Trent’s by a few shades. However, he was as startlingly handsome as Trent in every way, from the quirk of his lips to the strength of his build. And there were definite similarities in the way they held themselves that Akito figured was an alpha thing.

But he’d seen plenty of alphas in his life and none of them moved like this.

None of them looked like a younger and slightly different version of Trent Yagami.

The wolf who held Akito set him down, but still gripped his arms so he couldn’t move.

The alpha smiled and pulled the gag out of Akito’s mouth, his fingers gentle. “Tell me, little human, why hasn’t my older brother bitten you yet?”