The beast grabbed and twisted a started werewolf’s neck killing him before he could even cry out. The thrill of the kill flooded the beast and he roared in satisfaction as he moved on to his next victim. While the other’s attempted to open the locked doors of the building the beast was content to tearing apart any of Xavier’s men that dared to show their faces around them.
With a low growl, he stalked over towards the others wondering what was taking so long with the door. “You mind?” Lily asked him moving her head towards the door. “It’s locked and none of us can seem to break it down or pick the lock. I prefer not to shift,” she added and the beast gave a little nod. The alpha gave him a nervous glance as he ordered everyone to step away from the door.
The beast slammed his clawed fists into the door sinking his claws easily into the metal. With a loud roar, he pulled at it. The hinges groaned in a complaint but eventually gave away to his brute strength. He tossed it to the side feeling satisfied with the fearful looks everyone was giving him. Though the feeling was dimmed when he noticed Lily didn’t seem impressed at all.
He growled quietly in frustration wondering what it would take to win her favor. They entered the large building to be met with more of Xavier’s goon which made the beast even happier. He tore into them killing two with one swipe of his clawed fist. He grabbed another breaking the creature easily and tossing it across the room. Quickly they, mostly the beast, had them running.
He could hear the sounds of the other teams in the building as well. He followed his group into the heart of the building searching for signs of Xavier or the children. The place was a maze and the beast had a hard time keep track of where they had gone and where they were going but any creature that wasn’t among them he quickly took care of before anyone else.
They eventually came to a long corridor that ended with a large door and some kind of number pad to the right. Lily took out a piece of paper and unfolded it. She walked up the door and punched in a series of numbers and the doors opened.
“How the hell did you know the combination?” Nick demanded, looking at her suspiciously.
Lily shrugged. “A little bird told me,” she stated and neither the beast nor James liked the sound of that. “This is where we go our own ways boys. Xavier is mine and mine alone. Find the children,” she added as she passed the doors. Nick demanded to know what she was talking about and the beast started towards the door but before he could reach her, she pushed something closing the doors.
“What the hell?” the alpha cursed and the beast slammed his fist into the door but surprisingly it didn’t seem affected by his brute force. “She can’t really be stupid enough to try to face that lunatic alone,” he added and the beast knew that she was going to do just that, but he didn’t understand why. The beast continued to pummel his fists into the door to no avail. “Come on James, you’re not going to get through that,” Nick told him.
~I’m not James; I’m the beast~ he sent to the alpha mentally while he growled with anger. Nick took a little step back in surprise.
“Well… beast then,” he said with an uncertain tone. “You’re not going to get through that door or you would have done so by now. Let’s do what Lily said and find the children,” Nick explained but the beast refused. He couldn’t let her face Xavier alone! He clawed at the door attempting to break through, but his claws only let small scratch marks. He roared with frustrated fury. Nick gave him an impatient look and he growled at the alpha who took a step back but his look didn’t change.
He could feel that James agreed with the alpha that there was nothing he could do to get through the door. He growled in angered defeat and agreed to follow the alpha. They backed out of the large corridor and down another hallway. Rabid with fury he tore into any of Xavier’s men he found leaving them in several tiny pieces, covering the halls with their blood. He never understood why James didn’t enjoy the pleasure of the brutal act of ripping one’s life from their bodies. He found it to be quite enjoyable and often rather entertaining.
It was clear from the looks the alpha and the others were giving him they felt the same as James did. He refused to let their looks of fear and disgust ruin his fun and continued ahead of them. The other groups had joined up with them. The human woman eyed the beast with mistrust and surprise.
“What in the hell is that?” the dryad asked seeing the beast.
“So that’s the other face of James Lacrosse?” The human woman asked. The beast growled at her sharing James dislike of her. Nick confirmed that he was James’s beast.
“That’s damn awesome,” the dryad cheered and the beast puffed his chest with pride, ignoring how the human continued to eye him with suspicion.
“Always impressive as ever,” Bianca stated, giving him a wink.
“We have more important things to do that discuss James and his unusual shift,” Dorin insisted and Nick eagerly agreed.
“Of course,” the human stated with a small nod. “The west and east wing have been searched. The west wing appears to be the domestic are for his guards. We found their sleeping quarters, cafeteria, and so on. The East was basically empty and used more for storage. I think the children are being held in lower levels underground. We ran into a long corridor on the south end but couldn’t figure out how to get passed the door,” she explained.
“That sounds like where Lily had decided to act like a one man army and take Xavier on her own,” Nick told her with bitterness lacing his voice. The human gave him a sympathetic look, but the beast growled at her feeling angry. It was her fault that Lily had gone off on her own, he was sure of it. The human took a step back quickly taking out a knife as she eyed him with suspicion.
“Oh you pissed the big bad wolf off Jessie,” the dryad said in a sing-song voice.
“Back off lycan,” the human snapped at him but he continued to growl at her as he stepped towards her. She gave him a warning, look flashing the knife at him, but the beast swat at her arm easily knocking the knife out of her hand. The beast loved the look of surprise and fear that crossed her face, but it was short lived as the alpha got in his way.
“Back off Beast! She isn’t your enemy,” Nick demanded and the beast felt his influence trying to get him do what the alpha wanted. However, it only made him angrier and he took a step towards him. The beast wasn’t some domestic mutt to be ordered around! In fact, the beast still had the abundance of thirst for bloodshed and he was starting to not care whose blood it was he spilled. “Calm yourself down now,” Nick demanded and the beast was almost inclined to do what he was told but instead he simply growled at the alpha.
The beast took another step towards the alpha extending his clawed fingers menacingly, not taking his golden eyes off of the werewolf before him. The alpha returned his powerful gaze with no apparent sign of fear. “I’m the alpha beast,” Nick started saying the words slowly and clearly, each word filled with authority. “You will do as I say and I say you back down now,” he ordered. The beast stood before him snarling examining the alpha looking for any hint of fear or uncertainty.
The Alpha returned his growl and the beast saw nothing but powerful authority coming from him so he did as the werewolf told him and he backed off. “Good, now take these,” he said tossing a small cloth bag at him. “Go around the corner and shift back to James. Your help is no longer needed Beast,” he demanded. The beast growled at him again not wanting to leave. He wanted to kill more people, but the alpha threw his influence at him and the beast begrudgingly did as he was told.
James breathed a sigh of relief when he was now back in control dressing quickly in the clothes that were stored in the bag Nick had given the beast. When he rejoined them, he saw Nick had the same expression of relief. “That was a close one,” the alpha breathed.
“You have no idea. If you had shown any hesitation or doubt the beast would have killed you,” James replied.