Surrender to the Dominant Alpha

Maia

The corridor smelled of chlorine and reheated coffee. The monitors' beeps came and went like a tired ripple. I was checking the IV bag for the third time when my cell phone vibrated in my lab coat pocket - three times, the way my brother and I had agreed for emergencies. My heart skipped a beat, then raced.

"Heitor?" I whispered, my eyes still on the patient. "Talk."

The silence on the other end told me more than any explanation. When his voice finally came, it was rough, with no room for bravado.

"I messed up, sis. They found out it was my doing. There's no escaping it."

The world shrank to the width of the corridor. I signaled the technician to cover my room and slipped into the supply closet. The smell of gauze, of metal. I locked the door from the inside.

"How much?" I asked, in a tone I didn't even recognize.

"It's not money. It's the one in charge. The D'Ávila pack wants... wants a direct settlement."

The name dropped into my stomach like lead. D'Ávila. The Alpha who didn't need to raise his voice for the entire city to hear her.

"Do you have proof?" I forced out, because the nurse's habit wouldn't let me accept a diagnosis without an exam.

"They have my steps, my conversations, the route I took." He sniffled. "I thought I could bypass their quartermaster's office, just once..."

I closed my eyes. Heitor always believed that "just once" was a bridge to an easier world. That was now collecting its toll with tongue and teeth.

"Where are you?"

"Turning the hospital corner. They sent a message: 'Today still.' Sis... they said the boss is coming. Him."

I ran out of air for a second. I started breathing again as if learning anew. The clock showed 9:17 PM. The shift had six more hours. Life had no more margin.

"Stay away from the main entrance. Hide your face. I'll find a way to get you out of there." I unlocked the door, smoothing my lab coat with cold hands. "And don't answer anyone else."

"Sis... forgive me."

The call died. The corridor, returned, seemed different, as if a shadow had preceded the body. I still discharged a controlled fever, readjusted the mask on a man who insisted on pulling it down to his chin, and excused myself to the doctor: "my mother got sick," I lied without stammering. In the elevator, the mirror returned a woman who hadn't slept for thirty-two hours and yet seemed familiar with danger.

At the front desk, the security guard stopped me with an automatic gesture.

"Employee must register exit," he said, without looking up from the monitor.

"Family emergency. I'll bring the certificate." My voice was steel.

He was about to object when the automatic door opened and the air temperature shifted. Two men crossed the lobby before the sensor could fully open the rest of the way. They weren't the first wolves I'd