Chosen by Fate, Rejected by the Alpha

1103 Chapter 88- Rika – Like Any Other Day Part 3 (VOLUME 6)

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Rika

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Our group split up then. We needed to head in different directions and protect the people of the campus. We had stumbled upon this man with explosives, and it was up to us to make sure that no one was hurt at all. This was our duty. This was our responsibility. At least, that was how the ten of us saw it. We wouldn’t let someone do something so evil to innocent people. Not on our watch anyway.

Lyssa and I were running toward the places that were at the bottom of the list first. Reagan and Luka were starting at the top of the list, because some of those bombs were located on some ‘boys only’ floors of a dorm. They needed to be the ones to get in there and save the building and the people around them.

I noticed that one of the places that the man had put the bombs was near the fountain, where we were heading to kill time until class started. That was when I knew that this was a targeted attack. And that the main targets were me, Reagan, and our friends and family that were here with us. That man, that monster, had wanted to kill us.

Just thinking about that made my blood burn and boil in anger. I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t worried. I was pissed off. This man had tried to kill me, and that made me angrier than I have ever been before. If I wasn’t a reasonable person, I would have hurt him for just thinking about hurting me and my family.

Trying not to let him get to me, I hurried to where I needed to be. I had told Ashle about the bombs at the fountain, which was close to her. She said that she would confirm them and get the people in the immediate vicinity to leave the campus. She, being part Fae, had magic that would be able to convince the people around her to listen. I wasn’t at all worried about her succeeding. I knew that she would be able to handle it.

Lyssa and I found a bomb that was near a group of pretty girls. The girls, not at all suspecting that something was wrong, got angry at me when I intruded on their conversation. However, when the bench they were sitting on was moved, they saw the bomb and the danger that they had been in.

.....

Their screams of terror echoed long and loud through the open air. Several students that were nearby stopped to look in our direction to see what was wrong.

“THERE’S A BOMB!” One of the girls screamed in panic. That took a moment to settle into the ears of the other people, but the moment that it did, mass panic and hysteria started to ensue. Everyone was running away from the center of the campus and toward the parking lots and exits.

It wasn’t the mass exodus that we had hoped for, but at least it was getting the people out of the way. They wouldn’t be in danger if they left. And even the clerks from the stores that were nearby were running out of their businesses. They didn’t even take the time to lock up, they were all too worried about their lives. I didn’t blame any of them one bit.

“Come on, Lyssa.” I told her as we marked where the bomb was. “We need to find more.”

“I know.” She nodded at me, a firm line set on her mouth as she looked around seriously. “We will find them all. And hopefully, no one will get hurt at all.”

As we started to search out the bombs, and looking at the list of the locations, I could tell that there was something wrong. The thing is, the guy had labeled where he had put all the bombs, but they weren’t always the most coherent of words or locations. It was like some of the places were only of some sort of significance to him and nothing else.

It became clear to me that the asshat that was targeting us was just using us as a front. He was also targeting what appeared to be people or places that had angered him. I didn’t know who he was, or what his life was like, but I knew that not all of these locations on the list had to do with my people. Not specifically anyway.

Lyssa and I had only found two bombs when we heard the sounds of the sirens in the distance. We had moved fast, and the fact that they were all here within two or three minutes was proof that they had taken us seriously. That was good, because this was a serious situation.

“Should we go and find the police? We can help them find the bombs while they are here.” Lyssa said as we ran toward the next bomb location.

“No, if we go to them first, they won’t let us help. And not all of them are super naturals like us. They will not be able to find them, but they won’t let us help them either.”

“Are you sure?” She looked perplexed.

“They aren’t going to be like my parents.” I explained to her. “Unless it was Uncle Devon, or Aunt Rawlynne herself, we wouldn’t be allowed to help. And if we met anyone else first, they would force us away. We will do what we can right here and now.”

“OK.” She nodded with conviction then, running along next to me with determination and knowing that we needed to keep moving.

The sounds of the sirens didn’t fade behind us. In fact, they only got louder. It almost seemed like every police officer and FBI agent within a fifty mile radius was flocking toward the campus. That too was understandable. They needed to make sure that something like a bombing didn’t happen at a school, not even at a university. That would be devastating to the world, not just us here locally.

I didn’t stop, and neither did Lyssa. We found four more bombs before we ran into one of the cops that had arrived. It was Andrew Masterson, a detective at the local police department that had worked with Uncle Devon for a long time.

“Rika? Alyssa? What are you two doing here?” He asked us with worried eyes. “There are bombs all over the place.”

“We know.” I told him. “We have found half a dozen of them already, and we have marked where they are. We have been evacuating the campus and exposing the bombs so that the bomb squad can come in and handle them.”

“Wow, you’ve been busy.” He laughed lightheartedly. “I saw your friend at the square. He was restraining the suspect until we got here.”

“Good. That was what he was told to do.” I told Andrew firmly. “Come on, Lyssa and I will help you find the rest. We have a list of where he put them, but not all of them make sense at first. It’s taking us a while to figure it all out.”

“Would it do me any good to tell you to leave it to the rest of us? You know, your parents are almost here.”

“Yes, we know, we called them. That doesn’t change anything though. We are going to help you find these bombs. We were trained in scenting them out just recently. An FBI agent even brought the most common chemicals for us to smell. Given our sensitive noses, we are able to find them easily.”

“Yeah, I know.” He nodded at us. “I smelled the ones that were in the square. And if I can’t make you stop, then come with me. At least you have an official police escort now.” He laughed and waved us on. This was good. We would be able to keep working and trying to find those bombs.

There was the sound of commotion in the distance. There were several more people still running off of the campus as it was still being evacuated. Clearly, there were some hold outs that didn’t believe the story about the bombs until the police arrived on the scene.

Now that it was a cop that was telling those people to run, they were more than willing to trust that the story was true and they were ready to leave. The only thing is, they were leaving in a screaming panic. They were afraid that they were about to be blown up at any moment, and that even one delayed second would result in either their death or extreme bodily harm.

What I didn’t get was, if they were afraid of the bombs, why didn’t they believe the others that had told them about them? Why had they waited until the police had arrived on the scene? They had been warned before and had just dismissed it all as a hoax or something. That just showed how little faith the world had in the younger generation. Everything was a joke or a hoax to them all. That was their opinion apparently.

Lyssa and I worked with Andrew to find three more bombs before we found the next police officer. This one was Uncle Devon, and he was apparently relieved to see us.

“Where the hell have you been?” He demanded of us. “Where are your brothers?”

“They are looking for the bombs and evacuating people.” I told him honestly. “We have a list-.”

“Yeah, I know. A list of locations where the bombs are. We saw the device as well. We are finding them right now as well. There are two dozen wolf officers on the scene at the moment, and that isn’t even accounting for the other species or the FBI. We have this covered. The two of you head back to the parking lot. Your parents are looking for you.”

“We’re not leaving.” I told him firmly.

“That wasn’t a request, Rika.” Uncle Devon tried to use his position on the force to intimidate me into leaving, but I wasn’t having it.

“And I wasn’t making a polite comment. I am not leaving this search, Devon.” I didn’t use the uncle title that was used out of closeness and respect rather than blood or marriage relationship.

“Rika!” He growled my name, but I was stronger than he was. I put all of my anger into my words and responded to him in the same fashion.

“I am not leaving here, Devon.” I put every ounce of my anger and control into those words and saw the moment that he was forced to back down. He was clearly overwhelmed by my power, and subsequently turned to look away from me in deference.

“Fine.” He growled angrily. He wasn’t at all happy about being overruled by a girl that he considered to be a ‘pup’. I wasn’t to be looked down upon though, and I was going to make that clear here and now.

In truth, in that moment of power that I showed to Uncle Devon, even Andrew turned to look away from me as if he was overwhelmed by the intensity of my power. And neither of them were able to look me in the eye for a little while. For the next ten minutes or so, they both just looked at my left ear or somewhere over my head. They weren’t able to bring their eyes to my face.

I had seen this happen before. I had watched my dad do it, as well as other Alphas. It was the way the lower ranks showed their deference to their Alphas. I wasn’t the Alpha here, but it was nice to know that I had the power to get my way with these men here. They weren’t going to be forcing me out of this search any time soon. Nope, not at all.

In a way, that feeling that I got, that sense of power, was better than anything that I had ever felt before. It was exhilarating.