A/N Hi! This is my first story here so let me know whether it needs more editing, to be continued, to be snuffed out before it's too late etc. Rated for language only :P

One

Why is it always me? Why couldn’t they have picked some other poor sap?

Collar turned up and hands stuffed deep into the pockets of a charcoal trench coat, she stormed down the street, going head to head with the driving rain. So said hands were clenched into fists of fury, and cheeks were mottled with anger beneath the shielding windbreaker. She was royally pissed off, and the weather didn’t help a single bit.

Muttering all curses and expletives under the sun, Shayla broke into a long-legged run as the rain doubled its efforts to soak down to her soul. It was no longer just raining, it was hammering down. Huge droplets of rainwater torpedoed down from the clouds to land with fat plops on the pavement. If they hit a body, like Shayla’s, then they became extremely painful.

Ducking under a roof, she sighed as the sensation of falling needles evaporated. She glared up at the sky, and as if it sensed her, it sent a large droplet cannoning down straight into her eye. Swearing enough to make a gangster embarrassed, she swiped it away and leaned again the door. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with the exertion of running. To give her more air, she pushed stray clumps of matted hair out of her face, clearing her nose and mouth. Closing her eyes and panting, she felt the rage simply slide out of her as the rain washed into the drains.

What was the point of being angry? In fact, this could get her right to the top if she played her cards right. So what if she’d risk her life; renowned reporters like herself did that every single day. The only difference was, none of them would get their hands on a scoop like this one. Not in another millennia.

A small grin broke out on her face. Yes, this could really work for her. No matter if she hadn’t been given any choice but to do it, no problem that she’d be fired if she failed. Hey, no worries! Shayla Thompson was going to make this suicidal assignment work to her benefit.

She could see the report now. ‘Super Star Reporter Risks her Life for Impossible Scoop.’ Yeah, that would work extremely well. Heck, maybe she’d get the News Today nomination this year. Best reporter? Best scoop? Overall Best?

Her toes curled in anticipation.

How hard could it be to get an interview with the two most notorious gang leaders to ever walk the New Continent?

It seemed fitting that the city that had once been New York was once again being terrorised by gangs. The Primeras and Alphas were the most fearsome people within ten thousands miles of Andromopolis; no one dared to mess with them, not even to stop fighting which often got innocent civilians hurt.

This was why her story would be important. Shayla may be able to provide the information the experts needed to find the weak spots in the gangs. They could finally find a solution as to how to put the mobs at peace.

Shayla stood under the doorway until the rain slowed to a drizzle. With a heartfelt sigh and a mental curse that she hadn’t taken her Hovercycle to work this morning, she stepped out onto the pavement. 2200, and they haven’t even thought of a way to stop the rain, she thought in disgust. Rain was fine when you were indoors. And dry.

Without warning, she was grabbed from behind. A hand clapped over her mouth as an instinctive muffled scream escaped, and she was shoved forwards. Stumbling, eyes rolling in panic, she was forced into an alleyway and pinned against the wall.

A hand bracketed her wrists above her head, and a body was used to hold her own.

Eyes closed, Shayla fought for breath. This is it. I’m going to be raped, then slaughtered! I’m too young! With all her might she began to struggle against the steel strength of her obviously male captor. Defined muscles in a lithe body held her in place almost effortlessly, so she played dirty. Her eyes snapped open and she bit his hand. There was a hiss of pain, and she dragged in air as her mouth was clear. With renewed strength, she brought her leg up between his.

A hand clamped on her knee, effectively stopping its path to connect with his groin. Shayla glared into the shadowed face of the man as he chuckled softly.

‘Let me go!’ she hissed, squirming to be free. ‘Damn you, let me go!’

‘An inch more, and I wouldn’t have had a choice in the matter.’ His voice was surprisingly clear and soft, especially when she had been expecting grunts and a gravely tone. ‘Would you lower your leg? You’re making me very uncomfortable.’

‘Let me go first.’ My god, she was reasoning with a rapist.

He let her go, but kept crowded close. She slapped her hands on his chest and tried to shove him away. ‘Ever heard of personal space? And why the hell did you grab me like that?’

He didn’t budge. ‘I need you to listen, and I don’t want anyone else listening. I want you to stay in this alleyway until I come back. You’ve just walked into a battleground.’

Shayla’s eyes went wide. ‘Battleground?’

She was shocked when he scowled. It made her try and peer at him more closely in the dull light of the side street. He had short, spiked hair, its colour indistinguishable in the dark. His eyes were covered by Reflecta lenses, but his expression was more than visible even though his eyes were covered. ‘An Alpha wandered into Jekkel’s tera.’

‘Who’s Jekkel?’

‘Primera leader. But they will hurt you if they see you. So stay out of sight.’

Her eyes had lit up. ‘I need to meet this Jekkel. I need to get an interview for the Times.’

‘What?’ was the shocked reply. ‘Are you being serious?’

‘I’m a reporter,’ she said smugly. ‘And this is going to be my breakthrough.’ She made to push past him but he kept her firmly against the wall.

‘They’ll kill you if you set a foot out there! What, are you completely mad?’

She tossed her head back and glared. ‘And who the hell are you to try and stop me from making my own decisions?’

‘I’m an Alpha, so don’t push me.’ His face was close to hers as she gasped. ‘And I’ve just saved your life. So stay.’

In a flurry of leather he turned on his heel and walked away, pausing only briefly to call, ‘And my name is Kai.’

She wasn’t exactly one that could take orders without question. So she followed him out into the rain. Kai, however, seemed to have vanished into thin air, and all Shayla saw was a deserted street bathed in the grey waters of the storm. No black coat or biker booted feet to be seen. Anywhere.

Her mysterious acquaintance was an Alpha, and it was supposed to mean something to her? What was he going to do, kill her if she followed him? Shayla some how doubted it. If he really wanted to hurt her, wouldn’t he have just killed her in the first place when he had the chance?

‘I told you not to follow me.’

She jumped at the voice behind her. In hindsight, she supposed that she should have been expecting it. Kai stood there, rain dripping off his fringe and scowl as dark as the night.

In the face of fear, Shayla scoffed. ‘Like I ever take orders. I’m a reporter, Mister, and I follow my nose for a story.’

Kai looked to the heavens for guidance. ‘God, give me strength! Of all the women to come across...’ He sighed. ‘Listen, and don’t make me hurt you. Stay out of sight! Or else-’

‘Or else what? You’ll kill me?’ Wildly, she shoved at him. ‘I have every right to stay here, dammit!’

‘Don’t doubt that I’ll kill you!’ Suddenly his expression became ten times more fierce. ‘Don’t you dare doubt it!’

Fighting her pounding heart, she backed away. Just as suddenly as the flash of anger in Kai’s eyes, a gunshot blasted out through the rain. Quick as lightning, Kai had his own gun drawn and fired three shots into the air. Covering her ears, Shayla screamed and almost fell backwards. She screamed again as and entire battalion of black clothed, faceless people practically tumbled down from the roofs above them.

‘Get out of here!’ Kai roared, shoving her forcefully backwards into the shadows. Shayla fell, her back slamming against the cold, hard stone of the wall and her head impacting with a cracking sound. The world went blurry and she struggled to focus. As the sound of lightning tore through the sky, she slipped into a fuzzy consciousness, only half aware of her surroundings.

Shit, she cracked her head! Kai took three steps towards the slumped woman. A hand grabbed his shoulder, stopping him, and he whirled around.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t a masked Primera attacking him. Kai found himself staring into the face of his best friend, Jerome.

‘What the hell d’you think you’re doing!?’ he yelled, flaming hair wild, dripping wet. ‘There’re Primeras falling from the sky and you’re pissing around with a goddamn female? Get you’re sorry ass into gear!’ With a hard slug on the shoulder, Jerome leapt away. With a roar the man ran straight at the opposing wall of Primeras, his laser gun firing rapid rounds. Kai saw that many of his own Alphas had also had the same idea as Jerome, even though he hadn’t joined the fray.

Kai took one last glance at the girl. She seemed to be holding on to consciousness by a thread. But there was nothing he could do. He had a battle to fight. Turning away, he followed Jerome’s lead. He activated his wrist shield, big enough to deflect bullets that came close to his torso and took a deep breathe. Drawing his gun and laser he swung them to the wall of Primera’s and began firing. There was a roar from any Alphas who had been waiting for his signal, and both gangs began to fight in earnest. When the bullets ran out, they turned to their laser charges, and those who had static sabres leapt into a sword crossing battle. Kai found himself in trouble when his laser lost its power for no reason. He was without a weapon, and close enough to the enemy to touch them.

Ah, shit, this is where I die.

‘Kai!’

He whipped around as Jerome threw a discharged sabre at him. Gratitude in his eyes, he activated the sword and hurtled towards his next opponent. Kai soon found himself back to back with Jerome, surrounded by an increasing circle of the opposition.

‘What the fuck did you bring an uncharged laser for, you asshole!’ Jerome yelled as he ducked to avoid a blow.

‘Like I’d be that careless.’ Kai viciously lashed out at his opponent. ‘It was full thirty seconds before it died. Someone’s been screwing around with our weapons.’

‘Yeah, well, if it weren’t for me, your ass’d be on Jekkel’s mantle by now.’

‘How many times has your own ass come close to that position huh?’ Grinning, Kai floored three men in one swift slice. ‘Still remember the time when you screwed up?’

Jerome laughed loudly. ‘Which time?’ He deflected a blow and kicked the opposing Primera hard where it counted. Amid the groans of pain as his opposition sank to the floor, Jerome threw his head back and howled with glee. ‘Man, I live for this shit!’

Kai couldn’t help laughing. He looked around the battle field and saw that they were undoubtedly winning. Swelling with victory fed adrenaline, in the true Alpha tradition, he joined his brother in a loud wolf song. It was answered by many others. The haunting noise unnerved the Primeras who paused in their fight to stare around them in fear.

‘Victory!’ Jerome shouted as thunder boomed. ‘Victory to the wolves!’

Full of the joy of the battle, Kai howled again along with his pack brothers. His howl was cut short however, as a glint in the distance caught his eye.

Scowling, he focused on the object. It was a necklace of onyx, draped around a hooded figure that lay low in the shadow of a monument.

‘Jekkel,’ he hissed.

Jerome swung round, wide eyed. ‘Where? Oh!’ Spotting him, he did a double take. ‘When was the last time he came to a battle?’

‘Don’t know,’ Kai growled. ‘And I couldn’t care. You keep the others together; I’m going for him.’

Jerome threw out a hand to stop him. ‘Don’t be an idiot!’ he roared. ‘The last time you two met you broke your arm in three places!’

Kai grinned. ‘I broke both his arms in three places. Now his legs need a turn.’ Pulling himself away he stalked across the square in pursuit of the enemy.

Rain hammered down on his head, proving a bigger annoyance than was necessary. It made his fringe hang in his eyes and drip water onto his face. He forced himself to ignore it, focusing on Jekkel’s shrouded figure.

Without warning, Jekkel scuttled straight from the shadows, into full view on the battle ground. If he didn’t move quickly, he’d loose his chance.

Sprinting now, Kai leapt onto the monument, clinging to the arm of the statue for balance. Slowly letting go, he planted his feet and raised his gun arm. He was dead on target. There was no way he could miss.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that made his heart lurch in his chest. Someone had moved that girl. Why that panicked him, he couldn’t guess, but it threw his aim off an inch as his hand involuntarily squeezed on the trigger.

The bullet hit the drain below Jekkel's feet.

Silence descended. His own people couldn’t believe he’d missed, the Primera’s registered how close their leader had come to dying, and Jekkel himself stopped in his tracks.

‘Shit,’ Kai breathed, quickly reloading his gun.

Jekkel threw back his hood. Kai was met with the extremely unpleasant sight of his ravaged face, scars that Kai himself had given the bastard years before. What was worse, his visage was grotesquely twisted into a smug grin.

‘You missed,’ he growled.

Kai took in the whole scenario. Should he shoot now, when Jekkel least expected it? He might not kill the bastard, but a bullet in the kneecaps could do wondrous things of pain. He cocked his gun again, just as a though occurred to him.

‘Yet again Jekkel,’ he sighed. ‘You miss the point.’

The monstrous gang leader scowled. ‘The only point I see is that you missed your mark.’

Kai lowered his gun with a grin. ‘Did I?’

As if on cue, the ground started to shake. A look of panic crossed Jekkel’s features just before the drain beneath him exploded. He was shot into the air atop a powerful jet of water. He was kept airborne by the sheer force of the explosion.

Amid Jekkel’s indignant screams, Kai began to laugh. Now that he had humiliated his enemy, he felt a whole lot better. But the best part was yet to come. Suddenly, the water supply that kept him afloat was cut off. With a high pitched scream, Jekkel fell like a rock from twenty feet in the air. His body hit the ground with a muffled thump sound, and after a loud groan the ass passed out.

Instantly, the Primeras were thrown into action. They surrounded their leader, lifting him onto their shoulders. After he was secure, they scuttled away into the darkness.

Kai jumped down from the monument. Jerome ran up to him, slapping him hard on the back. A huge grin was plastered across his face. ‘Man! You scared the shit outa the lot of us. We thought you’d lost it.’

‘I’m fine. Meant to do it.’ Kai waved a hand at him, scanning the area. ‘Where is she?’

Jerome frowned. ‘Who?’

‘That girl...’

Comprehension crept onto Jerome’s face. ‘That chick you were messin around with earlier?’ He grinned. ‘Sweet on her are we?’

Kai shoved him. ‘Come off it. Seriously, where is she?’

‘No idea mate.’ Slinging a joyful arm about Kai’s shoulders, he turned them both away from the square. ‘Let’s go back to the den. I sure as hell need a shower.’ Catching the concerned look on his leader’s face, Jerome sighed. ‘Kai, she’ll be fine. She probably crawled away. She’s probably home about now.’

Finally complying, he allowed Jerome to lead him away. But he was unable to shake the unexplainable concern he felt for that strange woman.