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Part 27 - ...Relapse

(Alexei)

"Alex!"

A soft yet persistent pounding against his muzzle stole Alexei from his sleep. With a yawn, he forced his eyes open to a squint, spotting Nathan's little arms clinging to his nose through the darkness. "What? ...What is the matter?"

"I heard a noise downstairs," the husky whispered urgently. "I think someone... I think _they've_broken in."

Alexei blinked his eyes fully open, those words raining down like a bucketful of icy water. "You are serious? I locked the doors, the windows... Are you sure?" "Yes!" Nathan whimpered, his little face visibly scrunching with worry.

"Okay... okay..." The wolf did his best to put on a brave face, slowly moving to switch the bedside lamp on. As his paw passed it, he noticed the bright display of his alarm clock reading '03:54'. Brightness filled the room a second later, forcing both Alexei and Nathan's eyes to narrow. "Nate, try to be calm. Is your phone working again? You have signal?"

The husky scampered off, hopping down from Alexei's chest and over to the side table. He dropped to his knees and reached across to grab his device. "I do! Thank the gods, I thought those fuckers had broken--"

"This is good," he cut Nathan off, his own anxiety pushing him on to explain his plan of action. "I want you to call the police."

"What?"

"Call them, tell them we phoned earlier." Alexei got himself up out of bed, taking care of both his husky sitting at the edge of the bed and the amount of noise he created. "Tell them that Yuri and his friends are back."

"But... I'm Polcian. They might not care."

Quickly, Alexei slipped into a pair of trousers he'd discarded on the floor before turning back towards the bed. "I am hoping that they will act differently, now that they have the report and know of the situation."

"I'm not so sure..." Nathan stood up to his feet, his neck craned up to meet the wolf's eyes from the mattress resting at knee-height. "Maybe it'd be better if you call them--"

"No." The cold chill of terror that had blown through Alexei had all but cleared, thawed by the burn of his protective instincts. "I need to try and stop them."

"You need to what!? You can't be serious."

"This is my home, my business. It has been in my family for generations." Alexei bent down and reached under his bed. Promptly, he retrieved the short, thick plank of wood that he'd always stowed there. In this district, it had always paid to be prepared, even before this whole mess had begun. "Think of how the police have acted so far. I do not trust them to arrive before it is too late."

"By the gods, Alex... Don't! You can't go down there with that, alone. They're fucking crazy!"

"I cannot just wait here... This is just not possible."

"Are you even listening to yourself!? Hell, knowing them, this is exactly what they want!--"

With a gentle touch, the wolf placed a finger pad to Nathan's muzzle, silencing his protestations. "Nate, keep your voice down."

"Please... don't do this."

Still crouched, Alexei finally looked back to those pleading blue eyes watching him. For more than a moment, he considered relenting, considered phoning the police and simply waiting for them to handle things.

'The shop, your family's history, it could all be gone by the time they arrive!'

"Please, Alex."

'What if they force their way into the apartment also? What if they snatch him away again?'

Without a word, he leaned in to give Nathan a soft lick upon his muzzle and stood up. "Call the police."

The little husky whined, reaching out for Alexei shortly before he turned to tread delicately away from the bed and across the room.

Opening the bedroom door allowed the thumping and murmuring words from below to become that much more audible. Still, the voices weren't clear enough to reliably identify who they belonged to, but it probably wouldn't take much of a leap in logic to take a decent guess. Alexei slowed his steps even further, doing all that he could not to draw a sound from the living area's floorboards. Turning his ears back, he could just about make out the start of Nathan's hurried conversation with the police.

'Maybe you should have listened to Nate? You should have stayed with him.'

He pressed on in the face of his recurring doubt, making it across the darkened, lifeless room without a sound. Reaching out for the brass knob of the apartment door with one paw, the wolf tightened his grasp on the makeshift bat in the other. He held his breath and gave the knob a slow twist, pulling the door open as subtly as he could.

A chilling breeze blew by as Alexei stepped out of his apartment, setting his fur even further on end. He sucked in deep breath and took another step forward. In dead silence, he set his paw down, spreading the pressure as evenly as he could one step below on the creaky staircase.

With gritted teeth, the wolf took step after step, fighting to stay quiet. Nathan's voice faded into nothing as he went, while those of the trespassers increased in volume. Hearing their words, all the anger he held towards Yuri and his crew for what they'd done to him, and his husky especially, returned in spades.

Memories of the chase back to the shop, the harrowing moment that he found Nathan missing and the heartbreaking sight of the injured, frightened husky emerging from the cold undergrowth; it all hit him in a hail of muzzle-snarling rage.

With one final step, Alexei reached the bottom of the staircase. Now, just a single door rested between him and his invaded workshop. Maintaining his stealthy action, the wolf grasped and turned the handle, pushing the door open just a crack. He swallowed hard, peering through the opening while squeezing the wooden plank until it became almost painful. Sure enough, Alexei found two darkened figures slinking cautiously through the eerie moonlight.

'Be quick, Alex!'

He slipped around the door, creeping with delicate footsteps towards the smaller figure standing with their back turned alongside the closest workbench. Gripping his makeshift weapon with both hands, Alexei steadied his shallow breathing. He stifled a growl and drew his arms back. One last exhale saw his tense muscles loosen. With all the strength he could muster, he twitched and readied to unleash a swing upon the head of the unsuspecting intruder.

A sudden burst of light shocked Alexei to a standstill, forcing him to turn away and cover his sensitive eyes. He recovered quickly, turning back to find Marat's vulpine muzzle peering at him with an equal level of surprise in the now illuminated workshop. The wolf gasped, quickly twisting his neck left towards the light switch on the adjacent wall. He'd not have a chance to react further. Before Alexei could even blink, a blurred form had rushed across to fill his vision. A forceful crack to the head followed. Equilibrium faltered. The cold, hard floor greeted him. Everything went black.