“Nothing. Just wait and don’t move,” he said in a tone that made it clear he was exasperated with mealready.
“Just wait? Why?” I pressed, getting frustrated. “Are you from Scarlet Ridge? Why did you take me from thecompound?”
“You ask too many questions,” the mansnapped.
He didn’t seem to want to hurt me, but I was still highlysuspicious.
“Wait until Gunner finds out about this,” Imuttered.
At the sound of that name, the man’s aura completely changed. He growled through gritted teeth. Despite not being able to see his face properly, I could tell he was outraged. He seemed to only just hold himself back from transforming into his wolf and biting my head off. His whole aura radiated anger and rage at the mention of Gunner. Immediately I regretted bringingthatup.
We sat in awkward silence after that. The man just stood there with crossed arms and tense posture, like he was ready to jump after me the moment I made any break to escape. I had no plan of doing so - not just yet. I didn’t sense any outright malice from this man, but I wanted to know what the hell was goingonhere.
A crashing noise reverberated through the leafless trees. The dry branches clacked together like skeletons as a large animal wove through the woods. Behind them, someoneshouted.
I whipped towards the source of the noise. The hooded man gave no comment or reactiontoit.
A moment later, a huge black shape leapt into the air and slammed rightintome.
Winded, I was sent sprawling a few feet before I got back on my feet. My heart jumped into my throat, pounding violently. The shape in front of me now was a massive and sleek black wolf with piercing dark eyes. It was clearly an alpha wolf, and unlike the hooded man, this one actually did seem intent onhurtingme.
As the wolf began to run, I yelped and tried to get away. Because of the collar around my neck, I couldn’t shift into my own wolf, but I knew either way I wouldn’t have a chance in hell of defeating an alpha onmyown.
Why is this happening to me!?I thoughtmiserably.
Running was pointless. The black wolf had me knocked to the ground again in an instant. I grunted and tried to kick at it, but every blow I made probably felt like being landed on byafly.
The wolf lowered its jaws and I braced myself for the bite, but it didn’t come. The wolf seemed more interested in knocking me around with its big paws than going in forthekill.
I was confused, frustrated and started to get pissed off. Why had that alpha kidnapped me, and who was this other alpha wolf pinning me to theground?
Despite my physical weakness and conditioning to fear and respect alphas, my irritation was edging outontop.
“Get off of me!” Ishouted.
The black wolf didn’t heed my words. He growled in his throat, but it sounded like an empty threat. He didn’t bite or scratch me, just kept me stuck to the ground. For a moment, I felt a flicker of recognition of this wolf, like his scent was familiar despite the musky wolfishness it currentlypossessed.
Everything changed when another figure crashed out of the thicket. My breath caught in my throat. David stood there, his eyes wide andfurious.
“Get away from him!” he snarled. He shifted lightning-fast into a massive and powerful wolf that slammed into the side of the black one on top of me. I yelped and crawled out oftheway.
The two beasts became a flurry of teeth and noise. David’s fur was deep auburn, almost red, and he was clearly more muscular than the black wolf. I stared at the scene with my jaw dropped. Why was David, an alpha who was trying to abduct me, fighting off my abductors? I didn’t know what to thinkanymore.
In one quick motion, David sunk his fangs into the black wolf’s scruff and flipped him over. The black wolf grunted but his efforts to get back up were dashed when David pinned him down and snarled inhisface.
The black wolf stopped moving and laid on his back in submission, although he still had a strange aura of dignity about it. Then, with a gasp, I realized who the black wolf was -Virgil.
A moment after I had my epiphany, both David and Virgil shifted back to their human forms. David still looked enormously pissed off. Virgil had the same cool, quiet expression that he always did. But my mind swarmed with confusion. Why had he attacked me? And even more pressing - why did David try to save mefromhim?
I shook my head and backed away. There had to be some kind of misunderstanding. I knew Virgil, and I trusted him. As a First Order alpha, he was supposed to keep me safe, especially from an outsider like David who was trying to kidnap me. Or… supposed to be trying to kidnap me. Virgil shouldn’t have attacked me, and David shouldn’t have intervened as if he reallycared.
My head startedtohurt.
“What the hell is your fucking problem?” David spat at Virgil, getting up in his face and nearly attacking him again. Virgil held up a hand to calm him, but David swatted it away. “No, don’t pull that shit with me! Why the fuck did you attack Niko?Answerme!”
I listened in stunned silence. So David really was trying to save me from Virgil - that much was clear. But Gunner’s words swirled to the forefront of my mind. David had no intention to help me in any way; he only wanted to steal me for his own use. Maybe he only saved me so that I would still be in one piece, I thoughtgrimly.
“Calm down,” Virgil said in a tone so relaxed that it nearly made David go ballistic. He went to grab Virgil in anger, but the black-haired alpha shimmied out of the way. “Let me explain thesituation.”
