The blade sliced clean, and I lowered him to the ground as the life drained out of him. Quick. Efficient. No suffering. As muchas I wanted to make him pay for what he'd done to those omegas, that wasn't my job. My job was to end the terror.
I wiped the blade on his jacket and stepped back as his body released a final gasp. The whole thing had taken less than ten seconds.
And then I felt that prickling sensation at the back of my neck that warned me I wasn't alone. I turned and scanned the alley. There was nothing visible in the shadows, but the feeling didn't go away.
Someone was watching me.
I shoved the knife back into my belt sheath and headed toward the far end of the alley. My steps were silent and my senses were on high alert. If someone had seen me, I needed to know who they were and what they'd seen.
Then I saw him. A man was standing at the other end of the alley. His silhouette was backlit by the streetlights, and it was obvious he was tall and broad-shouldered. Clearly an alpha, built like a brick wall.
When our eyes met, neither of us moved. He was staring at me like he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. And I was staring back, trying to figure out if he was a threat.
But I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
I didn't know who he was or what he wanted, but I wasn't sticking around to find out. My feet pounded against the pavement as I ducked around corners and vaulted over obstacles. I could hear his footsteps heavy behind me, but I didn’t look back to see how close he was.
He was faster than I expected for someone his size, but I was faster.
There was a chain-link fence ahead, so I launched myself at it. My fingers hooked into the metal, and I pulled myself up and over in one smooth motion. The second I hit the ground on the other side, I kept running and didn’t hear him following behind.
By the time I reached my car, my lungs were burning and my heart was racing. But I felt good. These were the moments I lived for. I slid behind the wheel and started the engine, with adrenaline pulsing through my veins.
I pulled out onto the street and forced myself to drive at a normal speed. The last thing I needed was to get pulled over for speeding.
Once I was a safe distance away, I pulled over and took a shaky breath. Who the hell was that alpha, and why the fuck was he there?
He wasn't a cop because cops didn't move like that. And he wasn't a civilian. No civilian would've followed me into that alley.
Which meant he was like me. Someone working for one of the families.
I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Lorenzo.Job's done. Minor complication.
His reply came almost immediately.What kind of complication?
I hesitated, then typed back.Someone was there. An alpha. He saw me.
The three dots appeared, then disappeared. Appeared again for a moment before his response finally came through.Did he follow you?
I almost smiled at my parkour training getting put to good use. That was actually kinda fun. Confusing, but fun.He tried. I lost him.
Good. Get out of there. I'll handle the fallout.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I shoved my phone back in my pocket and stared out the windshield. The street was quiet along the empty road. Just another night for most people.
But for me, it was the first night I’d been caught totally off guard in the middle of a job. It made me wonder if Webb was his target or if I was.
Maybe it didn't matter. I'd probably never see him again.
I'd spent my entire life avoiding alphas. They were dangerous and unpredictable, and being around them always made me feel like prey instead of a predator. Like I was a target, because no alpha could understand me. They were used to soft and docile omegas who were all about making babies.
That wasn’t who I was at all, and that made me good at my job. No one expected me to be a threat, so I could get in and out of a situation without detection.
Until now.
I went back to the hotel I’d been at for a few weeks while taking care of some real estate investments and finally took a full breath. I stripped off my clothes and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water wash away the blood on my skin and thetension in my muscles. By the time I got out, I felt a little more human.
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