The Alpha (The Lycans 4)

And then I could see them, two large forms colliding with each other, another roar erupting, but this time it came from Cian behind me. I didn’t stop and think, my body just reacting as I ran toward my car, small pebbles from the lot digging into the bare soles of my feet. But I didn’t feel any pain. I was running high on adrenaline; this whole situation was wrong.

A little voice in my head said it wasn’t because of Cian, that wrongness that filled me, but because something else was pushing its way through… something truly dangerous.

I reached my car, but my keys slipped from my fingers in my haste to open the door, in the slickness of the rain. My entire body was soaked, my hair plastered to my face and forehead. I pushed away the strands, frantic, frightened. And then I felt intense heat cover my back, my entire body freezing as I slowly turned around and tipped my head up, up, and up until I looked into Cian’s eyes.

A gasp left me as I saw the glowing irises, a vivid blue that cast its eerie glow along me, as if he was lit from the inside out. Our chests were almost touching, Cian so much bigger than me that my head barely reached his pectoral muscles.

The rush of the rain, the boom of thunder, and the sounds of an aggressive fight happening far too close for me filled my head. But as the seconds ticked by and I stared into Cian’s eyes, everything else faded away.

He groaned deeply, his gaze lowering to my lips, water sluicing off both of us. His short hair appeared darker from the rain, the strands cast in spiky sections around his head, some pieces sticking to his forehead. And then he was lifting his hand and covering the side of my face, his palm as big as my cheek, engulfing it.

His mouth was on mine before I could react, the second kiss of my life, this one and the first happening within the past five minutes and rocking me to my core.

He broke the kiss, and I stumbled back against my car, dazed, confused. Nothing else mattered but feeling him pressed against me again.

But the flash of movement coming right toward us, of a body being tossed onto the ground, drew both of our attention and had Cian bracing himself visibly.

The man pulled himself off the ground, shaking his head as if to clear it, blood marring his neck from deep clawlike gouges on the white skin.

Cian had his back to my chest, pushing me more firmly against the car—a shield of bone and muscle and flesh.

The wind howled, the water obscuring my vision and making it hard to see anything, but as I stared at the man now standing just feet from us, his face clear and hard with anger, I felt confusion fill me.

It was the minivan guy from the Amish store.

I noticed the gun he sported, one that glinted briefly under the flash of lightning. As if he heard my thoughts, he snapped his head toward me. Cian growled low and dangerously, a warning even I recognized. Before the other man could raise his weapon, which by the tensing of his arm I knew was about to happen, Cian launched himself at him.

The two bodies collided, one so much bigger than the other. I made a horrified sound. I found myself stepping forward, knowing how foolish it was to get in the middle of a fight that vicious, but everything inside me urged me to help Cian.

I was in a haze as I took the next step, but a steely hand clamped on my wrist, stopping me and causing me to snap my head over my shoulder.

The woman from the minivan stared at me with wide, terrified eyes. “We have to get out of here,” she urged in a harsh whisper, her gaze flickering to Cian fighting the other man. “That… that thing isn’t human.” Her voice was pitched low with thickly laced fear. “They’ll kill us.”

She started pulling me away, but I dug my heels in the now muddy ground, shaking my head because this felt wrong. This wasn’t right.

“No,” I said softly, maybe too softly for her to hear. She wasn’t listening; she kept murmuring about how dangerous it was, how we had to get out of here, how they’d tear us apart. I looked over my shoulder again but couldn’t see the fight, the wind and rain making visibility almost impossible. I could hear them though, deep grunts and rough growls. I swore I even smelled the coppery tang of blood in the air.

“No,” I said even firmer, yanking my arm from her grasp hard enough that something popped in my shoulder. But I didn’t worry about the pain. I turned and faced her, realizing she’d dragged me to that same minivan that had screamed families and road trips.