Alpha's Revenge (Shifter Ops 3)

Sadie’s already come to collect Deke’s boots and clothes. She hands Channing his Henley helpfully. She's a gem of a woman, perfect for a shifter mate. Although her brow is knotted.

“I didn’t see your shirt,” she says.

“I’m good. We’re all good,” I reassure her.

She nods and glances down the road. “These roads are really icy,” she whispers to me, and I nod. She’s worried about Adele.

So am I.

“Go back in the house,” I tell Sadie. “It’ll be okay. Deke and I will make sure she’s safe.”

I turn to Channing, and he nods before I can say anything. “I’ll watch the lodge. Go on, Sarge. Go get your female.”

Your female. I don’t waste time correcting him. I turn and run with shifter speed through the woods, following Deke’s wolf tracks.

Adele

My fingers clutch the cold steering wheel, my body tense as if I can will my vehicle safely down the snowy drive. I should’ve waited longer for my truck to warm up. My breath is fog in front of my face. The snow’s picked up again, and my old tires aren’t handling the road well.

Who the hell lives on the side of a mountain with only a hellish, winding road to reach them? Rafe Lightfoot is officially the most annoying man on earth.

I still can’t get over the fierce snarl on his face. He looked like a madman. Wild. Feral. He looked like something not human.

I hope poor Channing’s all right. He got a few punches in, but he acted like it was all a game. Rafe wasn’t acting. He looked like he wanted to murder someone, and Channing happened to be game.

Deke and Sadie didn’t seem to care. Maybe it turned out all right. Maybe I should’ve stayed and heard the explanation. Maybe after they got their tensions out, they all went back inside and had coffee and dessert.

The real reason I left: Rafe’s gorgeous body, half naked, muscles flexing. Flawless. Scrumptious. The things I would do to that man if I got him alone.

My tires skid a little, and only years of practice stops me from hitting the brake and sliding into a ditch.

Stop thinking about him. I need to focus, not think about getting Rafe alone after the fight, his hard body sleek with sweat, his heated gaze locked onto my body.

Focus. My windshield is fogging up, and the defroster vents are doing nothing to help. I lean forward and wipe the glass clean with my coat sleeve. It clears the glass a little, but leaves a smear. Goddammit.

A few more yards, and the narrow drive deposits me onto a bigger road, and I breathe a little easier. Maybe I will get down the mountain after all.

Something flashes at me in the dark. Two green lights, glowing. Some sort of animal loping out of the forest. A dark shape, with light tipped ears—a wolf. It sits and watches my truck inch down the snowy road, looking regal and calm. Unafraid. I shouldn’t take my eyes off the road, but I do, just for a second, to stare at it.

And that’s when my tires hit black ice.

Rafe

I hear the accident before I see it. A crunch of metal and then silence. I tear down the mountain, a bit slower than shifter speed, so I don’t lose my step and go tumbling. It’d be easier to do this as a wolf. My body would be closer to the ground.

The road is a white ribbon through the dark trees. I speed my steps. There’s Deke up ahead. He’s a huge beast, black with white tipped ears. I’m dashing now, not bothering to be careful. Branches whip my face. One catches my mouth, and I taste blood.

Deke the wolf turns and trots up the incline to meet me, and I feel relief. He wouldn’t be so calm if Adele was hurt. He’d be down there, shifted to a naked human to help her.

“She alive?” I ask. The wolf nods.

“Go. Get Channing and the Hummer.” We have good snow tires on the Humvee.

Another dip of its big, furry head and the wolf runs off.

I continue down, just slow enough to keep from overbalancing, letting gravity pull me down. Adele’s truck is half off the road, canted into a ditch. The driver’s side of tires spin in the air.

I sniff the air as I slide down the final few yards of the embankment. There’s no scent of blood, but she could be hurt internally.

Adele

I took my eyes off the road for a second, and now I'm in a ditch. My tires slid out from under me.

The thump and crunch echo in my ears. My cab is tilted, but I’m still in my seat thanks to my seatbelt.

I’m alive. The world has gone silent, and the snow seems to be falling in slow motion.

The wolf is gone. Apparently car accidents disturb it because as soon as I looked up, it was loping back up the hill and disappeared into the forest.