Alpha Unhinged (The Dixon Brothers 4)

Oh my God. What did I do?

We may be going forty miles an hour, but I’d rather have every bone in my body broken on the highway than be chopped up by a psychopath and his brothers on the Dicks In Ranch.

I say a little prayer when he slows down in traffic, open the door, and leap out.

Ow, ow, ow, ow!

My body slams into the side of the dirt road and rolls and rolls and rolls and fucking doesn’t stop rolling.

I finally skid to a stop and stare up at the bright blue sky with a wince. “Ow.”

That fucking hurt. My elbow is throbbing, but I don’t think anything is broken. I do a quick test of all my limbs and they all move. Landing in the dirt shoulder of the highway probably saved my life.

“Oh no,” I gasp when I spot Jacob’s truck swerving to the side. His break lights come on and I know it’s time for me to start moving. I push myself up to my feet with a groan, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

I hear the door open and he calls out my name in a panicked voice.

He’s not catching me. I start running toward the dense forest. It’s thick with trees and if I have a head-start, I might be able to hide. This bright yellow jumpsuit is the opposite of camouflage but I have no time to strip it off. This man moves fast.

I barely make it past three trees when he catches up to me.

“Alyssa!” he says with panic in his eyes. “What are you doing?!”

He grabs my arms and stares at me in shock.

I have one trick. It worked on Grey, so I try it again on Jacob. With a grunt, I kick him in the balls as hard as I can.

His eyes widen, his face turns red, and the vein on his temple gets so big I think it might pop, but he doesn’t let go.

He’s holding his breath as the pain rockets through him. “Ow,” he finally says. “What was that for?”

“I know what you have planned,” I scream at him, “and I’m not going to submit! I won’t go down easy!”

“You won’t?” he says, looking like I just stabbed him in the heart. “But you’re my mate.”

“I’m not your—what?” Did he just say what I think he said? I’m his mate?

He lets me go and stares down at me with such longing and pain in his eyes that it breaks me. The need to escape is replaced with an intense need to sink into his arms and hold him.

But I don’t. He is a psychopath after all.

“Alyssa, we’re mates,” he says softly. “Don’t you feel it?”

I feel something. Something strong and pleasant radiating through me.

I look up at him with new eyes, open eyes, and see what he sees. Holy shit, he’s right…

My body urges me to go to him. I feel the pull. We stare at each other and the connection between us takes hold. I can feel it building, growing, strengthening with each second I stare into his beautiful brown eyes.

“You’re a shifter?” I ask in a breathless voice.

He nods slowly. “A Kodiak bear shifter. I’ve been desperately waiting for you for a long time, Alyssa.” He reaches out and touches me like he’s touching an angel. “I can’t believe you’re finally here.”

I swallow hard when I feel his warm hand on my cheek. My eyes fall closed and a moan escapes my throat as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and then drags the back of his fingers down my neck. A spot under my ear immediately starts tingling. It feels like it’s missing something… His lips? His teeth? No, that would be crazy.

I push the thought away and try to clear my fuzzy brain. “But wait a minute,” I say, snapping back to reality. I take a step back. “What was that talk of killing me on your ranch?”

“What?!” he says with a gasp. He shakes his head, trying to process my words. “The what?”

“Maybe I misunderstood that part.” I bite my bottom lip as I try to replay it in my head. “Dicks In Ranch! What about that? You’re trying to stick your dick in me!”

He laughs and my hands squeeze into fists. How dare he laugh at me.

“Dixon, not dicks in. It’s my last name. Jacob Dixon.”

He pulls out his driver’s license to show me and I can’t help but laugh too. Right. I guess that makes more sense.

“But the bloodbath on the ranch! You and your brothers are going to kill me!”

He shakes his head as he looks at me with sad eyes. “I’m not going to hurt you, Alyssa. You’re my mate. I was born to protect you. The bloodbath is concerning those bikers that left when you arrived. Did you see them?”