Pulled to the Alpha (Alphas in Heat 5)

Sperling takes a deep breath, wipes the blood from the side of his mouth and glares at me with his jade green eyes shining brighter than ever.

“Keep your Bureau friends away from me,” he says as he begins to shake and tremble. “This was a warning. Next time it won’t be.”

Huge red wings rip out of his back and then, in a skin-crawling tear, he explodes into the red dragon I’ve been chasing for years.

He flaps his wings, sending my hair flying back with the wind, and I watch in awe as he flies up. I dart to my hands and knees and furiously dig through the snow for my gun. When my fingers wrap around cold steel, I yank it out and fire three shots at him.

They do nothing. This guy is unstoppable.

I’m so focused on him as he flies away that I barely register the enormous polar bear rushing back out of the hole in the wall. Several other men—probably shifters from the size of them—follow him out and all of them are staring at me.

I grip my gun and take a few steps back with my heart hammering against my ribcage.

“I’m from the FBI,” I say in a stern warning. “Go back inside.”

The polar bear doesn’t listen. He keeps walking toward me and doesn’t even stop when I point the gun between his eyes.

He finally stops and begins to shake. I watch with my stomach churning as he explodes into a familiar-looking man.

It’s the fire chief. Blake Frost.

And he doesn’t look happy with me.

At all.

Chapter Five

Blake

“What are you doing here?” Lily asks as she stares at me in shock. Her brown eyes are alert and wide as they dart down to my naked cock that’s hanging between my legs.

She sucks in a breath and then her eyes dart back up to mine. She doesn’t blink for a long time after that.

“I followed you,” I admit in a shameless way.

“You… followed me?” she asks as she jerks her head back in shock. “That’s illegal.”

“I’d break every law that man has ever made to keep you safe, Lily. There are no laws when it comes to a shifter protecting his mate. The only law is keep her safe at all costs.”

Her breaths are coming out quick and shaky.

“What the fuck, Blake?” Colby, the bartender and owner shouts as he walks through the Koolaid Man-sized hole in his bar. “My bar is fucked!”

“I’ll send my boys to fix it first thing tomorrow,” I say, feeling awful even though it wasn’t my fault and I’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant saving Lily.

“Tomorrow morning?!” he shouts. “I have a bar full of people and it’s early March!”

“I’ll buy everyone a round. There’s not much more I can do.”

“The hell there isn’t,” he says as he pushes my chest. My inner polar bear growls. Colby is a Kodiak bear shifter and a grumpy one at that.

“Hey, asshole!” Lily shouts as she pulls out her gun and points it at his chest. “This is FBI business so get back in the fucking bar or I’ll make some calls and have a dozen agents going over your last year’s taxes with magnifying glasses! Start pouring those nice people some drinks on this naked gentleman over here and stop interfering with an official FBI investigation!”

Colby’s face drops as he looks at my fierce girl. His hands slowly go up and then he backs away through the hole and disappears into his bar.

Her vicious brown eyes turn back to me and I gulp.

“Do I look like I need someone to keep me safe?” she snaps as she shoves her gun back into the holder under her jacket.

“No,” I admit. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere. You’re coming back to my place.”

She storms up to me and sticks her finger in my face, but before she laces into me, her eyes drop down to my package one more time.

“Can you put some clothes on please?” she asks with her cheeks blushing an adorable pink.

I grab my shredded clothes off the sidewalk and put them on. Even though I like seeing her all flustered like this, there will be a better chance of getting her to come home with me if I’m not a perverted naked guy in the street.

Once I’m dressed, her finger resumes its place in my face.

“I’m not going back to your place!”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

I think about picking her up, throwing her over my shoulder, and carrying her back to my house kicking and screaming, but she’d probably shoot me in the back.

“I know where the other two dragons are,” I tell her. “Aylwin and Reginald Kirk. I’ll tell you back at my place.”

Her face twists up in fury, agitation, frustration, rage… I could go on…

“Tell me here.”

I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head. “Not going to happen. My place or nothing.”

“And you know their exact location?”

“Down to the latitude and longitude.”

She stares at my face for a long moment and I can see the thoughts spinning behind those gorgeous brown eyes.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

She storms off and I smile, knowing I have her right where I want her.

“Lily!” I call out. She stops and turns, looking annoyed. “It’s this way.”

* * *

“This was not what I was expecting,” Lily says as she looks around my house.

“What were you expecting?” I ask her as I make some drinks. A couple of Manhattans.

“I don’t know,” she says as she looks out the large windows. In the morning, she’ll see a stunning view of the mountains, but right now, she can’t see much of anything in the dark. “Like a cave or something.”

“Because I’m half bear?” I say with a chuckle. “That’s specist.”

I walk over with the two drinks and try to hand her one. She doesn’t take it.

“I’m here in an FBI capacity,” she says in a firm unwavering voice. “Not as your date. And definitely not to get drunk.”

I pull the drink back, taunting her. “You don’t want it?”

All that unwavering resolve fades as she eyes the drink and licks her lips. “Fine, I’ll take it.”

I think we both need a strong drink after what we just went through on the street.

She takes a sip and tries to hide her enjoyment, but she can’t get her feelings past her mate.

“So, where are Aylwin and Reginald?”

I’m going to be honest with her. With everything. I don’t ever want to tell her a lie.

“They’re both dead.”

She swallows hard as she watches me. “How do you know?”

I can’t throw my crew under the bus, so I decide to leave them out of it.

“I killed them.”

“You killed them?”

I nod. “And I’ll kill Sperling too if he touches you again.”

She takes a long deep breath and then takes a big gulp of her drink, nearly finishing it as she watches me over the rim of the glass.

“Why did you kill them?”

“They were trying to hurt the mates of the guys in my crew.”

“So, you killed them?”

“Yes,” I say bluntly, unapologetically, happily.

“Where are they now?”

I point at the window. “Buried somewhere deep in those mountains.”

She tilts her chin to the side as she studies me. Fuck, she’s beautiful. Having her in my house is killing me. A part of me—the dark primal part—wants to drag her into the bedroom and show her how meant to be together we really are, but instead, I give her some time to realize it for herself.

“How do you know I won’t arrest you for admitting that?”

“Because I know.”

She scoffs. “How do you know?”

“Because I know you wouldn’t do that to me. I know you have feelings for me?”

“Feelings?” she scoffs as she puts down her drink. “We just met and I’m working. I don’t ha

ve feelings!”