Alpha Beast (The Alpha Shifter Collection)

“My mommy picked it out. She said we were going to be happy here. She’s not always happy, but we were going to be happy.”

“Do you know where your mommy is?” she asked.

The little girl shook her head. “No, Mommy got out. I … I was too sick. I couldn’t get out. I followed her, but she didn’t see me. She cried a lot. I don’t know where she went. Men took her.”

“Men?”

The little girl nodded. “I saw them. They were wearing really nice clothes. Mommy said if they’re wearing nice clothes then I have to be quiet. It didn’t matter though. I kept on screaming but she didn’t hear me. She took off in the van.”

“How old are you?” she asked.

“Eight.”

“You’re a big girl.”

She nodded. “Why are you here?”

“I came to see about this place. I had to wonder why it … burned down.” She looked toward the little girl. “Sweetheart, you know why your mommy didn’t hear you, don’t you?”

The little girl nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’m dead. It’s okay, the bad man told me.”

“The bad man?”

“Yeah, huh. He’s really angry. He doesn’t like that he’s been killed.” The little girl looked all around. “I can’t see him. He wanders off. He tells me I’m a pain and that I should die for real. He’s not very nice.”

“He doesn’t sound very nice.” Jenny watched as the little girl tensed as she looked over her shoulder.

Turning in the same direction, Jenny saw why. The man coming toward them was more beast than man. Claws were in place of where arms were supposed to be. It looked like his face had been torn in two. The anger and rage simmering off him were palpable.

This man wasn’t good.

The spirit was alive.

The lights flickered and smashed as he came close.

“He wants to try to hurt me.”

“You’re the weirdo that can see us.” He snarled toward her.

Jenny had been around angry dead people before, but nothing like this. She touched her stomach, feeling that tight sickness curling within her gut.

All of a sudden, her grandmother was there.

With every passing second, Jenny felt her energy being drained. Her grandmother was using her to ward off the evil spirit.

It was intense, painful, and so fucking scary.

Whoever this man was, he was no friend to the Wolf family.

Chapter Six

Liam parked alongside the car Jenny had taken. The moment he’d gotten the call from his men, he’d been pissed. Not one of them could give him a reason as to why his wife had decided to leave the safety of their apartment. Not only that, not one of them could tell him why they didn’t even stop her.

He’d been in the middle of an interrogation about why the building across the street had burned to the fucking ground. According to early reports from his men in the fire department, it was purposefully set. There had been civilians inside that fucking building, and now he was pissed off.

He spotted Jenny immediately and climbed out of his car, intending to berate her for being so fucking stupid. Instead, he paused as he watched her.

Something was going on.

Her stance.

The way she looked.

The instant she swayed, he knew she was about to hit the ground. Sprinting across, he launched himself over the fence and captured her before she’d even hit the ground. Her entire body completely passed out.

“Jenny,” he said, touching her forehead.

She was hot to the touch. Without waiting, he picked her up in his arms and moved toward the main gate that led inside the building. So much for a protective barrier.

The gate sprang open, and he carried his woman across the threshold, going toward his car. Before he got there, something traveled down his spine. He didn’t know what. A sixth sense, maybe, but he stopped and turned toward the house.

He didn’t know why he kept on looking back, only that he had to. Something was there.

“Liam,” she said, moaning, drawing his attention back.

“I’ve got you, baby. I’m not going to let you go. I’m right here.”

His wife opened her eyes and looked a little dazed.

“I’m going to be sick.” She threw herself out of his arms, bent over, and did exactly as she said she was going to do. He rubbed her back, keeping an eye on the road. No one was around. It was why it had been the perfect location for shifting drugs and other things to export.

“I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you.”

She kept on puking. All this time, her body shaking with each upchuck.

After a few minutes, she stopped, but she was still gagging with nothing to come out. She stopped, spent and exhausted, collapsing in his arms. He caught her, knowing he wasn’t going to let her go.

He carried her toward his car.

“What about the other car?” she asked.

“Someone else can come and get it.”