His to Play With (The Alpha Shifter Collection)

“Baby, everything is going to be fine.”

“Fine! You think going hunting after a bunch of lunatics is going to be fine? You’re joking, right? There is no way you’re going to make it out alive. You saw the aftermath of what happened. Me? I saw what truly happened. I was there. They’re monsters, Damon. You could get hurt.”

“And you’re not happy with that.”

He parked the car as she slapped his chest, hard.

“That’s not funny.”

“Holly?”

“No! I’m not talking to you. I don’t think any part of you getting hurt or killed is funny.” She got out of the car and started to storm up to the house. Damon got out as a wave of scent hit him hard.

Something wasn’t right.

The door opened, and the stench got even worse.

He screamed her name, but in the next second, Holly was grabbed around the neck and pulled back.

Damon pounced as guns were trained on him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Henry being shoved to the ground. The gun pointed at his friend’s head. Natalie was with him, sobbing.

The coppery smell of blood filled the air, and he noticed the red stain between Natalie’s thighs mixed with the blood.

Her water must have broken.

A scream filled the air as Natalie writhed in pain.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

And to top it all off, the leader had Holly. A blade pressed against her neck, right against her pulse.

“Well, well, well, look what we’ve got here,” the man said.

He flicked his tongue against Holly’s cheek, and his mate recoiled. The blade was too close to her flesh.

“I’d be careful, wild one. One wrong move, and I might plunge this blade right into your neck.”

“Let her go,” Damon said.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because if you do, I’ll kill you quickly.”

“You and what army? The cowardly pack is back in town, sleeping all warm and snug. Don’t worry, I intend to finish what I’ve started. You’ve got the bitch here, but she’s no good. She can’t help you. My whore is pregnant and once she has spat a kid out, she’s going to die. Then you’ve got your human slave. There’s just you.”

The leader didn’t realize Henry was wolf. The man didn’t turn, but he had the strength. Damon hoped his friend had heard him.

Henry hated to be called a slave after the life he’d lived. Damon had set about his freedom from the packs, and there was no way anyone was ever going to make him like that again.

Damon stared at the leader, not saying a word.

This game was the same he’d played many times. The leader was exactly like the other alphas he’d been challenged by.

Staring at him, he waited. Not making a sound. Not begging for his mate. The wolf in him wanted to pounce, but he held himself perfectly still, keeping in constant control even though Holly was in danger. He couldn’t live without her.

“Damon?” Holly asked. “I love you.”

This drew his attention. “You’re going to tell me this now?”

“I … I think it’s rather fitting, don’t you?”

“You’re not going to die,” he said.

The leader laughed. “So full of false hope.”

“Yeah, well I know something you don’t,” he said.

“And what is that?” the leader asked.

“I don’t have a human slave.”

Before anyone could react, the gun went off, and the man who’d been pointing it at Henry was dead on the ground. Henry wasn’t in sight.

The hunters tensed. Their guns moving as they looked all around for a sighting of Henry.

Damon had learned early on how dangerous Henry was. How very close to the edge he could be if pushed.

He took care of him. At Henry’s request, he never asked him to hurt people. Damon had realized Henry was never a threat until he was provoked in the worst possible way. A gun to the head was an extreme.

All he’d needed was to wait for Henry to be in the right place to strike.

Another male cry, and a body was thrown from the tree line, landing on the ground. Henry was pissed. The hunter didn’t have a face. It looked like it had been hacked right off.

“What is this?” the leader asked.

“Well, you see, you kind of pissed off a very, very loyal friend. He has a bad history with hunters of any kind. Years and years of abuse and being kept on a tight leash have affected him, and well, you threatening him like that, you’ve kind of signed your own death warrant.”

Another scream. Another body.

Damon kept his gaze on Holly as Natalie let out a scream.

“Something is happening here,” one of the guards said. Seconds later, he was gone as well.

The bodies kept on piling up until all that remained was the one guard with the knife so close to Holly’s neck.

Damon took a step toward him and another.

“You call him off before I take everything from you.”