Page 24 of Bullied Alpha Bride (Wolfshade Brides-for-Hire #2)

A chill invades the soft, comforting warmth of my deep sleep. The only thing I’m aware of is a faint feeling of annoyance that I have to leave this perfect place to come back to reality.

Eyes still closed, I reach for Lexa… and find nothing but empty floor.

Immediately, I’m shocked, wide awake, flipping onto all fours as I look desperately around the room.

Not here… she’s not here!

Fear rolls through my chest, the icy waves crashing against the heat breaking out across my skin. It’s pure panic—an emotion I’ve never truly felt before.

I leap up in one movement, grabbing my pants and yanking them on. With my confused, barely awake brain, the only conclusion I can come to is that she left me. Slipped away while I was sleeping to run from me. From this beauty that we only just found.

Did she feel it, too? Was I dreaming this? Why else would she go somewhere and not wake me up?

The pain of losing her hits me like a warhammer. My breath is knocked out of me, and my knees tremble so hard, I have to grab a nearby table to keep myself standing.

I can’t live without her!

I’ll find her. Wherever she’s gone, I’ll find her.

As my panic begins to subside, it’s followed by a far worse feeling. A heavy numbness that affects all my muscles until I’m standing there as tense as a stone statue.

What if she doesn’t want me to find her?

My breath starts to burn in my throat, and panic rises again. I take two frantic steps forward, and my head spins. Slowly, my brain is waking up, but my thoughts are still a chaotic mess.

That’s when I notice the fire is dead and cold, and the wood basket is gone.

The relief that hits me then is more powerful than the fear. I gasp for air, reassuring myself that everything is alright, she didn’t leave me, and soon I’ll have her back in my arms again.

I stride towards the door, purpose giving me strength. In my mind, I can see myself walking out the back door, looking across the yard to see her standing at the woodpile, waving happily to me with a big smile on her face.

Desperate to make the dream a reality, I run down the hall, flinging the door open.

The completely empty yard refuses to register. I can imagine her there so strongly, I have to blink my eyes several times to convince myself she really isn’t there.

Then I see the wood basket sitting in the corner of the yard, discarded on its side.

As if someone dropped it… or threw it.

I hurry towards it, but I only take a couple of steps before I smell the blood. I trace the scent straight to the woodpile, seeing the smallest splatter of red blood across the white stones in front of it.

I know it’s Lexa’s, but I have to get a better smell of it to be sure. When I bend down and touch it with my fingers, it’s cold, almost frozen. Barely even sticky.

Shit… this happened hours ago!

I bring my fingers up to my nose, and I know with complete certainty it is Lexa’s blood.

“Master Kit?” a questioning voice calls from the cottage. “What is it?”

I whirl around to face Joe, standing at the door of the cottage. I can see Susan standing behind him.

“Lexa’s gone!” I roar, losing my composure. “There’s blood here—did you—I mean—is there—”

Words fail me, and I fight the hopelessness with the only thing I have in me that’s stronger.

Rage.

“Master Kit?” Joe asks, coming across the yard. “What do you mean, blood?”

The light gray dullness of the yard is suddenly cut by a bright beam of sunlight coming over the mountain to the east, on the other side of the lake. It hits the front of the house and lights the courtyard with a shimmering orange glow.

What a beautiful sunrise. This could have been a perfect day.

As the chaotic thoughts crash through my mind, shattering against each other in an endless fall, one clear one shines through.

I’m cracking up.

“Did you hear anything?” I yell, crossing the yard to face down with Joe. “Did you see anything? Anything at all?”

“We’ve been soundly tucked in since sundown, sir. We woke up about half an hour ago. We were just having breakfast when we saw you come out.”

Susan follows Joe hesitantly into the yard, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She looks at the red splash on the ground with wide, terrified eyes.

“I was just coming to start cooking for you,” she says. “My God, is that blood?”

“It’s blood,” I confirm. “Lexa’s blood. We’re wasting time!”

I turn away from them, tearing off my pants so I can shift and charge towards the lake. There are the tiniest drops of blood scattered far apart, almost undetectable, but enough for me to follow.

I keep my nose down and swiftly chase the trail. Behind me, I hear the others calling, but I don’t stop. I just keep running into the trees.

As I run, a terrible bloodlust rises in me. I remember many chases just like this, hunting on Grandfather’s order.

“Criminals,” he’d say to me. “Fiends. They don’t deserve our mercy. They threaten the peace of the pack. Kill them!”

The very first time I went out, at fifteen, I hesitated. Our prey was a young boy, a little younger than me. I can’t remember what crime grandfather accused him of—or if there even was one. I was the fastest one, the best tracker, and I brought him down.

The shock took him out of his wolf form, and he looked up at me with huge, fear-filled eyes. I leapt back, shocked by his fear and something far worse—confusion.

Does he know why we’re after him?

After many years under Grandfather’s iron paw, I’ve come to believe that the boy probably didn’t.

The others caught up to me, and Grandfather wanted to know why I hesitated.

“Take the kill! Immediately, you goddamn weakling!”

But I couldn’t move. I stood frozen, staring at the boy.

And Grandfather ordered the kill squad to finish the job.

They took their time. The three big, experienced hunters toyed with him, chased him around the clearing, sometimes almost letting him get away before leaping in front of him and shoving him back into the circle.

They started with nonlethal hits, grabbing an ankle or a wrist, slowly tearing chunks out of him until he was bloodied and broken, staggering between them.

Finally, he fell. There was nothing left in him, and the kill squad looked furious that their toy was now broken. Wick, the biggest and the meanest, fell on him and ripped his throat out.

Grandfather told me that if I’d had the strength to kill that boy, none of it would have happened. So, I learned to kill. Swiftly, cleanly, and with mercy.

As I charge through the woods, my paws drumming on the soil and the fresh mountain air searing my lungs, the bloodlust and rage rise in me, swallowing all my doubt.

I know I can take on ten wolves the size of Wick. I have experience and power—and the ability to kill in milliseconds with no conscience or care.

Thank you, Grandfather, for this gift.

Finally, I have a use for it.

Suddenly, I realize I’ve been running up the mountain for a long time, and I can’t detect Lexa’s scent. Cursing myself for a goddamn fucking fool, I turn back down the mountain, desperately searching for it again. The trail was faint to start with, and now it’s impossible to find.

Back to the lake. Start again. I can’t afford to waste this time—they could be killing her right now!

Even though that’s my worst fear, I don’t think it’s likely. I know they’ll want her alive, even if it means bringing the entirety of Cyan Lock down on their heads.

Those fuckers have no idea what’s coming for them.

As I trot back towards the house, I hear raised voices, and the tang of lots of pissed-off wolves reaches my nose. I shift mid-run and hurry into the courtyard to find it full of people.

“Kit!” Kate yells, throwing her arms around me. “Thank God you’re back. Where is Lexa?”

“Not with me, obviously,” I snap. “I lost the trail.”

“We’ll help,” Cade offers, emerging from the crowd. “Everyone’s here. We got you, bro. Just tell us where to start.”

I look around and see Mabel, Xavier, and Cass. Lexa’s other friend, Misha, is here. Even Derrik and Jones step forward, ready to fight.

“I called everyone I could think of,” Susan says, standing at the edge of the crowd. “And they all came.”

The sudden sound of tires spitting stones out on the drive makes us all run. We come charging into the circular front garden to see Galen’s truck pulling up out front.

“Kit,” he says, jumping out and grabbing my hand. “We’re here. What can we do?”

Clara jumps out of the truck, and so does Galen’s sister Winnie and a couple of others from his council. I’m so overwhelmed for a moment, I don’t know what to say.

Then, there is a high, mad laugh from the far trees. I turn around slowly to see a wiry old wolf standing at the edge of the forest, coughing on its own mirth like a hyena.

“Tell me where she is, you mad fuck!” I scream, taking long, slow steps towards the old wolf. “I will snap you to pieces like old twigs if you don’t tell me where she is!”

“Oh, I’ll tell ya,” the old man chuckles, shifting to reveal his skeletal, ancient human shape. “But only you, Alpha Kit. Not the others.”

Growls break out all around me as my friends show him exactly what they think of that idea.

He shrugs. “He comes alone, or she dies. That’s the rules.”

“What’s going to stop us from following you?” Cass asks, her voice firm as if she’s talking to a toddler.

He cackles. “These hills are full of eyes, sweet thing. We’ll know. We've been setting this up for some time. Did you really think our alpha would let his princess get away?”

A shudder runs through me as I remember Lexa telling me not to call her that.

“Okay!” I shout over the rising rabble. “I agree, it’s fine. Let’s go.”

“The hell it is!” Galen yells, grabbing my arm. Cade quickly grabs the other.

“You aren’t going alone, bro,” Cade says. “No fucking way.”

“It’s a trap,” Galen adds.

“Of course it is,” I answer. “I’m still going.”

“No,” Galen tightens his grip, and Cade shakes me.

Rage builds in my blood, heating me from within. Every death I dealt in Grandfather’s rule plays out inside me, and the growl that spills from my throat echoes through the crowd like thunder. My friends step back in a hurry.

“Stay here,” I command, glaring at them. “All of you, stay here!” I yell, making sure everyone can hear me. “Nobody follows me!” I shout, looking around at their faces.

All of them look upset, some of them scared, and Galen and Cade just plain fucking mad.

I give them a final glare, then turn to walk towards the old man.

“Let’s go, asshole,” I bark. “She better be alive.”

He cackles. “Oh, of course she is. The princess is a tasty sweet, and she belongs to the beta. I assume he’s claiming her right now.”

The demon I tried for so long to tame rises its ugly head inside me, and instead of fighting it, I let it consume me.

“I will kill you,” I say in a low voice. “And I will enjoy it. If you’re very lucky, it will be quick and in the heat of battle. If you’re unlucky, it may take days.”

“My luck always holds fairly well,” he chuckles. “Let’s be off, then. Wouldn’t want you to miss the show!”

I refuse to respond to his taunt, and he turns away from me, shifting into his wolf form and running into the forest. Even though he’s old, the wily wolf is still fast, and I have to race to keep up.

Good. Get me there as fast as possible, old man. That way, I can kill you and all your kind that much quicker.