Page 81 of Captivated By Alphas 1, Fated (The Blood Moon Chronicle #4)
Dad was trying to sit up, his arms shaking with the effort. Gray skin, shallow breathing, blood everywhere—he was dying, and no amount of supernatural power could change that unless I got him help.
“Dad! Dad, stay with me!” I crawled to him, leaving bloody handprints in the grass. “Don’t you dare die on me.”
“You need to go,” he gasped, his hand finding mine. “They’re not here for territory, Eli. They’re here for you.”
“Me?” The word came out as a snarl. “Why would anyone want me?”
“No time.” He coughed, blood speckling his lips. “Run.”
“Like hell.” I positioned myself to lift him, that alien strength still flowing through my muscles like molten silver. “We’re leaving together.”
The panthers were regrouping, forming a circle around us. More kept emerging from the forest—fifteen, twenty, maybe more. Their blood-matted coats caught the afternoon sun as they prepared for another attack.
But I wasn’t the same person who’d been pinned and helpless minutes ago. I was something else now. Something that could carry a full-grown man like he weighed nothing and move fast enough to make the world blur around me.
I hoisted Dad onto my shoulders in a fireman’s carry, his blood immediately soaking into my already ruined shirt. He groaned in pain, but I could hear his heartbeat strengthening slightly. Good. He was going to live long enough for me to get him to safety.
The panthers seemed confused by this development, struggling to process the transformation they’d witnessed. Several of them actually started fighting each other, momentarily forgetting their original target.
“Please move,” I whispered, though I wasn’t really talking to them. I was talking to whatever forces controlled the universe, asking for just this one break. “Please just let us go.”
For a moment, it seemed like they might actually listen. A ripple of uncertainty went through their ranks, some primitive part of their brains recognizing that the prey had become something much more dangerous.
Then their leader—a massive, scarred nightmare covered in old bite marks—roared a command that shattered the momentary stillness. They charged as one, a wave of mindless aggression.
I ran toward them instead of away, moving with inhuman speed despite Dad’s weight on my shoulders. The gap between us closed in seconds, but I was faster than their reflexes, fueled by power that felt limitless and deadly.
Claws raked across my back as I burst through their line, opening furrows of fire across my skin. But I didn’t slow down, didn’t stumble, didn’t let anything stop me from reaching the truck.
The passenger door groaned in protest as I wrenched it open with supernatural strength, metal actually bending under my grip. I lowered Dad onto the seat as gently as I could manage, his head lolling against the backrest.
“Stay with me,” I begged, pressing my wadded shirt against his worst wounds. His skin was gray, his breathing so shallow I had to strain to see his chest rising and falling. “Don’t you dare give up now.”
Dad’s eyes fluttered, trying to focus on me, but he was fading fast. Too much blood lost, too many injuries. He tried to speak, but only a weak rasp came out before his head lolled back against the seat.
“No, no, no,” I whispered, checking his pulse. Still there, but weak and getting weaker. “Stay with me, Dad. Help is coming.”
I turned to see the panthers regrouping at the edge of the clearing, more joining them from the forest. They looked warier now—they’d seen what I could do when pushed too far—but they weren’t giving up.
“I’m not leaving you,” I said fiercely to Dad’s unconscious form, turning the ignition. The engine roared to life on the first try.
My phone. I needed to call for help. My bloody fingers left crimson smears on the screen as I dialed Mom’s cell, praying for a signal in this godforsaken corner of the estate.
The call connected, but the signal was weak, crackling with interference.
“Hello?” Mom’s voice came through, distant and distorted.
“Mom! Oh God, Mom, we need help right now!” I gasped, watching the panthers approach through the windshield. “We’re at the northeast boundary and Dad’s hurt really bad—there are panthers everywhere and they’re attacking and Ray’s team is down and I don’t know what to do—”
“Eli? What’s happening? I can barely hear you—”
“Panthers! Feral panthers attacking us! Dad’s bleeding out and I can’t—” The line crackled with static. “Can you hear me? We need help NOW!”
I could barely make out her response through the interference. “—George—stay with—help is—”
“I’m in the truck with Dad but they’re surrounding us and I don’t think we can—”
A massive impact rocked the truck as one of the panthers landed on the hood, its claws gouging deep furrows in the metal. Its eyes were different from the others—not yellow but burning amber, and there was intelligence there that the others lacked.
“They found us!” I shouted into the phone, panic making my voice crack. “Mom, they’re breaking through the windshield—”
The windshield exploded inward, safety glass showering down like deadly snow. The phone went flying, disappearing somewhere under the seat as the panther forced its massive head through the opening, jaws snapping inches from my face.
“Get away from him!” I screamed, that power surging back through me as my hands shifted into weapons again.
I slashed at its face, opening gashes that sprayed blood across the interior of the cab. It recoiled but immediately lunged again, this time clearing the windshield completely to land half in the truck, massive paws crushing the center console.
The confined space gave me nowhere to go, trapped against Dad’s limp body as the panther forced its way farther inside. Its jaws opened wide, revealing teeth like daggers, dripping saliva that spattered onto my face and chest.
“I won’t let you hurt him,” I snarled, raising my clawed hands in a last, desperate attempt to defend my father. My back pressed against the passenger door as I put myself between the panther and Dad, every muscle trembling with exhaustion and terror.
The panther’s eyes gleamed with triumph as it closed the final distance, hot breath washing over my face as jaws descended toward my throat.