Page 34 of Rejected and Pregnant by the Alpha (Forbidden Alpha Kings #52)
Julian
“Are you sure you grabbed an alpha pup?” a female voice questions quietly in front of Hannah and me, forcing us to come to a stop.
Taking a deep breath, I scent the air and count two humans, a male and a female, both carrying the scent of silver and wolfsbane.
“I am positive. He has the same hair color as the woman who owns the land we found him on. She is the alpha of that new pack we have been keeping an eye on,” someone else says, his gruff voice filled with annoyance.
Hannah frowns, her body shaking with rage at learning her pack has been watched, and I carefully press my snout against her flank, trying to help calm her.
She shakes me off, glaring at me before lying down.
I watch as she carefully creeps toward the sound of these humans, and I follow suit, keeping low to the ground and watching for any other humans who might be lurking nearby.
“What if she comes looking for him?” the woman asks timidly before the sounds of flesh hitting flesh and a body falling onto the forest floor stop Hannah and me in our tracks once again.
“If they come looking for us, it’s because you lousy idiots just had to try and merge lanes, making our semi-truck flip!
We lost our entire inventory of wolves we were selling because of this mistake, and Jimmy is now dealing with the cops.
Not only that, but we can’t get in touch with Tim and Jerry!
” the man shouts, startling the nearby birds into flight.
“I wasn’t the one who tried to merge lanes! Jimmy was,” the female snaps back.
Hannah says she was at that accident site.
It took place about ten minutes from the pack border, Fabian links me, and I frown.
She and Claira got stuck in traffic, and since they were so close to Haven Trail, they were able to return to the pack quickly and deal with the rogues, he continues.
She also said that a rogue they captured mentioned there were five hunters.
If we do the math, we can account for four: two in front of you, one she killed when they tried to shoot her, and the one at the truck.
This means we have one hunter left in the territory, and Aileen is hunting him down as we speak.
I sigh with relief, knowing that all five hunters are accounted for. It saves us the hassle of tracking them down and makes our job of rescuing Saben easier.
Tell Hannah I want to keep the woman in front of us alive. She seems like an easy one to interrogate, I reply and wait to see if Hannah agrees with my plan. I watch as Hannah’s eyes glaze over before she nods to me, flicking her ears three times in a silent signal that she received the message.
The humans continue to argue about whose fault it was that caused the rogues to escape their clutches, and during that time, Hannah and I manage to crawl forward enough to peer through the underbrush.
There, we find the two hunters in a small camp, a fire burning between them, and an unconscious Saben tied up off to the side.
Taking a deep breath, I smell wolfsbane and silver on my son.
By the way Hannah’s fur ripples with agitation, I know she smells it too.
Hannah wants to know if you want to attack now.
She will take the female, and you the male, Fabian says, and I look to Hannah, finding her blue eyes watching me.
I nod, tapping my paw to hers three times, signaling that we move as one and that she takes the lead on this rescue mission.
She nods to me and flicks her ear once to signal for me to get ready.
Goddess, I am so happy she remembers our signals; otherwise, timing this with Fabian and Theta Aidan as our line of communication would likely lead to failure at some point.
Watching Hannah slowly prepare to pounce, I follow suit, my attention split between her and the two hunters. With shallow breaths, I catch her left ear flick once, twice, thrice, and then we are off.
The hunters jump to their feet as soon as we leave our hiding spot, both of them fumbling for their weapons.
The man quickly grabs his rifle, firing off a shot but missing both me and Hannah by a long shot.
The tang of gunfire and silver mix together, and I yip three times in quick succession to warn Hannah about the silver bullets before I push off my hind paws and jump toward the male hunter.
He stumbles back, fear radiating in the air around him as he trips over the log he was using as a seat.
The rifle goes off, the silver bullet barely missing my ear just as I land, and I am quick to rip his throat out with my teeth before he can reach for the knife I notice sticking from the sheath strapped to his thigh.
Blood gushes everywhere as the man struggles to breathe while bleeding out, and I wait, watching the light fade from his eyes.
“Please, don’t hurt me!” the woman shrieks, the scent of urine coming from her direction.
I turn in time to find Hannah standing over her, her front paws pressed to both of the woman’s wrists with all of her weight, and I hear the bones snap. With the man dead, I walk over to Hannah and the woman, carefully keeping in Hannah’s line of sight as I shift into my human form.
“Go to Saben and get the silver chains off him,” I gently say to her as I move closer.
Hannah briefly looks at me before returning her focus to the woman. I can see her wrists bent at odd angles from Hannah breaking them, and I chuckle. It seems this hunter will have a hard time holding any weapons for a long time.
“Our son needs you, Hannah. I can handle this woman,” I continue, trying to reassure my mate.
Hannah slowly stops growling, looking between me and the woman below her.
Finally, with a warning snarl and snapping her teeth just inches above the hunter’s throat as a threat, Hannah backs away, and I quickly swoop in, forcing the hunter to her feet.
She cries out in pain when I rip the silver cuffs from her tool belt, the metal burning my flesh for the brief moment it takes for me to cuff her wrists in front of her.
The pain of my actions seems unbearable as the female hunter cries out, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she faints.
I don’t bother catching her and watch as her body falls to the ground once more.
She took my son, so she does not deserve my sympathy.