Page 3 of The Alpha’s Seer (The Shifters of Stormhollow #1)

Chapter Three

BLAIR

TWO YEARS LATER

The crack of thunder overhead makes me jump, and I drop the keys for the library onto the slick ground.

“Dammit.” I lean down and scoop them up before hurriedly locking the solid oak door. I’d been coming here since I was a kid, and it held many happy memories. If my mom knew I was the librarian now, she would be so proud.

A smile ghosts my lips until I turn to see the storm raging ahead, my little car barely visible through the downpour.

I love weather like this usually—if I’m inside, which I’m not.

I bite my lip and make a run for my car, slipping and sliding in the mud along the way.

My fingers brush the unlock button on the key fob, and I thank my brother for insisting I get a car with remote locking.

The perks of having a mechanic for a brother: he always knows best when it comes to cars.

I slide into my car, pushing my damn curls from my eyes, and push the key into the ignition. The engine does nothing.

“What the hell?”

I try to turn it over again, but it’s like the car is dead—there’s no response.

Strange.

I tug out my phone and dial my brother’s number, only to hear a beeping in my ear; I don’t have any signal.

I furrow my brow and look around me. The library is on a quiet street out of the main town, meaning if I wanted to go to the bars there, I would need to walk a good fifteen minutes in this weather.

The windscreen is blurry with rain, not that I could see further than the glow of a streetlight anyway with how dark it is.

I lean back in my seat and sigh, wondering what to do when something blocks the streetlight for a brief second. I blink and lean forward, wondering if I’m seeing things. The streetlight is at least forty feet tall—there’s no way something blocked that out.

Birds were too small, surely?

I’m focusing on the streetlight when I hear something hit the car from behind. A thud, not hard enough to crack the metal but loud enough to get my attention.

I swallow and slip my key from the ignition, just about to lock the doors, when my driver’s door is yanked open.

A strangled cry leaves my throat when I see Billy Marshall grinning at me with a strange look in his eyes.

He’s also shirtless…in this weather! I went to school with Billy some years back, but still…

I don’t know what the hell he’s doing outside the library in a storm.

“Jesus, Billy, you scared me!” I scold him, clutching my chest.

Billy continues to grin before he waves me out of the car wordlessly.

“What? I’m not getting out of the car, Billy.” I reach out to pull the door shut when he almost rips it from its hinges, pulling it out of reach.

“Get out of the car, Blair.” His voice is deep and gruff, and the hairs on the back of my neck rise when I notice George and Callum appearing from behind him, and they’re shirtless, too. They’re not grinning.

I know I’m in danger, but I’m not stupid. I take a deep breath and step out of the car, making sure I back away as Billy slams the door so hard the car shakes.

The boys at the back move toward me, and Billy’s grin fades when he says, “Where are you going, Blair? We just want to have a little fun with you, that’s all.”

My stomach sinks, and I know this is why my car didn’t start. These guys must’ve messed with it.

“It’s late, and my brother is waiting for me,” I lie, making out I’m disappointed I can’t join their ‘fun.’

Billy shakes his head. “No. He isn’t.”

I’m saturated now, and I can barely see through my glasses. They’ve steamed up, which isn’t helpful, and I slip on the mud, landing on my ass. It feels like seconds before Billy and his friends surround me, and I notice that they’re barefoot.

“Take your clothes off, pretty girl,” George demands, staring at me with hungry eyes. “Before I rip them off.”

“George,” I respond with what I hope is confidence. “That’s not how you treat a lady.”

Hands grip my ankles and drag me down so I’m flat on my back, and I scream from the bottom of my lungs.

They don’t care, though; one slaps me so hard my glasses fly off, and my heart is in my throat.

I kick with all my might and bite the hand that wraps around my mouth, tears streaming from my eyes when I hear George chuckle.

“Oh, you’re a biter. That works.”

Fingers tear at my clothes, but I don’t stop fighting, even when they laugh at my feeble efforts. The thunder sounds above us, and when the sky lights up, I hear it.

A howl.

The men pawing at my body stop, snapping their heads up to sniff the air, their eyes narrowing.

The howl sounds again, but this time it’s closer.

Billy turns to stare at me, his lips twisting into a snarl.

“I smell no wolf on her.”

“She’s not claimed.”

“Then why…”

Billy speaks again. “Leave her. Now!”

George looks pissed. “Take her with us; Alpha will let us—”

Billy doesn’t answer George verbally, but the two men seem to converse silently, and I take the opportunity to get up and run. I don’t look back until I’m past the treeline around the back of the library, trying not to cry as branches claw at my skin.

Then there’s a growl so deadly I whimper before slamming my hand over my mouth, praying whoever—or whatever—made that noise doesn’t know I’m here.

I sink to my ass in the dirt, shivering from the icy cold air on my drenched skin. There’s the sound of running, and then I hear what can only be an animal being wounded. My heart thuds in my chest as I cover my ears and scrunch my eyes shut, praying whatever it is doesn’t find me.

Could it be a bear?

Memories of my parents being killed fill my mind, and tears fall on my rain-soaked skin as I fight the fear threatening to take over. But someone is screaming—someone human—and if I hide here…maybe they’ll die.

Maybe they deserve to, I remind myself before rising to my feet.

Does anyone deserve to die, though?

The screams stop, and with them, my heart.