Page 4 of The Alpha’s Seer (The Shifters of Stormhollow #1)

Chapter Four

CALIX

Ilove storms, and the clouds swirling above the town are the perfect chaos of gray and purple, promising a good one.

I run around the outskirts of the town, safely hidden in the shadows of the trees surrounding the yards of the houses scattered there.

If people see a wolf, they’ll panic—especially one my size.

The pine scent carried on the wind soothes my senses, and I relax as we cover more ground.

My wolf is antsy and hasn’t stopped grumbling since we left the packhouse.

But then we smell her, and we stop, screeching to a halt beside the main road that leads to the library. The scent of vanilla and musty books fills our senses, and my wolf howls joyfully.

She’s here. Blair is here!

My wolf is so full of yearning that I’m stunned.

I want her. She’s ours, he tells me.

“Stop,” I tell him. It bothers me the way my wolf reacts to Blair.

I thought it was just me who couldn’t stop thinking about the pretty little brunette, but it turns out my wolf is just as obsessed.

The memory of her touching herself makes me let out a feral growl, but something else hits my senses.

Her fear.

Then, I smell them. Foul and putrid, the scent of wolves not from our pack.

Rogues.

Then, a scream pierces the air, and before I can think, my wolf lets out a howl that will alert every wolf for miles around.

Then we’re devouring the distance between us and her voice—screams—and racing down the road, our paws thundering on the ground.

The next howl comes from deep within us, the protective howl of a male that cannot be mistaken by any wolf: you’re fucking with something you shouldn’t be.

In this case, Blair.

The three wolves are still there when I arrive, my movements slow and deliberate as I take in the scene before me. I can smell their disgusting arousal and see the torn shreds of clothing on the ground.

But I can’t see Blair.

The biggest wolf addresses me, falling into submission, his ears flat and his snout lowered. ”We didn’t know she was claimed.”

My hackles rise at the mention of the female—our female—and my muzzle moves back to expose my fangs. I circle them, my tail lashing as I wait for one of them to make a move.

“We didn’t fuck her,” one of the smaller wolves states, earning a growl from the now submissive wolf. The smaller wolf appears unafraid, and his tail mimics mine like he can challenge me.

Me, Alpha Calix Ryder, of the Moonlust Pack, son of Hezron and Willow Ryder.

I fear nothing and no one.

My wolf finds the smaller wolf insulting yet amusing, but we strike when he bares his teeth, snapping at us.

The lesser wolf yelps, submitting almost immediately until another wolf jumps on my back, his fangs sinking into my fur.

I growl and whip my head to knock him off balance, returning to sink my teeth into the lesser wolf’s neck.

Blood fills my mouth, but the other wolf has returned, so I tear out the flesh within my teeth, leaving the lesser wolf to die.

Two wolves are circling me and their dying dog, but I stand my ground, watching them as blood trickles down my muzzle.

They back away, ears flat and paws scraping on the ground.

I growl before leaping onto the one that attacked me first, his yelps and cries filling the electric air.

I don’t make his death quick, and the other wolf attempts to run from me to save himself.

I chase him, determined to make him pay for what he and his dogs tried to do to Blair, but then I hear her crying.

I narrow my eyes and watch the wolf disappear into the trees, taking a mental photograph of his appearance—a golden brown, medium-sized wolf, not one I’ve ever seen before. None of which I’ve ever seen before.

I pant heavily but turn back to where I heard her cry, my paws soaked in blood and rain. The two wolves lie dead on the road, and I grunt my frustration. They’ll need to be moved before the humans see them, so I mind-link Cox to update him on the situation.

He’s furious, vowing to chase down the fucker that got away, but I leave that behind me as I seek my human.

Fuck! She’s not ours!

My wolf begs to differ, whining to see Blair.

Trees surround the library with branches so thick I wonder how she even got here without being clawed to death, and that’s not even considering the twigs and mud she would have slipped in.

I follow her scent until she appears in my vision, her hands covering her ears as she sobs and shakes violently in the rain.

My wolf no longer cares about her fear and thinks nothing of padding up to her, nudging her gently with his snout.

Blair freezes, and a low moan leaves her mouth as she slowly opens her eyes. My wolf lies flat on the ground, his snout in her lap as he stares at her. I want to shift so she feels safer and knows she won’t be attacked, but then she does the strangest thing.

Blair touches us. She reaches out tentatively at first, her fingers trembling as she touches our bloody fur, not shying away in the slightest. If anything, she seems to not notice it, instead pulling me close.

Gods and Goddesses, what is this madness?

Her fingers stroke through the fur until she lets out a shaky breath and leans closer.

My wolf is smug as fuck, but I’m too lost in the moment to care.

Her scent is so delicious I almost throw her over our back to carry her to the packhouse, to ravish her, mark her, and make her ours.

But she’s barely clothed, and it’s freezing.

She needs warmth, and we can give that to her.

Blair.

My beautiful, beautiful girl. What did they do to you?

Her eyes are like globes as she stares at us, her fingers lost in our fur as she moves closer, her bare, wet, cold skin pressing against us.

“Hey boy,” Blair whispers, her voice thick with emotion. “Did you see any of what happened out there?”

She’s not expecting an answer, so I don’t give her one.

Instead, I lean into her, letting her bury her head into our neck.

My wolf preens and relaxes, but I can’t help but wonder why he’s reacting like this to a human.

It’s happened before, mating with a human, but it was once and many years ago.

It’s so rare that it’s a story told around campfires by the elder wolves, yet here my wolf is, behaving like he’s found his mate.

MATE! My wolf screams at me.

I growl at my wolf, but he ignores me, snuggling into Blair’s arms like I don’t exist.

She’s safe, he tells me. Our mate is safe.

A strange feeling sweeps over me when he says that, and I know I’m absolutely powerless to argue with him when my entire body relaxes for the first time since…since that night two years ago.

I shove the thoughts of the massacre out of my mind and force us away, watching Blair so she understands I want her to follow us.

Her cheek shines a deep red, and there’s no disguising the shape of the hand that struck her.

My wolf growls, and Blair backs against a tree trunk in fear, trembling again.

My wolf whines and drops to the ground, reminding her she has nothing to fear from us.

I need to shift to explain that she’s safe, but I don’t have any clothes here.

Dammit.

I make my way to the pathway back to the front of the library, looking back at her so she understands to follow me. She shakes her head, gulping with fear.

Come on, Blair, I tell her, wishing she could hear me.

I walk back to her and nudge her hand, moving so she knows to hold on to me. To us.

Finally, she gets it, and she rises to her full height on shaky legs, gripping our fur as she stumbles forward. There are no marks on her body other than scratches; no handprints that I can see. The thought of those wolves touching her…

I suppress a growl and guide Blair out of the treacherous path, leading her back to her car. Her bag contents are strewn all over the ground, and I watch as she picks up her tattered clothing, a sob half hidden in her throat.

Fury overtakes me until my vision turns red, but there’s nothing left for her to fear. I’ve made sure of it.

Cox must’ve taken care of the dead dogs because only the scent of blood is left in the air now.

Cox won’t stop until he’s found the stray dog that ran from me.

It shouldn’t be hard; those wolves don’t belong here.

Attacking women alone at night is a sign of weakness and evil, something we as a pack won’t tolerate.

I spy Blair’s cracked glasses on the ground and pick them up in my teeth, taking them to her. Blair reaches out warily at first, but mumbles a thank you as she shakes her head in disbelief.

Yes, a wolf just gave you your glasses.

Ha, poor girl, she’s in for a surprise.

She’s dragged a blanket around her from within the car, and I sit beside her open car door as she calls her brother.

“Leon,” she sobs, glancing at me. “Can you come and get me? I’ve been attacked…”

I back away into the forest, watching her from the shadows until her brother shows up. Leon, to his credit, shows up in six minutes in a tow truck, his eyes blazing and fury running off him in waves.

“Who the fuck did this to you?” he yells, not giving a fuck about the rain and sinking to his knees beside his sister.

Who indeed?

My wolf doesn’t like Leon putting his hand on Blair’s shoulder and lets out a low growl.

It’s her brother, I tell him, though I share his discomfort.

I’ve never had a mate, nothing this intense in my life. It’s like Blair is a part of me, and I want to kill anyone who so much as breathes near her.

“Billy,” Blair chokes out as her brother pulls her into his arms and towards the tow truck. “Billy Marshall.”