Page 6 of The Alpha’s Seer (The Shifters of Stormhollow #1)

Chapter Six

BLAIR

Leon drives out of town without stopping by our house, and I wonder where we’re going.

He dropped my car at the garage, but that was it.

He’s got that look in his eyes, the one that tells me he’s about to go on a spree of violence.

I know it well, and I need to get him to calm down before he ends up in a police cell.

“Leon.”

He shakes his head and glares ahead, like the road has pissed him off. His jaw clenches, and he’s driving way over the speed limit. I try again.

“Leon, listen to me.”

My voice cracks, and he glances at me, worry filling his eyes. “Did they…” He grits his teeth, preparing himself to say the words he doesn’t want to say.

Words I don’t want him to say.

“No, they didn’t rape me,” I tell him quickly, leaning forward to place my hand on his arm. “Leon, please slow down; I’m scared.”

He doesn’t do anything for a beat, but then his foot eases off the accelerator, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you to Aunt Ray.” Leon grunts as he takes a corner on almost two wheels, and I cling to the side for dear life, my heart thumping in my chest.

“Aunt Ray’s? Why?” I frown at him, and he sighs, his shoulders easing somewhat.

“Because you need a woman to talk to after that, and there sure as shit isn’t anyone in town you can talk to,” Leon explains, raising his eyebrows as though he’s challenging me to argue with him.

I can’t—because he’s right.

Aunt Ray is the closest thing we have to family—the closest thing to Mom. She’s her sister, and she lives a few towns away, meaning we should see her more than we do. After all, she brought us up after we lost our parents.

But we didn’t lose them. They were stolen from us. Snatched, ripped away. I can still remember my father hiding me and my brother in the trunk of the car, his eyes filled with worry as he told us to call the cops.

I can still hear their screams.

“Blair.” Leon glances between me and the road, his eyes darkening. “Do you need a hospital or anything?”

I shake my head. “No, they just…hit me. Nothing too bad.”

And tore my clothes away.

“They?” Leon shakes his head. “Fucking Billy Marshall and his pussyhole friends? Since when were they such pricks?”

I shake my head and gaze out the window, watching the view race by.

“I don’t know; I’ve not kept in contact since school…” My voice trails off, and then I frown. “But they weren’t ever like that.”

Leon scoffs. “Dirty, perverted pricks, they’ll get theirs.”

“Leon, don’t do anything stupid,” I warn, knowing it’s a pointless exercise. Maybe Aunt Ray can talk some sense into him.

I doubt it.

When we lost our parents, we both changed.

It was inevitable; I was only twelve years old, and Leon was fifteen.

Aunt Ray was a godsend, but Leon had a temper he couldn’t control.

He eventually calmed down when he started working at the garage, spending all hours working on cars and doing his apprenticeship.

But then he started drinking.

“I’m gonna leave you at Aunt Ray’s,” Leon mutters. “Just until I’ve sorted these fuckers out. Can’t have you in the town with them around.”

“Leon,” I say with an eye roll, “I’m twenty-three years old. You can’t make me stay out here. I’ve got my job to think of.”

“I don’t care how old you are, Blair,” Leon snaps, slamming his hand against the steering wheel. “You’re all I’ve got, do you hear me? You’re everything to me, and I let you down.”

A lump fills my throat, and tears slip free from my eyes at his words. My brother feels like he let me down because I got attacked. Just like he feels guilty for not saving Mom or Dad.

“No,” I disagree, shaking my head. “This isn’t your fault.”

“What stopped them?” Leon asks suddenly, flipping the bird at a driver approaching us before glaring at him. “Did someone interrupt them, or…”

I don’t know whether what I’m about to say will make him think I’m concussed, but it’s all I have.

“There was a howling, and then a wolf came,” I respond, frowning. “I don’t know what happened, but I think the wolf scared them off.”

Leon is silent, his gaze unflinching as he stares ahead.

“I know it sounds stupid, but the wolf didn’t leave until you got there,” I admit, wincing when I chuckle. My cheek still hurts from the harsh slap I had earlier, but I don’t want Leon to know that. He’d skin Billy and his friends alive.

“A wolf saved you?” Leon says, finally slowing the truck enough to look at me properly. “What color?”

I laugh. “What color? Why, is there more than one wolf in our town? Come on, Leon…”

But Leon doesn’t laugh. He looks back at me questioningly.

He’s serious.

“Okay, like a silver-grey.” I frown. “I think. It was big anyway.”

He nods and relaxes back into his seat, anger seeping from his pores as he slows the truck down to take another turn.

This one is winding and narrow, and I know we are close to Aunt Ray’s.

We lived with her until my brother turned eighteen and could legally look after me, and of course, legally own Mom and Dad’s house. But we always used to come back here, to her home.

Leon pulls into her driveway, and I smile at the fond memories.

How long has it been since I was last here?

I can’t remember, I think guiltily. I call her when I can, and we always see her on the holidays… Well… maybe not every holiday, but that’s Leon’s fault really—he’s always too drunk on the holidays.

Not that I blame him, but I don’t want Aunt Ray to think she fucked up in any way with us, because she did her best. She’d lost her sister too, and the way she smokes about a million cigarettes a day makes me wonder how she’s still alive. I didn’t want to add to her worry.

The driveway curves in front of a cute house, a little two up, two down number with red bricks and a bright yellow door that needed repainting.

“We’re here,” Leon mutters, like I can’t see that for myself. He gets out begrudgingly and walks to my side before I can open the door. “You okay? Can you walk okay?”

I give him a warm smile and nod, hating how he stares at my bruised, barely dressed body.

“I’m fine, Leon. Stop—”

The yellow door opens, and a tiny figure hurries out with her arms outstretched. She pauses when she sees me, taking in my injuries.

“Oh my God, Blair! What happened?!”

She wraps her arms around me gently, yet I still wince, inhaling her familiar smoky scent. She smells of lavender too, and I know it’s because she has trouble sleeping.

“Still burning lavender, huh?” I chuckle as she pulls away to hold me at arm’s length.

“Jesus,” she gasps, darting a wide-eyed look at my brother. “Leon…”

“She was attacked,” Leon comments gravely, dragging a hand through his hair.

“Animals?” Aunt Ray yelps, her hand flying to her mouth.

“Kinda. Pigs.” Leon slams the door shut behind me and guides me to Aunt Ray’s house. “Can you make sure she’s okay while I take care of things back home?”

Aunt Ray nods wordlessly as she takes me inside, glancing at Leon over my shoulder. “Bring her some clothes and some books!”

I smile. She knows me well.

“Now, sweetheart, I’m going to run you a bath and ask you a few questions, okay?” Aunt Ray waves to Leon, and I turn to meet his eyes before the door closes.

He’s definitely murderous, but less so since I mentioned the wolves.

I wonder why.