Page 74 of X-Clan The Origin

I dodged him, wanting to test his pacing on his feet, see what sort of skill I was working with here. He tried to rush me again, proving his lack of finesse.

But he was big.

And he definitely had a lot of muscle on him.

He pounced once more, his growl vibrating the air between us.

I spun away, then ducked and slashed out with my paw in time to catch him right across the throat.

His movements were predictable, making him easy to disarm.

Except he was feral, so a scratch to the throat—which was making him choke on blood—wasn’t enough to truly take him down.

It only slowed his movements as he sputtered, his shifter genetics working to heal him as quickly as possible.

He kept trying to take me down, his reliance on his weight and size evident in each leap forward.

I hit him two more times with my paws, then did a jump of my own onto his back.

I caught his neck in my jaws and yanked to the side, spilling more blood.

His snarls morphed into gurgles as I kept gnawing at him.

Until finally he was down, soaked in his own blood, dying on the pavement.

It wasn’t until he took his final breath that I realized his buddy hadn’t appeared yet.

And his scent was no longer on the wind. At least not in a way that suggested he was approaching.

I spun around, searching for the trace of his aggression.

It wasn’t like a feral Alpha to run from a fight.

Unless he’d caught something more interesting to pursue.

Something like an Omega.

I took off in Riley’s direction, chasing not just her sweet scent but also the stench of aggression in her wake.

The feral Alpha had used his friend as a distraction, thus suggesting he might not have been relying solely on his instincts, but relying on his mind, too.

Maybe he isn’t really feral.

Maybe he just used the other Alpha as a decoy.

Which means the real challenge is pursuing Riley.

Fuck.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

RILEY

Somewhere in North Carolina

The sharp aromaof aggression didn’t fade; itgrew.

I ran faster, hoping it was just the wind or the scent lingering beneath my snout, but my wolf knew the truth.