Alpha Feud BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance Series - Books 1 to 5

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

In one swift motion, Hayden stood in front of Eliza, shielding her with his body. For a moment, everything was quiet. Eliza sat on the bed, motionless, and watched as Hayden glanced left and right, checking for bullet holes in the walls. After he made sure that the gunshot had not penetrated their room, he pulled Eliza up and handed her a shirt.

“I need to go outside and see what happened,” he told her. “It’s up to you whether you want to come or stay.”

Eliza didn’t need much time to think. She knew that she would go with him. Hayden ran to the closet and emerged with a fresh shirt and jeans. Eliza pulled her pants back on and slid into her shoes. Hayden walked in front of her as he opened the door, carefully shielding her with his broad frame.

The housing complexes in the mines weren’t surrounded by many streetlights, but the lights from the neighboring houses provided some extra light for visibility. There were no more gunshots, but the sound of a commotion was audible, and they ran along the street toward it.

As they approached a scattered group of people, Eliza was not at all prepared for what she was about to see. They ran forward for a while, but her sight was blocked by Hayden’s body. However, as he moved a little to the side, she managed to catch a glimpse of the man holding the g*n.

It was Andrew.

“Andrew!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice cracking with the strain on her vocal chords.

He looked at her without moving his stance. The g*n was still aimed in front of him. Eliza kept running until she got close enough to see his face.

“Eliza? What are you doing here?” His voice was filled with concern as he looked from her to Hayden. “Did he try to hurt you?” he shouted accusingly.

“No, he was trying to help me... it’s got something to do with Freddie. I’ll explain later. What’s going on?”

Andrew looked back into the direction where his g*n was pointing, and Eliza followed his gaze. She couldn’t quite make out what was in front of her; she could see some large, dark bushes, and possibly the face of a man. Hayden walked slowly toward the dark shapes. Eliza squinted her eyes in an attempt to fight the blurriness of night vision. Before she knew it, Hayden was sprinting back to her so fast that his feet were barely touching the ground.

“Eliza! You need to get away. It isn’t safe for you here.”

“What do you mean? What’s going...?”

As she uttered those words, she heard a loud growl coming from the shape in the bushes. The background began to move, and suddenly she realized that the mass she had mistaken for greenery was not a bush at all.

The wolf growled louder, and this time the rage seemed to be directed at her. She stood dead in her tracks, trying to make out the shape of the man who stood in front of it.

“Eliza, you have to go. He won’t let go of your father until he feels safe. I’ll talk to Andrew, tell him to back down with the guns,” Hayden told her as he moved in front of her, shielding her from the werewolf.

Eliza felt light headed. Had she misunderstood him?

“My father?” she asked.

At this point, Andrew turned to face her, his g*n still in place. “He’s right, Eliza. You need to go. I’ll take care of this.”

Eliza darted past Hayden in an attempt to get a closer look. Maybe they were mistaken... maybe it was someone else... She squinted her eyes again, and this time she was certain of it. The man who was locked in the werewolf’s grip was her father.

“Eliza!” Hayden yelled. Within a split second, he was in front of her again. He picked her up and carried her, placing her down behind Andrew. Then he started running again, sprinting back to the werewolf.

“I wouldn’t trust him if I were you,” Andrew told Eliza, his eyes still fixated on the werewolf.

“He’s trying to help us!” Eliza said, her voice failing to hide her dismay.

“No, I’m trying to help us,” Andrew said sternly. “Your father called me earlier, but I was at the bar still and I didn’t hear his call. I listened to my voicemail on my way home, and I had a message from your father. He told me he had tried to contact you several times, but without any luck. He said he needed to speak to you about your broadcast... something about 1994. He said that everything made sense now, that his epiphany wasn’t misguided after all. Before he finished the message, he mentioned that he might be ‘stopping by’ the mines to investigate. He made me worry, Eliza, and thank God for that. Because if I hadn’t arrived on time, who knows what could’ve happened?”

“Andrew, what happened? Is Martin hurt?”

“No, but he was about to be. He was in a heated argument with this man, and then he turned. He was about to attack him, Eliza. I shot at him once. I didn’t hit him, but the shot helped to distract the wolf’s attention from your father. But now, we’re in a stalemate. He won’t kill him while I have a clean shot of him, but he also won’t let him go until I put my weapon down.”

“Why can’t you put it down?”

“I can’t trust their kind. Maybe you only trust that man because he was nice to you once, but don’t be fooled. When they turn, everything human in them disappears. In the state he’s in, he can’t listen to reason; he’ll react on impulse. Who is to say that, once I put my weapon down, he won’t take Martin’s head off in one swift motion?”

Eliza couldn’t bear to even register that image. She looked at Andrew’s face, and his look of dead seriousness convinced her that he wasn’t lying. How did he know so much about werewolves? And for that matter, when had he learned to shoot a g*n? She was beginning to realize that the man who she had lived with for four years had a completely different side to him; a side she had not witnessed until now. He even looked different; he stood straight, shoulders back, right hand forward. He wasn’t shaking, quivering or moving in any way; Andrew was the picture of quiet, controlled confidence. His whole body was attentive and alert, and Eliza could trust that he would shoot to kill if the werewolf made one move to hurt her father.

Hayden came running back, sweat running down his chest. He walked directly over to Andrew. “He says he’ll let go if you put your weapon down!”

“No chance. If I put my weapon down, there’s nothing to stop him from going for the kill.”

It was clear that Hayden was beginning to lose his cool. Andrew’s cool demeanor and his refusal to back down was beginning to bring out a darker force in Hayden.

“And what’s stopping me from taking that g*n from you?” he growled.

“The fact that I can use it to shoot you,” Andrew replied coolly. Eliza barely recognized the man in front of her. The Andrew she knew was sweet, compromising, and enthusiastic. But this Andrew was cold, calculating, and stubborn as hell.

Hayden’s eyes were taking on a menacing tinge, and Eliza observed as the hairs on his neck began to stand. No, it can’t be. He’s not going to... or is he?

“You say you can’t trust him? How can we trust you? After the careless actions of your family, how can anybody in this town trust you?”

“Everything my family did, they did it to protect our town. They made tough decisions and they made sacrifices. I’ve been at odds with my family for many years, but when all is said and done, I acknowledge that everything they’ve done was for the greater good.” Andrew was still looking straight ahead, his arm raised and steady. He seemed to be almost at ease, as if he had been training for this moment his entire life. Eliza wondered whether he’d really been at the bar all of the past Friday nights. Her whole image of Andrew was shattered and replaced by a new, more mysterious version of her boyfriend. She couldn’t help but ache to know more about the man he really was.

But at this moment, the only important thing was her father’s safety. She tried to look at Martin, but he was too far away for her to see his expression. Her father had lived through so many dangerous situations in his life; war, bombings, natural disasters... he had survived it all. Surely, he would survive this, too. He can’t die today. Martin always lives to tell the tale.

Eliza unglued her eyes from Martin and looked at Hayden again. To her shock and anguish, there were more than a few hairs standing upright on his neck. In fact, Hayden was covered in hair. His already wide shoulders were expanding, bulging out of his shirt. His entire body was transforming at a rapid pace, and his destroyed clothes fell to the ground like limp rags. Hayden’s form was menacing; he was still taller than Eliza, even when he stood on all fours. He uttered a growl through his sharp teeth, which forced Andrew to turn his head away from the other wolf. Just like Eliza, Andrew’s face registered a look of shock. Hayden looked back at Andrew, his eyes ablaze. He emitted a low-pitched growl through sharp, clenched teeth.

Without thinking, Eliza ran to Andrew, shielding him with her body. However, to her surprise, Hayden wasn’t charging toward Andrew. Instead, he was rapidly making his way toward the other wolf. Suddenly, the reality of what Hayden was doing dawned on her.

“Hayden, stop!” she yelled after him, but it was already too late. The other wolf released her father and was bounding toward Hayden, the two of them locking together in a death grip. They were snarling furiously at one another, and their movement was almost too fast for Eliza to keep up with. Martin was half running and half limping away from the scene, and Eliza ran toward him.

“Dad, are you hurt?”

Martin practically fell into her arms as she embraced him. His shoulder was bleeding profusely. Andrew ran over, ripping off his shirt and tearing off a shred. She wrapped it around the wound, pulling it tight. Martin didn’t wince; he was no stranger to battle injuries. However, Eliza could tell that this was different. From the way her father swayed, she knew that he had lost a lot of blood. She and Andrew sat him down against a tree.

“Thank you, dear, I’m all right,” Martin said softly, looking his daughter in the eyes. He looked proud.

Eliza held his hand and anxiously returned her gaze to the fight that was going on. Even though it was difficult to see what was happening, the sounds were highly audible. She flinched as she heard the sound of bodies hitting the ground, flesh tearing and teeth thrashing. For the first time in her life, Eliza found out what it was like to feel true fear. She knew that if the fight didn’t stop soon, the werewolves would tear each other to death.

Entranced by the b****y spectacle, Eliza barely noticed the blur of a figure running across toward the wolves.

“Look!” Andrew yelled, pointing in the direction of the shape. Eliza strained her eyes; it looked like a regular man.

“Watch out!” she yelled toward him at the top of her lungs.

But it became clear that the man knew exactly where he was going. He was standing right by the scene of the fight, yelling up at the werewolves.

“Get away from there!” Andrew attempted, but without luck. The man persisted to shout.

Then, to their shock, the man did something unthinkable. He ran over and grabbed the other werewolf, holding on to him with all his might. It looked as if the man was trying to climb onto his back, but he wasn’t actually moving. He just stood there and embraced the wolf.

The thrashing sounds stopped, and the wolf turned over to regard the man. Eliza prepared for the worst. She forced herself to stay alert, but every fiber of her body made her want to turn away. There was only one fate that could await this misguided stranger now...

A moment passed, and it felt as if time had stood still. Everyone braced for impact, but nothing else happened. The wolves weren’t fighting anymore, and Hayden was slowly making his retreat. He was bleeding but not too intensely; the damage seemed manageable. By the time that Hayden reached Eliza, Andrew and Martin, he was back to his human form. Of course, he was completely n***d, and Andrew threw the remainder of his shirt over to Hayden so he could cover up. Eliza had no words. She regarded Hayden as the hairs on his body grew back into his skin. It was an eerie but beautiful sight. To her surprise, Eliza could see the bruises and scars on his body begin to heal at an unnaturally quick pace. His face was still, but his eyes smiled back at her.

Eliza turned back to her father, tending to his makeshift bandage and touching his head. Other than the shoulder wound, his condition seemed to be fine. She chatted to him and he chatted back, as if nothing were the matter.

And then came the second gunshot of the night. Eliza and Hayden spun around, taking in their surroundings. Andrew was standing up, arms to the side. He had a g*n in his right arm, and it was smoking. A loud cry of pure anguish emanated from the distance. Eliza could see the shape of the other werewolf as he lay on the ground. The man was standing over him, weeping uncontrollably.

“What did you do?!” Hayden yelled at Andrew.

“I shot the thing that threatened my family.”

“He was going away!” Hayden growled.

“He was a threat,” Andrew responded calmly.

The sound of crying got louder and stronger from the distance. The shape of the werewolf was still now, unmoving.

“Those bullets... were they...?” Hayden asked quietly.

“Yes. They were.”

Hayden shook his head. “Goddamn you! You and your family, you’re all the same. You don’t care about anyone but yourselves.”

“We do what needs to be done,” Andrew replied calmly. He was still gripping his g*n, and Eliza knew that he was prepared to use it on Hayden if he made a single move.

Eliza was beginning to make out some words in the distance as they mixed with the wails. She strained her ears to listen, and she thought that she had heard a sentence. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

Indeed, her senses weren’t deceiving her. As the voice got louder, she could definitely hear the man saying, “I loved him! I loved him!”

As she listened to the sound of Jim wailing in the distance, Eliza bowed her head. She had known that Jim’s lover was new in town and was working in the mines, but she hadn’t put two and two together; she hadn’t realized that he was a werewolf. And now, the only person Jim had ever loved was dead. She, on the other hand, had two men who loved her; one of them was a merciless killer and protector of men, while the other was a kind-hearted ferocious werewolf. Boy, am I a lucky girl.

-To be continued in Book 2-