Rising Alpha

19

A small grin spreads across her face. "You know what, you're damn right I will be."

"I take it that one," Alison says as she reaches for the shotgun, "is for me."

Oh, hell no. The skittish one needs the shotgun, not her. I move in front of her, blocking her.

“Actually, that one is for Charlotte. "You'll do better with this one." I hand her the handgun.

"That's for me?" Charlotte lifts her hand up to her face and takes a step back. "I don't know."

"You'll be fine, baby." Abigail takes the shotgun with her uninjured hand and holds it out to her daughter. "You probably won't even need to use it. We're wolves after all, and I'm sure whoever was out there won't bother us."

Aren't we all hoping for that? However, I've learned that's not usually what happens. We prepare for the worse and hope for the best. "And we're all going to practice using guns while we're here. You all need to be a good shot."

"We also need to clean out the cabin." Savannah glances at my house and grimaces. "It needs to be livable and we can prepare it in case something does happen in the future."

It's a little dusty so I'm not sure what she's talking about, but something catches my wolf's ear. He barks in my head. Those shifters are getting close.

Alison rolls her eyes and huffs. "Fine. I'll deal with it."

Savannah's head tilts and then her eyes meet mine. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something about out there." She nods to the way we drove in and moves in that direction.

Dammit, what the hell does she think she's doing? I hurry behind her and grab her arm. We're now about twenty feet away from the others. I lower my tone so others can't hear. "Will they hold up in a fight?"

"Of course they will." She grabs one of the AR-15s out of my hand and peers into the woods. "They're almost here."

Yeah, I figured that's why she stepped in front; protecting her pack. Her strength turns me on as much as it aggravates me.

Savannah

My wolf perks up at the sound of the shifters. A faint smell of earth is now floating in the air, and I'll protect these women to the end. They trust in me, and I won't let them down.

"They're here." Dom's deep voice soothes me.

I lift the gun and point toward the noises when a man steps out with both hands up in the air.

"Savannah, what do we do?" Abigail's panic echoes in her voice.

"Get in the cabin, now." This guy might be up to something and I don't want to risk Charlotte seeing anything worse.

"Look, I'm not here to cause any problems." His eyes focus on my gun pointing right at him, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. "I want to speak to the alpha."

The cabin door slams shut, and the women's scent lessens so they must now be inside. That brings some relief even though it's probably superficial. I glance at Dom. After all, he's stronger than I am.

Dom arches an eyebrow and shakes his head no. "I'm not the alpha. You are."

In my twenty-five years, I never thought I would hear those words, yet here they are. "I'm the one in charge."

"But there is no chance in Hell that I'm leaving her alone with you." Dom steps close beside me and scowls.

"That's fine." The man licks his bottom lip and sighs. "Do you mind pointing the gun away. I promise I'm not here to cause any problems."

I lower the gun, keeping my finger on the trigger. I don't know what this guy is up to and if he's anything like Kevin, he'll try to catch me off guard.

"John called me." He lowers his arms and glances back at Dom. "He asked for a few of us to come and help keep an eye out for Kevin."

"That's bullshit." Dom growls and lifts his gun right at the man. "He's never been here before." Why would this i***t say that if Dom would know he's lying right away? Are men that egotistical?

"Hey now." The guy takes a few steps back and lifts his hands in the air. "He's been trying to call you the past hour or so and he's going straight to voicemail. He figured you'd say that and he told me to tell you about the first time you visited after your gramps died. You gave him the address and told him to come check on you if he hadn't heard from you in a week."

Dom lowers the gun and takes a deep breath. "I forgot about that."

That seems to have taken some wind out of his sails. I'm not sure what to make of it, but right now we have to be on top of our game. "Why would he call you here?"

"Maybe I started off all wrong." The guy scratches the back of his head and scrunches his face for a second almost as if he smelled something bad. "Look, my name is Paul. John called me and the other wolves behind me to come help."

"What about your own packs?" Why would they all come here? They'd have to be from different packs if multiple phone calls needed to be made.

"We don't belong to any." Paul stares at the ground and the sounds of the other wolves begin to close in.

"That doesn't bring us any comfort." Dom places an arm around my waist and pulls me to close to him. "We don't know where your loyalty lies."

"Every single one of us left a pack like Kevin's." Paul lifts his hand and uses the back of it to remove the excess sweat. "We may not belong to any pack, but we won't stand for women to be abused or mistreated. We're here to help keep the women safe."

Something big must be coming if John thinks we need more people to stand against Kevin. I'm assuming the hunt is on.

SAVANNAH

A

s we head back to the cabin, my mind keeps replaying that conversation. "For your friend to send rogue wolves, that can't be a good sign.” It bothers me that Dom didn’t turn these strange wolves away, but rather, Paul’s gathering the other wolves and informing them of what’s going on.

Dom takes my hand and pulls me against his side. "Don't worry. He's making sure we are covered. That's the military training coming out in us."

"You were military?" For him to be so cautious being an alpha, this surprises me. But maybe that's why he's this way now.

"Yeah, that's where I met John." He rubs his thumb across my fingers and glances back toward the cabin.

Wow, he's a talker. Obviously, this is something he doesn't want to discuss. I get that so I'll appease him. "We need to get the cabin straightened and cook something for dinner."

"First we need to check Abigail's arm." He purses his lips and lets out a sigh.