Rising Alpha

13

"He will be here and soon." "What should we do?" Alison's voice shakes and her gaze is fixed on Savannah.

Whether she likes it or not, those women are following her not me. They trust her with their life or they wouldn't be here. "I won't force you to do anything." Please don't make go back on my word. If Kevin shows, I'll pick her up and throw her in the damn car with me. He'll never get her now. I won't allow it.

Savannah

Dammit, despite everything, I'm still leery of doling out my trust without someone proving worthy of it. He kind of has by helping us escape from Kevin. I wouldn't have been able to leave with the alpha call so strong, so he did save us. But why would he tell his friend about us when he’s still with Kevin? Something seems off.

Hell, if we could start our own pack, then Kevin’s alpha call wouldn't affect us at all. I do have three that would follow me. I glance back at the women behind me, and Alison gives me a small nod and smile.

They should give me enough power to stand up to another alpha, but they pledged their loyalty to Kevin so I don't know how well that would go over in a fight. That, and Kevin has a pack of fortyfive excluding us.

"So, what do you say?" He comes closer to me yet again and my wolf whines, wanting me to close the distance.

I've already done that once and got lost in the moment. I can't allow her to mess with me when I need to be level-headed and not instinctual. However, the thought of him leaving without us hurts. "Fine, I'll go along with you for now." Giving into my wolf, I step even closer to stare into his eyes. He's got three inches on me, but I refuse to look small. I won't put up with s**t even if he's my mate. "But you haven't earned my trust yet. Got it?"

His mouth twitches and his shoulder shakes as if he's suppressing a laugh. "Duly noted." He leans forward and whispers in my ear. "Don't worry, I have a lifetime to prove it to you."

My body quivers at his words and every cell in my body sizzles. Why are those words doing funny things in my belly? I'm twenty-five and never experienced anything like this before, but I don't want him to stop. I hope this isn't the beginning of my undoing.

He places his lips on my ears. "We'll continue this later." He then pulls back and glances at all of us. "We need to move and now. We aren't equipped to fight him yet."

That's when some of my doubts are erased. He's an alpha through and through. He might be the solution to not only our problem but for all the others back home. "He's right." I turn around and motion my head toward the door. "Let's get out of here and find another place to hunker down."

As we head outside, it's eerily silent. There isn't a bird chirping or any other animal noises. That's not good. If they aren't here, they will be in seconds.

"Get to the car, now." Dom runs down and opens the back door so the other three women and get in quickly and he stands in front of the driver door glaring around. "I can smell them. They're almost here."

I help Alison run down to the car while Charlotte helps her mother climb inside with her arm in the sling. Just as Alison climbs in behind Abigail, a wolf jumps out on the road.

"Get in the damn car now, Savannah." Dom slides in the driver seat and starts the engine.

It doesn't take long before I'm slamming the passenger door, and he hits the gas, charging at the wolf.

A bigger wolf jumps out beside him, and they stare the car down as we charge towards them.

"Oh my God." The gravel spins out and now we're so close I can see their teeth.

"They better move or I'll hit them." Dom presses down the gas even harder.

"Mom." Charlotte whimpers and buries her head into her mother's shoulder.

At the last second, the wolves jump out the way and attempt to s***h our tires with their claws. However, Dom's driving too fast and they miss.

As I glance back, Kevin steps out of the woods and stares right at me. He raises two fingers and points them towards his eyes and back at me.

The message is loud and clear. He's watching me. We may be safe now, but for how long? I'm not even sure where to go.

DOM

W

e've been driving for over two hours now, and the car is silent. Savannah put on some low pop music about an hour ago when the quiet became almost deafening. No one knows where

to go, and I'm wondering how far we have to run to stay off Kevin's radar.

Right now Ariana Grande's Seven Rings is piping through the speakers, and I'm not sure how much longer I can take it. How is this stuff even called music? The only thing the song has going for it is the Sound of Music tune it's butchering. I'd turn the horrid thing off if Savannah wasn't bobbing her head to it.

No one has brought up the inevitable question of where we're heading. When we left no one volunteered a location so I began driving, but the sky is now black and I'm not sure what direction to take. We can't continue to drive with no clear destination especially when Abigail is back there with an injury and Savannah's beginning to get dark circles under her eyes. We need to find shelter and fast.

We pass by Turkey Creek in Knoxville, Tennessee, heading toward Chattanooga. My grandfather left me a cabin several years ago off of Lookout Mountain, Georgia. A section of Lula Lake runs right through the property line. It's only another hour-and-a-half to two-hour drive from here, but I'm not sure if that's where we should go.

Granted, I visit the place once a month to get away from the chatter in Asheville. I have it set up so I can run my consulting business from there, but it's a sacred. John knows about it, but I've never taken him there.

Memories of my childhood running through the woods as a young pup bring a smile to my face. It's the only place I've ever experienced true happiness. Do I want to ruin it by bringing in strangers? Of course, Savannah will wind up there inevitably, but not the other three.

Savannah

We've been driving for a while now, and even the distance can't calm my mind. Kevin's death glare as we pulled away appears every time I close my eyes. He's going to find us and make sure we pay. My choker feels even tighter than normal so I yank it off and clutch it.