Her Cold Billionaire Alpha

Chapter 5 A Thousand Ways to Die

Several things happened simultaneously, she heard a thump and a groan as a body fell beside her. She quickly opened her eyes; a knight had just appeared but he was not in a shining armor, he was wearing a suit and dropping bodies effortlessly. He removed his suit jacket and wrapped it around Rose and pushed her gently towards Eric, his beta.

‘He came…someone came for me…Joseph came to my rescue,’ it was all Rose could think of and in no time tears were falling from her eyes. Nobody had ever cared for her except her dad and he was long gone. She looked again at Joseph through the sheen of her silent tears and sobbed loudly. In his enhanced hearing Joseph had Rose sobbing and felt his heart shatter with pain into a million pieces. He could not withstand the thought of her in pain and he reacted by twisting the gang leader’s arm and breaking it with a snap. The man growled with pain but Joseph was out for blood.

“This are the hands that you used to harass her?” he grabbed the other arm and twisted it also breaking it. The man lay sprawled on the floor in pain, emitting guttural sounds like an animal.

“Who sent you?” Joseph asked.

“f**k you!”

Joseph grabbed one of his legs, he was about to twist it when Marco the gang leader shouted suddenly, “No, please not my leg.”

“I asked; who sent you? I have no problem breaking every one of your bones until you sing,” The anger coursing through him was enough to make him kill without hesitation.

“I can’t tell you…aaarrghh…please – please, don’t break my leg. I’ll tell you everything you want to know, please…”

“Start talking.”

“I don’t – I don’t -  know –argh, who hired us. We- we only – aaarrghh, we receive orders via phone,” he said panting in pain, his eyes tightly closed.

“What were the orders?” His deep, clipped voice seemed to reverberate throughout the underground parking lot.

“We were told that we should violate her and then ruin her face…”

Joseph could not imagine anyone touching Rose, he kicked Marco with his foot sending him reeling backwards. It was at that moment that Eric came up to him.

“Alpha, she is scared, I think you better send her home.”

Joseph looked back to where rose stood and felt remorseful for putting the scared look on her face. He did not need to hear anything else, the thought of him scaring her further was enough to cool him down enough to be rational.

Rose was scared to see him looking so grim and dangerous, even though she was at the same time feeling proud, safe and cared for.

‘Remind me to never be the recipient of his anger...but hell, he is so sexy.’

His eyes had that shiny gold she thought she had imagined earlier but before she could dwell on it too much she was scooped in a warm embrace and crashed against his chest.

“I’m so - so sorry I was not here on time,” he said holding her close to his chest.

Rose did not know what happened but in the next minute she released the waterworks and cried. She was angry that she could not protect herself, she was angry that Isabella had blindsided her, she was angry at oh so many things but the worst of them was; she was angry that she had to be so weak before Joseph.

“Shhh, I’m right here. No one can hurt you now, I’m right here,” Joseph said trying to calm her down. He was baffled to see her in her moment of weakness. She was not the kind to show that side of her easily, it must be really hard for her right at that moment. He scooped her up and sat her gently on the passenger seat of his car, then walked round to the other side and got in.

“Do you have a cigarette?” Rose asked hoarsely not looking at him in his eyes.

“You smoke?” Joseph asked, amazed that this was the first thing she thought of asking him but as soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it. That defiant spark flashed though her eyes, she was like a protective lioness ready to spring to action.

“I just want to smudge the bad energy around here,” the sarcasm making him wince visibly.

“I’m sorry but I don’t smoke, we can get some on the way,” he said and started the car while Rose turned her face the other side not wanting to be speaking to him. They stopped at a gas station where Joseph refueled the car then came to her window.

“Which brand?”

“Marlboro slim…” she said then, “…premium,” she added a moment later after he nodded and turned to leave.

She watched him walk with his long, loping strides that made him handsomely masculine and felt her heart flutter.

‘Oh my god, what a man!’

Her tummy was not the only organ that was fluttering but there was a musical symphony in her tummy as well that made her feel so proud of her revenge mission.

‘Cut the crap, that’s not the only thing you are proud of and you know it.’

How she could manage to bed him was a miracle by itself, not to mention that he had even come to her rescue. His kind of people were way over beyond her reach. They were attracted to women like Isabella; the successful socialites every man would be proud to have in their arms. The ugly, nerdy and uncultured types; the likes of her, only attracted men that had no luck in the dating pool and could settle for any woman. Those that no woman in her right mind would look at twice.

With that thought crossing her mind, her skeptical, logical, full of sense part of the brain sprang into action immediately. She wondered how he was able to tell she was in danger.

‘What if he orchestrated this?’ As soon as the thought popped up, she sat up straight pondering whether she should flee or wait for him to come back. She was not a coward and whatever could happen between them had already happened, not unless he wanted to retaliate by killing her; she was okay. She slumped back feeling relieved by the realization of the absurdity of her suspicions. She thought back to the way he had seemed genuinely upset that the thugs had laid their hands on her. The thought of how he had dealt with them, made her smile.

She was in a roller coaster of emotions, from being happy to feeling safe, then from safe to angry and from angry to suspicious. Emotional Schizophrenia could not fully describe the waves of feelings she was going through right at that moment.

Rose had been raised to trust no one and no matter how out of the world the idea of Joseph orchestrating the attack was, she could not help but force herself to be consciously cautious around him. She was so sure Isabella was the mastermind but it would not hurt to add another name to the list of suspects.