The Price For An Alpha's Love

CHAPTER FOUR (Death May Take a Stroll)

McKenzie wasn’t sure about how she arrived in the woods. She wasn’t just at the entrance or at the viewpoint. She was deep in the woods.

“What’s happening to me?” She muttered, looking over her hands. Her breath was shaky and her whole body trembled. She could hear the sounds of insects and the birds chirping. The woods felt so alive and ready to devour her. She shivered, turning her head here to there, waiting for whatever was watching her to show up.

Her ears picked up a screeching sound at a distance and she panicked. “Who’s there?! What are you?!” she screamed, fear filling her throat to the brim with pain.

“I have to get out of here. I’ll go crazy if I spend another second here. I have to get to the police station,” she muttered, taking a deep sigh as she prepared to endure the pain from her injuries till she found her way out of the woods to a nearby police station. She picked up the pace and nothing could describe her startled look when she realized she was racing as if she was on another level of steroids. Her legs were faster, her breath was at a regular pace, and she felt no pain in her back, ankle and wrist. It was as though she had healed completely. She was more than shocked, so she stopped abruptly.

Kenzie wasn’t aware that she stopped at the edge of a cliff. Her race had only driven her deeper into the woods.

“What’s happening to me?” she said, her voice trembling with emotions. She was on the verge of tears as she surveyed her body and realized that there was no injury in sight. Her nurse uniform was horribly slashed at the helm with stains of blood, dirt and dripping murky water.

She intended to make a circular turn to observe where she was, but her foot suddenly slipped as the edge of the cliff creaked, and she lost balance. Before she had a huge fall that could break her bones, she grabbed the branch of a plant that popped out from the cracks.

“My goodness! No! No! No!” she screamed, holding onto the branch for her dear life. “Is anybody out here? Please save me! I can’t die here. I can’t die like this” she cried, tightening her grip on the branch, but the more she did, the more it made cracks.

“Mum, Dad! I can’t die like this. Ava! Ava! Is someone there? Please save me!” She wept loudly this time, panting as she held her leg out to gain more control and climb out before the branch gave way. However, it gave way. She quietly said her last prayers as she imagined dropping down the cliff of about 6,250 feet.

“Got you!” a male voice said as an unfamiliar man grabbed her before she fell off. Kenzie’s heart thumped loudly as he pulled her out. She embraced him, shivering and trembling with bated breath. “Thank you. Thank you for saving my life,” she said, tightening her arm around his neck.

Ryder had followed her into the woods while Nikolai was busy in combat. It was his duty as Nikolai’s bodyguard to ensure Kenzie’s safety, no matter what it took. He had searched frantically for her when he realized she could run at full speed like he could. If he had delayed for a minute, he would have lost Kenzie on the cliff. The moment he pulled her out and she threw herself at him, he could tell that he had already growing feelings for her. When she tightened her arm around his neck, he thought his heart would jump out of his chest.

He got out gently from her embrace while he was still holding her hands. He stared deeply into Kenzie’s eyes, observing her face, which had piqued his interest. She still managed to keep a gorgeous face after a near-death experience. Her long lashes veiled her blue eyes, which were filled with tears. She tucked at her hair that had lost its styling.

“You’re safe now. I promise. No one’s going to hurt you. You’re not going to die. Calm down,” he said, while she was still trembling. She shivered once more when a figure flashed past them, then to their side.

“Ryder, we’ve got to go. Someone called 911. They might have seen us or seen him flee into the woods,” Nikolai said, moving his attention from Ryder to McKenzie. She stared at him with her mouth agape. She had seen enough from him. He was the man she had a one-night stand with who had also appeared in her dream and then revealed fangs and claws. And finally, he super sped like in the movies. It was too much for her to take in, so she lost consciousness, falling into Ryder’s arms.

McKenzie had the wildest experience in her life and for ten hours, she was hugging her pillow, talking in her sleep with another dream of an encounter with Nikolai.

“Stop! Stop, please!” She screamed, kicking her pillow onto the floor. She lifted her lashes then sat upright to be sure she wasn’t about to get smooched by Nikolai.

“Thank goodness. It was a dream. It was all a dream. Goodness gracious, what did I miss?” she said, stretching her arm to reach her phone, but it wasn’t there. The room was different. The environment was unfamiliar. It was definitely not her room.

“Where the hell am I?” she exclaimed, turning around on her bed.

The room was large, probably almost like the size of the apartment she shared with Ava. All the wares were sparkling gold. The curtains were made from original fabric materials like expensive lace worn by the royal family in England. She was sitting on a king-sized bed with flowing drapes attached to every corner. The bed space was given an uplift that raised it a bit higher than the dazzling floor. Everything around her was screaming luxury and wealth, but she had no idea where she was.

“This is not Los Angeles. I’ve not been kidn*pped, or I won’t be lying in this expensive room. Where the hell am I?” she exclaimed once more, biting her lower lip as she struggled to get out of bed.