The Billionaire Alpha’s Secret Heirs

The Fall

“Stop running!”

A voice rang through the winds. Boots thudded against the asphalt. My bare feet skidded against the gravel near the edge of the road, leaving b****y tracks behind, while tight chestnut hair clung to my sweaty brow. Rain squashed down in thick sheets, blinding me.

The mountain's rocky ridge rose on my left side while a rusted metal guardrail blocked the drop on my right. White gleaming headlights swerved around the corner, illuminating the frontage of the narrow mountain pass.

Two cars screeched to a halt on either side of the asphalt with simultaneous thuds of their doors closing.

I halted, heart hammering in my ears as a tall figure emerged from the passenger seat of the lead vehicle. A jagged ridge of flesh disfigured his left jaw, and his eyes burned with a sickly yellow hue in the dim nightlight—a rogue wolf.

“End of the line, little Luna,” he sneered, ignoring the howling wind. “You're out of the pack's territory. No Alpha aura to ward off wolves out here.”

I backed against the cold, wet iron of the guardrail. “Who sent you?”

The man smirked, stepping closer. He didn't bother to reach for a weapon. To him, an unprotected female human was merely a pane of glass ready to shatter.

“Does it matter?” he asked, pausing at least five feet away. Behind him, two hulking enforcers flanked either side, blocking the road up the mountain. “Miss Chloe was quite insistent. She wants to be certain Alpha Vance doesn't have any loose ends hanging around his new territory.”

“I'm carrying his child!” I yelled, voice shaking with fury. “If you kill me, Damon will hunt each one of you down to the last man!”

The rogue leader narrowed his eyes, considering for a brief moment. There was a pause as if he was contemplating whether to believe me.

He let out a guttural laugh. “Charming little speech," Chloe said. “You'd say something along those lines.” She mentioned you were delusional.” His gaze swept over me, lingering on my swollen belly. “You're wasting your breath, human. Even if that were true, Chloe's money is in my account. Business is business, now hand over the ring.”

I bent down behind my back, fingers fumbling over the muddied floor, feeling around for anything I could use as a weapon. My fingers closed around a jagged piece of concrete with a protruding rusted rebar.

As the rogue closed in on me, I didn't retreat. I didn't whimper in fear. Every ounce of my being screamed as I hurled the concrete and jagged metal at the rogue's face. c***k!

The pointed end of the rebar tore into his cheekbone, spraying black blood all over the concrete road.

The rogue howled in rage, staggering backward three steps, clutching at his broken cheekbone. His eyes had turned a solid shade of yellow. “You little w***e!”

“Stay back!” I screamed, whacking at the other two thugs with the b****y concrete.

“Get her!” the rogue leader snarled, his voice garbled by his distorted muzzle. “Break her legs.” The two enforcers lunged at me, but I whirled around and looked down. Beyond the rail on my right, the road dropped a hundred feet or more to the jagged rocks below and the churning white water of the Blackwood River.

If I stayed on the road, they'd kill me and the baby with that and leave me broken on the river rocks for Damon to find. If I dove off the cliff, I'd be risking my life, but at least I had a chance to live.

I pressed my hands against my lower abdomen and felt the warmth of my womb. I held on to my fear just long enough to steady myself.

“Get her.”

I didn't let them catch me. I climbed on the slick metal railing, kicked off against the concrete road, and threw myself backwards over the edge.

“No,” the rogue leader roared. The wind whistled past my ears as I plummeted into the inky void. 100 miles (ca. 161 kilometers) away…Vance Pack Manor.

Damon Vance stood near the fireplace in the master bedroom, a glass of amber liquid in his hand. Suddenly, his chest convulsed with a deep, writhing pain. The drink slipped from his fingers, breaking into a dozen shards of glass upon the stone floor. He dropped to his knees, chest heaving. Sharp, searing pain lanced through his ribs—as if a thick strand of silk had snapped within his lungs.

His wolf howled in anguish, wrenching its head back in a primal, sorrowful wail that reverberated through his very bones.

GONE.

“Damon?” Chloe asked, padding into the room in her nightgown. “What happened? Did you break the glass?”

Damon didn't answer her. He knelt, still clutching his sides, his heart thudding against his ribs in sheer, utter terror. He reached for the tiny thread in his heart that signified his bond with Elena. It was silent. Gone. Still.

“Damon, you’re pale,” Chloe said, stepping closer and brushing a stray lock of hair from his brow.

“What's wrong?”

Damon shoved her hands away with such force she stumbled back, landing on the bed. He stood, his eyes burning a vivid gold as his Alpha aura flared to life, rattling the windows in their frames.

“Marcus.” He barked the command, his voice vibrating through the house.

Beta Marcus appeared in the doorway, already breathless. “Alpha?”

“The border guard,” Damon snapped, hissing in pain as he wrenched his coat from the back of the chair. “Where is Elena?”

“She left through the main gate about thirty minutes ago, sir,” Marcus said, eyes wide with confusion. “She signed the decree."

"Find her,” Damon snarled, his fist connecting with the wall, sending a spiderweb of cracks racing up the stone.

“Get every tracker on the mountain road now.”