The Alphas Fated Mate

The Horrible Encounter

“Sorry I left you alone with Trace on the prowl. Did he bother you?” Aria hated lying to Bon, but she couldn't bring herself to make her friend feel guilty for enjoying herself.

“Nope, no sign of him,” Aria lied.

“Good. I wouldn’t want to have to use my mad ninja skills and take out his knees.” Bon laughed, striking a seriously funny version of a ninja pose.

“Oh my gosh! Those are some killer moves. Remind me to never get on your bad side.”

“I’ll try. Well, I’m going to go back and join the Bonfire, maybe roast a marshmallow or two. You want to join me?”

“As much as I love the gooey wonderfulness that is a toasted marshmallow, I think I’ll take a rain check. I’m going to head home so I can pass out.” Standing up, Aria took Bon's hand and pulled her to her feet.

“If you insist, but make sure you text me when you get home.” Bon pulled Aria into a tight hug.

Hugging her back, Aria said, “I can handle that as long as you do the same. I don’t care if it’s four in the morning; you better text me.”

“I will. See you tomorrow!”

“See ya, Bon!” Aria watched her friend to make sure she made it back to the group without any trouble, then packed up her gear. Reaching the truck and holding open the door, she called, “Come on, Liam . Let’s head home.”

They were only a few miles away from the lake when Aria noticed a vehicle behind them driving way too close. She slowed down, trying to give them a chance to pass, but they just slowed up and stayed right on her tail. She sped up, and they sped up too. They played this back and forth for about four miles, nearing a curve when Aria noticed the vehicle slip into the other lane to pass, but it didn’t pass. It pulled right up beside her, and she realized it was Trace behind the wheel.

He rammed the jeep into the side of Aria's truck, running her off the road and into the ditch. Luckily, they were wearing seatbelts, and it wasn’t a hard enough impact for the airbags to deploy. Unfastening her seatbelt, Aria tried to reach for Liam to check on him, but as soon as she was loose, she heard the door open, and she was jerked from her seat.

Trace wrapped his arm around Aria's chest and pressed something hard and cold against her temple. With pure hatred in his voice, he said, “Now we’ll finish what we started!” Aria's brain raced. How could she get out of this and make sure Liam was alright? Was this jerk really holding a gun to her head? She felt eerily calm.

Her voice dripping with sarcasm, Aria said, “You know if you wanted something from me, you could’ve just asked. No need to dent my fender.”

Hoping her lack of fear would shock him enough to give her some kind of opening, Trace tightened his grip, digging his rough fingers into her side. There’d be a bruise there, but it might be the least of her injuries if she didn’t get away.

His lips were pressed to Aria's ear when he said, “After tonight, my little flower, you’ll never want another man again.” He sucked her earlobe into his mouth as the hand holding the gun left her head, and he dragged it down her side. She knew she had to get away.

When his lips started trailing down her neck, he loosened his grip around her chest enough for Aria to attempt to slam her heel into his foot. In her mind, it gave her the chance to get loose so she could run; in reality, it didn’t do anything but anger the prick because he was wearing steel-toed work boots. He threw her hard onto the ground and leveled the gun at her with one hand as he used the other to undo his jeans. Aria's stomach rolled.

She knew it wouldn’t be long before its contents came back up. She turned her head away from the monster in front of her, not wanting him to see how much he was upsetting her. He might be able to strip her of what she had guarded for the last 20 years, but there was no way she'd let him think this would break her. The vomit started to come up, and she swallowed it back down. She was fighting back the second wave of sickness when she caught movement in the truck. She tempted a glance back at Trace to see if he noticed. Nope, he was too busy working his pants down with one hand. Turning back to the truck, the movement was gone. Maybe she imagined it.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she felt the weight of Trace on top of her, effectively pinning her to the ground. There was no way she’d be able to get him off of her from this position. Her hands were still free, but she couldn’t see anything within her reach that could hurt him enough to get away. He began pulling her dress up her body, stopping every few inches to rub his sweaty hands along her legs then her stomach. Realizing his hands were both gun-free, Aria desperately searched the ground for the gun. He had it tucked up against his side near his pants. If she stretched, she might be able to reach it before he realized what was going on. She stretched her hand over the hard ground trying to move as little as possible so he wouldn’t notice. Her fingers just felt the cold metal of the barrel when it was ripped away from her grasp.

“You little w***e! You thought you could use my own gun on me.” Then he slammed the butt of the gun down hard against Aria's temple.

The pain was so intense, and the black was already starting to cloud Aria's eyes, or maybe she was closing them, she wasn't sure which one was happening. She wanted to let the darkness take her away to a safe place….

Growling, why was there growling in her darkness? She fought her eyelids to get them to open back up and focus. She noticed that Trace’s weight was no longer on top of her, so she attempted to sit up. The pain radiating through her head was so intense she almost fell back to the ground. She gripped her knees to keep her upper half from falling backward. Once she felt fairly certain she wouldn’t pass back out, she raised her head from her knees to survey the scene before her.

Liam ! He had Trace backed up to the edge of the road. There was no doubt in Aria's mind now that he was a wolf; he was a predator, and Trace was his prey. He stalked the monster that attacked her. He wasn’t looking for his opening; he already had that. What was he doing?