Chapter 11
636 Words
The first wolf reached me before I could pull free.
He caught my arm and twisted it behind my back.
Pain shot through my shoulder.
I cried out, but I didn't stop struggling.
The second wolf grabbed my waist.
"Lift her!"
"I've got her!"
They tried to drag me across the wet floor.
My injured ankle scraped against broken pieces of glass. I bit my lip to keep from screaming.
"Leave her alone!" Sal roared.
He snatched a wooden chair and swung it with both hands.
The chair struck one of the wolves across the back.
The wood burst apart.
The wolf stumbled forward with a curse.
"Old man!" another wolf shouted.
He charged at Sal.
My heart lurched.
"No!"
Before the wolf could reach him, someone caught him by the collar and yanked him backward so hard that his feet left the floor.
It was Liam.
He drove the man into the counter.
The shelves behind it shook. Cups and bottles crashed down around them.
Another wolf rushed Liam from the side.
Liam saw him too late.
The punch landed across his ribs.
The air rushed out of his lungs.
He staggered.
The leader didn't waste the chance.
"There!" he shouted. "Keep him busy!"
Two more wolves closed in.
Liam blocked one strike, ducked another, but a third caught him across the shoulder. He lost his footing and dropped to one knee.
For the first time, I saw him struggle.
He wasn't losing.
But he couldn't reach me.
The leader laughed.
"I told you. One man can't do everything."
He looked at the wolves holding me.
"Get her outside."
Rain blew through the broken doorway as they dragged me toward the parking lot.
I dug my heels into the floor.
One heel slipped.
The other refused to move because of my ankle.
I reached for the edge of a table.
My fingers brushed it.
Missed.
A little girl stood near the front door, crying so hard she could barely breathe.
Her mother was trying to pull her outside, but the child had frozen.
One of the wolves shoved past them without looking.
The girl fell.
Her head struck the corner of a chair.
The sound made everyone stop.
She didn't cry.
She just lay there.
Her mother screamed.
"My baby!"
The wolf looked down at the child.
"Forget her," the leader barked. "Move!"
He stepped over the little girl.
Something changed in Liam.
Until then, he had been fighting to reach me.
Now he looked at the child.
His decision came without hesitation.
He turned away from me.
He ran to her.
The leader burst into laughter.
"I knew it!"
He pointed at Liam.
"That's why you'll never win."
Liam dropped to one knee beside the little girl.
"Sweetheart..."
She blinked.
A thin line of blood ran down the side of her forehead.
"It's okay," he said. "Can you hear me?"
She nodded weakly.
Her mother threw herself beside them, sobbing.
"Thank you... thank you..."
Liam lifted the little girl into her mother's arms.
"Get outside," he said. "Now."
She didn't argue.
She ran.
The leader watched them leave with a satisfied smile.
"You made your choice, Alpha."
He looked straight at me.
"And now she belongs to me."
One of the wolves hauled me through the broken doorway.
Cold rain hit my face.
I slipped in the mud and nearly fell, but they dragged me upright again.
The parking lot looked completely different now.
Dark SUVs blocked both exits.
Liam's men stood in the rain, watching every movement.
No one had attacked.
Not yet.
A broad-shouldered man stepped forward from the line.
His eyes never left me.
"Alpha!" he shouted.
"They're bringing her out!"
Every head turned.
Inside the diner, Liam looked toward the doorway.
Then he started running.
doorway.
Then he started running.
- Writer
