Page 49 of Alpha's Forbidden Bond

He smiled. “See, now I know you’re lying because I saw you the other night. I followed Miss Pearl all the way out here, thinking she might’ve been meeting up secretly with her father. But no. She came here to see you. And I saw you—I saw what you really are.”

I narrowed my eyes. There was no way this was going to end peacefully. “Then you know what I’m capable of.”

“Yes,” he said with a smirk. “But I also know that you’re not invincible. Thanks to my son’s research, I’ve learned quite a lot about your kind, actually. Like you’re aversion to copper.”

Fuck.

Breaking the most important shifter rule for the second time in as many days, I shifted in front of a human. Everything happened so fast that in the blur of going from human to werewolf, all I could really do was focus on the objective and try not to get distracted. A shot rang out, a woman screamed, but I didn’t hesitate. I lunged forward off my back paws the second Stanley moved to pull the trigger again. I felt a sharp pain in my lower leg, and I knew the first bullet had at least grazed me, but thankfully I would live. I brought Stanley to the ground, pinning him back with my powerful paws just as the second shot left the gun. The air was forced out of Stanley’s lungs, and his head fell back against the cement with a crack. I stared down at him just in time to see his eyes roll back into his head.

I opened my mouth, drool falling from my teeth as I went for his neck.

“Andreas!”

At the sound of Diana’s voice, I looked up. She was standing off to the side between two trees. She looked terrified but unharmed.

“Andreas,” she said again. “Don’t. You’re not a killer.”

She was right.

As much as I wanted this man dead—I wasn’t able to do what needed to be done.

Chapter 24

Diana

I’d emerged from the trees just in time to see Stanley pull the trigger. In the dark, I couldn’t see where the bullet had gone or if Andreas had been injured, but a moment later, he was tackling my dad’s old colleague to the ground and going in for the kill. I stopped him from ripping the man’s throat out, but there was a tense moment after Andreas pulled back slightly from Stanley’s still body that I worried the wolf inside might take over.

Then, both of us were torn back to the moment when someone screamed from the north. We both whipped our heads around to see Sarafina standing where the edge of the compound met the road. She was holding her stomach, and there was a patch of ruby-red blood sprouting out from the center of her white nightgown.

“Oh god,” I said to no one in particular. “She’s been hit.”

Andreas wasted no time. He took off running, ducking his head so that he could scoop Sarafina up onto his back without breaking his stride and carry her further into the compound. I wasn’t sure what to do. He could run so fast that he disappeared within a couple of seconds, leaving me on the road alone with Stanley, who appeared to be badly injured and knocked out. I nervously ran my fingers through my hair, making a conscious effort to breathe, and then went to Stanley’s side. I bent down next to his body and gently prodded the man’s shoulder. He didn’t budge, but when I put my hand over his mouth, I could feel his breath. He was still alive.

The man was skinny enough that I thought maybe there was a chance I could drag him the way Andreas went. I moved behind his head and put my hands underneath his arms. I was able to get him up into a near-seated position, but when I tried to move him, it was nearly impossible. He was wearing a heavy suit, and the ground was uneven, strewn with big rocks and patches of thick mud. I put him down once more and sighed.

“Fuck!” I yelled. I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do.

A second later, the otherwise silent evening was punctured by the sound of a truck engine roaring to life. I was startled but then almost instantly relieved when I saw Mikeal driving down the road. He had the driver’s side window down, and he came to a stop near me and Stanley. “You need a ride?”

“Thank god. Did Andreas send you to get me?”

He nodded. “I was in the infirmary doing some physical therapy on my leg when he burst through the doors with Sarafina. He told me where I could find you and that I needed to make sure you were safe.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

Mikeal’s jaw tensed. “I don’t know. I thought I heard Andreas say something about her being hit with a copper bullet.” He looked at Stanley. “Is this the shooter?”

“Yes.”

“Andreas said I had to bring him too and that I couldn’t kill him. But hey, if you don’t tell him, I won’t either. I can just say that he was dead when I showed up.”

“No,” I said. “I’m not okay with that. I know this man is dangerous, but if we take his gun away from him, it’s not like he could win in a fight against any of you anyway. Let’s bring him back alive, tie him up, and then ask him some questions when he wakes.”

Mikeal didn’t look too thrilled with this arrangement, but he didn’t argue. He slid out of the driver’s seat and approached Stanley’s body. I was about to help lift him when he hauled Stanley over his shoulder with little effort and a slight limp, placing him into the truck's bed, not being as gentle as I would’ve been. “Okay then,” he said. “Let’s go.”

I paused at the passenger side door. “You’re not going to take me back into town, right? Like, this isn’t a trick.”

“Trick?”

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