Page 9 of The Alpha's Bullied Mate

Was he really kidnapping her? Thoughts dashed through Mica’s mind, too fast for her to catch. He reallywaskidnapping her. She thought this sort of caveman behavior only happened to other women. Nobody wanted her so badly that they would literally carry her off to his home.

And, for that matter, how could he carry her? Mica was well aware she didn’t have the trimmest figure around. Even in high school, when the boys had to carry the girls, they stagged and stumbled when they picked her up. Yet Hayden acted as though she weighed nothing at all.

Wait a minute! She wasn’t supposed to be marveling at his strength—she was supposed to be getting away from this asshole and all his asshole friends!

“Let me go,” she cried.

Just as something burst from the trees to the left and rammed into them. Mica went flying, dropping her pack as she did so. The air was driven from her lungs as she landed, hard, on the ground. Snarls and an eerie, shrieking noise filled the air.

Fighting to regain herself, she pushed herself to a sitting position. Two monstrous shapes battled in the light of the full moon. It took Mica a moment to realize they’d entered a clearing just before they were attacked. She stared at the fight, struggling to breathe and certain she had hit her head.

Because there was no way what she saw was real.

Even with the darkness, she recognized Hayden’s wolf form. But this other thing was unlike anything she’d seen before. First, she thought that its massive horns meant it was some sort of goat. Then, two enormous wings snapped open, blocking the moonlight. It made a terrible noise, a type of hissing, rattling noise. Huge claws ended its hands, each glowing a dull red.

Mica finally got in a gasp of air. She fumbled around herself, looking for her pack without taking her eyes off the fight. Her hands landed on her pack, and she pulled it to her chest, but she couldn’t run.

This had to be a dream, right? First, Hayden declared he’d take her as his mate, and now this creature. She wasn’t sure which was more unbelievable. And that disbelief kept her rooted to the spot, even though some instinct in the back of her mind screamed at her to run.

Hayden ducked under a swipe from those claws and leaped for the beast’s throat. It let out a garbled gasp as his jaws clenched around its throat. Then he shook himself, every bit of his muscles vibrating. The two parted with a sick, squealing noise. Glowing, fire-red blood spurted through the air.

It didn’t stop. The creature swiped first with one hand, then the other. Hayden dodged the first, but the second caught his shoulder. He was flipped over onto his back as easily as a kitten. The beast swung its head around toward Mica. Those massive horns started to glow from some internal source, and it staggered toward her, leaving a streak of blood behind.

Mica finally found the wits to scramble to her feet. Just as she took a step back, the creature collapsed. A ragged, gurgling sound came from it, and then nothing.

“It’s dead,” Hayden said.

Mica turned, still uncertain what had just happened. The moon shone over his gloriously naked form, but Mica’s eyes were drawn to the dark stain on his shoulder.

“You’re hurt!”

“It’s nothing.”

Yeah, right. He could hardly hold himself up straight, and Mica knew that rapidly-growing stain was blood. Even with a wolf’s superior ability to heal, that was a nasty injury. As much as she’d like to run screaming from whatever the hell this was, she couldn’t.

Instead, she dug into her pocket for her cell phone. She had intended to sell it once she got to another town, but for the time being, she’d kept it turned off to make sure nobody could use it to track her. Now, she turned it on and flicked on the flashlight.

Hayden winced at the light in his eyes. “Are you fucking kidding me? Why were you stumbling around in the dark when you had that?”

“Sit down so I can take care of that cut,” she said, ignoring his jibe. He grunted but did as she said.

He was still utterly naked, but Mica didn’t notice much as she inspected the injury. It was pumping out blood, but it was thin blood. So the wound wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. That was good. Even if he was an asshole, she didn’t want him so badly injured.

She dug a small first aid kit out of her pack and used the alcohol wipes inside to clean up the injury as best she could. Her hands were soon stained with blood, but she fought back the waves of nausea that brought on. To his credit, Hayden didn’t wince once.

There wasn’t enough gauze to cover the cuts completely, so she layered it on carefully and taped it before pulling out her clothes. This was going to ruin them for sure. She didn’t have much to start with, since none of the local stores sold anything in her size, but it was the best she could do.

Why am I even doing this for the asshole?She sighed. Because she always hated to see something in pain. She even did her best to avoid eating meat because she didn’t enjoy the idea of anything with a face dying for her.

“What was that thing?” she demanded, more to distract herself than anything else.

“A beast demon.” Hayden’s voice was perfectly even. “My team and I hunt demons. There’s been an uptick here in the Bluebell Valleys, and we’re here to stop them.”

“And that means challenging Monroe?” Mica muttered.

“It does because he’s being possessed by one of them.”

Her hands faltered. Possessed? Even after what she had seen, Mica wasn’t sure she could believe that. Hayden was just spouting nonsense, wasn’t he? Was he getting back at her for leaving?

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