Page 16 of The Alpha

“Aye, Time Master Dallan, and ye’ll obey me, will ye no?”

Melvale narrowed his eyes at him as he nodded, but another part of him ignored the Time Master and sniffed the air. “Where. Is. She?” There was that low, guttural growl again.

“We need ye to find her. Can ye do that for us?” The Time Master cocked his head at Melvale. “But ye must stay calm, and whatever ye do, dinna draw attention to yerself.”

“That’s a tall order, don’t you think?” a woman asked.

Melvale looked her way. “Princess Shona.”

She smiled at him. “Yes. It’s me.”

Her voice was soothing, and he tilted his head as he studied her. “Where is she?”

She gave him a heartfelt smile. “It’s like Dallan said. We need you to find her.”

His head jerked at her words. “Lost…”

Dallan took a deep breath and held up both hands. “Aye, temporarily. Now be a good lad and calm yerself.”

“Kwaku,” Shona said. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

Kwaku smiled. “He will be fine. I gave him…”

He never got to finish. Melvale took another whiff, his long legs carrying him into the next room and into yet another. Her scent was strongest here. He closed his eyes, got a flash of her in his mind, and that was it.

Melvale ran for the open window and leapt through it.

6

Melvale landed, to the shock of a few bystanders across the street, and took off at a run. He crossed the next street and kept going. He had her scent, and his mind was consumed with finding her. He ran the length of the block, his body fighting against something… foreign. But no matter, even with something hindering him, he could feel the power beginning to pulse through him. He would find her, and no one would dare stop him.

He crossed the next street, dodging cars and kept going, running up a residential block of brownstones. Angry shouts and honking horns followed, but he didn’t care. He had to find her.

Melvale caught her scent again and came to a stop. He sniffed the air, his head snapping to the building next to him. He growled low in his throat and bared his teeth, fangs descending. He ran up the steps and almost stumbled. Kwaku, this washisfault. Melvale remembered him giving him something to drink…

He growled again, opened the leaded glass door to the building, entered the vestibule, then opened the second door. Inside he sniffed the air, caught her scent coming from down a hall, and headed that way.

Something nagged at him as he followed his mate’s scent to a door at the end of the hall. He ignored the niggling as his vision blurred, and he blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings. Thankfully, her scent was still strong. He’d found her!

Melvale put his hand on the doorknob, turned it, and the door opened to a set of stairs that disappeared into blackness. But it didn’t matter, her scent was even stronger, and he could sense things in the dark. He had no weapons, but that didn’t matter either. He’d kill anyone that kept him from his mate.

He took the first step, then the second, and again almost stumbled. Whatever Kwaku gave him was still working. Running only pushed any remaining drug through his body. But would it also burn it off? Is that why he still had his wits about him? Or did he?

The Alpha side of him was driving him to find her, take her, get her as far away from here as possible and keep her safe. But where would he go?

He descended the stairs, feeling his way, his senses working yet not as they should. It wasn’t until the last few steps that he realized he wasn’t alone. The slamming of the door at the top of the stairs was proof even if he didn’t sense the others.

The lights came on, revealing his surroundings. He was in the building’s basement, his head only an inch from the ceiling. Before he could so much as take in the rest of his surroundings they shot him. The darts came from everywhere as he bared his fangs at his attackers. He grabbed the nearest man and tossed him against a wall. Another came out from behind a pillar and shot, the dart hitting his shoulder. Melvale began pulling the darts out, but his vision was blurring. A memory hit, a beach, darkness, dozens of men in black attacking him. He’d been protecting Prince Vale and… what was the woman’s name?

Melvale blinked and realized he was on his knees. How did he get there?

“Easy, boys, he’s still not out,” a voice called. “But we don’t want to overdo it.”

Another tranquilizer dart hit him in the neck, and Melvale let go a guttural growl of warning. But he couldn’t get up. He thought he had, but no, he now lay on the cold concrete floor, breathing like a winded horse.

“Careful, don’t get too close. And don’t shoot him again. We don’t want to give him too much. Not until we figure out what he can take.”

Melvale’s breathing picked up again, and he struggled to his knees. He could still smell the summery sweet scent of his mate. Where was she?

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