Page 139 of Feral Alphas

Ride or die.

Liam puts the car into low range and coasts up the street so we don’t wake anyone with the gutsy OCB patrol engine. It’s a stupid idea to come to the house; Colt’s going to cut me to shreds, and this time I’ll take Liam down with me too.

But the alpha within quivers in eagerness being this close to my loved ones. If this doesn’t work, I’ll ask Liam to take me out to the sticks and put me down, because I can’t live as a shell of myself. I’m empty, my heart and soul ripped out.

“Oh?” Liam’s quizzical noise has me sitting bolt upright as he rolls to a stop. A white truck backs up all the way to the door, and men jump out of the cab with long metal rods in the misty gray first light of dawn.

“Something happened to the ferals,” I say as my heart thuds in my chest. That’s a transport truck for sure. No one orders furnitureto arrive before five am, and they don’t need that many men and weapons either, unless something is seriously wrong.

One of the burly men pulls out a black handgun and an eerie silence descends in my mind, every instinct falling into place. “It’s the kennel bosses!” They’re here to take back what they lost, but I won’t let them have Rose. She’s ours, and so are the feral alphas.

I should have figured it out when a stranger came poking around the house pretending to be a journalist.

I leap out of the still-moving car, hurtling across the lawn as Groman comes around the back of the truck, one black glove on his left hand. A growl rips through my chest at the sight of him but my first priority is arming myself. I slam into the closest guy with a gun, using the full force of my run to send him flying, then leap for the fallen weapon. I pull the trigger, firing a warning shot to alert Colt.

I’m too late. The front door swings and time slows, flowing around me in sluggish waves as Colt stands there, bare chested and framed by the dark brown paint. Groman’s mouth twists with evil pleasure as he lifts his good hand, metal glinting in the first ray of light. A gun.

A shot fires behind me and Groman staggers, a red flower blooming across his back, but I know instantly Liam’s missed his vitals. Three steps carry me across the pathway, and I lunge. Groman’s gun retorts, punching his shoulder back and I tumble back against Colt in the doorway, fire ripping through my arm.

“Missed you, Sir,” I gasp, static fizzing through my body.

Colt drags me backward by my shirt scruff and slams the door shut. His face masks over with grim concentration. He leaves me lying there and the kitchen cabinet rattles as he retrieves his gun.His heavy steps are reassuring as they come back into my swimming vision, dropping something green on me.

“Keep pressure on it, you damn fool!”

I smile at the crazed edge in his voice as I pick up the dishcloth. Colt still cares about me. “Liam’s out there,” I rasp. Even if I die, it would be worth it to save his life. And fuck, with the agony tearing through my arm, I might pass out any second.

Colt rips a chain off his neck and shoves it in my hand, the metal warmed by his skin, before sliding around the pillars to the front window where he shoots out the glass with a loud crash. A key dangles from the necklace.

My head tilts back, the floor floating around me until I spot a pair of sexy legs running in. I groan. No matter what happens, we must keep Rose safe. “Came to help, darling, but there’s too many of them,” I murmur, passing her the key. Agony bites through the bullet hole in my shoulder, but I grit my teeth to stay conscious. “Time for a Uno Reverse.”

Chapter fifty-three

Rose

My sobs break loose at the sight of Luka on the foyer floor, blood seeping into the carpet around him. Guns pop across the front lawn and I hunch in, my sensitive hearing blazing with each shot. Glass shatters behind us and I scream, covering my head as I spin to find three men in leather with their faces half covered swarming through the crumbling sliding door.

A blur of black and tan streaks out of the hallway and launches onto the first man with a ferocious growl. Kye rushes in and grabs my shoulders as I look down at the key in my hand.

Uno Reverse.

“Get Luka away from the door!” I shout at Kye as I spin and stumble my way to the other hall, tripping on a broken brick. I can barely walk, my body heavy with the pulsing need of my heat. Zane made an absolute mess here, but there’s no time to waste. I slot the key into Uno’s cell and fling it open. “Help us, Uno,” I beg, falling to my knees.

I feel his presence brush past me, but he’s so fast my eyes can’t catch up. All I hear is the skitter of broken cement. He leaps over Luka’s legs as Kye drags him into the mouth of the hall and then theferal alpha’s gone. Kye turns to hurl kitchen chairs at whoever Zane hasn’t killed yet.

Spinning on my feet, I peer around the wall at the chaos. Uno leaps through the open doorway, his fist loaded back. For a moment he seems suspended in mid-air, wreathed in morning mist and then he falls on Groman like the grim reaper.

The kennel boss doesn’t stand a chance as his former top fighter unloads his fist straight into his throat. Groman falls, eyes wide with shock, landing with his head at an unnatural angle—a fitting end for a man who toyed with people’s lives.

Behind me, Luka groans.

I hear more screams and I pray none of them are Colt’s as I crawl to Luka, tears running down my face. He smiles weakly, trying to hold a dishcloth to the wound in his shoulder which pours blood. I sob as I fold the towel and lean my weight on it, begging the blood to stop. I’m too weak and my body’s trembling all over from the waves of heat thundering through me.

There’s pain in Luka’s eyes as they shutter, but he makes no complaint. “I’m sorry, my queen. I truly am. I never wanted to betray your trust.”

“You didn’t!” I hiss, sniffing back tears. “I missed you so, so much!”

“You smell so good,” he says, disobeying to run his hand through my damp hair. “Was that Zane I saw?”

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