Page 48 of Ruthless Alpha
The landscape became a blur. Ensign’s cold rock and dark forests eventually gave way to its gravel beach and the imposing stone of the Argent bridge. Then it was nothing but blue, nothing but endless ocean until I was on the other side, among the lush green of the southern islands. I could stop here, see if I could find Leo, get some back-up, but there wasn’t time, and part of me feared that if I stopped now, I wouldn’t be able to start again.
I lost track of time, barely noticing the rise and fall of the sun as I ran, but by the time I was halfway across Argent, the sun had disappeared entirely. Leo needed to up his night patrols, because I encountered no one as I moved southeast toward the Arbor bridge. If I could reach Arbor town while it was still dark, I might be able to pass unnoticed, my black wolf camouflaged in the deep shadow of the night.
I had to stop before I reached the second bridge, my breath coming ragged and my throat raw from lack of water, but I knew the Argent landscape well enough to find a stream without much difficulty. I allowed myself a few deep gulps before I had to keep moving. My muscles screamed, but the adrenalinein my system forced them to quiet. I would not stop before I reached her, would not give up until she was back in my arms again.
The Arbor bridge had once been an impressive structure, but Argent lacked the interest and the funds to keep it any more than functional over the last few years. The wooden planks that lined the crossing creaked beneath my paws as I thundered over the bridge, coming to an abrupt stop on the other side as I caught sight of a small white wolf running as hard and fast as I was.
Rosie.
I recognized her instantly, shifting on instinct to catch her as she barreled into me, shifting in mid-air to leap into my arms. For a few blissful seconds, I buried my face in her neck, breathing in the wildflower scent that I had missed so acutely, until the tang of copper hit my nose. When I pulled back, panicked, I saw that Rosie’s golden hair was matted with blood on one side, and my wolf snarled within me.
“Who did this to you?” I growled, but my question was answered as three wolves emerged from the woods in the distance. I placed Rosie back on the ground, readying myself for another fight, but then there was a small hand on my chest.
“Don’t.”
There was no time for this. The wolves were approaching, slower than Rosie had, but fast enough that they’d be on us in less than a minute.
“I need to do this myself,” Rosie insisted. “I need to know I saved myself.”
I thought about the first days of our “marriage”, when she was so small, scared, and desperate to please me. She’d been beautiful then, and I’d wanted her, but the version of RosieI’d fallen in love with was the one who’d railed against her imprisonment, who grinned as she wrapped me up in her magic, who demanded that I be better, not only for her, but for all the females of Ensign. The same Rosie stood before me now, eyes blazing with determination, and it took everything I had to nod.
“You can do it, angel,” I told her, “but you’re going to need this.”
I pulled the sword from its makeshift sheath, holding it out for her to take. With one hand on the hilt and the other winding in my hair to tug me down toward her, she pressed a hard, passionate kiss to my lips.
“I love you,” she promised.
She’d turned before I could reply, sword raised and already glowing, ready for battle.
Chapter 22 - Rosie
The sword was warm in my hand, and the sight of it brought my attackers up short. Two of them I only vaguely recognized as my uncle’s drinking buddies—one black, one brown, both ragged and greying around the muzzle. I paid them little attention, locking eyes instead with Stanley himself.
“Are you afraid of me?” I asked. Pouring my magic into the weapon came so easily now, the power fizzing and pulsing at my command. The sword glowed brighter, and Stanley snarled but didn’t approach. I’d been afraid of my own power my whole life, thinking it would corrupt me, hurt me, destroy me, but in finding it, I had found myself.
“Go home,” I told him. “Go home, and never bother me again, do you understand?”
His two friends were creeping backward, clearly not invested enough to risk going up against a witch, but Stanley himself stood firm. I flicked my wrist, and that now-familiar thread of light burst from the tip of my weapon, flicking the brown wolf’s face so he yelped and turned tail, fleeing back toward the woods; I only had to look at the black one before he was doing the same.
It was just the two of us. Just me and Stanley. Me and the man who should have protected me, who should have raised me and loved me, and cared for me. He growled, low and threatening, showing me his long, yellow teeth. It might have been frightening if I couldn’t see the sheen of foam around his mouth from the effort of running after me, a lifetime of pipe tobacco and moonshine catching up with him fast.
“I’m not scared of you anymore,” I said, and it was only as the words left my mouth that I realized I truly meant them.My heart might be pounding with adrenaline, but I didn’t really believe he could hurt me. Sure, it helped to have Xander looming behind me, ready to leap in if things went south, but I didn’tneedhim there. I could take one middle-aged man with bad lungs and a worse temper. He was nothing.
“Go,” I said again. “I don’t want to kill you.”
That was true, too. I didn’t want to kill him, if only because I didn’t want to kill anyone. Red had never been my color, and blood would not sit easily on my hands. I would go through with it if that was what it took to free myself. If I could separate myself from the man I loved, from mymate,then I could end the life of one miserable, nasty drunk.
I saw his body tense before he jumped: my magic caught him in mid-air, that thread of light wrapping itself around his neck. I tugged, pouring my intent into the sword, and I heard the dullcrackof his spine snapping. When Stanley landed, it was in a heap at my feet. His head was twisted at an angle that looked sowrong,his tongue lolling out of his mouth, and I had to look away before I retched.
I stumbled back from his body, reeling and unsteady on my feet. Xander was there in an instant, scooping me up into his arms.
“You did it. You were so brave, angel. Fuck—I’m so proud of you.”
He pressed a long kiss to my hair, and I leaned into the warmth of his hold. His woodsmoke and pepper scent enveloped me, and my wolf purred with satisfaction, utterly content for the first time in weeks.
“We’re gonna get you somewhere safe, okay?” he said, still cradling me against his chest as he set off back across the bridge. I didn’t even know which bridge itwas,but I didn’t care.I wanted to be gone, to leave Arbor behind me for good, and all my demons with it.
Xander and I left Stanley’s body where it fell, and I felt only the briefest tinge of guilt. His buddies would be back in town soon enough, and someone would come by to pick him up. I wondered if Moira would mourn him—he was her mate, after all—or if she would, in her own way, be grateful. I dismissed the thought almost as soon as it appeared in my mind. I didn’t need to care what she thought anymore, and I doubted it would be anything flattering. She might have been my blood, but she didn’t love me any more than Stanley had.
