Page 2 of A Real Alpha
I’d learned long ago to hold down my instincts, to suppress rising hackles and barring teeth, to keep my claws in. It only made him madder.
But I was holding Roscoe and as Harry took a step towards us, every protective bone in my body reared its head. I was still a wolf inside, it seemed.
It took everything in me to bite down on the rumbling growing in my chest.
“J—just let me put Roscoe down,” I begged.
He paused, a vicious smile marring his dark features.
“Why would I let you do anything?” he asked. “You’re clearly a disobedient littlebitch.”
He stepped toward me again, faster this time. I backed up, but hit the wall and that was it for my self-control. As he advanced on me, a loud growl burst from my throat, my teeth barred, fangs lowering.
Fury twisted through Harry’s face, and he leapt toward me.
I twisted out of the way, protecting my precious cargo by turning my back to him. His fist caught me right between the shoulder blades, smashing me into the wall with only my arms to block my baby.
“No!” I shouted and Roscoe—who had stayed asleep until now—took a shuddering breath and suddenly wailed bloody murder.
I spun around to face Harry again, just out of reach once more and the fury that he had shown me was nothing to how I felt as I stood there, glaring at him.
It was one thing to hurt me, but if my child was hurt by his hands too… No. I couldn’t accept it.
My heart was racing. Blood boiling, rage swelling within me. The fact that I couldn’t look away now, even to check my baby, only made me angrier.
“You little…”
He leapt toward me again, and maybe it was my anger and heightened senses, but Harry seemed slower than usual. I twisted out of reach, but I knew I couldn't fight him. I didn’t have the strength at the best of times, and most definitely not with Roscoe screaming and wiggling in my arms.
Harry growled, jaws snapping, a sure sign that he was moments from changing into his wolf form.
Without thinking, I ran.
I got to the open doorway. Somehow, I even got through it.
Then Harry caught me. He grabbed me by the back of the shirt and yanked me back into the apartment so hard that I stumbled and fell. I hit the floor flat, winded. Roscoe wailed, his screams intensifying.
I struggled, trying to sit up, but I couldn't. For a minute I floundered, my free arm reaching out wildly for something to grip. The only thing I found was a thin cord and I held itinstinctively, just as Harry, in the form of his large, black wolf, now came over me, every tooth bared.
This was it.
He was really going to kill me. To killus.But I would go down fighting, at least.
Instinctively, I yanked the cord in my hand—and to both of our surprise—the heavy floor lamp came crashing down, hitting Harry on the back of the head.
It wasn't enough to stop him, but itwasenough to stun him.
He stumbled under its weight, giving me enough room to scramble to my feet. I didn't even pause to look back at him. I just ran as fast as I could, through the front door again, into the hallway and straight for the stairwell rather than wait for the elevator.
Roscoe's screams echoed, now the only thing that I could hear over my rapid heartbeat. Then, there was the back door, the one that led into the alley and just like that, I was through it, suddenly in the crisp, winter air.
I took a ragged breath, feeling the sting of the cold in my lungs, my feet stumbling as shock reverberated through me.
I was outside!
...I had to keep going.
Heading toward the street, I was shaking, moving fast, but slowed by the crunch of ice under my feet until suddenly, I emerged onto the sidewalk amongst the people of the city.
