Page 5 of The Alpha's Bounty
None of that will happen now.
The man stops a few feet away, the distance between us thick with unspoken tension.I can’t read his expression.His eyes are guarded, like he’s holding back an entire conversation I’m not invited to hear.
Then he mutters one word.
“You.”
It takes me a second to process it, my brain scrambling.My mouth goes dry.“Yeah… you got me.”
I mean it in the bounty way.Yeah, you’ve found the girl from the report—the runaway with the outstanding warrant.But the way his eyes flicker at my words, like they mean something else entirely to him, causes a strange shiver to run through me.
Then I clock the way he’s watching me.He’s staring at me with a strange look, recognition mixed with reverence.
That doesn’t make sense, though, because I’ve never seen this man before.I would remember if I had.
I open my mouth to question him, but he moves before I can say another word.One second, he’s a few feet away, and the next, his hand grips my arm, pulling me toward him.My brain screamsfight, but my body hesitates, caught off guard by the sheer heat and power radiating from him.
Then his mouth is on mine.
I gasp, startled, my hands twitching at my sides.His lips are warm and firm, and the shock of his kiss sends my thoughts scattering like leaves in the wind.No slow build, no time to think, only the crash of him against me, the press of his chest, and the solid strength in every inch of him.
My instinct should be to push him away.To break free and run.That’s what I’ve done my whole life.Run.
But I don’t.
Instead, my mind blanks, replaced by something heavier and deeper that sinks into my soul.Because the second his lips move over mine, something shifts inside me.Like a door I didn’t know was locked swinging open.
It’s terrifying.But… not.
This is dangerous.I know it as surely as I know my own name.But something else accompanies the danger.Something steady.Something that, for a fraction of a second, makes me feel like I’m not alone in the world.
For one moment, I’m right where I’m supposed to be.And I feel…safe.
For the first time in years, I wonder if my running days are finally behind me.
THREE
Cyrus
My bear roars so loudlyin my head that it’s hard to concentrate on anything else.
MATE.Bite her and mark her!he orders.
Not yet!I shout back.
Mate, he growls again, like he’s incapable of saying or thinking of anything else.
The word detonates through me, a thunderclap that shakes bone and marrow.My palm is braced at the small of her back from that reckless kiss, and heat pours through my hand as if I’ve pressed it to a flame.She's softness to my steel.Steadiness to my storm.Her scent—winter-sweet and wild—encompasses me.
I force a breath.Then another.
I can’t believe it.I’ve spent years walking these woods, promising my bear we’d find her.I told him to be patient while I handled the borders, patrols, and fights that came through town at closing time.I told him to trust fate.As Alpha of my pack, I’m sworn to hunt fugitives and bring them to justice.But fate has waited for this moment to hand me the one person who makes it impossible to do that job.
Mina Carver.A bounty.A runaway with a warrant.
That blurry photo didn’t come close to capturing the fierce softness of her gray eyes or the way her full lips tremble like they’re fighting not to.
My bear slams against my ribs like he’ll chew his way out if I don’t do something to keep her close.
