Page 53 of Alpha Rising (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

Sam arrived. “What the hell?”

I didn’t respond to my brother. I was on guard, waiting to see if this interloper would give up on physical violence and instead try to overcome me using the seelies’ powerful hallucinatory gifts. So long as we stuck to brute force, I would come out on top.

John shoved me backward, then threw a punch, connecting with my jaw.

My head snapped back, and Sarah screamed.

Sam dragged two of the office chairs out of the way while I threw another punch, catching John in the gut and making him double over.

John made a half turn as he straightened, then tried to swipe my legs.

I was too agile and jumped out of the way. “Cat. Remember?”

Then I threw John back against the wall, this time holding his jaw with my right hand while leaning my left forearm against his chest.

“Why are you here?” I asked through clenched teeth.

John snapped his neck forward, head-butting my forehead.

Sarah cried out, and Toby yelled, “No! Stay back.”

I cocked my arm to throw another punch, and my elbow connected with something hard.

“Reese!” Toby yelled.

There was a thud, and I turned to find Sarah on the floor.

Shit.I crouched and slid my hand behind her head, lifting it slightly. “Kitten, are you okay?”

She put her hand to her forehead.

“Say something,” I begged, cursing myself for not being more conscious of her location at every single second.

“Ow.” She pushed herself to her feet, and I took her elbow to help her up. She swayed a little, then groaned.

“John,” she said slowly, still holding her head. “What are you doing here?”

“I’mhere,” he said incredulously, taking a moment to wipe his sleeve across his bloody mouth. “Because you were kidnapped. I needed to check things out for myself before we talked about moving you.”

“Moving her?” I asked, and my brothers each muttered a curse.

“Yes.” John’s voice turned victorious. “Sarah called after it happened. Clearly you weren’t able to keep her safe. We’re looking for a new location.”

“Like hell you are!” I exploded.

“Apparently she’s not even safe fromyou.” John gestured at Sarah’s forehead, which was now sprouting a sizable lump.

Sarah put her hands up in a gesture meant to keep us both in our respective corners. “Are you saying those guys worked for DaBruzzi after all?”

“No,” John said. “As far as we can tell, there’s no connection between DaBruzzi and this Lady Luck company. It’s owned by a number of shareholders, the biggest being a family group called “Hook-em-Horns, LLC. But it doesn’t matter who your abductors were. Any threat to you—wherever it comes from—is unacceptable.”

“Hook‘em Horns?” I repeated. “Why does that sound familiar?”

“It’s the motto for the University of Texas,” John said. “I assume the family are all alumni.”

I glanced at my desk, my mind reeling back to a memory that hovered just out of reach in the shadows of my mind.

“You didn’t have to come all the way here to tell me this,” Sarah said.

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