Page 68 of Alpha Rising (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

“So you can’t take off on me again.”

I thrashed, trying to dislodge his hands from my shoulders. “I am not your prisoner.”

“No,” he agreed, but he didn’t release me. Instead, his face got closer and his eyes burned with even more intensity.

“I’m free to go wherever I want,” I argued.

“Yes.”

I tried one of those moves I’d learned in a self-defense class—the one where you bring your hands low, then swoop them up and apart to break a man’s hold.

It didn’t work and only made Reese more growly. “What you arenotfree to do, is put yourself, my employees, or myfamilyin danger.”

Guilt overwhelmed me. What if that guy had gone afterSamwith his knife? “I didn’t expect anyone to get hurt.”

“Exactly my point. Jesus, fuck me, Sarah. What did you expect would happen?”

Nothing, was the answer. I hadn’t had any expectations because I hadn’t thought it through. I’d just been so damn angry. I’d wanted to lash out.

“Reese,” I whispered. “Please let go of my arms.”

He acted like he didn’t even hear me. “The way Sam tells it, you almost had your throat slit.”

My blood was ice water trickling through my veins. “Let go of me!”

“What was your plan?” he roared, squeezing my arms. “Why would you do something so stupid?”

“Fuck you!” I screamed.

I made another attempt to wrench myself out from under his hands. This time he let me go, and I ducked under his arm, running for the closet where I kept my suitcase.

I threw it on the bed, then whipped open my drawers and started throwing things into the bag.

Reese caught me around the waist and swung me around to face him. “You could have been killed.”

“Yeah? Well, I wasn’t.” I pushed at his chest.

“You could have been.”

“That guy hit Lauren. Bloodied her nose. Bruised her eye. And I’m tryingreallyhard not to think about what else happened.”

“Then we call the police.” He released me. “We give Lauren all the support she needs. We make sure that guy never has the chance to hurt anyone else, ever again. What we do not do is demand that my brother break down a door so you can go blasting into some stranger’s house armed with a baseball bat.”

“Softball bat.”

He glared at me. Apparently now was not the time for semantics.

“Fine,” I let out a breath. “I’ll remember that for next time.”

“Next time?Sarah—fuck me—there isn’t going to be a repeat performance of tonight’s badassery.”

He probably hadn’t meant that as a compliment, but my anger and adrenaline were still running high, so I took it as one. “So long as assholes like that exist,” I said, “there willalwaysbe a next time.”

“Maybe so, but you won’t be putting yourself in the middle of it again.”

I shook my head, too exhausted to continue arguing. “I need to pack.”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

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