Page 46 of The Alpha's Baby Girl

“What is it?” Rowan demanded angrily. “What have I told you about disturbing me when I’m having a meet—”

He noticed Elena, Juniper’s adopted sister, leaning on the wall outside the room. She looked like she had fought a grizzly bear with her bare hands and lost. She looked like she’d been through hell and back.

She was bleeding from the side of her head, her lower lip was busted, and caked blood trailed down her jaw. Her teeth were a bloody mess and her eyes were bloodshot. Her clothes were tattered and her hair was a terrible mess. Underneath the destroyed clothing were a hundred wicked bruises, most deep and bloody.

Rowan shuffled to the side of the door, speechless, and allowed Elena into the room. She stumbled forward, leaning on the wall for support. He had no idea how she had even gotten here. With her injuries, it was a surprise that she could walk.

Articus had turned to face the door when he heard the steward say there was a problem. But on seeing Elena, he jumped out of his seat, immediately on guard. He pulled out a chair and helped Elena into it, and then squatted down beside her.

Rowan felt his chest tighten. He refused to think about it. He could not think about it. “What…what happened to you? Who did this to you?”

Elena looked up with bloody eyes, her breathing ragged like a captured animal that had thrown itself at its cage relentlessly. “The enemy attacked,” she replied weakly, her voice dry and scratchy.

Articus grabbed a pitcher of water and handed it to Elena but she shoved it aside, closing her eyes instead. Articus and Rowan exchanged worried looks, then turned back to Elena.

“What enemy, Elena?” Rowan asked cautiously. Elena’s eyes fluttered open and it took her some seconds to concentrate on Rowan. She had suffered too much blood loss. He turned to the steward who remained at the door. “Send for the healer immediately. Tell him it’s an emergency, and that she has lost a lot of blood.”

The steward nodded and ran off. Rowan turned back to Elena who had drifted off again. He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes to get her attention. “You said the enemy attacked. What enemy?”

“The one you warned us about,” she said softly. “The one that lurks in the woods. It’s a vampire.” She licked her lips and panted. This time, she accepted the water from Articus and took several painful gulps.

Rowan’s mind was reeling. Had she gone into the woods? Why had the vampire suddenly started attacking people? Was he still in the town? He had so many questions and he wished he could make Elena speak faster.

“Tell me everything,” Rowan pressed gently, keeping his worry and impatience out of his voice.

Elena looked better, her breathing more even. “He came out of the woods. Juniper and I had been arguing so we didn’t notice in time.” She broke into a sorrowful sub. “He took Juniper, and killed my mother. He barely left me alive, but my mother was not so lucky.” The tears poured out of her eyes, her pain deeper than the wounds she had suffered.

Rowan felt his world crumble around him.No. No. No. It couldn’t be. Rowan refused to accept it. There was no way. He felt his mind crack open and could tell he was going insane.

Juniper had been taken.

His wolf howled painfully and helplessly. A sad, heartbreaking, hopeless cry. Right when he had started to harbor hope that everything would be settled, his mate had been taken again. By that filthy vampire.

He lost it.

His wolf broke to the surface and he turned feral immediately. The transformation was full and he embraced it. All he saw in his vision was red. He wanted to kill. He wanted to destroy. He wanted to rend to pieces. A murderous rage settled on him and he felt it deep in his belly, driving him to madness.

He was in such a red rage that he didn’t notice Articus had transformed as well. All he saw was a flash of white at his side. He reacted slowly, turning to see a powerful white wolf diving at him.

Articus charged him into the door, then followed up to pin his arms perfectly, incapacitating him. Rowan lashed out angrily and looked at his best friend with murderous intent.

He didn’t know his friends. All he wanted to do was kill.

As far as he was concerned, this wolf was standing in the way of him getting to his mate. He thrashed and snarled and bit, but Articus stayed away from his claws and teeth, white wolf against black.

“ROWAN! CALM DOWN!” Articus shouted, channeling his will into his friend through their mindlink. “You’re in no position to do anything now!”

Chapter 17 - Juniper

The next time Juniper was conscious, she was on the ground in a clearing in the forest. She felt like her body had been dragged through the forest floor before being deposited in a heap on the ground.

Fear enveloped her the moment she regained her senses. While she hadn’t been able to see everything that had happened clearly, she still remembered some blurry details.

She knew that the vampire had attacked Elena and her mother. The fight had started and ended so fast it was embarrassing to call it that. She feared the worst for her family and hoped that they had somehow escaped with their lives.

Sadly, the more she thought about it, the less likely that seemed. She felt a twinge of sorrow and shut her eyes as it washed through her. They were the only family she’d ever had in her life. Even if they hadn’t been the kindest people in the world, it still bore a hole in her chest to lose them. Worse—in such a violent way.

She lifted her face from the cold dirt and looked around her. There was no sign of the vampire, but she could tell he was close. She imagined that whatever fate her family had suffered, she was about to meet the same end.

---