Page 76 of Alpha's Redemption

‘Where’s Macey?’

‘With Tatum. He had a physical therapy appointment this afternoon. She’s meeting me at the school,’Marcus says.

‘Have you tried mind-linking her?’

‘Of course! But the bond is blocked. I can't feel her, Valen!’he says more frantically. I can hear the fear in his voice.

‘What? Where are you?’I ask, confused. Everly is talking frantically as she stands up and moves to the landline.

“Driving to get Casey, I… I feel off, and I can’t feel her. Why is she blocking me out?”

“Yeah, I’m trying her cell now,” I hear Everly say as she dials a number into the house phone.

‘Hang on, Everly’s calling someone.’

“I’m trying Ava’s phone,” she says. I listen to it ring out.

“I’ll try my father,” I hear her say as she starts dialing more numbers with shaking hands. I make my way over to her when Marcus suddenly screams through the mind-link before it cuts off. My heart races at the agony in his voice. I instantly try to reopen it, but I get nothing but howling through the link—he’s shifted.

ChapterThirty-Two

Zoe

Half an hour earlier

“Did you grab the paint thinners?” I ask Ava as we line up at the hardware store. She rummages through her basket and holds up the tin, and I nod. We’re revamping some outdoor furniture and stopped on our way to the school to grab a few things before picking up the kids.

“You think it’ll get it off?” Ava asks, reading the instructions on the back.

“Yeah, it’ll work. Just don’t get it on your skin, it burns like a bitch,” I tell her while we go through the self–checkout. I take the tins from her and quickly scan them, then pay for our items before walking back out to my little car.

We’re loading everything into the trunk when I hear the screech of tires on the road and we look over our shoulders to see a red van race past at alarming speeds. Both of us watch the commotion on the main street before the car leaves our sight.

“Geez! Asshole. It’s school time,” Ava says, shaking her head. I sigh, quickly closing the trunk before climbing into the driver’s side. I’ve just started the car and Ava is climbing into the passenger seat when my phone rings—it’s Marcus checking if I’m still set to grab the kids. I tell him we’re on our way to the school, he promises to meet me at home, then we quickly hang up.

Ava and I buckle up and pull out onto the road. We’re driving past the reserve toward Valen’s pack school when we hear the roar of an engine coming up fast behind us. Ava looks behind me and groans.

“It’s the dickhead from the hardware store,'' she says, turning back to the front. Must be the day for idiot drivers. Just as I’m going around a slight bend, I’m jolted forward in my seat and my head hits the steering wheel. I vaguely hear Ava scream and the sound of creaking metal before everything goes black.

My head pounds when my vision returns and pain slithers up my spine. The smell of oil and rubber reaches my nose, along with the scent of blood. Dazedly, I blink, but my eyes blur and throb to the same beat as my head. Smoke and dust fill the car from the smashed windows.

My hands hang above my head and I slowly realize I’m upside-down—we’ve crashed. I try to remember what happened, but I groan, dazed and pained. Looking over at Ava, she also groans before tugging at her belt. I try to warn her and reach for her, but it’s too late; she undoes her seatbelt and crashes onto the roof of my upturned vehicle.

I try to put my hand on the roof to support my weight when shooting pain races through my hand. I shriek, looking at it to find my thumb dislocated. Ava unclips my seat belt without warning and I immediately land on my busted hand.

“Zoe, what happened?” Ava murmurs, clutching her head. My surroundings spin as I roll onto my back and glance out the window. We’re in the reserve. How long have we been out for?

“The truck,” I groan. As I roll back onto my side, and through the broken window, I see feet racing toward us. A gasp escapes me and my eyes widen when I see a man reach in through the broken window and grip Ava’s hair just before she can turn to see what I’m looking at. He starts yanking her through the smashed, mangled window and she screams and thrashes. I grip her legs, trying to hold her, but she’s torn from my grip.

Her screams ring out loudly until a man I’ve never seen before punches her and knocks her out—her body goes limp and he lifts her over his shoulder. I crawl out the window of my wrecked vehicle to try to stop him somehow, only I’ve forgotten about the other two sets of feet I saw.

As I scream for them to let her go, arms wrap around my torso. Twisting, I attempt to turn in the man's grip, trying to get loose before I sink my teeth into his bicep. He growls and lets go, allowing me to escape his clutches. The man with Ava is walking up the steep incline and I chase after. Before I can reach her, I’m tackled and the air is expelled from my lungs with anoomph.

“What do you want to do with this one?” a deep baritone voice calls out above me as I thrash, trying to get out from under him—his knee presses into the center of my back, crushing my lungs further.

“Bring her. The boss may let us keep her,” I hear another voice call out. The man above rolls me over, his hand wraps around my throat, and he smiles cruelly, his dark hair falling into his eyes. I wheeze, trying to catch my breath. Suddenly, I feel the mind-link open up and Marcus’ voice flits through the mind-link.

‘Babe?’Marcus says before he screams.‘Babe!’

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