Page 46 of Holiday Intrusion

“I’m sorry,” I say when he releases his grip on me again, finally realizing that freaking out on the guy who just saved me from the ultimate pain and humiliation is neither polite nor particularly smart. Even if he did just kill five men in cold blood in front of me, and I still have no idea what he wants from me. If it’s sex he’s after, he could have taken it by now, and my life along with it.

I blame his alpha-influence over my nervous system for why I’m not more scared of him. Sure, my pulse is still drumming rapidly in my throat, but I’m not frightened for my life. I should be. I should be begging him for mercy or trying to run from him, however futile such an act would be.

“Um… I really appreciate it.” I feel stupid even as I say it, partly because of the sentiment and partly because it finally dawns on me that my pants are still around my ankles. I want to bend to pick them up, but the urge to not take my eyes off him is stronger. Yeah, I might not be as scared as I ought to be, but even his influence can’t completely numb out the rational voice in my brain screeching that I’m alone in an abandoned park with a masked killer. He’s a predator, there’s no question about it, and every instinct in my body’s telling me that sudden movement is a very bad idea.

“I don’t have any money on me, but—” My lips quiver when he takes a single step toward me.

“B-but if I can do anything to repay you, I will,” I quickly stutter, the threat of his presence suddenly much sharper in the most primal part of my brain thanks to the too-close proximity of his huge body.

Yeah, he’s an alpha all right. It’s not just the sheer size of him—it’s the powerful aura rolling off him in waves even as he keeps his body immobile in front of me. That unquestioning demand for submission. The completely unprovoked thought that he probably smells headier than any other male on the planet flashes through my mind, and I blink in shock at its unexpected passing.

“You think I am some vigilante saving damsels in distress in the hopes of a reward?”

His voice is surprisingly soft, though the alpha gruffness in it never wavers. It is velvet wrapped over an iron core, and it makes me shake, though I don’t know why.

“No.” There is nothing velvety about my own voice. It’s as shaky as my body, hoarse from stress and screaming. It’s the voice of prey, and I hope it doesn’t trigger whatever violent instincts an alpha his size is bound to have in abundance. “I don’t. But… who are you? I-if you don’t mind me asking.” I tag the last bit on when the idiocy of asking a masked killer for his identity hits me like a brick wall.

“I know whoyouare,” he says, ignoring my question. I feel his eyes still shaded in the darkness trail up my body. The sensation makes me shiver despite the blood in my veins heating up.Fucking alpha.I never feel anything but mild fear and loathing for his kind—why is he different?

“You’re the reporter who nearly caused a riot at Town Hall last night.”

I gape up at him. “H-how do you know that?” Real smart admitting to that, but the surprise of his statement catches me off guard.

He cocks his head, the shape of his sensual mouth flattening into a line. “Who do you work for?”

“K-KTP News,” I stutter, taken aback by the suddenly threatening undercurrent to his otherwise calming voice.

“I know your network,” he sneers, and this time I’m sure I can detect anger. My ever-looming fear hikes up several notches in response. “What I don’t know is who sent you to that press conference high as a kite on heat-hormones. Who’s behind this? Who wants to discredit the Liberals bad enough to shove a foolish young girl on the cusp of Presenting into a roomful of alphas?”

Despite the insult of being called‘a foolish young girl’at the age of twenty-six, I can’t muster so much as a frown. For every word his voice gets sharper, and the alpha pheromones in the air turn from placating to aggressive. He’spissed,and it’s wreaking havoc on my already frayed nerves.

“I…. I wasn’t on any hormones. I-it just happened. I’m not trying to discredit anyone, I swear!”

“Bullshit,” he hisses, and then he’s right in front of me, the heat from his body radiating against mine. He grabs me by the back of my neck, cupping my head as he pulls me in while simultaneously dipping his face to my throat.

I whimper in confused panic, but the firm grip on my neck keeps me from trying to fight him off. I stand frozen, paralyzed like a kitten in its mother’s grasp, and stare with huge eyes as he draws in a deep breath of my scent. His breath tickles across the skin of my throat, making every hair on my body stand on end, my nipples harden painfully against my ruined top.

“You still smell like desperation and sex.” This time his voice is a low growl, the frustration still evident, but there’s also a rich, sultry quality to it. “Likeheat.Tempting any alpha you pass by. Do youwantto get raped?”

There’s something in his voice, that heated, sultry note, that suddenly makes it clear what his intended payment for my salvation might be. But instead of the outrage Ishouldfeel, something tense low in my abdomen melts in response. It’s not until I realize I’ve gone lax in his grasp, letting him support my weight with his that it dawns on me what I’m doing. What I’m offering.

“No!” I jolt backward and away from him, the sheer shock at my own reaction to this stranger, thiskiller, jolting me out of whatever spell his presence is weaving over my confused mind. “Absolutely not!”

He lets me stumble out of his grip and a few steps away, and I nearly trip over my own pants.

Shaking like a leaf from how close I was to letting this stranger do what he wants with me, I bend to pick up my pants. I no longer care if I have to take my eyes off him to do so, I need to not be so exposed anymore.

My fingers are stiff from cold and shock, and the button and zipper are bust. Awkwardly, I cling on to them with one hand as I look back up at the alpha. I open my mouth to tell him thank you again for saving me, but I’m leaving now—but just then, our eyes finally meet and all that escapes my parted lips is a low grunt.

His eyes are a cool shade of gray—the eyes of a ruthless alpha for sure. But behind the facade there’s something else. Something wild and deep and primal, and it’s pulling on a part of me I never knew existed until this very moment.

Out of nowhere, a sharp twinge in my abdomen makes me whimper from surprise and pain, and I keel over, losing my grip on my pants as I rest my hands on my bare knees for the few seconds it takes before my body is released from the unexpected spasm. It is gone as swiftly as it came.

I blink, slowly straightening up.

No. No, no, no, not again!I stare at him, wide-eyed, the accusation of using some sort of biological warfare against me not completely formed in my mind when I’m hit by the next wave. This time, it’s... different, and I recognize the heat blooming out from deep inside of me before arousal shakes through my body in fitful waves.

It can’t be. Please, no.

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