Page 69 of Alpha's Claim

“You kept me prisoner for years,” I say to Thom. “You tried to kill Wren.”

Thom twitches and opens his mouth. Darius’ growl silences him.

“You were going to hunt my shifter friends for sport.”

Darius sees what I’m intending, and rips open Thom’s shirt, baring the old man’s scrawny chest.

I crouch and tell Darius, “Hold him.”

Thom writhes but Darius is too strong and grips the old man, so he can’t budge.

“This is for my parents.” I plunge the needle into Thom’s chest. I don’t know what dosage Thom prepared for me, but I can bet it’s strong. He meant to punish me, weaken me. And he’s had heart issues. “Let's give you a taste of your own medicine.”

Thom’s eyes roll up into his head. He starts thrashing. Darius releases him and lets Thom’s limbs drum on the concrete floor. We both watch as he goes still.

I turn away from the sight of his body, feeling nothing. Thom deserved to die.

“You did it.” Darius wraps his arms around me. I hug him gingerly and pull away.

“You’re bleeding.”

“It’s worse that it looks. It’s not all my blood.”

“We have to get out of here. Can you run?”

“Yes. But you don’t have to. Climb on.” He steps back, and with a whole body shiver turns back into the bear.

I take a moment to run a hand down its fur. It’s thick, and softer than I would’ve imagined. The bear grunts at me, and lifts an arm to boost me onto its back. I settle on top of it and take handfuls of the bear’s fur, so I don’t slide off.

There’s a crash behind us, and Hannibal rises from the detritus of the warehouse. His glasses got knocked off, and his black eyes glint. He bares his teeth at me. His fangs are growing bigger before my eyes.

“Go,” I shout and grip the bear’s fur. Bear Darius lumbers towards the wall and tears a hole in the metal siding. I duck to shield my eyes from the falling debris. Thebear’s muscles bunch under my legs, and we shoot from the hangar into thick woods.

Riding a bear is nothing like riding a horse. I plaster myself to the bear’s back as best I can, but his bulk is too broad for me to grip well with my knees. It doesn’t help that we’re racing over uneven terrain, dodging bushes and trees. Bear Darius keeps reaching back to push me into place.

I get the hang of it just in time for a roar to go up behind us. This roar is different from a bear roar. It’s more like the bellow of a water buffalo. Something is crashing through the woods behind us. Trees are falling in its wake.

Hannibal is coming for us.

Bear Darius picks up speed. I flatten myself against him and squeeze his big bear neck. He’s running flat out, but Hannibal is gaining on us. What I wouldn’t give for a tranquilizer dart right about now.

A tall pine tree arcs through the air and crashes down beside us. Darius veers left to avoid it. A few seconds later, another.

Hannibal is herding us. But where? I can’t lift my head very much without risking falling off.

Overhead, there’s athunk, thunk, thunksound. I tense, expecting a new sort of attack, but a big black helicopter flies overhead. The wind from its propeller shakes the tops of trees.

Bear Darius runs through a boulder studded clearing, and the chopper swings down. Canyon sticks his head out the open side.

“Head this way,” he shouts and waves his arm in a westerly direction.

There’s a crunch nearby. Through the trees, Hannibal has uprooted a tree and is hoisting it to launch it at the chopper.

“Look out,” I scream.

The tree trunk sails through the air, straight towards Canyon.

“Shiitake!” Canyon shrieks and ducks back inside.