Page 70 of Alpha Bond

My legs suddenly fire into action. I bolt for the staircase that leads back home. I reach for my wolf, but she’s still too buried to shift now.

The shouts are joined by new sounds now. Snarls. Roars. Savage growls.

They’re coming in as wolves. I’m sure our teams will fight the same way, but the element of surprise is not on our side.

Run, run, run!

I take the stairs two at a time. Three at a time. My feet slip on the metal tread plate. I crash to my knees, then haul myself up, not stopping to check the searing pain in my kneecaps. I can’t. It feels like something is snapping at my heels. Like hot breath on the back of my neck. I know I’m imagining it, but my nerves are a mess.

I pivot around the handrail at the top of the stairs and start sprinting down the hallway. Something is prickling between my shoulder blades that I try to ignore, but I can’t help looking back.

What I see has my blood running cold. A hulking form barely fifty yards away is barreling closer. Half shifted with tawny fur sprouting from thick arms and thighs, he’s closing the distance between us at such speed that it’s only seconds before I can see the silvery gray of his eyes.

“No!” I scream, spinning and racing in the opposite direction.

Please, God!

This can’t be happening. Not again. Terror drives me as I put every ounce of strength into my pumping legs.

It’s not enough. The hot breath I’d imagined is real now; I can hear him panting. I’m not going to make it to the apartment, though I doubt it would offer much safety. I dart frantic looks around me as I keep running, but I’m flanked on both sides by railings that form a barrier to the sheer drop down to the level three stories below us. I can’t jump; it’ll mean certain death or at least crippling injury. And then I’ll truly be at his mercy.

Move legs!

I fling myself forward, but it’s too late. I jerk sharply as clawed fingers rake into my hair, grabbing a handful. I’m hauled back abruptly, pain searing through my scalp as he yanks me to a halt.

“No!” I howl again, then let out a scream of fury. I flail at him as he spins me around, a heavy hand gripping my upper arm. I attack him with everything I have, nails clawing, teeth snapping. I kick out and connect with meaty flesh, but it doesn’t stop him. My hands are grasped roughly and pinned behind me as he leers into my face, his mouth mere inches away from mine.

My stomach roils, and I fight down bile.

“Hello, little wolf,” Rack says. “You know I can sniff you out from a mile. Did you think you could hide from me?”

Chapter 28

Jagger

I see the plume of smoke on the horizon before Steel Lakes even comes into view.

Fuck!

We’ve been hit. Every alarm bell in me jangles on high alert.

Sierra!

My first instinct is to charge forward and rush in. Get to her and keep her safe. I don’t. It would be madness. I have to get back-up. I fight down a string of curses as I think of my comms earpiece discarded in a pile of my clothing when I shifted. I can’t radio for help. I have to go back.

Spinning around, I retrace my steps at a blistering pace, bounding over rocks, finding smooth going on stretches of road where I can, surging through the scrub until I see them in the distance.

Thank God!

If they’d been moving at the same speed I had been, there’d be more miles between us. Still, it chews up precious minutes to reach them, and I’m practically rabid with urgency by the time I shift from my wolf as I get to Casey.

“Back! We must go back!” I’m panting, barely comprehensible.

“What the hell are you doing here, Jagger? I told you to go sort your shit out!” Casey’s expression is thunderous.

“We have to go back to Steel Lakes!” I gasp.

“Back? Are you nuts? The fight is up ahead.”