Rejected and Pregnant by the Alpha King (Forbidden Alpha Kings #4)

45. Raine

45

Raine

We jump apart, spinning around to face the voice.

A woman, human, stands just at the water’s edge. Her gray, wiry hair is tied up tightly on top of her head, and prominent wrinkles indent her tanned skin. She’s wearing loose-fitting pants and an oversized jean jacket that has grease stains all over the front of it.

“We’re just swimming,” Rose says, gesturing around us.

The woman eyes us warily, shifting on her feet just enough to touch something out of view behind her back. “This is private property.”

I open my mouth to apologize to her, but of course, Rose beats me to it.

“There weren’t any signs posted.”

I wince inwardly. Oh Rose…

The woman frowns. “There are at the beginning of the trail.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” I say. “We didn’t come down a trail. But we’ll get out of your hair—”

“No way,” Rose cuts me off. “There aren’t any signs anywhere. I’ve been up and down this river plenty of times and I’ve seen nothing. We don’t know what you’re talking about, lady.”

“ Rose ,” I mumble at her.

“You’ve what ?” The woman shakes her head. “No one’s allowed on my property. Ever.”

My heart thunders in my chest when the woman shifts on her feet again and draws a shotgun from behind her back. My arms shoot up in the air immediately.

“Woah!” Rose shouts, raising her arms as well. “What the hell, lady!”

“No one is allowed out here,” she repeats.

“There weren’t any signs!” Rose protests.

I hip-check her. “ Hush .”

The click of the safety has me swallowing thickly. Oh gods, if we actually die out here…

Who is even going to find our bodies?

This woman will probably shoot us dead and then let the river’s current carry us away. How the hell are any of Soleus’s packmates going to even figure out we were out here, let alone come down this way in order to find our bodies and drag them out of the water?

I’ll never get to meet my baby. Never get to know what I’m having and dream of what could’ve been.

No, we can’t die out here like this.

Something in the breeze catches my attention.

The hint of a scent, familiar.

Before I can place it, something dark leaps out of the brush toward the woman. She swings her gun around wildly, a bullet firing off while she backs away in a panic. The dark blur, a shifter I realize belatedly, lunges to the side just in time for the bullet to hit the damp ground.

Another figure darts out of the trees from the opposite side, both shifters coming together to collide with the woman and take her down into a heap. Her gun goes flying, dunking into the water and quickly settling at the bottom of the river.

Rose dives for it instantly, water kicking up into my face in the process.

The second shifter shifts first, hauling the woman up from the ground with his large arms securing the woman’s neck in a chokehold.

“Stop struggling,” Wren grits through his teeth.

The woman chokes out a scream and then goes limp in his arms, her head dropping forward as she passes out. Rose emerges then with the gun, holding it up in the air like a prize-winning fish.

“Got it!”

Her brother’s head instantly snaps to her, his eyes narrowing into tight slits. Rose shrinks immediately, lowering the gun slowly from the proud stance she’s holding it in.

He lets go of the woman just as Nyx shifts back into his human form. He doesn’t spare either of us a glance before he tosses the woman over his shoulder and disappears with her through the overgrown brush.

Even without Wren saying anything to either of us, I can tell we’re in deep shit.

Imagine coming back from a long trip only to find your baby sister being held up by an old woman with a gun. I’d be pissed too.

“Get over here,” he demands, pointing to the edge of the riverbank.

Frowning, Rose treads over, handing over the gun as soon as she gets close enough. He grabs it from her, popping it open and dumping out the ammo into the water before tossing the empty gun into it as well, toward the opposite end from where he dumped the ammo.

The gun splashes and sinks instantly, disappearing to the murky bottom.

“Ow! Ow, ow ow!” Rose squeals when Wren pinches her ear and practically drags her out of the water.

“I can’t believe you,” he says as he’s scolding her and grabbing her things.

Sighing, I follow after them, slowly pulling myself out of the water and gathering my things as well. So much for a nice and relaxing afternoon…

I stuff my feet into my sandals and keep my towel and clothes clutched against my chest as I make my way through the overgrown brush. Rose is whining at her brother as she’s dragged along, complaining about him coming around and ruining our fun while Wren’s clipped words are anything short of pissed.

Hopefully this little endeavor doesn’t get Rose banned from hanging out with me.

A soft breeze wafts behind me, chilling my still-wet skin. That same familiar scent from before tickles my nose, just as I feel the presence of someone behind me.

Stopping short, I hold my breath.

“Don’t ever do that again.” Nyx’s words ghost over the shell of my ear.

I don’t even get to enjoy the warm feel of his body against my back before he’s pulling away and moving around me. He must’ve brought the woman back to her homestead, because she’s no longer draped over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

My throat is tight as I swallow again, but not out of fear. No, this reaction is much different than that.