Extended Excerpt from The Alpha’s Hunger
Ashley picked up her satchel with Ben Stone’s laptop and stepped into the elevator. Her limbs dragged, weak from being so wound up for past twenty-four hours.
It’s almost over. Then Melissa will be safe and you can go to the police and tell Mr. Stone what you’ve done.
She took the elevator to the third floor of the parking garage and got off.
Clutching the satchel to her chest, she walked forward, toward the northwest corner.
She had parked her car there that morning just to familiarize herself with the area.
The cement walls echoed with her footsteps, the smell of exhaust and gasoline oppressive.
The lot seemed empty—no other cars, no people, nothing.
She stood and waited. Had she heard the time or place wrong?
No, the words were still echoing in her mind.
Third floor, northwest corner of the lot.
She opened her car door and sat down on the seat with the door standing open.
Sweat trickled down her ribs. She thought she heard a door close, but when she looked around, she only saw the stairwell door, and no one was near it.
Time ticked by. Five minutes, then ten.
God, she hoped Melissa was okay.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of a car coming up the ramp. She stood up and took the laptop out of the satchel, her hands clumsy. The satchel dropped to the ground and she left it, craning her neck to get a look at the car.
A dark blue sedan approached. It was old and junky. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it had definitely been something more impressive. A Humvee or something. She took a few steps forward to show herself.
The car stopped and three men got out. She tried to see in the darkened windows for another person. Where was Melissa? The men walked toward her. They were young men—scruffy-looking, with tattooed arms and piercings. They wore t-shirts and jeans and they palmed guns.
“Where’s Melissa?” she called out.
“You got the laptop?” one of them asked as they drew closer.
“Maybe,” she said, clutching it to her chest and backing toward her car. As if she had any chance of not giving it to them when they were armed and it was three against one. “Where’s Melissa?”
“She’s in the car. Give us the laptop and you can see her.” They had backed her up to her car now, surrounding her.
“I want to see her first.”
One of them cocked his gun and held it up to her temple, pushing hard against her skull. “Hand it over,” he said as his friend grabbed it and tried to pry it from her chest.
“No,” she said struggling.
The guy with the gun smacked her head with it and she fell back against the car. She lost her grip on the laptop and one of them snatched it away.
Another one grabbed her arm and yanked her forward. “You’re coming with us, honey,” he said.
A terrible snarl sounded from the other side of her car and suddenly a huge black animal leaped over the car, gleaming white teeth snapping.
Its jaws closed over the neck of the man holding her and they both tumbled to the ground, the beast snarling and growling as they rolled together.
Gunshots rang out from both directions, and the animal yelped and let go, but sprang to its feet, crouching to attack another man.
The men continued to fire at the animal, the sound ricocheting around the concrete parking garage.
Screaming blared in her ears—her own voice, she realized.
The laptop had fallen to the ground and she grabbed it and took off running for their car.
If her sister was in it, she needed to get to her.
The animal launched at her, knocking her down. She screamed, expecting it to move in for the kill, but instead it turned, lunging at one of the men.
“Let’s go, let’s get out of here,” one of them yelled, helping up the most severely wounded and dragging him toward their car.
She climbed to her feet to follow, but the wolf—or whatever it was—turned and snarled, blood dripping from its muzzle.
She took a step back. It snarled again, blocking her way, then it chased the remaining man, tackling him once, but then taking another gunshot wound that left it lying as the man jumped in the driver’s seat and the car screeched off.
She ran a few steps after, then stopped, seeing the beast climb to its feet. She froze. It turned amber eyes on her and growled, low and menacing. It was covered in blood, and its fangs looked razor-sharp. It advanced.
She backed up slowly. “Easy, big guy,” she said, her heart in her throat.
She didn’t make eye contact or any sudden movements.
If she could just get to her car, she’d be all right.
It continued to follow her, though, his head lowered, fangs bared.
The growl was like nothing she’d ever heard before. Unworldly. Terrifying.
Her butt hit the car and she fumbled for the door, not wanting to turn her back on the animal.
The wolf stalked closer and she shrieked, scrambling up on the trunk to get away.
The beast suddenly transformed, growing taller, thinning out. She blinked, thinking she had lost her mind.
Ben Stone stood in front of her, dripping in blood, naked, and looking furious. He yanked open the back door to her car and pulled her off the trunk at the same time. “Get on the floor,” he said, pointing to the back seat. “Head down, eyes lowered. Now. ”
Ben slammed the back door on Ashley’s huddled form and climbed in the driver seat, where he found her keys on the front seat. He drove like a bat out of hell down to the first floor of the parking garage, stopping behind his car.
He had a hidden button for keyless entry to the trunk, just for occasions like these. He also kept a duffel bag with clothes, spare keys, a wallet with a second set of credit cards, cash and IDs, and other useful items inside. He grabbed the bag and yanked on a pair of jeans.
Pulling out a roll of duct tape, he stalked around to Ashley’s car, where she had climbed out. He grabbed her wrists and wound the tape around them while her eyes rolled around in her head with horror.
Dammit. He had a world of trouble on his hands now. Not only had he allowed his enemies to get away, he’d revealed himself to Ashley, who also belonged on his enemy list.
He caught his breath when he saw her entire side was covered in blood. Shoving her back onto the car seat, he yanked open her blouse. Her skin was blotched with the blood, but he saw no bullet hole or wound.
“Where are you hurt?” he demanded.
“I-I,” she swallowed as if her mouth were dry. “I think it’s your blood,” she croaked.
He exhaled in relief and looked down at his own torso to survey the two gunshot wounds he’d taken. They would heal. He must have bled on her when he tackled her to stop her from going to their car.
He lifted Ashley’s ankles and wrapped the duct tape around them, then ripped off a smaller piece for her mouth.
She twisted her head away when he came toward her with it, the whites of her eyes glowing. “Please,” she panted, the metallic smell of fear coming off her in waves. “Please don’t.”
He hesitated.
Don’t be soft. She’s the enemy.
He pointed a finger in her face. “You make one sound and I’ll put you in the trunk. Nod if you understand me.”
She bobbed her head up and down.
He slammed the door on her and climbed back in her car, tossing his duffel bag onto the seat beside him. He needed to get out of there before real trouble showed up. Those pathetic boys weren’t the brains behind the operation.
He knew Ashley wasn’t the mastermind, either, or she wouldn’t have been attacked by the men back there. Still, she had sold him out—and that bothered him more than any of the rest of it. Maybe, that first night when he met her, his instincts had gone off because she was a danger to him.
But no, that didn’t feel right. It had been attraction, not danger.
He pulled a baseball cap down low over his eyes and took off, out of the parking garage.
He got on the highway and drove several miles, weaving in and out of traffic and keeping his eyes glued to his rearview mirror.
They didn’t seem to have a tail. When he was sure of it, he took the next exit and pulled into a seedy motel on East Colfax—the kind that rented by the hour for cash and no ID.
He opened the back door and grabbed the duct tape again. He taped Ashley’s hands to her feet, then wound the tape around the handle of the back seat.
“You make one sound, or you try to escape, and I will kill you. Nod your head if you understand.”
She whimpered, panting for breath, but nodded.
“I will be right back. Don’t move.”
He slammed the door again and checked into a room. When he returned to the car, he cut her feet free and tossed a sweatshirt over her bound hands. “Let’s go,” he said, hauling her out of the car. “Not one sound out of you.”
She looked around wildly, but didn’t make a peep other than the sound of her breath rasping in her chest.
He took her into the room and used a length of rope to string her wrists up over the bathroom door.
She stood on her tiptoes, swaying. Turning his back on her, he washed up, cleaning his gunshot wounds, which had nearly stopped bleeding.
The bullets would come out in a few days.
Shifters had incredible healing abilities.
He rinsed his mouth out to rid the taste of blood and spit.
He was impressed that Ashley still hadn’t made a sound. He’d expected some kind of noise by this point. He turned back to her, considering.
“All right, Ashley. I’m going to ask you some questions and you’re going to answer.” He fished in his duffel bag for his belt and pulled it out. Walking behind her, he unzipped her skirt and let it fall to the floor.
“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked, sidling as far away from him as her bound wrists would allow.
“Baring my target.”
She whimpered, twisting and turning and looking up at the ropes binding her hands.