by Leann Ryans
Once it reached what she felt was a good height, she set the wrench into place on one nut and attempted to turn it. Puffing and sweating within minutes, Shailyn couldn’t get the thing to turn. Deciding to try something different, she set up the wrench, and with her hand braced on the truck, set one foot on the wrench and jumped.
The entire truck rocked as her feet hit the ground again and the truck’s tire followed a moment later. Gasping, she looked under the truck to see the jack had slipped and fallen over. With a growl, she gave herself a break and went to grab the spare tire. When she glanced into the truck's bed, Shailyn froze. Eyes searching like something that large could hide in a corner, she raced to the tailgate and lowered it.
Still not finding a tire, she began to shake her head.
“No, no, no,” she mumbled to herself.
She bent to look under the truck, but there was nothing there either. Deflating, Shailyn sat on the tailgate and went over her options. She was about twenty miles past the gas station she had stopped at, and still twenty to thirty miles from the edge of the city. The pharmacy where she got her suppressants was another fifteen miles past that.
Though the gas station was closer, she hadn’t seen anything there that would help her with the flat, and she didn’t want to deal with the Alphas again after how they made her feel when she was there the first time. She could wait and see if anyone passed her, but she had no guarantee that they would stop. During the entire drive, she hadn’t seen another vehicle heading the same direction as her, and only a couple going the opposite way.
Since she had no other option, Shailyn let out a sigh and hopped off the tailgate, closing it and heading to the front of the truck to grab her water. Grateful that she had thought to buy it, she began her trek towards the city. It was still early in the day and she figured if she kept up a steady pace, she should be able to reach a place where she could get help within about six hours.
She made it an hour before she began to grumble about how ridiculous it was that she had to go through all of this just to get some pills. By the end of the second hour, sweat had drenched her clothing, and Shailyn was beginning to rethink the sensibility of her trip. By this point, she had expected to already be on her way back home, not trudging through the dust and heat on the side of the highway still trying to get to the city.
It was then that she realized this would be a bigger issue than just getting her flat repaired and picking up her pills. It would be less than two hours until her parents expected her home, and maybe another hour before they began to worry. At the rate she was moving, the pharmacy would be closed by the time she made it to the edge of the city and Shailyn would be lucky to find a place still open to deal with her tire issue, so she would have no choice but to stay in the city overnight.
She was sure she had friends that would let her stay with them for a night, but she would have to find a way to get to them. Between the gas she had forgotten about, and now having to replace the tire, she was going to be short of the amount she needed to have for two one-month supply of pills. That wasn’t taking into account needing to eat or most likely having to pay for a ride to her friend’s house, and then back to her truck in the morning.
Letting out another irritated sigh, Shailyn figured she would get as many pills as she could, and deal with having to come back for more soon or convince the town Elder to allow her to order them.
With a snort at that thought, she spotted a tree a little way from the road. Though she was used to being on her feet all day, she was usually standing still, and her legs were getting sore from all the walking. Deciding to take a quick break, she moved toward the inviting shade under the tree.
Flopping down in the cool grass, Shailyn threw an arm over her eyes, telling herself she would rest for a few minutes before getting back to her walk. When she opened her eyes again, the sun was high overhead and it was obvious at least an hour had passed.
She groaned, rubbing her eyes before she realized it was the sound of a car approaching that had woken her. Darting upright, Shailyn ran back to the side of the highway, yelling and waving her arms, but she wasn’t fast enough, and the truck passed by heading towards the city.
Shailyn stopped on the side of the road as she watched the dust trail disappear behind the truck. Dropping her hands to her sides, she let out a whine. She wasn’t sure what she had done to deserve this, but she swore she would never attempt to make this trip alone again. Closing the bakery once a month for a family trip to the city sounded good at this point.
Trudging along the roadway again, Shailyn wasn’t sure how long it had been since her impromptu nap when she thought she saw another car on the horizon. Stopping and shading her eyes, her heart rate picked up in excitement as she confirmed that there was a vehicle coming her way. It was heading away from the city, but she hoped they would stop and at least have some food or water on them. She would do just about anything for either.
Moving farther onto the road where she was sure they wouldn’t miss her, but wasn’t risking being hit, Shailyn began to wave her arms over her head. When the truck got closer and began to slow down, she realized that it looked just like the truck from earlier that she had missed. It wasn’t until she saw the men in the front seat that her heart stopped, and she began to back up.
13.
The Alphas from the gas station grinned at her through the windshield as the truck pulled to a stop in the middle of the road. The cashier leaned out of the driver-side window and gave her an obvious leer.
“We’ve been looking for you, honey. Thought we had lost you.”
Heart restarting, Shailyn began to tremble.
“What do you mean? How did you know I was out here?”
The first Alpha paused, and after a moment, the second one spoke up.
“We saw your truck on the side of the road a way back. It had a flat, and we figured you must have started walking, though we thought you would have walked the other way since the gas station was closer than the city.”
“You two just happened to be heading this way?” Shailyn asked. The two Alphas had her instincts on high alert, and she didn’t like the creepy vibe she got from them.
“Well, yeah,” the first alpha responded. “We got off work and decided to take a drive.”
The second Alpha, who she remembered being called Charlie, gave her a smile and opened his door. “Why don’t you come hop up here with us? I’m sure you’re tired of walking by now. I’ve got some water,” he said holding up a bottle and shaking it.
Taking an unconscious step forward, Shailyn licked her dry lips. With another shake of the bottle, Charlie patted the seat next to him as the other Alpha smirked at her. She desperately wanted the water, but her mind screamed that this was a bad situation and she needed to get away as fast as possible.
Shaking her head, she began to back away again.
“Umm, that’s ok guys. I still need to get to the city and you’re heading the other way. I’ll just keep walking.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” the first alpha said, starting to frown. “Get in the truck and we’ll give you a ride. We just want a little time with you. You can’t keep walking all the way to the city.”
She backed away a little faster as she continued to shake her head.
“No. I’m good.”
With a scowl, the Alpha opened his door and began to step out. As his foot hit the ground, Shailyn turned and bolted. There was an empty field along the side of the highway but there were trees just beyond it. Her only hope, if they gave chase, was to make it to the trees and try to lose them.
Stifling the terrified sobs trying to break free of her chest, she focused on putting one foot in front of the other as fast as she could. She heard the Alphas shouting at her, but she ignored their words, pressing on. Smaller than them, she knew there was little chance of outrunning the Alphas but hoped she had surprised them enough to make it to the trees.
She risked a glance over her shoulder and saw that both Alph
as had given chase, proving in her mind that they had things planned for her she would not like. The first Alpha was closer, since he had been on the same side of the truck as her, while Charlie was coming from farther back.
Shailyn focused on the ground ahead of her so she wouldn’t trip, and drew closer to the tree line, beginning to believe she would make it. Not wanting to risk an injury, Shailyn knew running through the trees would be a bad idea, so she decided that climbing one would be her best option. It would be hard to get her down from a tree if she managed to get up it before they got to her.
Eyes aimed ahead, she tried to find one that looked promising between the strides jarring her body. Chest heaving with the exertion of sprinting flat out, she saw a tree that looked big enough to support her but wouldn’t be too hard to climb.
Adjusting course to it, Shailyn put on another burst of speed as she heard the Alphas getting closer to her. Not wasting the time to look back at them, she took a running leap at the lowest branch of the tree, hoping to catch it on the first try.
Luck was with her because her hands wrapped over the limb a second before her body collided with the trunk. Bark biting into her palms, she scrambled to pull herself up, crying out in relief when she got her knees on the limb.
Standing and stretching for another branch to pull herself higher, a scream left her lips as a hand wrapped around her ankle. Attempting to kick her foot, Shailyn lost her grip on the tree and teetered, gravity taking the side of the Alpha to help pull her back to earth, her shrill scream echoing in her ears as her body became weightless.
The collision with the hard earth left her dazed. Shailyn tasted blood in her mouth from where she bit her tongue on impact, and her ears were ringing as she tried to push herself to her feet. A hand tangled in her hair and pulled her head back, causing her eyes to sting as she let out a broken sob.
“Think you could run from Alphas little girl? We were going to play nice. Make it good for you.”
He lifted Shailyn to her feet by her hair, growling in her ear as she wrapped her hands around his wrist to ease the pull on her scalp.
“Now you can just take our knots and scream the whole time.”
Running his nose along her neck and shoulder, he said, “I like it when they struggle.”
She felt hands wrap around her hips as Charlie came up behind her, pressing his erection into her bottom. Tears ran down her cheeks as she sobbed and tried to shake her head.
“No. Please. Just let me go.”
“I didn’t go through the trouble of putting a hole in your tire and then chasing you down just to let you go,” Charlie growled from behind her.
The Alpha in front of her drew in another deep breath, letting out a rumble.
“Do you smell that Charlie? I couldn’t tell before, but I think our little girl here is an omega. She might be worth keeping instead of just fucking and leaving here.”
Shailyn wasn’t sure if it was the smell of his breath in her face or being trapped with these two that made her stomach turn. Gagging, she felt another nose against her neck as the first Alpha straightened up and grinned down at her.
“You are, aren’t you? A fucking omega! We got lucky with you, sweetheart,” he said, leaning back down and licking her neck.
14.
Shailyn tried to jerk away from him, but the two Alpha’s held her tight, with one hand in her hair and two on her hips. He let out a laugh before his other hand began to grope her breast through her shirt. Pulling her head farther back, he grabbed the front of her shirt and jerked, the sound of ripping fabric reaching her ears as she let out a cry.
Shailyn released his wrist and brought both arms in front of her body to push him away. Letting out a scream, she put everything she had into trying to get away. She twisted her body, clawing at his face and brought her heel up. It connected with Charlie behind her, earning a grunt and a curse before he wrapped his arms tighter around her body.
She continued to kick her legs as much as she could with an arm squeezing around her hips as the first Alpha caught both of her hands in one of his. Snapping at him, a blow to the face momentarily shocked her. The fight left her body when a second blow rocked her head back the other direction as she whimpered.
When she blinked her eyes back into focus, Shailyn felt her lip and cheek already starting to swell, the skin pulling tight and pulsing in pain.
“That’s enough now bitch. Since you’re an omega, I’m willing to forgive this outburst of yours if you behave properly.”
He grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look up at him.
“I don’t want my future mate’s face all messed up when I mark and breed her. It’s going to be hard for you to suck Charlie’s cock if your mouth is swollen shut because you can’t keep quiet and be a good girl,” he said with a smirk.
Spitting a glob of blood towards him, Shailyn grinned back.
“I’ll bite the thing off. Just try me,” she growled at him.
His fist clenched in her hair again as his face clouded over in rage.
Before he could do anything else, a voice came from behind her that made Shailyn’s heart skip a beat. She turned her head as much as possible with the fist in her hair as the Alpha in front of her turned towards the voice as well. As much as she disliked him, there was no other Alpha she would rather have seen in that moment than Luke.
Stalking towards them from the road, Luke’s eyes roamed over her before focusing back on the Alpha with his fist in her hair, his face set in a glower.
“What’s going on here?” Luke called out, stopping a few feet away.
“Mind your own business buddy, she’s ours,” the Alpha before her called back.
“She is my business, and she doesn’t belong to you. Let her go.”
The Alpha released her and turned to confront Luke. Charlie still held Shailyn around her shoulders and hips so she couldn’t get away, but at least the sting in her scalp eased and she could move her head. Charlie turned her until she was between the two Alphas as they faced Luke.
“There’s two of us and only one of you. Is the little whore really worth it? Whoever she is to you, forget about her and move on. She was out here alone, and we found her first.”
Luke moved before the other Alpha even closed his mouth, landing blows Shailyn could hear impacting the other man’s body. He had the Alpha in a choke hold without ever taking a hit himself and faced off with Charlie, both of them holding a body before them.
“I’ll trade you,” Luke offered, a small smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth and an evil gleam in his eye.
Charlie snorted, squeezing her tighter to him.
“Not likely,” he responded.
The other Alpha was still trying to struggle out of the hold but couldn’t get Luke’s arms to budge.
“It only takes a second to snap his neck. Let her go,” Luke growled, the timber of his voice sending shivers through Shailyn’s body.
Charlie began to shuffle her forward and she thought for a moment that he would do as Luke said. She hit the earth again before she realized he was tossing her aside, the sounds of flesh hitting flesh and grunts coming from behind her.
With a push, she rose onto her hands and knees, turning her head in time to see Luke’s foot connect with Charlie’s head just before he collapsed back to the ground. The other Alpha was getting to his feet as Luke turned to him, charging and knocking him back to the ground. With a few solid blows, the man lay limp in the grass.
Luke’s chest was heaving when he turned to her, stalking over as she tried to force her legs to support her. Trembling, Shailyn would have crumpled to the ground again if he hadn’t caught her, wrapping his arms around her and sweeping her into his arms.
With a sigh, she wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes, turning her face into his chest, perfectly willing to let him carry her away from there. She knew her limits, and she had passed them. The steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek calming her more than she would have b
elieved.
Shailyn blinked open her eyes when he stopped moving, looking up into his dark eyes. He adjusted the way he was holding her before she heard a car door open. Turning her head, she recognized the black truck she had seen him drive in town.
He sat her on the seat, seeming reluctant to let her go before finally sliding his hands away and shutting the door. She watched him through the windshield as he crossed over to the driver’s side and got in.
Cranking the truck, he executed a turn to point them back toward the town.
Clearing his throat, he asked, “Are you okay?”
He kept his face forward like he was focused on the road, but she could see him looking at her from the corner of his eye.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay,” she whispered, studying his face.
He was a handsome man, with his dark eyes and strong jaw. Shailyn had the urge to reach out and run her hand over the stubble she noticed on his cheeks.
Shaking her head, she saw him grab a bottle of water and pass it to her. Twisting off the cap, she pressed it to her lips and downed the whole bottle.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Eyes focused on her hands in her lap, everything started to catch up to her. She could feel scrapes and bruises all over her body, and she was sure her face looked terrible with a swollen cheek and busted lip. Her ribs were sore from her impacts with the ground and combined with the hours of walking with no food or water before her mad dash, her body was turning into one big ache.
Tears trickled down Shailyn’s cheeks as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. It startled her when Luke reached over and pulled her against him. Tucking her under his arm, his chest began to rumble with a purr, the vibrations soaking into her trembling body as she let herself relax, leaning into his warmth.
Wiggling around a little, she laid her head on him and closed her eyes.
“How did you find me?” she asked.