The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas)
Page 14
She went back to staring out the front of the windshield pretending he didn’t exist.
“You do know that I could just reach in and pull that lock up, right?”
She darted a glance at the still rolled down window. Darn it.
“I see that.”
He leaned in again, his arms crossing on the ledge of the door. His face was entirely too close to be comfortable. She found herself sucking in her stomach and pushing her back further into the seat.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to turn around and follow me back to your place.”
What? Her eyes grew huge. “No way!” she squealed.
Those scary eyes darkened. “I’m not letting you drive anywhere drunk, but home, with me leading you. Otherwise, scoot your ass over and I’m taking you myself.”
Like that, she remembered why she was in this car in the first place. The Palm Springs Motel.
Suddenly she sought out his eyes. “Will you take me to the Palm Springs Motel? It’s in the city.”
His expression blanked. Just like that. So fast it took her brain an extra moment to process the change.
“No.”
“It’s important. That’s where I was going.” To confront him. To throw the ring and mating tether in his face. To be done with Tom forever.
“No.” He pushed off from the door and stepped around in an agitated circle. “You have no clue what you’re asking for, Hanna.”
“I’m drunk and I don’t want to be driving. Please, Alex, just take me so everyone will be safe. I can ride on the back of your bike if you want.”
He laughed, the sound not amused. “You’d fall off you’re so drunk.”
He wouldn’t stop moving, his hands moved, legs paced and stalked, even his head seemed to want to look everywhere at once.
“Please. Alex. Please.” Her voice broke.
That’s when his gaze swung back to hers. His expression—pained and more than a little pissed off.
“Move over,” he rasped.
It took a moment for his words to sink in. He’d already opened the driver’s door when he started lifting and shoving her into the passenger seat. He climbed in and she burst out laughing.
He sent her a withering glare. The man had at least a good foot of height on her five foot nothing. Sitting in her seat had his knees jammed up against the steering wheel and his chest.
Another giggle came out.
“You look like a grown man trying to drive a child’s play car.”
He didn’t laugh, just jerked the seat back into a comfortable position, then peeled off into the night.
She tried to speak to him, but each time he’d send her that same pissed-off look and she’d clamp her lips shut.
Well if that’s how he wanted to be, then fine. Big baby.
All too soon they pulled into a rather desolate parking lot for the Palm Springs Motel. The neon sign had a dulling green palm tree on it and plastic pink flamingos littered the lawn.
Really? She thought. They were in Oregon! It was the kind of motel that had ‘skanky’ written all over it, from the falling off shutters and broken blinds, to the unkempt yard covered in dandelions.
Only three cars were in the parking lot of the ranch-style motel. Two of which were parked in front of one door. She recognized one of them.
“That’s his car.” Her voice was soft, a whisper.
Alex, thankfully, didn’t say anything, just pulled up next to it. Outside of room eight just like the message on the answering machine said.
“Don’t do this, Hanna. He’s a piece of shit and you deserve better than him.”
Hanna looked at him, surprised. “Why?”
“What?” Irritation flickered.
“Why do I deserve better than Tom?”
His hands squeezed the steering wheel much like she’d done when he’d ‘pulled her over.’
“Because you aren’t a piece of shit like him. You’re good and smart and funny. He doesn’t deserve you.”
She smiled a bitter smile. “He’s all those things too though.”
“He’s not good if he’s fuckin’ around on you, Hanna. We both know he is.”
Oh god. Why did hearing him say it aloud feel like he’d shove a spear through her heart? She clutched herself, climbed out of the car on wobbly legs. Before she knew it, he was there. Standing before her.
“Let me do something for you, Hanna.” His voice was deep again, or at least deeper than usual. Almost husky.
“What’s that, Alex?”
“Let me take care of him for you.”
Her eyes darted to him. “What? You mean… No. No! I mean—no! You can’t…you can’t beat him up for me, Alex, that’s crazy,” she whispered, in case someone heard his wild notions.
“I don’t think it is.”
He said it so seriously, those dark eyes resolute and almost…carefree. The look of a man who’d beat the pulp out of a guy and have no qualms about doing it.
“You’d really do that…for me?”
For one long moment he didn’t say anything and then his eyes did that soul-searching thing that made her belly flutter. “Yeah, really. I’d do that for you, Hanna.”
Whoosh, all the air left her belly.
“That’s crazy. You don’t even know me.”
He lifted a brow. “I don’t?”
She was shaking her head. “No way. I mean, you can’t.”
He shrugged. “Whatever.”
Whatever? That’s all he had to say. What did that even mean?
A woman’s high-pitched moan pierced through the night like a flying dagger moving end over end until it found Hanna’s heart and sank deep.
She actually took a physical step back at the sound.
Alex’s eyes closed. “Hanna, let’s get out of here. You shouldn’t be here.”
Oh god, did it hurt to hear that sound. The sound that came from room eight. Yeah, it hurt like a hole to the freaking heart. But she had to do this right now, or else she’d never have the courage again.
“No, I have to do this, Alex.” She looked up at him. “But thank you for being here with me. I don’t know if I could have done it alone.”
He winced. “Ah, fuck. Come on then, let’s get this shit over with.”
That almost made her smile. She grabbed the mating tether out of the car and pulled her ring out of her pants pocket. Alex only showed his surprise by lifting a dark crescent brow. He grabbed her hand.
It was weird. Another man hadn’t held her hand in…a long time. He pulled her up to door number eight and the sounds of wild sex was rampant. Tom must be near the end.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she said, a hollow ache around her heart. Her skin turned cold and clammy. Her breath came fast. It was Tom that did it. Hearing his whispers through the door, his groans. Familiar sounds that pushed the dagger deeper.
Her eyes slammed shut.
But a hand in hers squeezed and she looked up at Alex. Those smart eyes calmed her, relaxed her. “You can do this, Hanna.”
When he said it, she knew without a doubt in the world that she could do anything. He could tell her with that same confidence that she could become the next famous supermodel and she would. Because when he said those words with that utter conviction and honesty in his eyes, she knew he spoke truth and that he was right.
Alex lifted his fist and banged on the door—hard.
Muffled exclamations, voices panicked as someone raced across the room. Then the door was thrown open.
“What the fuck?”
It was Tom. Every naked inch of him, even down to the pair of work slacks he used to cover himself.
Alex nodded to her. “She has something to say to you.”
Tom glared down at her with so much rage she was taken aback by it.
“Tom, who’s there? What’s going on?” the woman in the bed asked.
He looked back at her. “Shut up!”
“What the hell---”
“I said shut t
he hell up!” he yelled.
The woman quieted.
His gaze slid back to hers. Hanna could feel the ring and tether biting into her palm, getting sweaty. She held her palm out so he could see it and dropped it on the ground of the dirty motel floor where it belonged.
“You forgot that when you left.”
His jaw clenched and what happened next passed in a blur.
Alex let go of her hand and a pang of disappointment shot through her. But then she realized he only did it because he was a righty and that right hand just let loose a punch so hard, Tom flew back through the motel and slammed into the opposite wall cracking plaster around him. He slid down to his butt as the woman in the bed screamed and ran to him.
Hanna was quickly ushered back to the car and shoved inside. They were on the road again.
It all happened so fast.
She kept replaying it in her mind.
She smiled up at Alex. “Thank you.”
He smiled back and grabbed her left hand again. She shouldn’t, there really was no reason for them to hold hands now, but she threaded their fingers together.
“My pleasure,” he said.
And then she laughed and her heart felt like a dead weight had been lifted.
CHAPTER 14
Alicia’s brain fumbled around to figure out what had happened. She hadn’t seen it coming, hadn’t even heard it thanks to the alcohol dulling her most useful senses—ones Mother Nature had ensured were in prime condition for surviving occasions like this one.
Something heavy and metal barreled into them, flipping them end over end like a child flicking a toy car across the floor. Only they were in Jo’s SUV and when they finally stopped rolling they were upside down and off the road in the thick grass.
Her fuzzy mind struggled to find normal calibration. Alicia blinked and looked around in a daze not hearing anything. It was as if her brain was on overload and her hearing had been turned off in order to compensate. Her head swung around, saw the white puffy airbag slowly deflating in her lap, sawdust particles drifting through the air, and Jo getting in her face. His mouth was moving, he looked angry and ready to kill, but she couldn’t make out a word he was saying.
Blood ran in lines down his face.
Like a switch being thrown, her hearing came back.
“Ah, fuck,” she winced.
Overload. Overload!
Sound rushed in all at once. The horn blared at an uninterrupted blare. Jo was shouting in her face. A ringing sound reverberated in her eardrums like a high-pitched whistle.
“Are you okay? Can you hear me, god dammit? Alicia! Answer me!”
“I-I can hear you,” she answered.
“I’m getting you out of here. Don’t move!”
“As if I could.”
He disappeared and her door was thrown open a few moments later. How kind of him to help her, she thought as he unbuckled and pulled her out of the car. Her knees were too weak and she folded down to the ground, staring at the smoking engine of the car.
Jo had his phone to his ear, speaking rapidly. Then he knelt down in front of her. “Stay here, Gavin’s on the way. I’m going after them.”
“After who?” God, she was so confused. What on Earth was he talking about?
“The person who tried to kill us.”
He took off on a sprint. She was all alone. Her gaze darted around the darkened night. A tremble started in her belly and moved down to her legs and out into her hands. Oh god, she was shaking. Someone had tried to kill them?
It took supreme effort but she stood. What if someone came back to finish off the job? She was all alone. She didn’t want to die. Clammy sweat filled her palms, twisted down the back of her neck like a snake. A chill ran through her like she’d been caught in a stiff breeze.
She couldn’t stay here. Had to move. She started trudging through the tall grass toward Gavin’s house, tears streaming down her face. Her lips were parted and breaths stuttering unevenly.
Sweat dripped down her face. So much sweat.
She wiped it with the back of her hand then winced as pain exploded in a burst on her forehead. Every muscle froze as she gazed down at her hand now covered in deep red blood.
“Oh my god. Oh my god!”
She was bleeding. Her fingertips traced over her face slowly, finding the gashes and cuts, the shards of glasses still stuck in her face like deadly splinters.
“Help me!” she screamed, her voice shaking. “Somebody help me!” Where were the other pack lieutenants? Where was everybody?
A part of her heard the sound of an engine coming closer. The sound made her pulse jump with fear. They were coming back. Jo had gone the wrong way and they were coming to finish her off.
Choking on a sob, she searched out the vehicle and saw blurry headlights rushing toward her.
She backed up. “No, no, no.”
She turned, not back toward the wreck, not toward the car that could be trying to kill her, but toward the thick expanse of woods and she ran. She ran hard.
Her feet caught in weeds and thick grass tripped her like tiny hands entrapping her ankles. Blood and tears clogged her vision, the salty mixture burning her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered and twitched to stop the flow but it was useless. A branch tripped her, sending her face first into the ground. She tried to catch herself, but the panic that gripped her made her careless and her cheek grazed the grass and the shards of glass dug deeper into her skin, burning hot pain engulfing her.
“Gavin,” she whispered. “Help me, please.”
She picked herself up and gently swiped at her brow to move the blood and sweat dripping down from her hairline.
That’s when she heard it. The most beautiful thing she’d ever heard.
“Alicia!” A hoarse, raspy shout from a man with a damaged voice.
She sobbed and spun around. “Gavin!”
Her eyelids fluttered over the heavy liquid there, the tears blurring her vision into smeared pink images. Back toward the street she saw his tall figure, saw him coming for her.
Joy filled her with a burst of energy and she raced back across the field to him, burning eyes and stinging cuts on her face forgotten.
She never made it far because he beat her to it. He enclosed in strong arms, caught her. In his arms she was safe. He lifted her into his chest and cradled her like a babe.
“Gavin.”
She cried. Harsh, choking sobs.
“I’ve got you now, beautiful. Everything’s going to be all right now. I’m goin’ to take care of everything. Just shush now.”
Eventually her sobs slowed. He carried her back to the street but she couldn’t really tell anything. Trust guided her because she trusted Gavin to take care of her, and he did. He set her in his truck, buckled that seatbelt around her and ordered her to keep her eyes shut so no more blood would get into her eyes.
She heard people coming, vehicles approaching and Gavin giving orders.
Damn, but she was still shaking like a leaf. She crossed her arms across her belly and shivered. When had it gotten so cold? She needed a hot bath and a warm blanket, maybe a cup of hot cocoa too.
Then his door opened and he drove off.
“How’re you doin’?” he rasped.
Maybe it was just her ears playing with her or maybe it was because she listened to him without sight but he sounded different. He sounded…furious and panicked. Probably much how she sounded too.
“I’m cold,” she admitted.
He did something and hot hair blasted out from the vents. She let out a satisfied sigh as the warm air blew over her.
“We’re goin’ back to the house. The pack doctor’s meeting us there. I’m goin’ to take care of this, Alicia. I promise.”
He sounded so determined. Like he was making a vow. It shook her for a whole other reason. He’d do that? He’d mete out justice for her?
“It might have been an accident.”
He growled an angry, threatening sound. “Jo went on foot
after him. All he saw was a figure of a man and judging by the intersection you were hit at, it had been planned. The man had gunned it trying to T-bone you.”
Damn, now the heat wasn’t working. She shivered and struggled to keep her teeth from chattering. And she wanted to wipe at her face so badly because it was itching from the blood drying. It felt sticky and thick. God, she just wanted this night over with, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be for a long time.
“He wasn’t trying to kill me. That’s crazy. I don’t even know anyone here. Unless you count Kaity and Hanna, and they wouldn’t have done this.”
He was silent and she found herself patting the vinyl seats between them until she found his leg.
Not even sure why, her eyes grew wet with tears. All she knew was that she wanted to climb across those seats and curl up against him, but she couldn’t do that. They didn’t have that kind of…relationship.
“What is it?” she asked at his silence.
“Nothin’.”
“I don’t believe you. I think after what happened I have a right to know, don’t you?” She squeezed his thigh, gripping the strong muscle of him. It felt good, grounded her back to earth like a lifeline.
“There might be some who’d like to see you dead.”
She shook her head. When that didn’t clear her head, she tried to speak but couldn’t. Then finally she ended up laughing, a brief, hysterical sound.
“Who’d want me dead? I’m as harmless as a moth.”
His hand cupped hers, twined their fingers together. At the touch, her breath stuttered out of her. He was so warm, so strong, unlike her.
“To hurt me,” he said, bring her world to a crashing halt.
“What?” she asked, her voice high.
He didn’t say a word as he pulled to a stop. “We’re here. Stay right there, I’m comin’ to your side to get you.”
The truck door opened and closed, then her door was opened. She at least managed to unbuckle her own seatbelt before he lifted her against his chest and carried her inside.
“Where are we?” she whispered.
“At my house. The pack healer’s here. Her name is Heather and she’s going to look you over, get your face taken care of.”
Her head spun around as she picked up all kinds of voices, men and woman in his house. “Who else is here?” she asked softly. She just wanted to be alone.