Page 9 of The Librarian and Her Alphas

Justice has been served.

We shift back into our alpha forms, but a long, eerie siren pierces the air, stopping us from congratulating each other on a job well done. We freeze, recognizing the sound as a tornado warning.

Shit.

“Guys, we need to find shelter now,” I growl through clenched teeth.

I’m covered in blood, and Max and Gunnar are no better off, but we won’t survive out in the storm. The rain seems to fall harder, washing some blood off my skin. I can think about what we’ve done later, but we need to get somewhere safe right now.

“Agreed,” Gunnar says, scanning the area. “We can’t stay out here.”

“Let’s grab our clothes and get moving,” Max suggests, urgency lacing his voice. We wash ourselves haphazardly in the rain, trying to clean as much blood off our skin as possible before grabbing the spare change of clothes from the car and changing into them.

“Aren’t we going to get rid of the body?” Gunnar asks.

“I don’t give a fuck about that,” I reply darkly. No one would ever track us down, and it looked like a wild animal had gotten to Thomas.

The storm is picking up, the wind whipping around and causing the trees to sway wildly. It won’t be long before the tornado arrives. I glance at the sky and hurriedly gesture to the car, pulling open the driver’s side door.

“Everyone in,” I order, climbing back behind the wheel.

“Sure thing,” Gunnar replies as he and Max quickly pile into the car to prevent their clean clothes from getting soaked. The engine roars to life, and I push my foot on the accelerator, getting us moving.

We drive through the darkened forest and onto the main road just outside the quarry in search of refuge. The storm is worsening, and at this point, any building with a basement will do—even a shopping mall.

It’s almost impossible to see anything beyond the windshield.

As we head back into town, the mile markers blur, and I squint, trying to make out landmarks along the road. My pulse races, a mixture of adrenaline and anxiety coursing through my veins from our recent execution and the storm. It’s almost poetic justice that we killed Thomas on a night like tonight.

The bastard didn’t deserve any better.

“Hey, there’s a building with a light on over there,” Max points out, his voice snapping me from my thoughts. “Maybe we can wait out this storm there.”

“Ah, the library,” Gunnar says slowly, his tone tinged with excitement. “I met the librarian earlier today. She’s… interesting, to put it mildly.”

“Oh really?” Max smirks, raising an eyebrow at Gunnar. “So you read books now?”

“I guess so,” Gunnar says, lost in thought. I can tell his mind is elsewhere as he thinks about this mysterious woman. “There’s just something different about her, all right?”

“Like what?” I ask, intrigued despite myself.

“When our hands touched, I felt a spark. It was strange, but it felt like fate,” says Gunnar after hesitating.

I’m surprised by Gunnar—he’s usually the most serious of us, so for him to say something like that must mean the experience jarred him.

I scoff at the idea but remain silent. Mating with a human would be impossible, especially for our pack.

We haven’t had a mate in years, and it’s unlikely one would just walk into our lives like that. But as the rain continues to pelt down and the wind roars, rocking the car from side to side, I shove my skepticism aside. We need shelter, and we need to find it now.

The tornado is fast approaching.

“Fine, we’ll go there,” I say, turning toward the library. It’s a short drive, and soon enough, I’m approaching the building. I cut the engine, and we hurried out of the car, slamming the doors behind us as we sprinted toward the front door.

I bang on the door again, ready to break it down and barge inside, when the door swings open to reveal a small, pretty woman in a blue dress.

Her eyes widen in shock at the sight of us, and she moves to close the door immediately upon seeing us.

“Wait!” I call out, quickly stopping the door with my boot.

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