Page 28 of Alpha Bully

I know I can’t escape this. It’s a fight to the death. But every second I keep them here, Harper takes longer to reach the town. She must be almost there now, and I heard her screaming all the way down the trail, so hopefully, someone else will have heard, too. The pain is excruciating as he pulls his jaw from side to side, and I scream, releasing my grip on the other wolf. I’m flung against a tree, unable to move.

“Get that little bitch while I finish this one,” the wolf snarls. “She’s killed him.”

I weakly look over to where the other wolf has bled out on the ground, feeling glad at least one of them is dead. I try to lift my head, but I can’t. The other wolf takes off down the trail, and I close my eyes, praying Harper has made it to town. The second wolf turns to me, my own blood dripping from his jaw. “Right, bitch. You’re done.”

He lunges at me, and I close my eyes; a picture of Callum and Harper practicing their magic in the meadow appears in my mind, and a tear slips from my eye as I consider it’s everything I ever wanted. At least I got to pretend to have it for just a moment.

A blood-curdling cry fills the air, and I snap my eyes open to see a wolf I’d recognize anywhere pinning my attacker to the ground: Charlie. I watch on in disbelief as he tears into the attacking wolf, flinging his dead body onto the ground within seconds. He instantly shifts back and rushes over to me, my body half shifting back, struggling with the injuries.

“H-Harp,” I whisper. “W-where?”

Charlie grabs some of the torn clothes and uses them as bandages over my wounds, pressing hard. “More wolves on the trail. We heard the screaming and came. I haven’t seen Harper. She’ll be okay.”

My tears flow freely. I just need to know she’s safe.

“Where is she?” I hear Callum’s frantic voice as he tears into view. My body has almost completely shifted back as he kneels down beside me, another wolf’s blood covering his body. He turns to Charlie. “You take out these two?”

Charlie shakes his head, inclining it towards me. “Ava had already taken one out; it looks like she took multiple wolves on.”

Callum’s eyes snap to me, and I see a mixture of fear and pride in them. He nods. “Call the others and make sure Harper has been found.”

Cold dread seeps through me despite the burn of my wounds. The panic in Callum’s eyes is real. Where is Harper? I watch my brother make the calls, each one increasingly frantic. By the time he turns to us, I already know the answer.

Harper is gone.

Chapter 18 - Callum

They took her.

Charlie’s words have been echoing around my head as chaos breaks out all around me. When the first attack was spotted on the edge of town, I had no idea Ava and Harper were going to get caught up in it. It appeared to be a lone attack or mugging at first, but then other wolves were spotted on the trails that crisscross across the park, and my heart dropped. I knew Ava had set off for the women’s old refuge cabin to help them get moved.

I raced up the trail with Charlie while Byron and the other betas dealt with the first attacks, but soon, we were caught up in another ambush. Realizing I could deal with them myself, I sent Charlie on ahead to find Ava and Harper. That’s when I heard Harper screaming. I could hear she was running toward me, so I finished off the attackers and raced toward her. The screaming stopped, and by the time I reached Charlie and Ava, I had hoped to see her there.

They took her.

I don’t understand how they took her from right under my nose, inmypack, inmytown. My rage builds until I can barely see straight. I watch on through the window as Charlie and a couple of the other betas gather outside the clinic. Turning slightly, I watch as Ava sleeps, sedated by our pack doctor to help her injuries heal quicker. The injuries she sustained trying to save our daughter. The fight must have been brutal, and no one could quite believe how well she fought, taking on three shifters all by herself.

But none of that matters to Ava. She was inconsolable before they put her under. Despite the lacerations and internal injuries, she was still trying to get up, determined to find Harper herself. Even amid my fear and desolation, I see that everyone knows Ava behaved like a true warrior. The respect my betas and the clinic are showing her is immense. Ava’s experiences, and those of the women at the shelter, have exposed a real ugliness to pack life that I think I was willfully blind to for a long time, but I’m determined to put it right. And I think others in the pack are with me.

But none of that matters without Harper.

I know that nothing will matter to Ava if she wakes up and I haven’t found Harper. It will destroy her. It’s already destroying me.

I hear a gentle knock on the door and turn to see Byron through the glass. I glance at Ava to make sure she’s still comfortable and step out into the hall, praying that he has news.

“How is she?” he asks, looking past me into the room.

“Comfortable,” I sigh, “but she’ll heal soon enough, and I have to have Harper back by then. Tell me you have something. I need to get back out there.”

“I took the liberty of contacting your brothers,” he replies, and I raise my brows. “I know we handle our own business, but this is family. Aiden has already blocked all the main roads and trails into the mountains, and Tristen has secured the northern port. Your brothers will head our way once their men are secure.”

I nod. “You did the right thing. Anything to get Harper back,” I reply. “So, they can’t get out. We just need to narrow down where they are within the pack’s borders.”

“Did they say anything to Ava about why they wanted Harper?” Byron presses carefully.

I shake my head. “Only that it was Harper they specifically wanted. She’s just a kid, Byron.”

“I know, I know. We’ll get the bastards,” Byron mutters. “They obviously want her magic, so they’re not going to hurt her.”

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