Page 57 of Sold Bullied Mate

He laughs, hauling himself up onto one knee on the roof. “What are you going to do, bitch? Try an—”

Without much thought at all, I pull back and throw the pipe at him, a surprised squeak popping from my lips when it hits him square in the face. He, like his friend, dropped down from the building, but he seems to be alive.

I rush to the edge to see him on his back in the bed of a truck, a toolbox tipped on its side. He must have used it to climbup here. He lets out a mangled, wet-sounding groan and rolls to his side, blood streaming out from between his fingers.

“Fuck you, you fucking bitch—”

His words are muffled, quieting into a round of sobs, and my hands continue to shake as I back up from the ledge. Jerrod and my mother round the front of the building, and the sight of Jerrod makes my blood run cold.

The fury is gone. Now he just walks calmly over to the truck, opening the passenger side and climbing back out a moment later with something small in his hand. I stand on the edge of the roof, the sound of his cronies' groans the only thing breaking the silence as Jerrod reaches into the back of the truck and pops the lid on a gas can.

I stand quietly as he dumps it at the base of the building, then straightens back to look up at me.

“Come down,” he says, simply, as though we’re lovers and he’s asking me to bed.

“Fuck you,” I say again, crossing my arms over my chest.

Jerrod shrugs, strikes the match, and tosses it without a care onto the pile of shimmering gasoline. The last thing I hear before the wall of heat runs up against my face is my mother’s high-pitched scream.

Chapter 35 - Dorian

I’m halfway through town, following the faint trail of Kira’s scent, which is now mingled with mine, when I see the smoke.

Her scent floats down main street, weak enough that anyone else not mated to her wouldn’t smell it. But I do, and it shows me where she’s gone. Shows me that the path she took leads straight to the plume of black smoke rising in the distance.

I run faster than I ever have before. Fast enough that my paws sting, the hot, gritty pavement and friction of my speed compounding to burn along my paw pads. But I don’t care, I ignore the feeling.

Everything in my body focused on Kira and if she’s okay.

I see her, standing atop the burning building, her mouth open in a scream that, at first, I can’t hear. Then it clicks into place, the sound finally reaching my ears, “Dorian,watch out!”

I dodge to the left, but not fast enough. The wolf coming at me gets his jaws around my front left leg, making me crash to the ground, blood spattering against the dirt. I feel his teeth snap through the tendon, and a slicing pain arcs up my leg, all the way to the joint.

Fuck.

Ignoring the pain, I get back to my feet, breathing hard, limping, and taking in the brown wolf circling me. He’s slightly bigger than me, and strong with the might of the Alpha leader, like I am. I catch sight of the glinting Amanzite hanging at his neck.

He snarls, saliva dripping from his mouth, his eyes glinting black. His coat is a dull brown, rather than the ashy gray the Grayhides are known for.

Jerrod.

Somewhere near the building, a car swings around, the tires crunching against the gravel and kicking up a plume of dirt. I think for a moment that it might strike me, but it turns to the side, leaving the lot. There’s a wet popping sound, and I turn to see a truck against the building, the rubber molten and melting from the heat of the building.

In his wolf form, all Jerrod can do is snarl at me. I know his type, assume he’d want to give some big speech right now, but instead he just growls, his muscles tensing, and I know he’s planning to launch at me.

There’s a loud crack, and Kira lets out a quick scream.

I’ve been trained for combat from birth. I should know better than to look at her, to start running in her direction, to take my eyes off my enemy for even a second.

But it’s Kira. I can’t think, can’t focus on Jerrod when I know she might be engulfed by the growing, creeping flames any second.

Jerrod gets me around the waist, dragging me to the ground, his paws scrambling for purchase against me as we tumble together, maws open, each trying to go for the neck of the other. There’s a brief moment where he pins me down, and I see victory flash in his eyes.

Something rears up inside me. In an instant, I remember the day my grandfather was killed the day I took over as alpha leader. How Jerrod’s leadership of the Grayhides has affected every aspect of my life.

Kira will never be safe as long as Jerrod is alive.

With a roar, I push back against him, launching him off my body and sending him sliding back through the dirt. Kira screams again and my entire body pulls toward her, instincts blazing inside me to turn and get her down, but I have to kill Jerrod.

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