Page 18 of Brutal Alpha

“S-sorry, Ma’am,” Rosie stammered, her hands shaking as she reached for the correct pot. She brought it over with trembling hands, struggling to unscrew the lid. I tried to give her an encouraging smile, but it only made her drop the lid. Her fingers were clumsy but gentle as she applied the strong, herbal-smelling salve, and my cheek grew cool beneath it.

“Thank you, Rosie,” I said softly. She didn’t quite smile, but a little of the terror dropped from her expression as she continued to rub the salve into my skin.

Once my blooming bruises had been tended to, and my hair was once again dry and shining, I received an approving nod.

“Those humans will pay through the nose for you,” the older woman declared. “Someone will be along to collect you in an hour or so.”

With that, I was dismissed. She turned to go, the two young women at her heels, and I was so taken aback that I could only blink after her for a few seconds before I found my voice.

“Hey!” I called. “Hey, you didn’t give me anything to wear.”

All three women stopped by the door, looking back at me with three very different expressions. Rosie’s big blue eyes were pitying. The older woman looked at me as if I were profoundly stupid, but it was the other young woman who spoke, her voice full of gleeful spite:

“How does a man know what he’s buying if he can’t see all of you?”

Chapter 8 - Ethan

We’d all heard the rumors about Arbor: pushed to desperation following their defeat on Lapine, they’d started selling their females off to rich humans. It was horrific on its own, but few of us had ever really thought they’d be stupid enough to try taking females from other islands. They weren’t in any condition for another inter-Pack conflict, and maybe some Packs wouldn’t start shit over one or two missing females, but a member of an Alpha’s family was another matter entirely. Had they not known who Julia was when they took her? Had they simply seen a lone female on her way home from the Solstice and thought no one would miss her? That was going to be a costly mistake.

I had lost Julia’s scent soon after the bridge and had no luck picking it back up once I arrived on Arbor. Instead, I took a gamble and made my way to the north beach. As far as I knew, it was the only place on Arbor where you could land a boat from the mainland, and if I could catch the scent of the humans who were trying to buy shifter women, I could follow them to the site of the sale.

Fortunately, my gamble paid off: the beach was littered with boats of various sizes, and feet churned up the sand, creating a narrow path through the woods and up into the mountains. Humans didn’t possess scents as strong as shifters, but they often wore synthetic fragrances, which were extremely easy to track. My nose wrinkled at the harsh, artificial odor. The back of my throat burned, but if that scent led me to Julia, I could easily endure the discomfort. The humans would be slow as they made their way up the mountain, and in my current form, I would easily catch up to them. I barely stopped to catch my breath, pushing on across the beach and plunging into theforest in pursuit of the men who believed a woman like Julia could be bought.

They were not difficult to track. There was a group of them, to start with; it was difficult to tell exactly how many from where I was skulking in the underbrush, keeping out of sight as far enough away that the shifters in the group wouldn’t catch my scent, but I guessed there were about twelve humans and three shifter escorts. None of them were bothering to keep quiet, either, and I heard them long before I got close enough to catch sight of the party.

As soon as I did, my hackles rose. I wanted nothing more than to charge at them, to rip them limb from limb for thinking themselves above us, treating our women as if they could be bought like objects. Even against twelve of them and three shifters, I might still have a chance. I was big enough. If I did that, though, I might never find Julia. Finding Julia was what mattered, if only to bring her home to Caleb and her family.

The path through the forest was winding, and the humans bitched and moaned with every step. They were all dressed in outfits I’d only ever seen in movies or on the covers of books: dress pants and starched white shirts with jackets over the top. Their shoes were shiny and hard-looking, filling me with irritation and impatience. I needed them to get where they were going, needed them to lead me to where Julia was.

Once they arrived, they were fair game, I reminded myself. I could spring forward and take out as many as I could, hoping that there weren’t more hunters inside. It was far from a perfect plan, but I didn’t have time to think of a better one, because it wasn’t long before the party stopped in front of a narrow cave opening. One of the shifters led the way inside, while the humans began to file in behind him. The other two shifters were clearly waiting to bring up the rear, and I was aboutto spring forward and take my chances against them when one of the humans spoke up.

“You guys go in,” he said. “I’ve gotta use the little boys’ room. Say, buddy—where is the little boy’s room?”

The shifter he’d addressed only laughed.

“It’s all around you. Go wild.”

The guy looked a bit put out, but he waved the others in and headed into the forest alone. Suddenly, I had a better plan. I followed him a few yards into the forest, where he set down the expensive-looking briefcase he’d been carrying and unzipped his fly to relieve himself against one of the trees. I let him finish—I wasn’t a monster—before I shifted back to human form and made my presence known.

It was easy work to grab the human from behind, slapping a hand over his mouth. Their senses were so dull, how did they even function?

“When I take my hand off your mouth, you aren’t going to make a sound, got it?” I growled into his ear, and the human nodded frantically. I cautiously removed my hand from his mouth, and true to his word, he didn’t make a sound. That was a good start. When I released his hands, he immediately put space between us but didn’t attempt to run. His eyes were wide with fear, darting around for escape routes that were all equally useless to him.

“Take your clothes off,” I demanded, and the human’s eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline. He scrambled a few feet further back.

“Hey, man, you’re uh—you’re a fine specimen and all, but I’m really not into—” he garbled, clearly not understanding that this was not a request. Alpha authority might not work onhumans, but I didn’t need it. Humans, as a rule, were terrified of shifters—even the ones who had come to Arbor to buy themselves a bride would no doubt drug or cage the females once they returned to the mainland. I only needed to throw my weight around, growl a little, and he’d be putty in my hands.

“Your clothes, I need them. Take them off,” I repeated. He made no move to try to get away this time, but nor did he begin to strip.

“Oh. Right, yeah,” he said. “I mean I’d prefer to—”

“Now,” I growled, flashing elongated fangs, and he finally jumped to attention.

“You got it, buddy,” he yelped as he shucked off his jacket and began undoing the buttons of his shirt with trembling fingers. I took the garments as he handed them to me, pulling them over my nakedness. The fit wasn’t good—the guy was tall for a human, but still a couple of inches shorter than me, and I strained out of his no-doubt expensive suit. The shoes were definitely too small—it hurt to squeeze my feet into them—but I reminded myself that I wouldn’t be wearing this ridiculous get-up for long.

“Where’s your false scent?” I asked, once I was dressed, and the human stared back at me, naked and confused.

“My what?”

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