Page 42 of The Alpha's Forced Pregnant Mate

“Don’t worry about that right now,” Julian said gruffly. “The girls will take you home. I’ll catch those fuckers, and then we can talk.”

“What do you mean—?” I couldn’t even finish the question before Julian was shifting, loping out of the cabin and following the trail of the escaped demons. “Julian!” I screamed after him, shocked, but he didn’t stop.

“Let him go, Kid,” Peter huffed. “There’s no stopping that one when he sets his mind to something.”

I would kill him, I thought.How dare he go after them alone, two against one? How dare he put himself in stupid danger like that?

We walked as fast as we could back through the woods, but Peter was unsteady and weak from his wounds. Laura had shifted back and dressed, and the three of us were quiet for the entire walk back to the cars, which thankfully were still in one piece.

Peter’s tires were flat, and unsurprisingly, the demons had emptied all the spelled weapons out of it. But that was a problem for another time. Laura and I loaded him into the Outback. He looked tired and in pain, but I’d seen worse wounds on our kind. “We need to get you back to Canines territory so Saul can check you over.”

“You’ve already done more than enough,” Peter replied, his eyes falling shut. “You should go help Julian before he gets himself killed.”

“Oh, don’t worry. We’ll help him alright. He’s going to regret giving me this damn bite when I get my hands on him.” I growled, looking back to make sure Laura was still with me.

She didn’t look happy about it. Her dark hair was tangled and snarled with twigs, and she looked as exhausted as I felt. But we weren’t going to be able to stop anytime soon. I could feel Julian down our bond, and the thought of leaving him out in the middle of nowhere to fight on his own made me feel sick. Well, sicker than usual.

“You’re going to go after that prick, aren’t you?” Laura sighed, climbing into the back seat.

“Of course I am,” I huffed. “Those demons he’s after might have critical information.”

Laura barked out a laugh. “Sure, Whitney. I’m sure that’s why.”

I ignored her, starting the car and heading for where I knew Julian would be, following our bond like a built-in GPS. We drove in silence, but the energy in the car was tense. We were both tired, hurt, and pissed off at Julian for running off like he had. Peter was dozing in the passenger seat, but I didn’t want to leave him without medical care for much longer. Julian better not be far.

But he was, and it took me almost an hour to get as close to where I sensed him. I parked the car and got out, opening the hatch in the back. “He’s not far.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Laura growled, stripping and shifting, shaking her head when she was done. I pulled my knives out and put them in my belt, strapping the gun on too, before closing the back up.

She followed me as I followed the bond, and we moved quickly through the trees until we reached another clearing. Julian was there, panting hard, his shirt hanging off of his body in tatters and his skin covered in sweat. At his feet were the two escaped demons, or at least what was left of them. The first had already exploded and nothing but a dark, greasy spot on the ground was left. The second was drawing its last breath, and from what I could see, Julian had made sure it was a slow, miserable death at that.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded, walking toward him and resisting the urge to punch him in the face.

Julian glared at me, his chest still heaving from exertion. He was so fucking gorgeous that it hurt. “I got some good information.”

“So what? You know they’d be thrilled to kill you,” I shouted, getting right in his face. “You’re so fucking stubborn and selfish, you have no regard for anyone else around you!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he yelled back, his hands curling into fists. “I didn’t ask you to come help me, I didn’t ask you to follow me! I can handle my own damn fights.”

“You idiot!” I shoved him back a step. “You’re outnumbered two to one. Do you think those demons would have spared you, even if you did manage to kill both of them?”

Julian glared at me, breathing hard, and I knew he was struggling to hold onto his human form. If he shifted, I wouldn’t be able to make him hear reason. “I’m not your responsibility—"

I don’t know what came over me, whether it was the exhaustion, the adrenaline from the fight, the worry I’d felt searching for him, or the blinding relief that had swept over me when I saw him alive, but something drove me to throw myself at him. I grabbed the shreds of his shirt and pulled him to me, crushing my lips to his, a small sob escaping me as I finally got real confirmation he was alive—his breath mingling with mine, his heartbeat under my hands.

He made a surprised noise, but his arms were instantly around me, one hand sliding into my hair to angle my head so he could deepen the kiss. He kissed me hard, biting my lower lip before pulling away just enough to rest our foreheads together. “Fuck, Whitney.”

Before I could be even more ridiculous and kiss him again, someone yipped from behind us.

Oh, shit. I’d totally forgotten that Laura was with us.

I jumped away from Julian, who was reluctant to let me go. Laura, still in wolf form, barked at us both, amused and annoyed. She wanted to get going.

“You’re right,” Julian sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We need to get Peter to Saul, and we need to talk.”

I nodded. I didn’t have the energy to argue with him, and I definitely needed to sleep before we had the inevitable argument about what happened next. I turned and headed back toward the car, but Julian caught my hand. I looked back at him, my cheeks still flushed and my lips tingling from our kiss.

“I’m glad you came after me,” he said, squeezing my fingers.

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