Page 100 of Stolen By the Alpha Hunter
“Let me just grab some clothes. I’ll meet you on the deck.”
Ephraim stops me from shutting the door, his hand on the wood. He doesn’t meet my eyes; he just stares down the hall like he’s watching for some lurking monster.
“And Javi?” he says. “Keep your mind clear.”
I frown. “I will.”
I shut the door and turn toward Peaches, then I grab a shirt off the floor. I don’t want to take anything from her nest; it seems wrong when she’s positioned everything so perfectly. She sits up, clutching the pillow to her chest, her red hair wild.
“Is this normal?” I ask in a hushed voice.
She shakes her head. “No…I’ve never even met an Angel,” she says. “Please be careful.”
I nod. “I will.”
I pull my shirt on and step into a pair of jeans before I head out into the hallway, then turn right. As I’m walking, the Rig shudders slightly—then my senses start ringing like alarm bells, telling me something is wrong.
There’s something evil on deck.
Even if I don’t know how, my wolf can tell.
I keep my wits about me as I walk through the door and past the two guards who are always posted there, finding that the floodlights on the Rig have been turned off. There’s a strangelyshaped vessel in the space the crew made on the deck, a sleek white disc with a triangular entrance on the side. I’ve only ever seen them fly; it never occurred to me that they travel in flying machines.
I come up to stand beside Gideon, Abel on his other side.
“Good,” he says. “You showed. Didn’t know if you were gonna come out at all today.”
“I think Esther is going into heat early,” I lie. “I’ve been tending to her as you asked.”
He buys it—and I hope it might throw him off the fact that she’s already pregnant. “You’re a good man, Javier,” he says, slapping his hand on my shoulder. “Now don’t you embarrass me in front of our guests.”
The triangle opens and darkness pours out like ink, the shadows inside the ship somehow blacker than the night around us. I’ve heard the rumors—some call them angels, others say they’re aliens, or monsters, or something worse—but this? This is alien as hell.
A ramp slides out, smooth as water, hardening into something crystalline. Thenhesteps out.
I’ve seen one before. Briefly. But up close, it’s worse.
White robes drape from narrow shoulders, floating like they don’t follow gravity. His skin is the same eerie white—perfect, almost translucent—and his hair is long and silver, braided down his back. But it’s his eyes that stop me cold.
Black. Bottomless. No iris, no sclera. Just pitch.
Two armored figures follow, silent and faceless. The Angel hovers down the ramp with his hands clasped, serene as a god descending from heaven.
But I don’t feel awe.
I feel dread.
“Uriel,” Gideon says, bowing his head. “Welcome to my humble home.”
Uriel regards him coldly, sweeping his eyes over the rest of us. He stares at me for an unnerving few seconds, his head cocking to the side. I get the horrible feeling he knows everything—my innermost thoughts, my past, my secrets—and the reason why he’s here becomes more pressing.
“I did not wish to come here,” he says, wrinkling his narrow nose at our surroundings. “But you said you had something to offer.”
“We do,” Gideon says. “Come with me.”
Gideon leads the way to the room above the mess where he likes to hold court, Uriel taking his two guards with him. I flank them, walking slowly, wondering if I should try to turn and run. Something about this whole situation makes me want to flee, my wolf howling to escape.
But I have no choice—if I don’t follow Gideon’s orders, Peaches is at risk.
