Page 66 of The Alpha's Runaway Mate
I nod once. “We hunt.”
As soon as we’re outside the shift takes us fast. One heartbeat we’re men, the next we’re monsters built for war. Bones stretch, fur bursts through skin, claws rip through dirt. The forest tilts as senses explode, sound sharpens, scent flares, heartbeats thrum like distant drums.
The night belongs to us. We run. Paws hit the earth hard, five sets moving in perfect rhythm. The world turns into streaks of shadow and moonlight. Wind tears through my fur, the scent of wet pine and old asphalt flooding my lungs. Beneath it, faint but distinct, ishim, Ethan. Sweat, whiskey, cheap soap, the sharp bite of fear he’s too arrogant to admit he feels.
Kolt growls through the link.He’s close.
Keep the line tight,Mason answers.No one breaks until Nolan calls it.
We push harder, faster, a wall of muscle and rage slicing through the trees. The town blurs by, empty streets, shuttered shops, the smell of oil and dust. Then the scent spikes, strong and sour. A motel on the edge of nowhere, its sign flickering, one room still lit.
I slow first, the others closing in behind me. We shift back, human again, the night clinging to our skin. Breath heaves, heat rolls off us. Mason wipes his mouth. Kolt cracks his neck. Declan flexes his hands like he’s testing how far he can go before breaking bone. We all get dressed in the clothes, from the duffel bag we brought them in.
“That’s him,” Xander mutters, staring at the window where a shadow moves inside.
“Then let’s say hi.” I grin, all teeth and promise.
We approach quiet and lethal, boots crunching the gravel. The night feels too still, like even the wind knows what’s coming. The scent of him leaks through the door, sweat, nerves, lies.
Mason takes the left. Kolt flanks the right. Declan checks the back. Xander waits for my nod. I give it.
Mason hits first, shoulder slamming the door. It cracks. Kolt drives it the rest of the way in, splintering wood and metal. The sound tears through the night, and the five of us flood inside.
The room reeks of beer and fear. Ethan stumbles back from the bed, hands up, eyes wide. “What the fuck?”
“Sit down,” I snap.
He doesn’t move fast enough, so Mason grabs him by the collar and throws him into a chair. The legs screech across the linoleum. Declan stands behind him, hands like steel on his shoulders. Kolt locks what’s left of the door behind us.
“You thought you could take her,” I say. My voice sounds wrong, too calm for what’s burning inside me. “You thought you could hurt her and walk away.”
Ethan’s lip curls, blood streaked across his teeth. “You’re the one screwing my wife,” he sneers, voice shaking but still laced with arrogance.
I laugh, low and cold. “She’s not your wife. Never was. You lost the right the day you laid a hand on her.” I step closer until he has to tilt his head back to keep eye contact. “Yeah, she’s mine now. And every time she looks at me, every breath she takes, she forgets you ever existed.”
Ethan spits at my feet, trembling. “You think you can just take her?”
“I didn’t take her,” I say, voice quiet enough to make him flinch. “She chose me. Because I’m everything you’ll never be, a man who protects what’s his instead of breaking it.”
His sneer fades when I grab his shirt and drag him upright. My voice drops to a growl. “She’s safe now, and you? You’re done.”
Ethan’s breath stutters. He tries to pull free, but my grip only tightens. “You don’t get it,” he spits. “She’s mine. She always will-”
“She’snothingto you,” I cut in, my tone low enough to shake the walls. “You had your chance. You turned her into something to control, not love. You made her afraid of her own shadow.” I shove him back into the wall hard enough to rattle the pictures hanging crooked above the bed. “I don’t do fear. I do consequences.”
He starts laughing, that broken, ugly sound men make when they finally realize they’re losing everything. “You think she loves you? You think she’s gonna stay? She’s just using you, same way she used me.”
Kolt moves fast. He slams Ethan across the face, the crack echoing through the room. “You don’t get to talk about her like that,” he snarls. “Not after what you did.”
Mason steps in closer, his eyes burning gold. “You want to know the difference between you and him?” He nods toward me. “You hurt her to feel powerful. He’d burn the world down to keep her breathing.”
Ethan spits blood, still trying to grin through it. “You’re animals.”
“Yeah,” I say, stepping close enough that he can feel the heat rolling off me. “And tonight, we hunted you.”
He swings wild, a weak, desperate punch that barely lands before I slam him back down to his knees. Declan’s there instantly, pressing a hand to Ethan’s shoulder to keep him down. “Stop trying,” Declan mutters. “You’re just embarrassing yourself.”
Ethan’s chest heaves. Sweat drips down his face. “You think this makes you better than me?” he gasps.
