Page 71 of Chased By My Grumpy Alpha
“They got a first name from one of his associates before they killed him.” Seth meets my eyes grimly. “Andrew. He went completely underground after that. No trace, no scent trail to follow—just gone.” Seth spits into the dirt. “And here’s the thing. Andrew Crew showed up in Turnville around the same time the other Andrew disappeared. Same age, same description, same specialty in medicinal supplies.”
The world starts to spin around me. Andrew. The same Andrew that Astra is with right now. The same Andrew who has been meeting with her for years, earning her trust, learning about her life.
“Same first name, Lucian. Has to be the same guy.”
“He knows what she is.” My hands clench into fists. “He knows what she is, Seth!” I stride past Seth, moving to the edge of the hill. “She told him. She trusted him with the truth about being a shifter. He’s been planning this for years.”
“Lucian—”
The pieces start falling into place with sickening clarity. “If Andrew was able to get into the Moonridge Pack’s nursery, it means he has good intel. That means he knows a lot more about shifters than any human should.” My voice grows darker. “There’s a reason why humans are kept away from us.”
Seth nods.
My mind races, putting together the horrifying picture. “As a latent shifter, Astra is useless to Andrew to sell to anybody. But if he realizes the significance of her bloodline as an alpha’s granddaughter, he may have other plans.” The realization hits me over the head. “Her children would be…”
“Pure-blooded,” Seth finishes grimly. “Worth a fortune to the right collectors.”
Shit. I rake both hands through my hair, pulling hard enough to hurt. This is worse than I thought.
“What’s your plan?” Seth asks carefully.
I open my mouth to answer, but before I can get a word out, something stops me dead in my tracks. My wolf, which has been pacing restlessly for days, suddenly goes completely still. Not calm—still. Like it’s holding its breath.
What the hell?
Then, there’s an abrupt pulse. A sudden, sharp sensation right in the center of my chest, like someone has grabbed my heart and squeezed. It’s so unexpected, so foreign, that I stumble backward.
“Lucian?” Seth’s voice sounds distant, muffled. “What’s wrong?”
I press my hand to my chest, confused and alarmed. What the fuck was that? I’ve never felt anything like it before. It’s not painful, exactly, but it’s not pleasant, either. It’s like something vital is being torn from me.
“I don’t know,” I start to say, but then it happens again.
This time, the pulse is stronger, more urgent. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.
My wolf explodes into motion inside my mind, snarling and clawing at the walls of my consciousness. It wants out. It wants out right now, and it’s furious that I’m not shifting. The animal is desperate, frantic in a way I’ve never experienced before.
“Lucian, what the hell is happening?” Seth moves toward me, concern written across his face.
The pulsing sensation occurs a third time. At this point, my wolf is angry. It is desperate to come out. Suddenly, I know. I know this is about Astra. Something is wrong with Astra.
The knowledge saps my strength, driving me to my knees. I don’t understand how, but I know it with absolute certainty. Every instinct I have is screaming that she needs help. That she’s in danger. That I need to get to her right away.
Another pulse. This one weaker, fainter. Whatever connection I’m feeling is starting to fade.
This terrifies me more than anything else.
“I have to go,” I say, already stripping off my shirt with shaking hands. “I have to get to her.”
“Lucian—”
“Now!” The word comes out as a snarl, my wolf’s desperation bleeding into my voice. “Something’s wrong!”
I don’t wait for his response or for him to understand. I don’t wait for backup or a plan. I shift mid-stride, my wolf exploding out of me with such force that it’s almost violent. Without another thought, I begin running toward the town, my rage terrifying even myself.
There’s a tugging sensation in my chest, like an invisible rope pulling me forward, and my wolf follows it without question. I don’t understand how or why, but every stride carries me closer to that fading pulse, the terrible wrongness that tells me I’m running out of time.
The streets of Turnville blur past me as I race through the shadowy night. Seth’s wolf form pounds behind me, but I don’t slow down. Can’t slow down. That pulse is getting weaker with every second, and my wolf is going insane with the need to reach her.
