The Lone Alpha Unleashed: A Big Girl Meets Bad Wolf Romance (7 page)

“You don’t say.”

One-on-one with Edward, I didn’t
think I stood a chance. But throw in a handful of shifter bodyguards and I was
royally screwed.

Edward had always had a
competitive streak, especially where I was concerned. Personally, I didn’t
care. I had no interest in competing with him, at anything. He was a psychopath
and no matter how much they tried to make me, I didn’t want to be like him.

“You know what Edward is?” I
asked.

Kent nodded, “Do you want me to
sing at your funeral? I’ve been told I have the voice of an angel.”

“I want you to stop fucking
around and listen. Edward will take his time. He’ll enjoy humiliating me and
he’ll want an audience. I want you to get her out while he’s distracted.
Whatever happens to me, I want you to get her the hell out of there.”

“And if she won’t go without
you?”

“Convince her.”

“And if she’s still guarded?”

I glanced down at the holstered
pistol at his waist and shrugged, “convince them.”

- X -

With each step I took I could
feel her presence growing stronger. A heady mix of fear and anger and something
else, something that hadn’t been so obvious when we’d first met. She’d changed
since we’d parted. She’d grown stronger… or perhaps she’d always been strong,
she just kept it hidden under a lifetime of people telling her otherwise.

As I grew closer to the cabin I
felt overwhelmed by the realization that I was the weak one. That I’d allowed
others to mold me into what they wanted me to be. Hunter, soldier, killer,
leader. In the short time she’d known me she’d seen so many different sides to
me, and never once turned her back on me. Even when the end came she’d been the
one to take action. I’d just stuck my head in the sand and ignored the
questions that needed to be answered.

Two men met me at the perimeter.
Shifters. Wolves. Mercenaries. They approached as if to pat me down and I
snarled, “touch me and lose an arm. I’m here to see Edward. He’s expecting me.”

Apparently they knew me well
enough by reputation to back down. I decided to push my luck, “after I’ve
finished with him I’ll be coming for you, so you might want to take a nice long
walk or something.”

They ignored my posturing and
escorted me to a clearing in front of the cabin.

Edward was waiting for me.

“Jimmy, It’s been a long time.”

That unmistakable upper class
British accent was an affectation. It slipped when he was under duress. Edward
was obsessed with being the best and that obsession extended to his place in
society. It was one of the many reasons I had never trusted him. If a man can’t
be honest about where he came from, how can you trust anything he says?

“Cut the bullshit. Let her go
and I’ll give you what you want. One-on-one, that’s what you’ve always wanted.
To prove to everyone that you’re the better man?”

“Oh Jimmy, as clueless as ever.
That was never what I wanted. That was what
he
wanted.”

More bullshit. I was sick of it
all. Kent, Edward, the German. Whatever factions that were moving us around
like pieces on a chessboard. I didn’t want any of it. I just wanted Carrie.

“Just let the girl go. Whatever
you want. Whatever
he
wants. I don’t care anymore.”

“It doesn’t work like that. She
was the prize you see. She was always the prize. Whichever of us won, she was
our
prize. And then she was stolen from us and hidden from sight… until you found
her. You found her… and then you let her go.”

Edward had finally snapped. I
had no idea what he was on about.

“I don’t know who you think she
is, but you’re wrong. She’s not important to me and she’s not special.”

“You’re sure about that? She’s
not special? Bullshit. You knew she was special the second you laid eyes on
her. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind that you got to taste her first. I did…
for a while. But now, when I take her… when I take her and make her mine, she won’t
be able to stop herself comparing us, and she’ll know who the better man is.”

I bared my teeth and stepped
forward, struggling to stay in control. But I had to. The longer I kept Edward
talking, the better chance Kent had of getting her out of there.

“Please, I don’t know who you
think she is, but you’re wrong, just let her go.”

He looked confused, “you really
didn’t know? You just thought she was some plump piece of ass you happened to
bump into… repeatedly? That’s priceless. Either way you are very much mistaken.
She is special. She was bred to be special. She’s going to be the mother of a
whole new race.”

He was ranting now and had a
maniacal glint in his eyes. This whole thing reeked of the German. That little
bastard, with his laboratories and his experiments and his obsession with
shifters. But he was wrong. He had to be. Carrie and I had met by chance.
Except that bond between us. The bond that didn’t make sense.

“Enough… Edward, enough.”

“But don’t you want to know? All
these years you’ve been turning over rocks and chasing shadows. Don’t you want
to know who? And don’t you want to know what it has to do with her?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking
about.”

I could feel the memory of half
forgotten pain flair in my shoulder and back, as if the scars that marred my
flesh had come to life. I remembered the flames and the screams and howls of my
pack… my family.

“I don’t… what does this have to
do with her? What does it have to do with Carrie?”

“It’s all connected. Everything.
Aren’t you dying to know?”

Edward was enjoying this. He
wanted me to beg him for answers. But it didn’t matter. None of it mattered.
None of it had mattered since I met her. Even though their memories still
burned bright, they were dead. They were gone and no amount of knowledge would
bring them back. She was real. She was alive. She gave me a reason to live. I
had failed the others. I had failed everyone I ever loved. I refused to fail
her.

“No.”

I enjoyed the look of surprise
on Edward’s face as I shifted. My clothing ripped to shreds as I transformed
and ran at him snarling. To get to Carrie I was going to have to go through
him, and I was bored of talking. Just for the briefest of moments I felt as if
I had the upper hand. I charged from a standing start, but before I was on him
the look of surprise turned to a grin. He shifted just as I jumped and any
slight advantage I may have had disappeared in an instant.

I had been aiming for his neck,
but instead I sailed through the air and collided ineffectually with a wall of
fur and muscle. I fell to the ground and rolled aside, narrowly avoiding the
massive paw that swiped at me with bone-breaking force.

I backed away and bared my
teeth, growling in the back of my throat.

Edward responded by rearing up
on his hind legs and letting loose a great bellowing roar that echoed through
the woods around us.

I’m so sorry Carrie.

I braced myself as the massive Kodiak dropped to all fours
and charged.

- X -

What would Miss Derry do? It was
my new mantra. The divine Miss Dee was my new guru on all matters of escaping
from the clutches of nefarious evildoers who wished me harm. And while I may
have had about fifty pounds on her and I may have lacked her super-ninja
trainin,g I had the distinct advantage of not being nine months pregnant.

I intentionally overlooked the
fact that things hadn’t ended so well for Helena and instead focused on the
positive. Miss Derry could only have a long distance chat with her knight in
shining armor. Mine was right here.

James had come for me, I could
feel him. But he was in danger. I sensed that he needed me as much as I needed
him.

I forced myself to calm down and
assess the situation. I was alone in a bedroom. It was neatly appointed and the
furniture and fittings all appeared to be quite new… a fact that most likely
wasn’t relevant.

There was a single locked door
to the hall.

Was it locked though?

I hadn’t even thought to test
it. However, even if it was unlocked, I was pretty sure Edward had guards out
there. Lots of guards with big guns. My knees felt weak and I couldn’t stop
trembling. For a second I thought I was going to lose control of my bladder.

That was it. One door. No
private en-suite. I felt a momentary flash of indignation as I noted that I had
been imprisoned in the
guest
bedroom, before I realized that, again,
this fact wasn’t particularly relevant right now.
Focus Helena. Focus. No,
not Helena... Carrie.
I took a deep breath and tried to clear my head. I
had a pretty good idea who Helena Derry was and it wasn’t something I could
deal with right now. James needed me.

I scanned the room looking for
something, anything, that could be used as a weapon. I wasn’t exactly spoiled
for choice. The best option as far as I could see was a rather cheap looking
lamp on the bedside table. I unplugged it and positioned myself behind the
door.

“Hey… hey. I need to use…”

My voice came out as a shaky
whisper. This sort of stuff might be OK for the likes of Miss Derry, James and
possibly Ethan Hunt, but I was not a highly trained operative. I was a regular
person who had been taught from birth to avoid exposing myself to danger. I
was, in a word, terrified. I glanced down at the heavy lamp in my hand and
pondered whether or not I was actually capable of hitting someone in the head
with it.

I closed my eyes and took a deep
breath, and at that moment a ferocious roar shattered the silence of the remote
forest. What the hell was that? Seconds later the roar was followed by an
anguished howl. It was a desperate heartbreaking noise that pierced me to my
core.
James? Oh my darling, what are they doing to you?

I couldn’t wait any
longer.

“Hey, let me out I need to use
the…”

I was surprised to see the door
handle turn before I had even finished my sentence. The guard must have been
right outside.

“Carrie? Carrie my name is…”

This was it. My moment of truth.
As soon as he took his first step into the room, I swung with all my strength.
The lamp careened into the side of his head, impacting with a dull thud. I was
expecting the guard to collapse unconscious on the floor. That’s what always
happened in movies. Instead, he cried out in pain and turned to face me.

“Aw fuck. What the fuck? Fuck
that hurt.”

He was dressed head to toe in
ridiculous camouflage gear. Another one of Edward’s guards, but this one wasn’t
a shifter. His face was badly bruised, one fairly fresh black eye and one
extremely fresh, lamp inflicted cut above the other. He placed his hand to it
and winced in pain.

“Shit. Dammit. Carrie, my name
is Kent. I’m here to…”

I didn’t know what to do so I
hit him again. This time he went down and stayed down.

- X -

The cabin was deserted and I was
able to descend the stairs unchallenged. I had to find James and get out of
here before Kent (as if that was his real name) woke up and alerted Edward’s
other minions to the fact that I had escaped.

There was definitely something
going on outside in front of the cabin. For a second I was torn. Part of me,
the safe, sensible, danger averse part, thought I should head out the back and
make a run for it. James could take care of himself and, if he couldn’t, I was
more likely to be a liability than an asset.

But I couldn’t do it. Whatever
happened, we needed to be together. I realized that now. For the last month I’d
been living a lie. Going through the motions of picking up the pieces and
getting on with my life, despite the fact that, deep down inside, I knew I
could never live without him. The idea that we should ever be apart just felt
wrong.

I made my way to the door to see
what was going on.

“Oh.”

James was fighting a bear.

A big bear.

The bear was winning.

I felt the sting of tears in my
eyes as I began to well up.
Oh my poor baby. What have they done to you?
My mighty alpha wolf was battered and bruised. His fur matted and stained with
blood. But he fought on.

He lowered his head and charged,
snapping at one of the bear’s rear legs. But he was too slow and the bear,
despite its size, was too fast. James skidded to a halt and tried to change
direction, but his legs went out from under him and he lost his footing,
crashing to the ground with an anguished yelp.

No. Oh no.

The bear raised itself on its
hind legs, towering above him as he tried to get back to his feet. And then it
was gone, replaced by a naked Edward. James shifted back to human form as well.
The contrast between the two of them was sickening. James was bruised, battered
and bleeding. Edward had barely worked up a sweat.

“You win OK. You win… just let
her go. Please.”

Edward swung a kick and I heard
the breath go out of James as it connected with his ribs.

“I can’t let her go… you still
don’t get it. He went looking for the best of us. The fastest. The strongest.
The smartest. And when he found us, he stripped away everything that made us
human. He stripped it away with pain and tragedy and fire. He took away
everything we held dear, so all that was left was the animal within. And then
he rebuilt us in his image. He made us desperate. He turned us into weapons. We
had to lose everything so he could make us the best that we could be.”

Edward kicked James again and I
had to bite my tongue to stop myself from crying out.

“And for the best of us, the
best of the best, a prize.
The
prize. Her.”