The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas) (21 page)

She
heard people coming, vehicles approaching and Gavin giving orders.

Damn,
but she was still shaking like a leaf. She crossed her arms across her belly
and shivered. When had it gotten so cold? She needed a hot bath and a warm
blanket, maybe a cup of hot cocoa too.

Then
his door opened and he drove off.

“How’re
you doin’?” he rasped.

Maybe
it was just her ears playing with her or maybe it was because she listened to
him without sight but he sounded different. He sounded…furious and panicked.
Probably much how she sounded too.

“I’m
cold,” she admitted.

He
did something and hot hair blasted out from the vents. She let out a satisfied
sigh as the warm air blew over her.

“We’re
goin’ back to the house. The pack doctor’s meeting us there. I’m goin’ to take
care of this, Alicia. I promise.”

He
sounded so determined. Like he was making a vow. It shook her for a whole other
reason. He’d do that? He’d mete out justice for her?

“It
might have been an accident.”

He growled
an angry, threatening sound. “Jo went on foot after him. All he saw was a
figure of a man and judging by the intersection you were hit at, it had been
planned. The man had gunned it trying to T-bone you.”

Damn,
now the heat wasn’t working. She shivered and struggled to keep her teeth from
chattering. And she wanted to wipe at her face so badly because it was itching
from the blood drying. It felt sticky and thick. God, she just wanted this
night over with, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be for a long time.

“He wasn’t
trying to kill me. That’s crazy. I don’t even know anyone here. Unless you count
Kaity and Hanna, and they wouldn’t have done this.”

He
was silent and she found herself patting the vinyl seats between them until she
found his leg.

Not
even sure why, her eyes grew wet with tears. All she knew was that she wanted
to climb across those seats and curl up against him, but she couldn’t do that.
They didn’t have that kind of…relationship.

“What
is it?” she asked at his silence.

“Nothin’.”

“I
don’t believe you. I think after what happened I have a right to know, don’t
you?” She squeezed his thigh, gripping the strong muscle of him. It felt good,
grounded her back to earth like a lifeline.

“There
might be some who’d like to see you dead.”

She
shook her head. When that didn’t clear her head, she tried to speak but couldn’t.
Then finally she ended up laughing, a brief, hysterical sound.

“Who’d
want me dead? I’m as harmless as a moth.”

His
hand cupped hers, twined their fingers together. At the touch, her breath
stuttered out of her. He was so warm, so strong, unlike her. 

“To
hurt me,” he said, bring her world to a crashing halt.

“What?”
she asked, her voice high.

He didn’t
say a word as he pulled to a stop. “We’re here. Stay right there, I’m comin’ to
your side to get you.”

The truck
door opened and closed, then her door was opened. She at least managed to
unbuckle her own seatbelt before he lifted her against his chest and carried
her inside.

“Where
are we?” she whispered.

“At
my house. The pack healer’s here. Her name is Heather and she’s going to look
you over, get your face taken care of.”

Her
head spun around as she picked up all kinds of voices, men and woman in his
house. “Who else is here?” she asked softly. She just wanted to be alone.

“About
half the pack, it seems. Everyone heard about the attack.”

“Oh.”

“Someone
hold the door open,” Gavin said.

“I
got it.” Her ears perked up at that voice…Hart MacKellen.

“Get
her upstairs on the bed,” a woman said. She had a brisk, no-nonsense voice.

“We
have the place on lockdown,” a man said. “No sign of the vehicle that hit them.
We’re searching the pack inside and out but we think they might have gotten
outside of it before we initiated the lockdown.”

Gavin
was carrying her up the stairs, the familiar sound of the wood creaking relaxing
her. They were headed down the hall when the woman stopped them.

“Hey,
in here,” the woman said.

Gavin
paused and half turned. “That’s my room.”

“Well,
that’s where I set up shop so you’re gonna have to sleep someplace else
tonight. Is that a problem?”

He
didn’t say a word, but she could feel the tension tighten inside him.

The
woman cleared her throat. “Okay, then, let’s go.”

He
set her on his bed and started to pull away. For one wild moment she freaked at
the thought of him leaving her.
What if they came back to finish her off
while she couldn’t even see?

Her
hand swung out and latched onto his flannel-covered arm. “Don’t leave me,
please.”

Her
choppy breaths made her voice waver. The muscles beneath his shirt flexed and as
he knelt down by the bed.

“All
right, I won’t go anywhere.”

A man
cleared his throat somewhere near the door. “Alpha, we need you now.”

“Hart
and Jo can take care of this. You know what to do. Right now, I need to be
here.” Those strong fingers threaded with hers again and she unconsciously
leaned into him, inhaling his scent, loving the sound of his deep voice. He was
a safety net and had her caught in it.

She
wouldn’t want to be any place else.

And
when the room cleared out and the healer started plucking shards of glass from
her face, Gavin was there letting her squeeze his hand like she wanted to kill
it.

And
when the doc poured burning liquid over the cuts making her gasp and squirm
from the pain, Gavin wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders and talked her
through it.

And
when she was finally cleaned up and had her shoes taken off and exhaustion
started to creep up, Gavin was there to press a kiss to her lips and tell her
to sleep well.

And
she did…at first.

* * * * *

An
explosion of metal. The ringing squeal of tires, the acrid smell of burnt
rubber filling her nostrils, the heavy clang of bouncing metal, the rolling
sensation as she flipped and flipped.
Crunch, flip, crunch, flip.
Her
screams of fear wailing.

Bam!
The airbag slamming into her face
whipping her head backward.

The
squeal of tires tearing off down the road leaving them.

Fire
exploding in the engine. Flames leaping across the hood, crumpling the already spider
web cracked windshield into a thousand pieces of glass that exploded in her
face. More screams, all hers. Blood dripping down her face, so much blood.

The
fire roared and crossed the dashboard. She heard it coming for her. She just knew
it wanted her. It wanted to engulf her, to eat her.

She
fumbled for the seatbelt but her fingers were cut and it hurt to even push the
stupid button down. Heat struck her face, then that gentle heat turned dangerous.
It started to burn. The fire closed in and she couldn’t scream anymore.

She
jerked her head to the left to ask Jo for help but he wasn’t there, his airbag
hadn’t deployed. She was all alone. He was never in the car.

Burning
flames licked at her cheeks and she screamed until her voice grew hoarse. She dug
past the pain in her fingertips and the seatbelt finally clicked.

She
threw it off as the flames came down, nearly falling into her lap. Sweat, or,
maybe blood… No, it had to be sweat, poured down her face in torrents.

She
reached for the door handle and jerked. It didn’t open. She screamed at it with
all her strength as if she might break it down by just her voice alone.

She
jerked on the handle as her hair caught fire.

It
hurt. The smell of burnt hair, even worse than burnt rubber. It was on her
scalp, crawling down her face and the handle still wouldn’t open.

Then
something strange happened and she stopped screaming. She stopped screaming
because the door opened for her and a man stood there, a man with a shadow for
a face. She knew immediately who he was.

He stole
her from the fire, wrapped her in his safe touch. Tears dried up, and she
searched his face in the night but couldn’t see it. Only the black circle of
his face where it should be.

“Gavin,”
she croaked, her voice sore from yelling.

His
head dipped down, arms tightened around her, and then she cupped those shadowed
cheeks finding distorted flesh. Breath held, she leaned up, almost pressing
their lips together, her body weightless for one moment in happiness, in the
warm glow of protection.

And
then it all came crashing to a halt as she dropped to a hard floor.

Alicia
jerked awake in a flash.

Her
eyes took in the room, her senses working overtime to come up with answers to
the basic of questions: where was she, how did she get here, and why.

It
came back to her as the terrible dream she’d been having subsided back into a
forgettable memory.

She
was in Gavin’s room at his house because she’d been in a car accident. Someone
had tried to kill her.

The
room was dark as night. She couldn’t be sure how long she’d slept, a few
minutes, a few hours, a whole day?

She
was alone, the door was shut. She heard no voices, nothing.

Turning
around, she saw the alarm clock on the nightstand behind her. It read 4:32 in
bright red numbers. It had to be the same night then.

Where
was Gavin? Why had he left her?

He’d
helped her so much, she’d relied on him and he’d been there for her.

She winced
as little pains started to register all over her body. From her shoulder, her
face, to a burning sensation on her neck. Even her rib cage hurt like she’d
taken a few punches by a professional boxer.

Pressing
her palms to the ground for support, she started to stand, but froze.

It
was such a chance. She couldn’t believe it. At first, she just blinked,
wondering if she was stilling dreaming. But as she stared underneath Gavin
MacKellen’s bed, she saw the box.

The box.

The
one he’d removed from the basement without a word, the one she hadn’t been sure
she’d seen after all. It was here, under his bed. He had moved it.

As quietly
as possible, she slid the worn box out. It was partially hidden behind a clear
plastic container that held what looked like spare clothes, and a pair of old
boots.

She
sat up with the box and slid it in front of her. She couldn’t believe it. She’d
found it.

Her
heart ran a mile a minute with excitement and a touch of fear. She wanted to
tear this thing open and find out what was so important about it that he’d hide
it after she found it. Another part of her hesitated.

Alicia
nibbled on her lip as she contemplated it. He obviously wanted this to be kept
private so she really had no business peeping inside. But she was kind of a
prisoner here and someone had just tried to kill her. Maybe this could be like…a
present after all that?

Oh,
what the hell. If he got mad at her then so be it. She’d deal with it when it
happened.

Holding
her breath, she gently pulled back one folded cardboard flap, then another.

It
was hard to see but she didn’t dare flip on a lamp.

Holy
hell, she’d done it. She was looking inside Gavin’s secret box.

A
frown curled down her lips.

Inside
were some vintage baseball cards, an old newspaper that had turned yellow with
age, a baseball glove, a mating tether. Her stomach plummeted as she fingered
the tether. Had he been mated before? He’d never said so…but why else did he
have this?

Digging
deeper, she found a gold necklace with a heart pendant hanging from it. Her
heart pitched and throat closed up making it difficult to breathe. He’d been
mated. This was the mating tether and a woman’s necklace.

Oh
god, that hurt. It shouldn’t hurt like that, feel like a betrayal. Like so much
pressure sitting on her chest making it hard to even breathe. They weren’t
together and she had no ties over him whatsoever.

But
he said he wanted to mate with you.

You
haven’t seriously been considering it, have you, Alicia?

She
put down the necklace and dug deeper. Her fingers closed around a wooden frame.
Blood rushed and she latched onto it, yanked it up.

That’s
when she heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.

Barely
stifling a squeal, she shoved the box back under the bed and rushed into the
bathroom, slamming the door behind her, clutching the frame in her arms.