My Female Alpha

FORTY SIX

lenora

Arabella smirks wickedly as she reaches between my legs. The rage bubbles up from deep inside where I had been continuing to stuff it down over these last few days. I'd had enough of this. I didn't nearly kill myself over and over to become the female Alpha people can bitch around. Ara had already abused my mate and I had no idea if she was any safer now than she was before. Her rogues could be doing terrible, twisted things to her right now.

I growl loudly and startle her. She momentarily pulls her hand back to her side before her eyes harden.

"Enough of this," she snaps. "I'm going to get you off and then you are going to get me off. That's how this works. Don't act so righteous, Lenny."

There it is. My breaking point. The rage boils over, dumping flames into every cell of my body. My hand flies up faster than either of us can see and grabs her throat. Ara's eyes stretch wide.

Snarling now, I shove her against the nearest tree and squeeze my fingers so hard around her skin that she coughs. She claws at my hand with her nails but I am so cloaked in my feelings that I don't feel any pain. Tears roll down her cheeks.

For a handful of deliciously sweet seconds, I bring Ara to the edge of death. I feel powerful again. Her pulse races palpably against my hands and drums in my eardrums. I peer into her frightened, watery eyes.

"You are a piece of shit," I say. "You have ruined more lives than you'll ever care to know. I have to do the world a favor and stop you. You can't have me. You can't have whatever you want." My grip tightens again and her face turns nearly purple. "I'm going to kill you, Arabella. I hope all the misery you've caused was worth it."

Bringing my other hand to her head, I intend to twist it the opposite way of her neck and break her. I feel a fleeting moment of hesitation. Arabella is still a person. I'm doing exactly what she and her rogues have. But I remember what she did to Emery and the hesitation is gone more swiftly than it came.

"Lenora!" a voice in the distance yells. "Lenora!"

I release Arabella immediately and swivel in the direction of that sweet, familiar voice I have ached to hear again. My mind races. Am I hallucinating?

"Lenora!" Emery calls again.

I glance back at Ara but she's sagged against the tree, holding her throat while she sucks in scratchy breaths. I should kill her still. This may be my only chance—-

"Lenora, please!"

That's it. Turning, I shift mid-stride and gallop toward her voice. I look around as I move. The rogues must hear her too. She's going to be targeted. Is she alone? How'd she get here?

"Lenora!" she cries.

Her light peachy smell fills my nostrils. I dart around a patch of shrubbery and the forest opens up. My legs stiffen. I halt to take in the sight before me.

Emery is here. She stands beside Denver's wolf and five others I don't recognize. Surrounding them in a circle are Ara's wolves. They growl at each other while Emery looks around in a panic.

Perhaps the logical thing to do would be to shift back and try to control the situation. I'm not thinking logically though. I was just inches from murdering Arabella and now my mate is yet again here, in danger. My wolf sedates my human concerns and takes over. I slink into the background as my body leaps onto one of the surrounding rogues. My jaws clamp onto the wolf's neck. It bucks, startled and in pain. I wrestle it to the ground and bury my teeth in its jugular. Hot, metallic blood gushes into my mouth.

Just as I pull away, someone slams into me. I roll across the ground and flip onto my feet. A brown rogue charges at me, so I brace myself.

From the corner of my eye, I see Emery flattened against a tree with one of the wolves I don't know guarding her. The others have scattered, attacking Ara's wolves.

The brown rogue collides with me, teeth crunching onto my ear. I cry out before biting its cheek and pushing it to the ground. The wolf growls and lashes out at me in a last-ditch effort to save its life. Once I've torn its throat out, I attack another. Over and over. It can't last as long as it seems to. I become numb to the blood and pain. My wolf relishes in the chance to get revenge, to defend those she is loyal to. I'm almost certain hours have passed by the time I look around and it's just me and Denver and Emery.

Emery runs to me and catches me as my tired body begins to fall. She holds me in her lap, patting my head. The tears from her weeping fall along my back and spatter my paws. I want to comfort her but I can hardly muster the energy to breathe. Denver's voice sounds from somewhere above us.

"She needs medical attention," he says. "I don't know where the others went but I'm going to have to carry her as far as I can."

"Why don't you go get help?" Emery asks. "I'll stay with her."

A moment of indecision passes between them before I hear Denver shift. He sprints off and I sink deeper into Emery's warm little body. Her hands run through my fur.

"I'm so glad you're alive," she whispers. "I've been so scared, Lenora. I didn't know . . . I didn't want Ara to make you do anything like I had done. I hope I wasn't too late."

I whine. She has no idea how grateful I am for her. As long as she's here, she could never be too late.

"And don't be mad," she says, "but we bargained with the hostage rogues you had. They were the ones who helped us find you. We told them that they could decide what they wanted to do after they helped us. Well . . ." She fiddles with my ears, stroking them gently. "They're all gone. They left us."

Nuzzling my head into her stomach, I breathe out a long sigh. I don't know if we're safe. I imagine Arabella is back on the loose and she's going to be more vengeful than ever against me.

Fuck.

My eyelids droop shut. I don't have the energy to open them again or worry about another threat. For now, I hold on to Emery and relish the feeling of having her back with me.