Taking Down the Alpha

23 No Challenge

Everything was so still after the chaos that I was having a difficult time wrapping my head around it. The creepy rogue was subdued, Liana was safe, and the other rogues had gotten away so they were no longer an imminent threat.

Keeping an eye on Liana, I walked over to Denise's prone form. Worry filled me, she never looked so still before. "Denise? Come on, wake up."

She didn't move. I shook her gently. I could carry her, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to move her, and I'd have trouble dealing with Liana if she decided to run again.

I was relieved when Andrew came around the corner, even though his expression was pure horror when he saw Denise's state. He dropped the three purses he was carrying and rushed over. "What happened?" he asked as he dropped to his knees on the other side of her, taking in the still rogue subdued on the ground before looking down at his still mate.

"We were attacked by those rogues, I don't know why. We fought, Liana shifted, that creep over there knocked her down, and she hit her head pretty hard."

Andrew growled towards the rogue.

"Easy there. He's down." And hopefully wasn't going anywhere.

"Shit, Liana just texted me that you needed me to find Al, and I asked security to pass him on a message. I didn't know it was like this, or I would have gotten here sooner." He ran his hand over the side of her face, looking like his heart was breaking.

I began to feel like I was intruding, when Denise finally stirred. She opened her eyes and tried to sit up, but Andrew made her keep lying down with a gentle touch on her shoulder.

"Fuck, everything's blurry. What happened? Andrew?"

Seeing that everything was temporarily taken care of, I gathered what I could of my clothing and covered myself up as best I could. Grabbing my dropped purse, I fished around and found a text from Al asking me where I was, Andrew's message somehow getting lost in transmission. I responded with my location and a brief description of what had happened, before calling the royal enforcers to report the rogue attack.

When Al rounded the corner, he looked more serious than I had seen him. I tried to smile, but it did nothing to ease his tension. When he reached me, he pulled me into his arms for a long moment. The strength of his muscles was a relief after all the stress.

After a long moment, he stepped back and looked at me, as if searching for wounds. I was going to have a few bruises, but I had come through our ordeal remarkably unscathed.

Satisfied with his inspection, he stripped his shirt off and handed it to me, and I pulled it on over my ruined clothing unthinkingly. His scent was a comfort, but not as much as his physical presence, and I leaned up against him to take advantage of it.

"What happened?" he asked gruffly.

I explained the whole situation, starting with the rogue bothering us at the shifter club, and Liana feeling unwell. His teeth were gritted as I explained that the rogues were trying to take us away. His eyes narrowed in on the lone rogue that the helpful stranger continued holding stationary, and I didn't envy the creep bearing that killing intent.

After everything that had happened, it was the most absurd reaction, but the fact he would like to kill to protect me warmed my heart and my flesh. I held on to him, not wanting him to leave my side even to take care of the rogue on the ground. He tried to pull away, but I held on to him.

"I need to talk to him, Jess," he said.

"Don't kill him. I already called the royal enforcers."

"I won't. But I want answers."