ALPHA: Heir Of The Four

Chapter Twenty-Three

"And what I need be damned. . ." He uttered softly into the air.

Whether he had meant for me to hear that or intended for the wind to carry it away, I really wasn't sure. But I had heard it. And it hurt. It hurt a lot.

"Where will you go? Back to your grandmother's? The Helland's?"

"I. . .I was actually hoping I could stay at the condo. I know it's a lot to ask, but—"

"It's yours. Whenever you need it, for however long you need it, it's yours. But I have one condition and its non-negotiable."

"Routine check in's and a guard outside of my door at all times?" I smiled, hearing that 'condition' coming from a mile away.

"Agreeing with your choice is the absolute last thing that I want to do. And I know you don't want to hear it, Ava-Rain, but this is the worst possible time for you to try and find yourself. And I'm not saying that to be mean or to make you feel bad because you know that I always want you to be honest with your feelings. I would never belittle them or you.

"But there are pure bloods that know about us. Pure bloods that know about the Hellands. Pure bloods that attacked you. I'm not letting you go anywhere without protection. You won't have to see me, but—even if you don't believe that you're a part of this pack—there are seven wolves in that den that wouldn't wait until they were commanded to shadow your every move. I will give you your space, but I will not do so by jeopardizing your safety. You can't think that's unreasonable."

I shook my head. "No, it's not."

"Good. And the moment I believe your safety is compromised, you're coming straight back. Whether that's hours from now, days or weeks, you're back in this den until I choose to let you out. Is that clear?"

'Do I really have a choice?' I thought.

I nodded, remembering a second too late how much it irritated Caleb when specific questions weren't answered with a verbal confirmation. As expected, his eyes narrowed and his lips parted, so I readied myself for the question to be repeated but it never happened. Instead, Caleb turned his head to the side, dragging his eyes away with him.

I feared that maybe he really wasn't yet ready to throw in the towel and was preparing to go another round. Nothing seemed to have suggested otherwise when he turned his back and took a few slow steps away from me.

"Caleb?"

Immediately after I called his name, above us, hundreds of birds fled from their trees. There were so many that, for seconds, the flock had completely casted a shadow of darkness that spread over us both.

"What the heck was that about—"

"Come here."

It wasn't so much the command but the seriousness in Caleb's voice that pulled my attention from the sky onto him. His hand was already stretched out to me and, without pause or a second thought, I crossed over and placed my own in his. He gripped onto it more tightly than I expected, but before I could even voice my discomfort I was pulled into his body and signalled to be quiet when he lifted his index finger to his lips.

"Listen to me, Ava-Rain," he took my face in his hands and I immediately placed my shaky ones on top of them. "They're here."

I didn't have to ask to know exactly who he was talking about. The shiver that ran up my spine told me all I needed to know, but it was only when my eyes shifted from Caleb's and focused on the trees yards and yards behind him that truly confirmed it.

Pure bloods.

And there was no time to dwell on the 'how' or' why' associated with their unexpected appearance and impossible infiltration of the estate. Not while I was too busy dwelling on the fact that there were two of the them.

"There are two of them. Just like before—"

"Don't look at them, look at me."

I did as he ordered and tore my eyes away from the large wolves.

"In about ten seconds," his grey eyes darkened, "I'm going to shift. I'm going to start counting, and when I get to five you're going to turn around and you're going to run. You're going to run and you're not going to look back, no matter what you hear or what you might feel. You just keep running, Ava-Rain. Do you understand?"

"I can't leave you—"

"You can and you will," he commanded.

"No—"

"One. . ."

I shook my head as tears began to fill my eyes. Panic flooded my veins, not entirely induced by the fact that we were surrounded by pure bloods but because I feared for the moment when Caleb would get to 'five' and I would be forced to leave him behind in a much different way then I intended when I came back to the den.

"Two. . ."

"Caleb, no. . ." I chanced another look behind him only to see that the pure bloods were nearly half way to us. Taking their time instead of initiating a quick ambush was probably their way of letting us know that they would be the ones to determine the outcome of this situation.

"Just keep your eyes on me, Ava-Rain." He cupped my face a little tighter. "Three. . ." His head lowered until our foreheads touched. "Four. . ." He said right before he leaned in and kissed me.

And just as quickly as our lips met, they parted.

"I love you," he whispered against my lips, but before I could even open my mouth to say it back, he had already reached the end of his countdown.

"Five. Now, run!"

Heeding his command, I turned around and I ran. I didn't stop when I heard Caleb's howl reverberate off of every tree in the woods. I didn't stop when my legs threatened to give out, nor when my lungs burned for air. But I did stop running when my path suddenly became obstructed and it became clear that there weren't only two pure bloods that managed to infiltrate the estate.

There were three.

And there was not one doubt in my mind that I had already met this particular pure blood standing before me. However, I did doubt that I'd be as lucky as our first encounter and escape its clutches a second time.

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Authour's Note: They're baaaaaack! Please, Kane, remind us again how safe you said the den was?