Always You (Oak Woods Book 1)

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A new rumble sounded from the porch, Annaleigh followed Connor to see a black bear, a honey brown bear and a tan and black spotted jaguar on her porch. All of them larger than their animal counterparts. Annaleigh touched each one gently on their head and gave them a scratch behind the ears.

"Come back as soon as you can, I don't like being alone," she told Connor and his bear nodded. She watched the foursome run off into the woods before closing and locking the door. She went around and checked each window and the back door, all were locked. Feeling slightly better, she picked up the knife Max gave her and went upstairs to Rebecca's room.

She stood in the doorway and watched her sleep for a few minutes, before sitting in the comfy armchair. She couldn't let anything happen to Rebecca, she was such an amazing little girl and deserved to live a normal life. Annaleigh thought about the friends Rebecca had made, especially Aiden. She loved how much Aiden and Rebecca enjoyed being around each other, and if she thought about the future maybe they would end up mates. She would protect her daughter and the life growing inside of her, Wesley would not get to win. She kept the knife by her side and waited for Connor to return.

She didn't know how long she waited on tender hooks until she heard the unmistakable sound of breaking glass. Rebecca shot awake and Annaleigh covered her mouth to silence her scream.

"Poppet, I need you to do exactly as I say," she whispered, Rebecca understood from her tone she was serious.

"Connor and I built a safe room in our closet when he moved in. I am going to put you there and you are going to call the police," she explained and Rebecca nodded, she kissed her head and picked her up. Using quiet steps she rushed to her room, she could hear male voices drift up the stairs and Rebecca's eyes widened as they heard.

"Damn bear scent, covers almost everything. Jorge are you sure this is the place?" Wesley's voice sent a shiver of dread racing through her body. Annaleigh quickly ran the rest of the way over to the safe room. She set Rebecca inside and handed her the phone.

"When the dispatcher answers, you tell her there are two scary men in our house and we need shifter police officers to come." Annaleigh kissed her again and shut the door, making sure the door was not visible in the wall.

Where was Officer Lacey? How had she not seen nor heard them sneak into her house? Annaleigh couldn't focus on that now. She needed to lead Wesley and Jorge away from Rebecca. She slipped out of the room and tread lightly on the stairs, grabbing her keys from by the front door.

"This is her house boss. The sheriff comes by often, she and him were friends as teens," Jorge assured him in his nasal voice. Annaleigh grimaced, how long had he been following her around? She quietly unlocked the front door. She looked around and saw no police car. Where was Officer Lacey?

She twisted the knob and pulled the door shut behind her as silently as she could, trying not to alert Wesley to her presence. She stood on the path unsure what to do next, she was outside, Rebecca was in the safe room and hopefully help was on the way.

The front door burst open slamming into the side of the house, Annaleigh spun around and gasped her heart trying its best to beat itself out of her chest. Wesley stood tall, hands on his hips, a nasty smile on his face.

"Hello Annaleigh, you have some explaining to do," Wesley purred, walking down the steps. She instantly began backing away. He had changed, his always neatly gelled hair was long and unkempt. A wild gleam shone in his green eyes and his build had become slimmer. His walk was still the deadly stalk of a cat, one she'd never forget.

"Why are you here, Wesley?" Annaleigh asked. She hoped she sounded braver than she felt her hands shaking from fear. She knew what he was capable of when pushed over the edge.

"I think you know, I want what is mine. You and Rebecca home in LA," Wesley's voice stayed soft, a trick she knew too well. He would stay calm, luring you in making you think it was safe until he slammed the trap shut.

"We are not yours, you've never been a good father to Rebecca and couldn't care less about me as a girlfriend. Go back to LA and mate someone else." She'd back down the path to the driveway trying to get close to her car.

"I see you have grown a backbone these past few months. It will be fun breaking you back in." Wesley continued to stalk toward her.

"I am not yours anymore. I never loved you and only put up with you for Rebecca. We have Connor and I'm already mated to him." Annaleigh saw when he snapped, his face contorted and his jaguar took over. She jumped into her car and locked the doors.

God, I hope Connor comes back soon. She thought as the jaguar pushed on the car with its massive body. The car shook but nothing more. Suddenly, two jaguars were pushing against the car and this time it began to push up onto two wheels. She didn't know how long it would take them to push it over and contemplated jumping out the other side.

A/N: Any feedback I could get on this story would be great!