The Alpha novel Chapter 46

Ethan's POV

A row of black off-road vehicles is sitting out front as my team loads the last of the equipment. We don't know what we should expect but we are planning to be ready. "Ethan!" Caleb calls to me as he jogs up. I turn to him before he continues. "I sent the scouts and a couple of the strategists ahead, they'll keep us informed through our links. They are going to get us as close as they can and figure out our best way to get in undetected."

I nod before my brothers come up to me with someone I wasn't expecting in tow. "Will? What are you doing here?"

"I heard that piece of shit Alpha took Scar," he answers angrily.

"That's what we suspect, yeah."

He nods curtly. "Then I'm coming with you."

I give him a hard look and I can see he's determined. I could use all the help I can get and I know he will have her best interests at heart. I don't know if I trust his feelings toward Scarlet, but I can certainly trust him with her life. "Fine," I answer. "We're heading out in five. Grab what you need." The men continue to scramble around me and we finally climb into the vehicles and take off.

The roads become more and more worn as we head out of the city limits. We bounce around on the rough terrain, but we keep the speed as we zoom across the old roads in the direction that our scouts went. A burning sensation rips through my chest as a weird tingling feeling creeps along my neck and I instantly know what the cause is. Lucien is kissing my mate. I can sense her fear, her disgust and my fists clench tightly as I fight the urge to break something. "Faster. We need to go faster," I urge. The driver of my vehicle quickly nods before pressing his foot harder into the gas pedal.

We are flying as fast as our vehicles will go as we grip onto the handles above our heads, preventing us from being thrown around like rag dolls. I try to link with Scarlet, make sure she's okay, but I can no longer sense her. That causes my anxiety to spike and my fear to escalate exponentially. I hate that I couldn't protect her from being taken from me. But I won't let him hurt her. "We're going to kill him for touching her," my wolf growls angrily in my head.

"You bet your ass we are," I quickly assure him with a snarl of my own.

I should have known he couldn't be trusted. My gut had told me that I shouldn't have let her anywhere near him. This is my fault. I knew something was up and I didn't do anything about it. "We're going to do something about it now. Just focus on getting our mate back."

I nod resolutely. Right. I need to focus. "Be cautious. We smell something strange," one of the scouts says through our link. The row of cars instantly slows and I know that everyone else heard the warning as well. The night is dark and everything seems quiet and still except for the low rumble of our engines as we continue moving towards our destination. The beams of light shine out in front of us and I spot a shadowy figure several yards ahead. Then a couple more appear. I shift my eyes as I bring my wolf forward so that my vision changes. Now I can see the details of the figures. "Vampires," I inform my team so that they all hear.

The cars come to a stop and we all get out of the vehicles as others shift into their wolf forms. Growls fill the quiet night and some birds fly away, startled by the sudden sound. "What do we have here?" a low, sinister voice questions from the vampire standing in the center.

"Nothing that concerns you. Let us pass," I insist. I'm on edge. Vampires typically live in clans. Surely there are more than three around here. Where are the others?

"Now, that's no way to speak to your elder," the vampire tisks.

"Sorry. Let me rephrase. Let us pass NOW," I reply firmly. The vampire smirks.

"Clearly an Alpha with that attitude," he states with a scoff to his comrades and they both chuckle.

"I'm afraid we don't have time for a little chat. So, if you would all just move, we'll be on our way."

"Oh, you're not going anywhere. Now be a good boy and heel."

I let out a growl. These guys are just wasting my time. My alpha aura takes over as I feel it oozing from every pore. "DON'T MAKE ME KILL YOU OLD MAN! NOW MOVE!"

He suddenly launches at me and I quickly shift into my wolf form. More vampires appear as I vaguely notice a small overgrown town off to the right. They must be living there in the shadows. I jump to meet my attacker as my other wolves begin defending against the others. The vampire is incredibly strong and fast as we grapple against each other. I bare my teeth as I growl ferociously at him and he reaches out to grab my neck. I bite his arm and tear out a chunk causing him to drop me as he howls in pain. He lunges again but I dart around, narrowly escaping before I take another nip at him. Everything blurs as we both use our inhuman speed attacking and blocking. I remain out of his grasp as I try to take him down. Finally, I sink my teeth into his neck and he wails out as I hold him to the ground. With a quick yank the vampire falls limp as his blood leaks out of the large open wound that I left. Crimson soaks into the ground around him, painting it bright red in the lights of the vehicles. I look around and watch as the last couple vampires are taken down.

I survey the scene. A several of my men are injured but nothing serious. We were all able to survive the attack. All the injuries should heal quickly because of our werewolf genes, so I'm not worried. We shift back and wipe ourselves clean before getting dressed and climbing into the cars. We take off and I try to link Scarlet again. Still nothing. I'm beginning to get more and more worried. "We need to hurry," my wolf urges.

"I know!" I growl back.