“No, Ma’am,” Alpha says, pouring on a level of charm that makes me narrow my eyes. “Just a friend of the family.”
She smiles as he sets the books down in her living room. “Oh, that’s nice, then. Maybe I’ll see you next time I visit the store.”
He tips his head. “Maybe.”
I want to scream, but instead I say goodbye and start back towards the store without even checking if Alpha is behind me.
Of course he is.
“Why do we piss you off so much?”
The question is casual, but dredges up so much inside me that I don’t think I could articulate a good answer even if I wanted to. Obviously, Alpha knows who my father is, but I bet he doesn’t know what happened to us.
Dad basically vanished from my life for years after the attack. He doesn’t know anything about the nightmares or the panic attacks. By the time he got back in contact, he had a whole new life and so did we.
But I go with the straightforward answer. “You broke into my house. I thought… I thought a lot of things, okay?”
“And I’m real fucking sorry for that. We were trying to get in and out so it wouldn’t come to this. The least you could fucking do is be civil.”
“Civil? If I wasn’t, you’d know it. I haven’t shot you yet, have I?”
He chuckles and stays quiet after that, but I can’t relax with him there. It’s like a deadly shadow hovering over me, or my own personal raincloud blotting out the sun. Logically I know Alpha wasn’t involved in what happened to me and Mom but that doesn’t mean I like having him hover near me. It makes me less observant than usual, and I don’t even notice the roar of bike engines until I hear the squealing of tires.
“Fuck! Get down!”
Three motorcycles brake hard and fast, carrying men in blacked out helmets. Alpha is on me before I have the chance to scream, wrapping me in his arms and carrying us both over a picket fence into someone’s yard. There’s a crack like a lightning strike—or a gunshot, and one of the fence posts splinters. Another shot thunks into the house behind us. Two more cracks follow.
Now I scream.
Alpha and I roll over two or three times, before he cages me in, using himself as a human shield. “Stay down and stay quiet,” he hisses, his steely eyes boring straight into me. I didn’t even know he was carrying, but there’s a gun in his right hand. “You can lose your shit later.”
I whimper. “What’s happening? Why are they shooting at me?”
He doesn’t answer, too busy scanning for threats. The rumble of the bikes fades as the shooters ride off, but I’m not getting up until he says I can.
God, he’s massive. Alpha looms over me, his weight strangely reassuring. I feel like a traitor even thinking about it, but he’s so much better than Ollie. In a different kind of situation, this would be—Stop it. Don’t be stupid, Faith. Someone shot at us.
“They’re gone,” he says, getting up before holding out a hand. “Motherfuckers.”
“Who were they? Why were they shooting?” When his fingers close around mine, I realize how much I’m shaking. All of me is, like I’m out naked in midwinter. My teeth are chattering.
“We gotta get out of here first. Questions later.” Alpha tucks his gun away behind his cut and lifts me over the fence, quickly vaulting over himself right after. I’m so terrified that I accept the help without question. Then we cut back into the alley that leads to my backdoor. The whole time he keeps himself between me and the road while he scans for more trouble.
Oh God, what if they come back?
By the time we get to the store, people are shouting and sirens are wailing in the distance.
“Inside.” He gives me a nudge.
I fumble with the keys, but as soon as I get the door unlocked, I rush in to check on Nicky, leaving Alpha to slam the door shut behind us and lock up.
“Nicky?”
She comes running to the back, skin ashy and eyes wide. “Faith. Are you okay?” Then she sees Alpha who’s pulled his gun back out and squeaks in surprise.
“We’re okay. Are you? Did anything happen here?” My words stumble over each other. “Please, tell me everything’s okay.”
“Everything’s fine, but I heard what sounded like gunfire.” She eyes Alpha with a healthy dose of suspicion, some of the rose tint chipped away. “What happened?”