Saving Serena: The Alpha Wants Curves Bk2 (3 page)

I felt sick. A wave of terror washed through me as I struggled in the chair. I considered transforming to wolf, but I didn't know whether the transformation would break the ropes holding me – and I was outnumbered anyway. Athena began to walk in leisurely circles around me, looking pleased with herself.

“You won't get away with it,” I said through gritted teeth. “the pack will never accept you as their leaders.”

Athena laughed. “The wolves follow strength,” she said. “When Aaron and I command them, they will obey. Aaron is second-in-command – when Heath is killed, Aaron is the default leader of the pack.” She reached a hand out to Aaron and stroked his thick, muscular arm.

He looked nervous, shaken. As if he was aghast at the plan he was about to execute.

“How could you do this to your best friend?” I said, turning my head towards him. “You're pathetic.”

“I deserve to be Alpha!” He said. He began to pace back and forth, clenching his jaw. “I'm stronger than Heath!” he stabbed a finger at his own chest, and I saw that his hand was shaking. “There's ... there's no other way,” he said lamely, and turned to look at Athena. He was pale, and his resolve seemed to be crumbling.

Athena raised an eyebrow quizzically.

“Suddenly having misgivings?” she sneered. “Afraid you can't take him?”

Aaron's face darkened. “I can,” he said. “And I will.”

At that moment, the door the two ratty men were guarding was smashed inwardly off its hinges, falling into the room. The two filthy men stumbled forward, shielding their heads. Dust and particles of wood swirled in the air, and through it a figure took shape.

“Aaron,” a voice harsh and dangerous emanated from the doorway. “Where is Serena?”

Heath stepped through the dusty air and into the room. His face was pale and cold, his golden eyes burning with rage. He was naked, having just transformed, and I could see the veins and muscles standing out on his shoulders as he clenched his fists. A flutter of hope mixed with the dark fear swirling inside me.

Heath's eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw me sitting there, bound to the chair. He began to stride forward, but then he froze.

Something cold touched my throat. A blade.

“Take another step,” I heard Athena say from behind me, “and I'll cut your bitch's head off. She could stand to lose the couple of pounds,” she giggled. The knife moved lightly across my skin, and I cried out. My eyes, wide and terrified, locked with Heath's across the room.

“If you hurt her,” Heath said, his voice low, “I will tear you to pieces.” But he didn't move. The two ratlike men moved to Heath's sides and grabbed his arms.

“Oh,” laughed Athena, “I'm going to do much more than hurt her. But first Aaron is going to take care of
you
.”

Heath turned to look at Aaron, his jaw clenched hard. “I treated you like a brother,” Heath said. A cold fury burned in his eyes, and for a moment, shame flitted across Aaron's face. “I trusted you to protect Serena,” Heath continued, “and now I find you taking orders from this whore.” He gestured towards Athena with his head.

The shame on Aaron's face hardened to stone, and he stalked over to Heath and slapped him across the face, as the two men held him.

“Don't ever speak about Athena like that,” Aaron said. “I wanted her from the very start, but I stayed away because she wanted you. And you ignored her, like she was nothing. But now she wants me, and we're going to rule together.”

“She
is
nothing,” Heath said. His teeth were bared, his jaw clenched. “And now you've let her drag you down with her. I thought you had a sense of honor.”

“Actually,” Athena said behind me, “he does.” She stroked my face as she spoke, sending a cold shiver of fear down my spine. “I wanted to murder you both in your sleep,” she continued. “But it was Aaron's idea to bring you here. He wanted to kill you in a fair fight.” She pulled my hair back in order to reveal more of my neck, and my heartbeat pulsed against her knife.

Aaron punched Heath in the stomach, and Heath grunted and doubled over.

“Let him go now,” Aaron said. The two henchmen released Heath.

Like a flash of lightning, Heath leaped up and swung an uppercut at Aaron that connected with his jaw. Aaron reeled backwards, and Heath took the opportunity to swing again, landing a punch in the center of Aaron's face.

Blood burst from Aaron's nose and he fell down onto his ass. He looked up at Heath, a stupid stunned expression on his face.

“Don't let Athena do this,” Heath said. “She's tricking you, she doesn't really want you –”

Aaron's face turned scarlet with rage and he got to his feet and charged at Heath. He tackled him, and they crashed back, crushing the plaster of a wall. Aaron pinned Heath to the wall, and they grappled for a moment, their sweaty arms slipping over one another.

Behind me, Athena laughed.

Heath slipped beneath Aaron's grip and buried a knee in his gut, and Aaron grunted and stumbled back again. Heath began to stalk towards him, and Aaron retreated. He backed over to one of the mangy guys who were watching, and reached for the man's belt. Aaron fumbled with something for a moment, hurrying as Heath neared him. And then I caught a flash of reflected light as Aaron pulled a combat knife from the guy's belt sheath.

My blood ran cold. The knife reminded me of the one I'd been dreaming about, which rose and fell and rose again, dripping with blood ...

“Heath!” I cried out. I knew, in the pit of my stomach, in the bottom of my soul, that Aaron was going to stab him.

But Heath kept advancing.

His eyes were focused intently on Aaron, and he bobbed like a boxer as he approached. Aaron waited for Heath, and then charged at him, knife raised.

I screamed as the knife plunged down towards Heath's chest.

Heath quickly stepped aside, and the knife sank into his shoulder. Heath hissed with pain, a sound which made me sick, and then he swung a fist which smashed into Aaron's nose again.

Aaron's face was covered in blood now; he looked like a hideous beast with rolling, mad eyes. He raised the knife and plunged it down towards Heath's chest again.

Heath blocked this time, but the knife still sliced through his upper arm. He brought his hand back to punch Aaron again, but Aaron quickly ducked and tackled Heath.

Heath fell backwards, Aaron collapsing heavily on top of him. They both gasped for air, their arms struggling against one another. Aaron raised the knife over Heath's neck, and Athena cackled madly.

“Kill him!” she screamed.

“I will,” said Aaron, through a mangled and bloodied mouth. “And after I kill him, I'm going to put down his bitch.”

Heath let loose an inhuman roar. The deep and raging sound that tore from his throat seemed to shake the foundations of the building. A pulse of white light exploded around his head, and when it faded, I saw the impossible.

Heath's head had transformed into a wolf's.

The rest of his body remained human, but his muscles and veins swelled with a superhuman power. Half man, half beast, Heath roared again. He gripped Aaron's throat and leaped to his feet, lifting the other man into the air before slamming him to the ground. Aaron lay in a limp heap on the concrete floor.

I heard Athena gasp behind me, and then she let go of the knife at my throat. It clattered to the floor.

I took the opportunity to transform to wolf as quickly as I could. Thankfully, the ropes binding me snapped as my muscles swelled and hardened.

I was engulfed momentarily by a white light, and when it cleared, I saw Heath, still human with a wolf's head, swinging his fists and snapping his powerful jaws, as he fought the two ratlike men – one of whom was wielding a knife.

I tumbled from the chair, turning to look for Athena. But as I turned, I was body-slammed to the ground.

Athena had transformed too.

I jumped to my feet and we began to circle one another. I growled and bared my teeth, trembling with rage.

I had fought her cautiously last time, attempting to defend myself. But this time was different. I wasn't going to wait for her to attack.

This time, I was going to tear her fucking throat out.

We continued to circle one another, and I pretended to remain cautious. Pretended to wait for her to make the first move. But all the time, I was waiting for an opening.

I heard a scream of pain, and the sickening crunch of bone, from where Heath was fighting the two men. For a fraction of a second, Athena's attention wavered. I saw her eyes dart towards the battle raging behind me.

I struck.

Summoning all the animal power I could muster, I leaped at Athena. I slammed into her, and as she rolled backwards, I landed on top of her, snapping my jaws at her neck, seeking a target for my teeth. As she yelped and squirmed beneath me, trying desperately to escape, my jaw finally found a hold.

My teeth closed on the soft underside of her neck, and finally Athena stopped struggling. I could feel her pulse hammering beneath my incisors as I slowly began to clamp down. The blood-lust of the wolf rose up inside me, and I longed to puncture her flesh, longed to tear her throat ...

But a gentle hand stayed me. I smelled Heath beside me, sweaty and bloodied, and felt his palm on the back of my shaggy neck.

“Serena,” he said gently. “Don't kill her. I don't want you to have to live with that.”

I desperately wanted to crush Athena's throat, and feel her life drain away. But through the haze of my animalistic blood-lust, I knew that Heath was right. As much as I wanted this scum to be eradicated, I couldn't live with that on my conscience.

I wasn't like her.

I slowly released Athena's throat, careful not to give her a clear shot at me. But I needn't have worried. She just lay there limp, her eyes wide with terror. I climbed from her, and she remained still.

“I think she and Aaron have learned their lesson,” Heath said, directing his words to Athena. “And if they
ever
return, they will be killed.” Though his voice was still strong, it was tinged with an obvious pain. I looked up at him, worried.

He was fully human now – the puzzling transformation of his head had reverted. His shoulder and arm were bleeding still, though they had already begun to heal, thanks to the rapid regeneration our kind are gifted with.

“Are you all right?” Heath asked. I nodded my wolf head, and he smiled at the strange gesture, before transforming quickly to wolf. He led me past the three unconscious men that lay strewn across the room, and through the doorway that he had shattered.

The place turned out to be an abandoned warehouse behind the main street. The night was still as we left the dank building and ran together through the cool, soothing air. The moon hung high over us, still tinged with red.

Soon, we were home again.

The second we were transformed back to human and inside the house, Heath was on the phone, brisk and commanding. He called his advisers, alerting them to Aaron's betrayal, and ordered an increased guard for our territory. He also requested a guard be placed outside our house.

But as soon as he hung up the phone, his military briskness fell away, and he turned to me with a stricken look on his face, before taking me into his arms.

He squeezed me tight, his fingers clutching at me as if to convince himself of my realness. He inhaled my scent and held me against him, and I felt as if I was melting in his body heat.

“I'm so sorry,” he murmured into my ear. “I put you in harm's way. I don't – I don't know what I would have done if ...”

“Shhh,” I said, retracting my face to look into his eyes. “You didn't put me in danger. You saved me. First you saved me from Athena and Aaron, and then you saved me from doing something terrible.” I kissed him softly on the lips, and he squeezed me even tighter. “Thank you,” I said.

I saw the exhaustion and pain in his face, and I suddenly realized the toll the night must have taken on him. He had been betrayed by his best friend, and nearly lost his lover. His body was coated in a mixture of sweat and dried blood.

I wanted to help him; I wanted to nurse him back to health.

I took his hand and led him to the bathroom. I turned on the shower, and we were soon both wreathed in steam. It reminded me of the first time Heath and I had sex, amidst the forest mist.

I led him into the shower.

The hot soothing water flowed over us, washing the dirt and blood from our skin. The pain began to subside from Heath's face, and I was glad. He smiled at me, and brushed my cheek with his hand before kissing me softly. His tongue gently touched my own.

I took the body-wash from the shower shelf, and began to lather the smooth skin of Heath's body. I gently washed away the remaining blood from his shoulder, and saw that his wounds were fully healed. I soaped up the broad swell of his chest, and rubbed my hands over the ripples of his abdomen. Heath closed his eyes, letting out a sigh of relaxation, as I moved lower down his body.

I got onto my knees and soaped up his groin. As always, I couldn't help but marvel at the size of his manhood.

As the water washed away the suds, I saw that his cock was swelling, thickening further. I looked up into his faces, and he smiled sheepishly down at me.

“Can't help it,” he said. “Looking down at you like that ...” He raised a hand again to my cheek, softly ran his finger over my lips.

Still looking into his eyes, I parted my lips and took the tip of his finger into my mouth. A flush rose in his cheeks; a flame of hunger begin to kindle in his golden eyes.

I retracted my face from Heath's finger, and turned my face towards his cock. It was fully erect now, the thick shaft pointing upwards, pulsing gently with Heath's heartbeat.

I took the base of it into my hand. And then I opened my mouth and ran my tongue up the entire shaft.

Heath let out a low moan as my tongue flicked over the head of his dick. I tasted his precum, and the flavor sent a shiver of excitement up my spine. I opened my mouth wide and took the end of Heath's hard dick inside.

Heath moaned again as I enveloped his thickness between my soft, wet lips. I began to move my head back and forth, taking him as deep as I could, while pumping the base of his shaft with my hand. Heath's fingers found and clutched my hair.