Feral Obsession

Chapter Thirty Seven

There was a loud crash. Yelling. Ruby was startled, her back hitting the wall. She could feel her heart thrumming in her chest, a sort of fluttering thing, and she sucked in a breath. She could hear someone hitting the wall, right next to the door, and she stifled her scream.

The doorknob rattled, the sound jarring in the silent room. Ruby could feel sweat bead against her forehead and start to drip down her brow as she held her breath. Her palms felt clammy, and the room seemed to spike in temperature. She had the desire to start stripping her clothes, just to feel some relief against her burning skin.

"Let him in," one of the wolves urged in her mind. "Let him in, let him in, let him in!"

At first, it was the sound of one wolf in her mind, but then the others seemed to join in, insistent that whoever was at the door was important enough to grant access. Was safe enough to let into the locked room.

But, Ruby felt at odds. Because what if it was her father on the other side?

She wobbled to the door, her mind dizzy and vision twisting in ways that made her stomach turn. She had to stop, pressing a hand against the wall to steady herself. "Woah," she whispered as a loud sound slammed against the door. Whoever was out there was breaking in.

It took a total of four body slams for the door to bust open. Ruby had only a second to prepare herself before a body careened itself through the open doorway, the body hunched and massive. Ruby blinked, trying to focus on the man's face, but everything was hazy. Blurry. The room seemed to spin when she looked at him.

"Ruby?" His voice was familiar, but in Ruby's muddled brain, there was no connecting the dots. She stumbled towards him, her body moving on instinct, and she nearly fell right into his arms. His skin felt cool against her own, and she pressed her feverish forehead against his throat, groaning in relief.

His hold on her felt tight, almost crushing her to his torso. His voice was in her ear, demanding and insistent, but there was a note of panic that ran low in tone. "Ruby, we need to get a move on. I'm going to pick you up, alright?"

Ruby had no protests. She said nothing when his grip on her changed, hoisting her up and into his arms. She kept her face pressed against the soft skin of his throat, eyes closed against the spinning room around her. Something was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Everything felt like a rollercoaster she couldn't get off of. Her stomach heaved and rolled with the motions of the man carrying her through the front door and down the steps. She kept her eyes decidedly squeezed shut, labored breathing against the man's throat.

"Stop!" A shrill screech behind them burst into the yard. "Don't you dare take her any further!"

Ruby couldn't focus on the high pitched, feminine voice long enough to discern who it was, but the man holding her scoffed out her name. "Fuck off, Hannah. You'll be dead next if you think about chasing us down."

"I'll be dead next? Think again! She is the heir to this clan! And you killing her father makes her alpha!"

Ruby jolted against the man's hold on her limp body. "Alpha...?"

She felt a hand smooth down her hair, and a voice in her ear. "Don't worry about that right now. We have time to discuss this."

"You will not take our alpha off of this base!" Hannah's voice was screaming. "She is in charge-"

"She belongs back home, not here."

"Think again, Langdon." The next voice was another man. There was a bite in his tone. "You're cornered, and you're not leaving with her."