Loving The Beast Within (Sequel to Shifting Love)

Chapter 30: Alpha Females Are Friends Not Food

*Dante's POV*

No matter where we went trouble was always after Ari. This time we walked right into it. The moment I left her in the room with Cooper as her guard I knew I shouldn't have done so, but I had to meet with Daniel and his pack. I thought leaving her in the room with Cooper to watch her would be safer than being out in the open, but as usual I was wrong.

I could feel her apprehension growing inside her as each minute ticked by. Her unease settled deep in the pit of my stomach. I tried as hard as I could to disregard the feeling but it wouldn't leave me alone.

Daniel and I had been speaking for almost an hour now and I had barely heard a single word he said to me. The most I could remember was the beginning of our conversation when he informed me of Alpha Christian's attack on his pack before they had the chance to leave.

The Alphas turning on us came as no surprise. The amount of danger we had all been in the last year was enough to mess with anyone's sanity. They would do whatever it took to keep their packs safe. If that meant dissolving friendships and drawing a wedge between our packs then so be it.

I knew Ari was devastated to leave her childhood home but staying there would come at a heavy price, one I knew we wouldn't be able to pay. Daniel showed me pictures of the large almost finished neighborhood complex that was big enough to fit both our packs. He had already been in contact with a realtor and was in financial negotiations. By the time we reached the town the neighborhood would be our new home.

That was as much as I heard. From the moment Cooper informed me Ari left the room my mind was instantly on her. I needed to stay alert in case there was trouble. And wherever Ari went, trouble was sure to follow.

Sure enough, trouble found her. I left Daniel in mid sentence as I raced out of the back parking lot towards the front of the motel to the room where I told Ari to stay put. The creepy man from the front desk and three other men surrounded Cooper who was stationed in front of the door.

I almost lost control of my wolf and shifted right there. Ari was nowhere in sight and I lost her scent but I could smell her fear and blood. Cooper held up his hand to signal that everything was okay. That didn't slow me down one bit.

"What is going on here?" I demanded when I reached them.

"I am sorry Alpha. I have failed yet again," Cooper hung his head down.

"Where is my mate?"

"I'm in here," she whispered from behind the door.

"Tell me what happened."

"I couldn't smell them. I swear I didn't take my eyes off of her for a second but they snuck up on us. They have no scent."

I inhaled deeply to find that Cooper was telling the truth. The four men standing before me had no scent. Not even my heightened Alpha senses could find a trace on them. The only thing I smelled was my mate's blood and someone was going to pay for it.

"Mind telling me why my mate is bleeding?"

The man from the front desk boldly stepped forward.

"I apologize for the intrusion but one cannot resist a taste of a female's blood, especially one that has Alpha power coursing through her veins."

My face blanched and my stomach tore into knots. These men were completely out of their minds. Tasting a female's blood? What kind of sick pervert was he? Who went around biting strangers? How did he know my mate was an Alpha?

"You have five seconds to tell me what the hell is going on before I rip you to shreds."

One of the strangers stepped forward and pushed the man from the front desk back behind him. His bright blonde hair was slicked back in the same fashion and his pupils were dilated as well. His long, thin fingers straightened out the front of his suit jacket before his lips pulled back into a cruel smile, revealing a glimpse of his sharp canine teeth.