My Protective Alpha

Chapter Eighteen- Worthy Sacrifices

"Kent I"

Those are the only words I am able to say because we hear a loud growl come from the woods behind us.

Kent instantly turns around while holding me behind him with his arm.

I look into the woods to see a wolf coming out, but not just any wolf, it's Ranger.

I try to push past Kent but he says "no, we don't know if it's actually him."

Ranger stands his ground and keeps lowly growling.

I whisper "Kent, his eyes aren't black, let me help."

Kent hesitates before saying "he makes one move.."

"I get it" I mumble while slowly taking step after step towards Ranger.

I get a few feet away and he nips at the air.

I hear Kent come closer but I stop him by putting my hand up at him.

"Ranger, it's me"

"It's river, I'm not going to hurt you."

I reach my hand out towards him and keep moving closer until he finally lets me put my hand on his head.

He basically purrs while I gently rub his head.

I put my hand on his side and notice he has a bunch of recent wounds.

"Ranger, I need you to shift."

He lowly growls before I say "It's okay, no one is going to hurt you here."

He shifts and Kent throws him some clothes which he puts on.

He stumbles a bit and almost falls but Kent's lighting fast speed lets him catch him and hold him up.

Kent helps him sit down then asks "what happened?"

Ranger looks up at me and says "Wes and his men came to our pack soon after you left."

"He said he knew where you were and that he could show us."

"We took many men and followed him into a trap."

"They killed many of our pack and captured Zach, Carter, Noah, and I."

"They injected them with one syringe each."

"They were almost to me when I was able to break free and run away."

"Shortly after Zach found me and I had assumed he escaped too."

"He came close to me and started talking before attacking me."

"I barely escaped with my life..." he mumbles

I take a step back and try to collect all the information I've been given.

If they all got injected with syringes then...

I take a few more wobbly steps back and the boys both jump up towards me.

"No stay back, stay back"

I look down at my arm and I think "I'm next"

Kent grabs my arms and pulls me closer "no you are not going to turn like them, they were injected then almost immediately turned."

"You haven't changed one bit."

I look into his eyes and realize I need to concentrate on the task at hand.

"Okay, yeah, I'm sorry Kent."

He gives me a slight smile with a tired look.

"We all need to rest, we are going back to my pack, then we will figure out what to do from there."