The Stargazer's Alpha

Ch. 28: Alpha of His Domain

Blake craned his majestic wolf-head to catch a glimpse of me. The mysterious glow of the Arch hit his muzzle just right for me to read desperate hope in his eyes. They blazed with inhuman green light.

Don't! this luminous glance commanded me. Don't go.

I whimpered, bent by the strength of Alpha's compassion, then gritted my teeth: he was wasting his strength when he needed it most! Did my fated mate have so little faith in me?

To justify my fear, a bone-splitting hit landed on Blake's left side.

My hands flew to my mouth, stifling a gasp, when Blake crouched, protecting the injury.

His wolf crushed into the attackers, pelting them with snow, growling at them, before they could bring Blake down.

Goddess! I counted the rogues in the crush of bodies and clawed arms around Blake. There were five, not six! Blake must have done a short work of the roar-dazed rogue.

A vengeful joy twisted my lips as I imagined one of my attackers buried in a snowbank. I wanted them all dead. With a scowl, I scooped some snow into my hands and pushed to my feet. I stumbled—toward the fight, not away!—kneading the snow into a ball.

The rogues paid me no heed, lunging and swinging at Blake. In the knot of fighters, one hairy back mooned me through the rips of a studded leather jacket.

I didn't think—I hurtled my missile. The impact was pathetic next to the monstrous blows they were trading—bringing a snowball to a werewolf fight, Celeste, duh!—but at least, it gave the rogue a small start.

No matter how minute the lapse in attention was, Blake was too good to miss his opening.

His enormous arm shot out, slashed down. Hard.

The rogue I tagged staggered back clutching his groin. His hands, no matter how strong, couldn't keep the terrible wound on his gut closed for long enough for it to knit over. He slumped on the snow, blackening it around him, and looked around with glazed eyes. His arms dropped limply into his lap, his outsides shifting.

No more a werewolf, just a human, his body toppled. A scary man, dead in the woods.

My knees weakened. I sat on the ground, hard. Even with the snow to cushion the impact, it jolted me back to my senses. This was a deadly fight, Blake and me, versus them. They should die.

My fingers were so numb from the cold, I couldn't feel the next lump of snow I had gathered in my hands. Awkwardly, I squeezed it together, while Blake's triumphant roar rippled in my ears.

The Alpha celebrated his kill. He was in his territory and he was in the right. It was as simple as it was primal, and my heart got it before my mind did. I smiled.

The roar pushed the four remaining rogues back, except the Brute and the guy who was pounding Blake's wolf's head. The wolf latched onto his assailant's thigh and growled around clamped, frothing teeth, not letting go.

Then, Blake's roar and his wolf's growls echoed in the mountains.

And again.

Then echoes became new howls...rolling down the slopes, closing in on the birch grove. The wolves had finally responded! They were coming to destroy the intruders!

We only had to hold for a few more—

The Brute didn't lunge back at Blake when the three surviving members of his gang did.

He lept at me.

I screamed and tossed my snowball. Fear flooded me with desperate strength, so my missile hit him square in the chest and exploded into a white splat.