FATED TO ALPHA HUNTER BY VENNEH LISAH

𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

"Can I help you, sir?" I heard him ask before Kelly's voice chimed in.

"I'm looking for a girl. Rina, come out. This human won't save you from me," growled Kelly's voice.

"Sir, I have not seen a girl," I heard the man say.

"I can smell her. Now come out, Rina, before I kill this human," Kelly growled. I swallowed, listening intently before I heard Rina scream, followed by loud banging and grunting. A furious growl tore out of Kelly. My heart sank to my stomach as I placed the phone to my ear, and the call went dead. "Rina?" I called out, but all I got was the dial tone.

Desmond floored it, driving faster toward the town, then suddenly, he screamed as cars swerved off the road. It was like time slowed down. My eyes widened as Desmond tensed and clutched his head. My gasp sounded so loud as we hit the gravel and the side rail.

The car became airborne, bouncing off the guardrail and flying through the air towards the forest. Desmond turned his head to look at me, a horrified look on his face, as the car careened over the side rail, flipping upside down in the air. Desmond's eyes were glazed over, and I could see someone had mind-linked him, causing the accident.

The sound of metal on metal filled the air as the car flipped and smashed into trees, rolling down the hill. My stomach lurched to my throat, and I was tossed around like a ragdoll in the back seat. The windows shattered, and the noise was deafening. The crunching of metal and breaking glass echoed into the night as the car bounced off the trees.

My head smashed against the roof lining, and I landed upright beside an enormous tree, dazed and groaning. Clutching my head, I surveyed the scene to see Desmond slumped forward in his seat, knocked out with blood dripping from his head. I tugged on my seatbelt, desperately trying to unclip it, but the pain ricocheted through me with each movement.

Eventually freeing myself from the seatbelt, I felt a wave of pain shoot through me. Reaching forward, I grabbed the back of the front seat headrest, using it to pull myself forward. However, my fingers slipped off the leather fabric, made slippery by my blood. Blood trickled down the side of my face, some finding its way into my mouth and filling my left eye. I blinked, using the back of my hand to wipe my face, shuffling forward in my seat.

Climbing over the seat into the front passenger seat, I realized that the footwell was gone, as the dashboard had been pushed right into the chair. My knee brushed against something, causing sharp pain to shoot through my abdomen. Falling into the passenger seat, I gasped when I saw a massive piece of metal embedded in my hip and stomach.

An involuntary sob escaped me as I attempted to pull it out, only to choke and decide it was best to leave it there. I touched my back and realized the metal had gone through, confirming that removing it was not a good idea. I reached out and grabbed Desmond's head, gently tilting it back. He groaned, his shoulders dropping, and his head falling forward. I let him go before it snapped upright again. Desmond looked around frantically, twisting in his seat. He clutched my arms and then glanced down at the metal that was stabbing through me.

"I'm fine," I told him, though I could feel my pants and shirt soaked with blood. Desmond looked around. "The King ordered me to stop," he said, clutching his head. He tried to open his door, but it was stuck against the tree. I gasped in pain, and Desmond tried to pull his legs out from under the steering wheel, which was pressed to his stomach. The whole front end of the car had pushed into the front seats.

"Hang on, I will get you out," he said before groaning when he tried to unpin himself. My head pounded, and my eyes pulsed in their own beat. My vision blurred as I looked around at the dark forest, only to spot the glimmer of lights amongst the trees at the bottom of the incline.

Those were town lights, and I gasped. "Rina!"

"Ania, no," Desmond hissed, trying to pull himself free.

"That's where she is," I told him, and he tried to grab my arm as I turned in my seat.

"Wait, the King and Gary are on their way," Desmond told me. I shook my head, looking at him, but he looked fine despite being a little banged up and trapped. Rina was right down there; I could make out the service station's enormous neon sign blinking like a beacon.

"No, Ania. They are twenty minutes behind us. Wait," he pleaded.

"Huh, we left hours ago," I told him. There was no way they could have caught up to us by now.

"Lycans can outrun even the fastest cars, Ania, you know that. The King is running through the forest to get here, and Dwight is even closer. Just wait. You can't even shift from the drugs in your system to stop your heat," Desmond growled at me, punching the steering wheel in frustration because he couldn't get out.

"But Rina, she's right there," I told him. He shook his head. I sighed before nodding. "Fine, at least let me climb out and see if I can open the door for you so you can slide out," I told him. He sighed, glancing at his trapped legs before nodding.

"Be careful. That rod is all the way through," he said, peering at my stomach. I touched it and hissed, wondering where it came from before realizing it was a wheel brace on the back floor. I gulped but carefully climbed through my broken window and out of the car. Blood drenched me from the movement, and I hit the ground hard, coughing and sputtering. "Ania!" Desmond shrieked.

"I'm fine," I choked out, getting to my feet and walking around the wrecked car when I heard a blood-curdling scream. "Ania!" her voice rang out clearly through the forest. My blood went ice-cold, and I glanced through the broken windshield at Desmond. He shook his head. His eyes went wide when I heard her scream again. My heart rate spiked, and I felt adrenaline coursing through me.

"Don't you do it," Desmond screamed as I took off, running to where I heard her voice screaming out into the night.

Once I started running down the hill, I found I couldn't stop. The incline propelled me down, and even as I tried to gain traction, I was sliding, underestimating how steep the mountain was, and I couldn't regain my footing. I tried to grab a tree trunk only for my grip to slip right off, and the air left my lungs as the motion of trying to stop myself sent me hurtling to the ground at an angle. The wheel brace pushed through me further, stealing my breath as pain coursed through me.

I let out a scream of agony and began rolling down the hill, smashing into trees and becoming airborne as I tumbled down. Finally, I hit the bottom and saw blackness as my head bounced off the hard ground.

When my surroundings returned, I was too dazed and in too much pain to move. The wheel brace had ripped out somewhere along the way, and my vision was blurred and doubled as I struggled to get to my hands and knees. The trees looked more like a wall encasing me as I staggered to my feet, stumbling around blindly for what felt like forever until the vertigo and blurriness began to abate. The forest was deadly silent, not even the sound of crickets could be heard. Eventually, I emerged from the treeline and found myself in a grassy area beside a road.

My eyes tried to scan my surroundings, and I squinted while my vision attempted to correct itself. Everything looked extremely fuzzy except for a neon sign that blinked and emanated a static noise. The service station was about 300 meters away from me, across the road. I was about to make my way over to it when Rina's scream rang out loudly, causing me to turn my head to the left and saw Kelly dragging Rina backward from the woods. Rina was kicking and screaming, thrashing around as she struggled against him. Unfortunately, her pleas fell on deaf ears as Kelly ignored her and pulled her out of the treeline close to me.

I gasped in shock as I pivoted to head toward her, only to trip in a small dip in the grass and land face down in the dewy grass.

My heart raced as I struggled to my feet, my breathing harsh and staggered. I kept falling, unable to steady myself, and landed on the damp ground. Gasping for air, I felt like I was trying to walk on the moon or as if I were drunk. The ground beneath me seemed to sway, and I clutched my stomach, desperately trying to stem the bleeding. My head throbbed against my skull as I slowly made my way toward Rina and Kelly.

"I reject you! I reject you!" Rina screamed, her voice piercing through the chaos. Groaning, I could barely hear my own sound over her piercing cries. Kelly forcefully tossed her to the ground, and she crawled away from him while I struggled to regain my footing.

"It doesn't work like that, Love. That's not how you reject someone," he growled at her, advancing with a menacing stride. On my hands and knees, I spotted a rock nearby and grasped it tightly before managing to rise to my feet. As I swung the rock, I heard Kelly's scream as it connected with him.

Kelly and I crashed to the ground, the rock slipping from my grasp as he landed on top of me and quickly rolled away. Growling, he attempted to pin me down. "What are you doing here?" he snapped, his grip pressing me against the ground. It struck me as odd—while he could easily end my life, he only sought to immobilize me. Suddenly, Kelly froze, a peculiar expression crossing his face before he let out a low growl and glanced over his shoulder.

I spotted Rina behind me, holding a rock in her hand, and saw Kelly's blood dripping on me from where she had hit him. Kelly turned to attack her, but I grabbed his ankle, tripping him. Rina then smashed him in the head with the rock again, causing him to go limp and fall to the ground, face down and unmoving.

As I sat up, I looked at Rina, and she rushed over to me. Tears streaked her face, with dirt and twigs in her hair, and she was covered in the same dirt as me. The rock dropped from her hand as she stepped over Kelly and moved toward me to help me sit up. I placed my hand on my stomach, which was bleeding steadily, saturating my torn and filthy pants.

"Ania, why aren't you healing?" Rina exclaimed, clutching my arms as she helped me upright. I let out a sigh, and she held my face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. But in that very moment, I saw Kelly getting back to his feet, and my eyes widened as he stumbled and looked around.

"Rina!" I gasped, and she looked behind her before swiftly pulling me to my feet with a strength that surprised me, considering the state she was in.

"Can you shift?" I asked her, but she shook her head.

"What about you, can you shift?" she asked. I looked down at my bleeding wound and shook my head. Rina whimpered, and Kelly seemed confused. Howls in the distance rang out loudly, sending a chilling sensation through my veins. An icy shiver slithered up my spine.

"The pack! He called his pack!" Rina panicked.

"We need to get to Desmond. I can't shift; I'm on drugs, that's why I'm not healing," I choked out, nodding toward the treeline. She looked up at the steep incline, but before she could react, she was suddenly tackled. I screamed when I saw Kelly sink his teeth into her neck, re-marking her. Wolves burst from the trees and raced across the road, converging behind the service station and heading towards us.

"You can't touch the Queen," Kelly warned them, pointing at me, before turning his attention back to Rina. He gripped her shoulders and slammed her onto the ground. Adrenaline coursed through me, and I found myself standing.

"Submit!" Kelly screamed at her. Rina's face went slack under his command as my body crashed into his.