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He is a huge man, bulging muscles clear even in his shadowed outline. An alpha, no question about it.
It’s not until he turns his attention to me that I notice the black mask covering the top half of his head.
No one with good intentions ever hides their face, and a new layer of goosebumps break out across my skin as I stare up at the silent alpha.
The silent killer.
Will he hurt me, too?
I don’t dare take my eyes off the dark figure to glance at the slumped bodies I know litter the ground around us, but every hyper alert part of me knows they’re there, the deadening silence enveloping us an imposing contrast to the fight just seconds ago.
He tilts his head, obviously looking at my still-sprawled form on the muddy ground, and my heart threatens to jump out of my throat.
“P-please. Don’t kill me.” It’s a ridiculous plea, but I can’t stop it from spilling past my lips even if someone who can kill with such ease as this alpha is unlikely to have an ounce of mercy in his body.
The alpha grunts, a sound of disgust or surprise I’m not sure, but when the steel dagger in his hand gleams against the faint city lights, it’s because he wipes it on his pants before shoving it into its sheathe. A large hand extends toward me, hovering in the air above my face.
I stare mutely at the appendage. Is he… offering me a hand up?
The gesture seems so grotesquely out of place, considering the gore surrounding us, that I can’t help the snort of amusement that breaks out of my fear-clenched throat. Horrified with myself, I slap a hand across my mouth, but he doesn’t react to my faux pas. The hand still hovers above me, waiting for me to grasp it.
Well, if he wanted to kill me, he would have done so by now. Probably.
I move my hand from my mouth and carefully place it in his, my fingertips brushing over soft leather as I do. He’s wearing gloves.
Strong fingers close around my hand, and without preamble I am hoisted up off the ground to stand on my own, shaky feet. The alpha releases his hold on my hand the second I’ve regained my balance.
“T-thank you,” I manage, not entirely sure if I mean for the hand up, or for saving me from the gang.
He saved me.
It’s not until that moment it fully dawned on me that… that he killed those men to… save me?
“Did you… you killed them… for me?” I babble, my panic reaching new and unprecedented heights. “Oh God, am I an accomplice to murder? Shit,fuck,this day just cannot get any worse!”
It’s not the sanest response to getting rescued from gang rape, some far-away part of me recognizes, but that part is somehow removed from the rest of me—who’s busy having a complete break down. Pants around my ankles, top ripped and smeared in mud and the tone of hysteria clear in my increasingly high-pitched voice.
A large hand closes around my right shoulder, the strength in it evident from even the light squeeze that finally breaks through my hysteria.
“Calm yourself.”
His voice is deep and gruff and one hundred percentalpha.It resonates down my spine and into my muscles, easing some of the tension in my body as only the authoritative command of an alpha can. I stare up mutely up at him, not sure if I am thankful that he’s stopped my spiraling breakdown or angry that a murderous stranger can have that sort of impact on my body. I shouldn’t be any kind ofcalmright now, but my treacherous biology gives exactly zero fucks about what I think itshouldbe doing.
“I’m sorry,” I say when he releases his grip on me again, finally realizing that freaking out on the guy who just saved me from the ultimate pain and humiliation is neither polite nor particularly smart. Even if he did just kill five men in cold blood in front of me, and I still have no idea what he wants from me. If it’s sex he’s after, he could have taken it by now, and my life along with it.
I blame his alpha-influence over my nervous system for why I’m not more scared of him. Sure, my pulse is still drumming rapidly in my throat, but I’m not frightened for my life. I should be. I should be begging him for mercy or trying to run from him, however futile such an act would be.
“Um… I really appreciate it.” I feel stupid even as I say it, partly because of the sentiment and partly because it finally dawns on me that my pants are still around my ankles. I want to bend to pick them up, but the urge to not take my eyes off him is stronger. Yeah, I might not be as scared as I ought to be, but even his influence can’t completely numb out the rational voice in my brain screeching that I’m alone in an abandoned park with a masked killer. He’s a predator, there’s no question about it, and every instinct in my body’s telling me that sudden movement is a very bad idea.
“I don’t have any money on me, but—” My lips quiver when he takes a single step toward me.
“B-but if I can do anything to repay you, I will,” I quickly stutter, the threat of his presence suddenly much sharper in the most primal part of my brain thanks to the too-close proximity of his huge body.
Yeah, he’s an alpha all right. It’s not just the sheer size of him—it’s the powerful aura rolling off him in waves even as he keeps his body immobile in front of me. That unquestioning demand for submission. The completely unprovoked thought that he probably smells headier than any other male on the planet flashes through my mind, and I blink in shock at its unexpected passing.
“You think I am some vigilante saving damsels in distress in the hopes of a reward?”
His voice is surprisingly soft, though the alpha gruffness in it never wavers. It is velvet wrapped over an iron core, and it makes me shake, though I don’t know why.
