Twice Tempted: Between Two Alphas (Mia and Cameron)

Chapter Seventy-Four

ΜΙΑ

"Go below deck," Eric tells me.

"What? Why?"

He's on his feet. His legs are braced apart. His arms flex at his sides. He hasn't shifted, but his wolf is at the surface. His eyes flash pure gold, then they flutter as he's talking to...someone. "What is it?"

Then I hear the whomp-whomp-whomp of helicopter blades and I realize we're about to be boarded.

"No!"

"It's going to be fine."

We left the dinghy at the dock, thinking it could've been compromised. We're in the Pacific Ocean. There aren't even any islands or hints of land in sight. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

They airdropped a slew of wraiths onto his lands. We were ambushed by more wraiths in New Orleans. Those came in with the mist and dropped out of nowhere.

"Please," Eric says. "There isn't a lot of time. I can't fight the way I need to if I'm focused on keeping you safe."

I hesitate. Not because I'm afraid or don't want to risk my life, but because I don't want to distract Eric. If something happens to him...

"Go. Please!" He pushes me to hide.

He storms off for the upper deck, taking the stairs three at a time.

I stand here next to the sundeck, debating.

The staff is nowhere to be found and that's a blessing. Should this take a truly terrible turn, then we can't afford for them to see our true forms.

No paranormal creature-not wolf, nor witch, nor vampire or demon, or any other preternatural being will reveal themselves to humans.

But there are at least a dozen of them on this boat. People with families and kids and lives outside of this crew. There is a very high chance they'll be caught in the crossfire or simply executed to ensure their silence.

I can't let that happen.

There are weapons in a concealed cache beside the bed in the master suite.

I move quickly.

I kick off my shoes to make less noise and run down the stairs to the main corridor. I race toward the midpoint of the ship and cut into Eric's room. I bolt the door behind me. Not that it'll do much.

The floor is carpeted in a lush patterned rug that is wall to wall. This isn't like some scenario where I can roll it up or kick it aside.

I shift my arm until fur bursts from my skin and my forearm triples in size. My claws extend, breaking through my skin, dripping some blood on the floor.

I tap my foot along the floor, listening intently.

Nala's head tilts in my mind.

Tap, tap tap.

Tap, tap tap.

I'm on the opposite side of the bed when I hear it. A change in the sound. This must be what I'm looking for. I slice a line with two of my claws and tear up the rug. It's glued down hard and the carpet tears in some places instead of coming up.

But I see the outline of a metal dropbox. It's long and wide and when I shred around to reveal it fully, I see the lock mechanism that lets me turn and lift to open the steel door.

It's an arsenal.

Automatic weapons, Assault rifles, handguns. Grenades and knives and two rows of cannisters-I don't know what those are for.

My munitions experience is limited. I learned to shoot as a kid, because I lived out West and hunting was a part of life for us.

But most often, we preferred to hunt in our true forms. Shooting our prey was boring.

Still, I recall the lessons from my father and I drop the cartridge into the rifle, flip off the safety and check the chamber. I load two handguns and tuck them into the back of my jeans. I drop one knife into each pocket. The grenade I keep in my left hand, so I can still lift and use my trigger finger on the right.

I'm back out the door in seconds and running for the upper floors.

My senses are on high alert. I don't hear any yelling or fighting. I don't smell anything, but the wind is at my back and it's blowing hard.

I take a deep breath and rush up to the top deck.

What I see has me dropping the grenade. It rolls across the floor.