The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 22

POV: Selene

I twisted in the rogue’s grip, a desperate, final surge of strength, but it was useless.

The world narrowed to the menacing blue spark of the taser and my son’s terrified face.

Just as the man lunged toward Leo, a blinding glare of headlights flooded the alley, followed by the deafening screech of tires.

A sickening crunch of metal on metal ripped through the night as a simple, four-door sedan slammed into the side of the black van.

The horn began to blare, a single, continuous wail that sliced through the curtain of rain.

The rogues were thrown off balance, momentarily stunned by the unexpected assault.

The driver’s door of the sedan flew open, and a figure emerged.

Dr. Elias Vance.

The town’s kind, gentle doctor.

A human.

But the man who stepped into the chaos was not the gentle doctor I knew.

His face was a mask of cold, controlled fury.

“Get the hell away from them!” he yelled, his voice echoing with an authority that made even the rogue holding me hesitate.

That hesitation was his mistake.

I stomped down on his foot with all my weight, driving the heel of my boot into his instep.

He roared in pain, his grip loosening just enough for me to break free.

The man with the taser snarled and turned his attention to the new, bigger threat. “You just signed your death warrant, human.”

Elias didn’t flinch.

He moved with a surprising quickness, using his car door as a shield before slamming it into the rogue’s side.

As the shifter stumbled, Elias’s hand darted into the black medical bag on his passenger seat.

The sudden silence was broken only by the sound of the rain, the incessant car horn, and Leo’s terrified, hiccuping sobs.

The adrenaline that had fueled my wolf’s desperate fight vanished, leaving me trembling, weak, and suddenly aware of a deep, burning pain in my forearm where one of the men had slashed me.

I stumbled to Leo and swept him into my arms, holding him so tight he grunted.

“It’s okay, baby, it’s okay,” I whispered, burying my face in his wet hair. “Mama’s here.”

Elias rushed to his car and, with a yank of a wire, finally silenced the blaring horn.

He knelt in the puddles beside me, his kind, human scent of clean antiseptic and rain-soaked cotton a strange comfort after the foul musk of the rogues.

His eyes, full of a fierce concern, scanned us both.

He had seen me fight. He had seen my unnatural strength.

But there was no fear in his gaze. Only worry.

“You’re safe now,” he said, his voice a calm, steady anchor in the terrifying storm that had just torn through my life. “Both of you.”