The Alpha Brothers Broken Mate

Her Hair Shone Like Rubies

This was an unexpected twist, maybe Zac was right about this female not being as innocent as I first suspected. I had been in this scenario many times before, under normal circumstances I would snap my assailant’s arm and break their hold on me, in this instance however I couldn’t bring myself to use violence against her. No idea why, it just did not feel right.

I chose my words carefully instead. “My name is Dylan; I do not want to hurt you”. Technically I was telling the truth.

She laughed. I felt her breath warm against my ear. Her scent was wafting round my senses making my wolf howl again. “Full name asshole and I think you should start telling me the truth now, it is you who should worry about getting hurt, not me. Now talk!”

I was running out of options here; violence was out, so I guess the truth would set me free. “My name is Dylan Thorn, I was hired to follow you”, I held my hands up slowly. “Search me if you want, I have no weapons at all. I do not want to hurt you; I saw you disappear off the street and got worried about you”.

“Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself. Who hired you? Was it Marco? Brock?” She pressed the knife in a little firmer as a reminder she was in control, or at least she thought she was.

“I don’t know, I swear. They called my brother from a burner phone, left no name, no contact details. If I knew I would tell you”. That much was true, I would.

“I wish I could believe you; how could they just tell you to follow me and leave no other details. Don’t bullshit me, you must know more”.

I sighed. “It’s the truth, only information I have is an address I was to bring you to. That’s it, all I know. If it’s any consolation after I met you, I tried to call the job off. My brother said I couldn’t because it was already paid for, we had no name to let them know the deal was cancelled”.

She was quiet, unnervingly so. “So, you were following me for what? To kidnap me and bring me to this address they gave you? Not even knowing who you were bringing me to?”

I knew hearing her saying that made this sound all kinds of wrong and she would be right. “My brother and I are private investigators and sometimes bounty hunters when required. We just assumed that you had done something wrong to upset someone. That’s what we do, help catch the bad guys when the police aren’t doing their job. But after meeting you I knew there was something different about this job. I felt you were innocent. Now, with a knife pointed at my jugular I am starting to rethink that”.

She sighed and I felt the knife leave my throat and her arm drop by her side again. “Turn around slowly, keep your hands where I can see them”.

I tried not to move too quickly as I turned to face her. In the dimly lit alleyway, her amazing eyes were sparkling, her red hair shone like rubies. There is no denying her beauty, I was trying not to get drawn in by it though. It was hard to focus on anything apart from her face, but I had to. This situation was getting worse by the minute and Zac was going to kill me. “Can we start a fresh please? I am Dylan Thorn…and you are?” I reached my hand out.

She slapped it away, looking at me with a fierce determination. “None of your business. Just leave, let me go on my way and we can forget this ever happened. And don’t bother coming back to Gerry’s again because I won’t be there. I loved that job too. Now they found me I need to disappear again. Out my way”. She picked up her purse and pushed past me as she made her way back down the alley.

I jogged after her, against my better judgement. I couldn’t just let her go though. Not like this, especially because I didn’t even know her name. I hated to admit it, but I was also worried about her, as well as curious about why she was being hunted. “Wait, just hear me out, okay?” I tried to gently grab her arm, but she did some weird martial art s**t on me, I found myself lying on my back, the wind completely taken out of me. Holy s**t, maybe it’s me that needs protecting from her. “What the f**k Kung Fu Panda, can’t we talk without you either threatening me with a blade or bruising my lungs?”

The red head smiled a wicked but very sexy grin. I wish it wasn’t sending blood straight to my c**k, especially as my brain needed it more right now. I tried to get up, just as a hand stretched out for me to take. “C’mon Mr Dark and Broody, let me help you up”.

I took her hand and pushed myself up with my other hand. “My name is Dylan, at least you know my name. Let me help you, tell me why you are on the run?”

The playfulness left her face, she looked down at the ground as if thinking what to say next. “No one can help me. I just have to disappear again and hope I can stay off the radar for another few months”.

“If you let me help you though, then you wouldn’t have to disappear”. The mere thought of her disappearing gave me chest pain. Why was this female turning me into am emotional wreck?

“How do I know you are genuine and not just trying to lure me into a trap? You have been paid so I am sure you’ll need to keep your end of the deal, right?”

She was right about that, we had been paid and technically not completing the deal meant a ton of trouble for Zac and me, right now though I didn’t hive a s**t. All I wanted was to protect this mysterious red head with no name. “I will take my chances if you will?”

“Why are you doing this? Offering to help me I mean? You only met me a couple of hours ago”. She eyed me suspiciously as she waited for my response.

“Honestly, I have no idea. I just feel protective over you. I don’t know your story, or your name or why someone would pay fifty thousand dollars to get their hands on you, but I want to know, and I want to help”. I stared into her eyes in the hope she would see I was speaking the truth. “Let me”.

She looked off into the distance, clearly mulling over my words. “Fifty thousand dollars, they are more desperate than I thought. And they have already paid you that, just to kidnap me and drop me off at this address?”

I nodded solemnly.

“Well s**t, who would have thought little old me was worth fifty grand”, She shrugged and looked up at me. “Fine, you can help. First thing on the agenda, take me to that address they gave you”.

I think my mouth probably fell open because she grabbed my chin and gently closed it. After a few seconds I realised what she had just said. “Why would I do that? They are waiting on you; we could get ambushed”.

“We won’t be close enough for that to happen, I just need to know which one of my admirers have paid your fee, so I know what and who we are dealing with”.

That makes sense. Brains as well as beauty, I liked this girl. Probably more than I should, “That’s smart, we can do that, covertly of course. Before I drive there though, you are going to have to at least give me a name. Trust goes both ways here if you want my help”.

She rolled her eyes, I tried not to laugh at the gesture. There was something adorable about it. “Rose, you can call me Rose. Now let’s go”.

“Rose? Is that your name?”

“Nope, but you said to give you a name, you didn’t say it had to be my own. I think it’s quite poetic, you’re a thorn and I am a Rose. Every Rose has a thorn”. She smiled and winked at me as she walked out the alleyway and started walking towards my car on the other side of the street. I watched her go still pretty much dumfounded by this beautiful, mysterious, badass red head. Rose. The name quite suited her when I thought about it. I jogged after her, avoiding cars and puddles on the road.

When I caught up to her I opened the passenger side for her and waited till she was in safely, then I walked round to climb in the driver’s side. We both got belted in silently, neither of us saying a word. It was Rose who broke the silence first. “What is the address? Do you have it written down somewhere?”

I shook my head in mock annoyance and c****d an eyebrow at her. “Do I look like an amateur who writes things down on a piece of paper?”

“Well, you don’t look like a guy who likes raspberry syrup in his vodka either but who am I to judge”. She was trying hard not to laugh, the minx.

“That wasn’t, I don’t…forget it. Just watch and learn”. I leaned forward and pressed a button on my dash, a computer screen flickered on, the location began flashing on the map.  “Recognise it?”

Rose leaned in and studied the flashing marker on the screen. Her face fell. “We can’t go there Dylan, there’s no need to now. I have seen all I need to see. Just get us out of here, NOW!”

She looked petrified, completely different from the feisty woman of ten minutes ago. I put the car into gear and began driving, I had no idea where I was going. Only that Rose was freaking out and driving was only thing I could do to calm her. “Talk to me Rose, why does that address freak you out? Why do I need to drive?”

Rose was looking between the rear-view mirror and out the back window as I drove, clearly frightened. Thank f**k I hadn’t dropped her off at that address bound and gagged. Rose was white with fear now.

“Rose, I know you’re scared, but I need to know what I am dealing with here. Talk to me Rose”.

“You won’t believe me if I tell you the truth, you’ll think I am crazy”.

“I promise I won’t, nothing shocks me. I swear, whatever you tell me I will believe you”. My wolf was frantic, he had never been so antsy over a female before. Clearly Rose was affecting him as much as she was affecting me, he wanted to kill whoever was scaring her. “Who is at that address Rose?”

“It’s not so much a who, more of a what”.

“Okay, what is at that address? What are you so afraid of? I promise I won’t let any harm come to you. Just tell me the truth”.

“A nest of vampires. That is where you were supposed to drop me off tonight”.