Page 89 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

“I promise,” she groans, while Bella nods along beside her.

I park on the street and call Marcus. It rings out to voicemail.

“Marcus, it’s me. I’ve brought the girls to my apartment for ten minutes. I’m picking up Rachel’s things because she’s at a shelter and needs clothes for the kids. The girls will be inside my place the whole time.”

I let the girls into my apartment. “Grab what you need and stay here. Mia, if there is anything perishable in the fridge, put it in a bag, and we’ll take it with us. Now I mean it. Stay here.”

“We get it, Mom.” Mia rolls her eyes, and I close the door behind me.

Rachel’s door is four down from mine, and the key is where she said. Her place is a mess. I move fast through it with her list open on my phone. Clothes for the baby come out of the top drawer, Danny’s inhaler off the counter, the documents from under the mattress, the toddler’s rabbit off the bed. I stuff everything into a duffel. The front door stays open behind me because my hands are full and my daughter is four doors down.

A floorboard creaks in the hall.

“Mia.” The folder stays in my hands. “I told you to stay put.”

When there’s no answer, the hair rises on the back of my neck. I set the folder down, cross to the doorway, and find two people in the doorway.

The man takes up most of the hallway. He’s enormous through the shoulders, red in the face, a fire department windbreaker stretched across his gut. Beside him stands a familiar woman, the same one whose nose I broke a few weeks ago.

“Who the fuck are you?” he demands.

“Who are you?” I don’t move from the doorway.

The sister’s mouth falls open, then curls. “That’s her.” She points, arm locked straight. “The one helping your bitch of a wife, Jared.”

His nostrils flare, and his hands squeeze into fists. “Where’s my wife?” He starts down the hall at me. “Where are my kids?”

“I have no idea.” I plant my feet. “Rachel asked me to tidy her place while she’s away. That’s all I’m doing here.”

“She’s lying.” The sister’s voice climbs to a shriek. “Look at the bag in her hand. She’s packing for her. She knows where they are. This is the one who broke my nose over those brats.”

“I’m doing a favor for a friend.” I sneer. “You two can take your delusional little side quest somewhere else.”

Jared crosses the hall in two strides. He drives his forearm up under my collarbone and slams me into the wall hard enough to empty my lungs.

“Where are they?” His face is inches off mine, his breath sour with beer. “Tell me where my wife took my children.”

“I don’t know.” The words come out through my teeth. “Get your hands off me.”

“She won’t tell you so easily.” The sister moves in at his shoulder, her eyes glittering. “We’ve got plenty of ways to loosen her tongue, Jared. She’ll talk.”

He draws his fist back, so I hit him first. I catch him square under the chin, driving up off my back foot. He stumbles into the far wall.

“I’m not your wife,” I spit at him. “You put your hands on me and I’ll beat your ass.”

The sister’s palm cracks across my face. That blow spins me into the door frame, her foot catches my thigh, and I go down onto one knee. Her second kick lands in my stomach and folds me in half. I’m still dragging air back when Jared’s fist closes in my hair. He hauls my head back. I kick out blindly, catching the sister across the shin, and she goes down shrieking. Then I drive my elbow into his groin with everything left in my arm, so his grip lets go.

He drops, and I scramble sideways along the wall. The sister’s already up, and she’s got Rachel’s table lamp raised in both fists.

“Get away from my mom!”

Two small bodies hit the woman below the ribs at a dead run and take her off her feet. The lamp bounces across the boards. Mia’s on top of her, screaming, and Bella has one arm pinned under both knees, the pair of them going at her with a fury I’ve never heard out of either girl.

“Mia, no!” I lunge for them. “Get out! Both of you, move!”

“You crazy little bitch.” Jared’s back on his feet. He comes for me, his hands close in my jacket, and he swings me off the floor. The table catches my hip before my head cracks against the edge. The room goes white at the corners. Somewhere far off, the girls are screaming, Jared roars, and I push up onto my elbows. Mia’s on his back, and Bella’s kicking at his leg.

He reaches around to take a fistful of my daughter, so I throw myself between them, up on my knees, and his fist catches me across the cheekbone. The floor comes up to meet me. Something hot spreads through the side of my face.