Alpha Omega 02 - Hunting Ground

How dominant is he?”
    â€œHe’s not.” Tom sounded exasperated. “He can’t make you safe.”
    A moment before, Anna had been numb and shaking with the aftereffects of the fight. But when his words registered, Anna was suddenly furious that Tom would put himself at risk for her. Again. Because the vampires had been hunting her.
    Power came to her call, and she said, “I will make myself safe.” When he didn’t have anything to say to that, she turned to the witch. “Moira do you have Alan Choo’s number?”
    â€œGive me your cell phone, and I’ll call him myself,” Moira said in an odd voice.
    Anna handed it over and turned to deal with the witch’s mate—and found him looking at her with a little smile. “Shit, woman,” he said, “I haven’t been put in my place so well since the last time Charles did it. You’d better call him. Your mate’s going to be wondering why you drew upon him that way.”
    What way? But telling him she didn’t have the slightest idea what he was talking about didn’t appeal to Anna. She’d learned about revealing weaknesses, too. Even if she liked him.
    â€œHe’ll have to wait—Moira, tell Mr. Choo to meet us at my hotel room.”
    â€œAnd just how are going to get to the hotel without help?” Tom asked. He tried to sit up and failed. “Shit,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere for a while.”
    Anna waited until Moira was through talking to their medic and took her phone back from Moira. Then she answered his question. “Your mate’s going to keep us invisible, and I’m carrying you back to the hotel.”
    At Moira’s astonished face, she rolled her eyes before she remembered the witch couldn’t see her. “Werewolf, here. I may not look like a brawny male, but I can carry Tom to the hotel just fine.”
    Tom relaxed a little. “We don’t have any females,” he said. “You look pretty scrawny. I forgot.” She looked at him, and he gave her a faint smile. “Sorry.”
    They weren’t too far from the hotel, but it seemed like a hundred miles. Tom was not light—werewolves are denser than humans, and she kept worrying about the pained sounds he made no matter how carefully she walked. Then he quit making sounds, and that was worse. And remembering to warn Moira about curbs and broken bits of sidewalk was harder than Tom had made it look.
    Just when she was ready to call it over, she looked up—and there was the hotel.
    Her cell rang. A couple of people coming out of the restaurant attached to the hotel patted pockets and looked bewildered, so Anna thought that maybe Moira’s spell was fading.
    Anna’s hands were occupied, so Moira pulled the phone out of Anna’s jacket and silenced it. Tom had lost consciousness a little while back, and Anna worried about blood trail—but it couldn’t be helped.
    She’d figured out a plan of action on the way back. She’d call Charles and explain the situation. If she understood about pack hierarchy and Tom’s danger as a wounded dominant, certainly Charles would, too.
    â€œDoor,” she whispered to Moira, and the witch trailed her fingers from their place on her shoulder to the glass door and held it open while Anna scooted inside with her wounded burden.
    â€œWindy tonight,” someone in the lobby commented as the door shut behind them.
    By some luck there was no one in the hall by the elevators—or on their floor when it stopped. Anna had to set Tom down to find the keycard for her room. Moira stayed beside him, murmuring softly, when Anna left him there as she tore the bedding from the bed and layered it with towels to absorb the blood.
    Getting Tom up again took time they didn’t have. He was semiconscious and defensive—and Anna was anything but calm. Finally, she just hefted him up. If he bit her, she’d still have time to get him in and shut the door. He was in too rough a shape to do any real damage, not compared to the damage the vampires had done on purpose. And she found that she was willing to risk that.
    But he didn’t bite her. She got him into the room, on the bed. Moira shut the door, and they both heaved a sigh of relief. Anna’s phone rang for the second time. Moira shoved it into her bloody hands.
    It was Charles.
    â€œAnna?”
    His voice was dark and