70. Athos

70. Athos
I could feel her shaking in my arms, her hands clutching at my sides as we stood in the middle, surrounded by a group of geared-up humans. Fuck. I hadn't thought that this was going to go this far, that this petty human could be tailing me all the way out here, and with an army at his side nonetheless.
My beast rumbled from within, brimming with wrath. I forced him to stand down. I had counted thirty-two so far, and they were all armed. I was fast, but not faster than a bullet. I couldn't risk having her caught in the crossfire.
I chose to cooperate — for the moment. I needed to find out what they wanted first. They wouldn't have bothered letting me live otherwise. And I needed to find a better opportunity to strike them down, without her so close to me, and so defenceless.
I took two steps backwards and away from her, hands raised at my sides in a surrendering manner. My beast immediately grew anxious, not fond of us leaving her side, unprotected. I casually noticed her averting her eyes from my peripheral vision, evidently trying not to have an accidental peek. Busboy, on the other hand didn't seem to have any problems staring at me. If anything, his head even tilted to the side, appearing to study it as if it were some oddity of nature. I cleared out my throat, forcing him to snap out of that trance and meet my eyes.
"Let the girl go at least. She doesn't know anything," I suggested, keeping my tone level. I couldn't let them catch wind of my connection to her. As far as they knew, she was just a random human girl I had picked up in the club and brought here to fuck. Nothing more, and nothing less.
Busboy's brow rose with curiosity at the sound of that. "Oh? You mean that she didn't see you turn?" he asked, half-amused. Shit. I could tell he wasn't buying it, but I still kept trying.
"No," I answered calmly.
He let out a chuckle, as if my answer was amusing him. "Then why are you standing bare-assed in front of all of us right now?" he raised his hands for emphasis, and all of the underdeveloped apes surrounding us started to laugh. Yeah, laugh while you still can, you little shits.
"We were about to fuck. And I like doing it surrounded by nature," I answered crudely with a smirk. I didn't miss the way Calla's heartbeat spiked at the sound of my words. I didn't dare glance at her. I kept my gaze trained on Busboy, watching his features contort with irritation, even a hint of jealousy for the briefest moment. My beast bristled. He masked it quickly with another malicious look thrown my way.
"And you also took off your shoes and socks for that?" he pointed with his gun at my bare feet. I shrugged, maintaining my nonchalant attitude. I was feeling anything but. I wanted to crack this asshole's skull open. I yearned to tear into them all, for daring to scare Calla, for aiming their stupid guns at her.
"Nice try," he said with an unimpressed look. I scowled. I wondered if Dima was alright. I'd heard their bullets hitting the car multiple times. I strained my ears, hearing his pounding heartbeat from inside the car. I could sense a faint scent of blood wafting in the air, and I immediately realized that he must've been hit by their silver bullets. Fuck. I could try to reach my phone. Maybe I could alert Leo that we've been compromised, that is if Dima hadn't done it already.
"Can I at least have my clothes?" I asked the human male flatly, heaving a sigh. It was obvious that he was the leader of the group. Which made him the first I was going to kill. He gave me another once-over. Then he signalled one of his soldier boys to go and fetch my clothes from the grass. I watched the nameless male in question pick up my pants, only to turn them upside down and shake them a little. The phone fell from my pocket, dropping into the grass with a small thump. The male gave me a sneer, right before he grabbed his gun and unloaded a few bullets into the small device. The sharp and deafening sounds made Calla squeal with fright, and my beast reacted instantly. We were coiled like a spring, ready to snap and take all of these bastards down with a few quick swipes of our claws. I knew better, though. I knew that I needed to be smart about this. I couldn't risk it. I wasn't going to take a single chance. They were too many, for me to be able to take care of them all so fast. They could still manage to hurt Calla in the process, and the thought gave me pause. It stilled my hand, enough to allow me to take a deep breath and regain my level-headedness.
"Here. Cover that nasty shit up," the soldier boy picked up my underwear using the barrel of his shotgun before throwing them at me. They landed on the grass, just a few steps away from me, and I walked the rest of the way and picked them up. I did not fail to notice that he took a few quick steps back in return, aiming his gun at me again. They were all afraid of me. I could sense their acrid stench in the air.
I put my underwear on, and their leader, a.k.a the busboy used that sole moment of distraction to approach Calla. I whirled around with a growl, unable to contain my wrath as I watched him put his filthy hand on her.
"Did he hurt you anywhere, sweetheart?" he whispered in her ear while hiding behind her like the coward he was, tucking a few strands away from her shoulder.
"Don't touch me!" she screamed with a jerk, and I thanked the Goddess as her long hair flew back over her shoulder with the motion, covering Leo's mating mark before anyone noticed it. It was bad enough that I had hinted at a mild interest in her. The last thing I needed was to have them think that she was my mate.
"Oh, but you were fine with Wolfy-man here touching you, huh?" he taunted in reply with a sneer, taking a hold of her arm. My blood was boiling in my veins at the sight of that.
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter what you really are, when you look like that," he motioned his gun up and down at my figure, "And have one of those," he pointed at my now covered cock, his tone derisive. The apes around us chuckled again.
At that, I raised a brow. "Jealous much?"
"On a creature that howls at the moon and pees on trees? Oh, I could never," he answered with a cynical laugh, backed again by his goons. I only threw him a withering look in return, choosing not to spur him on any further. Not when he was so close to Calla, and there were so many guns pointed at me. I needed to remain compliant enough for them not to try to take it out on her, or knock me out.
"Sir? What do we do with the other one?" A male asked from somewhere behind me, and I tensed, realizing that he was talking about Dima.
I stared at Busboy's sneering face.
"Kill him. We don't need him. We will only take the Alpha and the girl," he instructed, barely able to hide that stupid grin that was threatening to form on his features. Fuck.
"No!" Calla screamed with desperation, tears starting to stream down her cheeks as she fought and thrashed in his unyielding grip.
I snarled, my eyes flashing. "You will regret this, Busboy."