The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate Chapter 142

Athena

But I couldn't shift. Not with these men here. They didn't know about the baby, and if I shifted, they'd see how protective my wolf was of my stomach.

They'd figure it out.

And what if I lose control again, I can't. I'll have to hold on till help comes.

I pushed my wolf down, fighting the urge to let her free.

Not yet. Not unless there was no other choice.

The men attacked again, all at once this time.

Sarah took on two, her movements still fluid despite her injuries. She was amazing to watch, even now. Every strike had purpose, every block was precise.

I faced the other two, trying to keep them both in my line of sight while protecting my stomach.

One of them swung at me and I ducked, but the other caught me from the side. His fist connected with my ribs and pain exploded through my torso.

I gasped and stumbled, and he pressed his advantage. Another hit to my side, careful to keep me turned so he could strike at my ribs and back.

I managed to slash at him with my knife, catching his arm, but he barely seemed to notice.

My wolf was howling inside me now, desperate to come out. The urge to shift was almost overwhelming.

Just shift. I heard Claire say.

Let me out. Let me protect us. Protect our pup.

No, I told her firmly. Not yet.

But it was getting harder to resist. The adrenaline, the fear, the need to protect the baby, it was all combining to make my control slip.

I could feel the shift starting, feel my bones beginning to change.

No, I thought desperately. Not now. Not like this.

Across the room, Sarah cried out. One of the men had gotten past her defenses and grabbed her hair, yanking her head back.

"Sarah!" I screamed.

I tried to go to her but the two men I was fighting blocked my path.

The shift was coming whether I wanted it or not. My body was responding to the threat, to the desperate need to protect.

My vision started to change, sharpening. My hearing became more acute. My fingers began to lengthen into claws.

This was it. I couldn't hold it back anymore.

I was about to shift fully when suddenly the front door burst open with a crash that made everyone freeze.

"Get away from them!"

I turned, my partially shifted body shaking with the effort of controlling the transformation.

Kiara stood in the doorway, her eyes blazing with fury. Behind her were Leah and three other women I recognized from the training center.

How did they know to get here? Tristan.

Even though he wasn't around, he still found a way to help out.

God, I love him.

"Who the hell are you?" the first man demanded, releasing Sarah's hair.

"Someone who's about to ruin your whole night," Kiara said, and then she and the others rushed into the room.

The relief that flooded through me was so intense that I lost my grip on the shift completely. I felt my body starting to change fully.

No, I thought desperately, using every ounce of willpower I had left to pull the wolf back.

Slowly, painfully, I forced the shift to reverse. My claws retracted, my vision returned to normal, my bones settled back into their human form.

I was shaking and sweating from the effort, but I'd done it. I hadn't fully shifted.

The baby was still secret.

What happened next was chaos.

Kiara moved like a force of nature, taking on the first man with a ferocity that was terrifying. She had no weapons but she didn't need them. Her fists and feet were weapons enough.

She landed a kick to his chest that sent him flying backward into the wall. Before he could recover, she was on him, raining down punches with brutal efficiency.

Leah went for the man I'd shot in the leg, and despite his injury, he was fighting back hard. But Leah was relentless, ducking under his swings and landing her own strikes to his injured leg, making him howl with pain.

The two other women split up. One went to help Sarah, who looked relieved to have backup. Together they took on the two men she'd been fighting.

The other woman, with short dark hair, appeared at my side. "You okay?" she asked, taking in my disheveled appearance and the way I was still shaking.

"I've been better," I managed to say.

"Can you still fight?" she asked.

I nodded, though I wasn't sure if it was true, my body felt like it had been put through a grinder. The partial shift had taken a toll, and I was exhausted.

But I picked up my knife from where I'd dropped it and stood beside her.

Together we engaged the man who'd been punching my ribs. With two of us, the fight was more manageable.

I could see Sarah across the room, back on her feet and fighting with renewed energy now that she had help.

She and the blonde woman fighting beside her were driving one of the men back toward the kitchen.

"Where did you come from?" I managed to ask between strikes.

"Tristan called Leah who then called us," the dark-haired woman said, blocking a punch and countering with one of her own. "Said you might need help. And he couldn't be here, that we should keep guys safe."

I felt a surge of love and gratitude so strong it almost brought tears to my eyes.

I knew it was him, knew it had to be him. I also knew Orion was involved too, I must have been a collective decision.

The fight continued and slowly, gradually, we started winning. With the extra numbers on our side, the tide had turned decisively.

Kiara had the first man on the ground now, her knee on his back as she twisted his arm at a painful angle that made him scream.

"Stay down," she growled, "or I break it."

He stayed down.

Leah and her opponent were still fighting, but he was clearly losing. The bullet wound in his leg and Leah's relentless attacks had worn him down. Within another minute, she had him on the ground too.

Sarah and the blonde woman had subdued their opponent, and the dark-haired woman and I finally got the upper hand on ours.

I slashed at his legs, making him stumble, and she used that opportunity to land a devastating punch to his jaw that knocked him out cold.

He dropped like a stone.

Within minutes, all four intruders were on the ground, beaten and restrained.

I stood there panting, my whole body shaking with adrenaline and exhaustion and the aftermath of that almost-shift.

My hand went to my stomach instinctively, checking, making sure.

The baby was okay. We were okay.

"Mommy, Aunt Athena?" A small voice came from the hallway.

My heart stopped and I immediately dropped my hand from my stomach.

Lily stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes, Liam behind her looking confused and scared.

"Hey, sweetie," Sarah said immediately, her voice gentle despite the blood on her arm and face. "It's okay. Everything's okay."

She moved toward her children, her maternal instincts overriding everything else. I saw her wince as she walked and knew she was more hurt than she was letting on.

But she put on a brave face for the kids.

"What happened?" Lily asked, her eyes taking in the scene. The overturned furniture, the men on the ground, all of us standing there breathing hard and bleeding.

"Just some bad people trying to cause trouble," I said, going over to them. My throat was killing me and I knew my voice sounded rough. "But they're not going to hurt anyone."

I picked up Liam, carefully keeping my movements controlled so no one would notice how protective I was of my stomach.

He wrapped his little arms around my neck and I held him close, breathing in his innocence.

"Are you okay, Aunt Athena?" Lily asked, her voice small. "You have a red mark on your neck."

I touched my throat where the man had choked me. It was probably already bruising badly. "I'm fine, baby. I promise."

Kiara came over to us, and I noticed she moved with a slight limp now. She'd taken some hits during the fight too.

"We need to get you all out of here," she said, her voice urgent. "It's not safe. If they sent four, they might send more."

"Where can we go?" Sarah asked, settling Lily on her hip.

"My place," Kiara said. "It's protected. They won't be able to find you there."

Just then, there was a knock at the broken kitchen door. We all tensed, ready to fight again.

But a voice called out, "We're here to help. Lucas sent us."

Three pack guards entered through the kitchen, their eyes taking in the scene with professional assessment.

"We got a call about an attack," the lead guard said. He was a tall man named Thomas who I'd seen around the pack house. "Looks like you handled it."

"Barely," Kiara said. "And we need to get them somewhere safe. I'm taking them to my place."

Thomas nodded. "We'll escort you. And we'll take these," he gestured to the men on the ground, "into custody."

"Good," Kiara said. Then she turned to us. "Gather what you need quickly. We leave in five minutes."

Sarah and I moved fast, despite our injuries. We grabbed the kids clothes Serah had brought when coming, our phones, the weapons. I made sure to retrieve the gun and all the knives.

My hands were still shaking as I packed, the adrenaline still coursing through my system.

I caught Sarah watching me with concern. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked quietly.

"I'm sure," I said, even though everything hurt and I felt like I might collapse at any moment.

"And...?"" I nodded my head.

"It's fine. It's okay." She didn't look convinced but she didn't push.

I pulled out my phone and texted Tristan with trembling fingers.

"Someone attacked us at the house. Four men. We fought them off with help from Leah and some friends. We're all safe but we're leaving. Going to Kiara's place, it's the safest place for us now. Please call me when you can. I love you."

I hit send and then texted the same message to Orion, just in case Tristan couldn't get his phone.

Sarah did the same from beside me, her fingers moving quickly over her phone screen.

"Ready?" Kiara called from the living room.

"Ready," we both said.

We gathered the kids, who were more awake now and looking scared and confused. I held Liam while Sarah carried Lily.

The three pack guards took the four unconscious attackers, hauling them out to a van parked in the driveway.

The rest of us loaded into two cars. Sarah and the kids went with Kiara and Leah, while I rode with the dark-haired woman, whose name I learned was Cara, and the blonde woman, whose name was Maya.

The three pack guards followed behind us in their van with the prisoners.

"Thank you," I said to Cara and Maya as we drove. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."

"You would have kept fighting," Cara said matter-of-factly. "You were doing pretty well on your own."

"We were losing," I said honestly. "We were tired and outnumbered."

"But you were still standing," Maya said from the back seat. "That counts for something."

I leaned my head back against the seat, exhaustion washing over me now that the adrenaline was fading.

My body ached everywhere, my throat felt like someone had tried to crush it. My ribs were screaming with every breath. My shoulder throbbed where I'd been hit.

But my stomach was okay. The baby was safe.

That was all that mattered.

I placed my hand over my stomach briefly, then forced myself to drop it in case the others noticed.