My Hockey Alpha

Nina

I was jostled awake by a bump and a swaying sensation, followed by the feeling of a searing pain shooting through my leg and the sound of a car engine. I groaned as my eyes flickered open.

“Oh! Honey, she’s awake.”

“Hold on. I’m pullin’ over. Coast clear out there?”

“Hmm… Mhm. I don’t see anything.”

As my eyes adjusted, I saw the forms of two people sitting in front of me. Judging from the long leather seat beneath me and the two seats in front, I was in the back of a car. A truck, too, I surmised from the hollow and tinny sound of the engine as it sputtered to a stop.

I groaned again. The man in the driver’s seat got out of the car while the woman in the passenger seat turned around to face me. I blinked a few times, and as her face came into focus, I saw that she was an older woman with graying brown hair and a round, soft face.

“You sure woke up quick,” she said with a smile, reaching out and squeezing my hand. Her hand was warm and soft in a motherly sort of way, and it eased some of my anxieties.

“Wh-Where…”

The door by my feet opened. I looked up to see an older man standing there. He was wearing a flannel shirt tucked into a pair of jeans, which emphasized his slight beer belly. He had a baseball cap on and had a gray mustache on his upper lip.

“Howdy, young lady,” he said with a grin. “Let me see that leg. That okay?”

I felt myself stiffen, and instinctively looked up at the woman. “It’s okay, hon’,” she said softly. “Dan’s real good at this sort of thing. Aren’t you, honey?”

“Yup. Decades huntin’ and trappin’ll do that to ya. You get real good at pickin’ out bullets so it don’t spoil the meat.” My stomach turned at the thought, but Dan only chuckled. “Don’t worry. I don’t eat human.”

He reached out and peeled back the white bandage around my leg a little bit, and I let him, although it made me wince and grit my teeth. He eyed my wound for a second before nodding to himself.

by the way. That’s my husband, Dan, although I guess I already told you his name, didn’t I? Anyway, we

and helped me sit up, and once I’d chugged an

for someone who was shot less than twelve

eyes widened. I couldn’t tell

either way,” he continued, “you’re lucky we

in. “You were nothin’ more than a hop ‘n a skip away from meeting the big old man in the sky,” she said, pointing

headrest. The pain in my leg was still unbearable, and when I searched for my wolf’s presence, it was nothing more than a flicker. She must have used up any strength she had left to help me fight off

the sun still hadn’t come up

of town,” he said. “We’re headin’ out that way where there ain’t any of them… What are we

Laura said proudly. Then, whispering: “I

but at the same time, I knew I needed to get home. I couldn’t leave town, not with

This… disease, or whatever it is, spreads like wildfire. Just before the news stations went out, I saw that all of the towns in the nearest fifty-mile radius are crawlin’ with the Prowlers. I dunno if the rest of the world even knows, if I’m bein’ honest. We’ve always been sorta remote out here, and well… You know how the folks ‘round here are. They rather take things into their own

way,” I replied. “I can tell you

nothing. There was a bit of a

she asked. “You don’t

my

point of help,” Dan said. “You were the

head again. “No.

town?” I swallowed; I hadn’t thought that far ahead.

you back to town if you really want.

I

back into the driver’s seat.

got out first, limping on my injured leg despite Laura’s protests, and grabbed my backpack out of the

sure about