Alphas daughter

Chapter 23

"We are out of food," I told Zach, flopping onto the end of his bed. "We're going to have to go shopping."

"Ok, lets go." He jumped up and I let out a sigh. I gazed at his authoritative posture - in awe for a moment. His movements appeared effortless and graceful yet surprisingly masculine and powerful. "Come on!" He called and with a groan, I hauled myself off the bed and out the room.

We drove to the pack supermarket and began scouring the isles for our food. "What is that?" I asked as Zach threw some fruit into the trolley. "No way, this is supposed to be fun." I shook my head disapprovingly.

"Isn't Lexi some weird health freak? I mean, she did eat leaves," he challenged.

I frowned. "Ok yeah, good point," I admitted and he smirked, throwing the fruit back into the trolley. "Now for the fun stuff," I cheered, barrelling down the junk food isle and grabbing handfuls of crisps and sweets and cakes.

"Don't you think we have enough?" Zach asked after I had filled the entire trolley.

"Probably." We made our way to the counter. I started loading things onto the till when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned to see a tall man directly behind me. A dark hoodie hid his face from my view, only revealing his pointed chin and scowl. "You are Alexander Reeds daughter aren't you?" He asked and I nodded cautiously. The supermarket was on pack territory and only our pack used it and worked there, yet his scent was completely unfamiliar. Something about him didn't feel right and I started to feel dizzy. "Can you give him a message please?"

"Sure." I nodded reluctantly and I could feel Zach's presence behind me.

"Tell him she's dead," he instructed and I froze.

"I-I'm sorry, who-." I started to ask but froze when he reached into his jacket pocket to pull something out. It took me a minute to see the black object and my heart stopped in my chest when I realised it was a gun.

I felt myself get dragged backwards as my eyes blurred from the tears and my heart raced in my chest. Zach stepped in front of me so the gun was aimed at him. I clawed at his back, desperately trying to get him to move when the piercing gun shot rang out and I saw blood splatter across the floor in front of Zach.

Everything happened in slow motion. I heard a blood curdling scream and shouting come from around us. Zach's body stayed firmly in front of me, blocking me from whatever scene he could see. I pushed my way around him to see the hooded man lay across the ground, blood pouring out of his chest. Another scream echoed around the room and it took me a while to realise it was mine.

"Ella, its ok." I heard a voice and Zach's arms wrapped around me. "Shh it's ok," he whispered, while cradling my head against his chest.

"I- I thought he... I thought he shot you," I sobbed into his chest. The tears streamed down my cheeks while he stroked my hair and his grip tightened.

"Sh, I'm ok," he whispered, placing a kiss on the top of my head.

I honestly didn't remember Zach paying for the food or driving me home but the next thing I knew was that I was putting the shopping away.

"Are you ok?" He asked, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed.

"Yeah." I was shaken up at what I had seen but I was ok. "Who do you think 'she' is?" I asked.

"I have no idea, I wouldn't pay much attention to anything he said." He shrugged and continued to put the food in the cupboards.

"Are you ok?" I asked, realising we had both witnessed the same scenario.