Read Online A Forbidden Love by Lorelei Moone - Free Book Online Page B

before," Alison said, while turning around and smiling at Gareth. "Good to see you've got the situation under control."
    "Right." Gareth stared at her in silence for what felt like forever, but then turned to face one of the other former prisoners, inspecting the bandage on his leg. "I think we should get Bob, here, to a doctor as soon as possible."
    "Can I have a look?" Alison asked. She'd had some first aid training, so it was only natural to ask.
    Gareth stepped aside and waved her over. "What do you think?"
    Alison's mind was still racing. If she could stall everyone in here until Aidan's backup arrived, perhaps she’d have a fighting chance of defusing the situation without endangering Jamie and the others.
    "This might hurt," Alison whispered, as she carefully pulled away the cotton gauze covering some of the man's wounds. His leg was in a bad state, though there was no sign of infection so far and it was starting to heal a little.
    "I don't think he should walk," Alison concluded, while making more of a show of inspecting his leg than strictly necessary. He probably could walk without any issue, but it was all she could think of to buy some time.
    "Do you think you can use some of those blankets to make a stretcher of some sort?" Alison asked Gareth, who looked at their father for confirmation.
    "Really? Can't we just prop him up and let him limp out of here?" Gareth argued.
    "He's not bleeding right now, but if it starts we'll have no way of stopping it and he could be in real danger," Alison lied.
    "She's right, better safe than sorry," their dad chimed in.
    It hurt. He was supporting her in front of Gareth, yet here she was fighting for the other team. Then again, they wouldn't hesitate to kill Jamie if they knew about their affair. And for what? For being a different species?
    Alison had to wonder if other than for reasons of vengeance, shifters had ever actually attacked and harmed humans. More often than not it had been the Sons who struck first.
    She bitterly remembered the origin story of the Sons that her dad had told her when she was little, about a bear who abducted a human woman to be his bride many centuries ago. The story of Eileen and Bhaltair. The rescue team sent in by the woman's father, Lord Domnall, were the first of what was to become a long line of shifter hunters. But that was just myth, surely?
    Since then, had shifters actually done anything wrong? Most of them seemed to live their lives in secret, separate from human society to prevent anyone from knowing the truth about them... Torches and pitchforks were never too far away when shifters revealed themselves as
different
, as Jamie had rightly remarked.
    Alison was certain she was now on the right side of this fight, but she didn't want these Sons dead either. She'd grown up with some of them. She observed Gareth and his men fold and arrange the blanket, tearing strips to secure to bits of wood scavenged from what had been a bed frame only moments before. It took them a while, but in the end, they had a makeshift stretcher.
    Now what?
Alison had started to panic over finding another reason to keep everyone in here when the door finally flung open with a loud crash. The figures that entered didn't belong to the other guards outside. They weren't even human. Aidan's backup had arrived!

Chapter Nine
    The change in the air had been gradual.
    Jamie sat with Heidi and Kyle in a row on the bed, staring at the locked door. If they shifted, it would be no match for the three of them. They could easily break through, but they'd still have to take care of the dozen armed fanatics on the other side. It would be a suicide mission.
    While he sat and tried to come up with some sort of a plan to keep his team – and mostly Alison – from any fallout from today's cluster-fuck, what had seemed like a hopeless situation started to change. He felt the change, a presence. It was faint at first but then the sensation grew until he could identify it: Alison.
    She