When My Alpha Finds I didn't Kill His Father - Chapter 14

---- Chapter 14 - Assault in the Alley Dawn crept slow and gray over Greenridge, casting a tired hush over the city's outer district. Joseph stood in the technomancer's wreckage- smoldering beams, melted glass, and the sickening scent of ash. One apprentice had survived, coughing soot in the alley behind the building. "She uploaded the data before it went up," the girl rasped, pressing a shard of scorched metal into his hand. "Said to guard the cloud key with our lives." Joseph nodded grimly. "You did good. Get her to a healer." He opened the melted casing.

Inside, a tiny crystal drive blinked red. Alive. He slipped it into his pocket. Meanwhile, Stella walked alone through the old ---- bakery district. Joseph had posted guards outside her room, but she'd needed air. Her shift at the temporary bakery had been quiet, but her name still lingered on the lips of strangers like a bad taste. She passed between two buildings-then froze. Three men stepped into her path. Unfamiliar. But their body language was all too recognizable. One smiled. "Pretty little ex-con.

Got quite a bounty on your head." "| don't want trouble." "Too late," another said, pulling a blade. Stella ran. But the alley was narrow, exits blocked. One grabbed her arm. She fought-hard. Elbowed, kicked, bit-but they were too many. "Hold her down. Face first-Rebecca said scars won't matter." ---- Suddenly, a growl echoed from the alley mouth. Bronze fur streaked through the shadows. Joseph. He hit the first attacker mid-leap, teeth bared, claws flashing. The man crashed into a wall with a sickening crack. The others turned, but they never stood a chance.

Joseph tore through them like a storm-fur bristling, eyes glowing gold. Rebecca watched from the backseat of a black car parked across the street, her expression pale. One of the guards leaned toward her. "Ma'am?" She didn't answer. She simply watched Joseph drop his final attacker to the ground-then shift back, panting, blood running down his arm. Stella lay crumpled near a dumpster, lip split, head ---- bleeding. Joseph ran to her, pulled off his shirt, and pressed it to her scalp. "Stay with me. Look at me." She blinked. "You found me..." "| always will." She winced. "They said...

Rebecca-" "| know." Sirens screamed in the distance. "You're safe now," Joseph said. "I swear." Her hand found his shirt. "Don't let go." "| won't." Her eyes fluttered. Then darkness took her. At the hospital, Joseph paced outside the emergency wing, shirtless, smeared in blood. ---- The healer emerged. "She'll live. Head trauma. Lacerations. Some stitches. You got there just in time." Joseph let out a slow breath, every muscle shaking. Then the assistant from the tech lab ran into the lobby. "We recovered it." Joseph's heart surged. "You're sure?" "Yes. The cloud upload finished.