bullet came whizzing past Aric's ear. The bastard was aiming for the head…and if Aric had been a beta, he would've been a goner.
But the sniper had made one crucial mistake: he was accustomed to gauging his shots to a beta's movements. And a beta in motion was a hell of a lot different from an alpha on the move, especially an alpha in a hurry.
Hunting alphas—especially from a distance and through dense foliage—was a skill the mob hitman had clearly never developed.
The beta squeezed off two more shots before apparently coming to the same conclusion. And being too smart to keep doing the same thing and hoping for different results, he decided to cut his losses.
Just as before, Aric heard the rifle being disassembled and the ATV roaring to life. Seconds later, the vehicle was tearing through the woods.
But this wasn't exactly like last time.
The cocky beta had made too many mistakes, wasting too much time taking shots, letting Aric advance too far. And he also clearly had underestimated how deadly alphas could be when they hunted in packs. Once they focused on their target, there was little chance of escape.
Even with the benefit of the ATV and all its horsepower, there was nowhere for the bastard to go. Fifty yards ahead was a rocky ridge overlooking a deadly drop. With alphas on all other sides, he was trapped.
The beta was no coward, Aric had to give him that. He went down in a blaze of defiance, never taking his foot off the gas pedal as he aimed straight for Samson, apparently planning to ram the massive alpha.
Of course, it didn't work.
Samson easily dodged the ATV, yanking the sniper out of his seat as he flew past and slamming him to the ground, leaving the ATV to crash into a tree. The impact shattered the beta's hipbone, the white shards piercing the fabric of his pants while he screamed, unable to move.
"Saved him for you," Samson said as Aric skidded to a stop next to him.
Aric nodded his gratitude, knowing he wouldn't be satisfied by anything less than spilling this man's blood himself. He placed his boot in the center of the broken man's chest. At least the bastard had the dignity not to snivel or beg, every bit the professional that Jo described.
"Do you know what happens to someone who trespasses on an alpha's property and threatens his mate?" Aric demanded in a deadly quiet voice.
The beta regarded him with loathing, his eyes hardening as he prepared for what was to come. As a man who made his living in death, he obviously had no illusions that he would survive this.
Keeping his boot firmly planted on his chest, Aric bent and grabbed the beta's head in both his hands.
"This," he roared, then twisted savagely. With a sickening wet snap, the beta's head separated from his neck.
Jocelyn had only been pretending to pay attention to the other women's conversation when the front door finally opened.
"Aric!" she yelped, leaping up from the sofa and running toward him. Then she caught sight of the blood soaking him from head to toe and stopped short, her hands flying over her mouth. "Oh God, what happened?"
"It's not my blood," Aric told her wearily. "It's his. I told you that I would end this, and I have."
Jocelyn gasped, barely able to absorb the truth. A part of her hadn't been able to believe that anything could get the better of John—but he was really dead. Her nightmare was over.
But the elation she felt was only partly because she would no longer live in fear of her old boss. To Jocelyn's surprise, her relief paled next to her pure joy that Aric was all right.
"So, John is…" she had a hard time even saying the word, not nearly as accustomed to violence as the others.
"Dead." Aric nodded in the direction of the porch. "His head's out there if you want proof."
Jocelyn shuddered in horror. She definitely did not need to see that. "Why on earth did you bring it back with you?"
"I figure I'll put it in a jar with some whiskey to preserve it," Aric said, going to the sink to wash off his hands. "Then I'll send it along with all of your evidence to the beta authorities. That way, they'll know what happens when an alpha has to do their job for them. If they're smart, they'll start working their way down that list of names before more jars start showing up