Free Under the Alpha's Protection by Doris O'Connor

save her or die trying.
    With the silent efficiency that wolves were known for everyone fanned out to skirt the perimeter. The Alphas of their respective packs nodded to him, and teeth bared , Raoul charged.
    ****
    The battle being fought outside the ball room sounded intense, yet Draco just sat and peeled an orange as though this was an everyday occurrence for him.
    He threw her the peeled fruit , and she caught the thing without even thinking about it. For two whole days the battle had raged. Wave after wave of wolves descended upon the mansion, whilst Draco held court with an irritating air of nonchalance that turned Nikita's fragile stomach. Nothing tasted right anymore, and Draco simply grinned at her and waved the glasses of blood he was drinking under her nose.
    A part of her, that was growing by the day, a part that scared her silly, wanted nothing more than to drink that blood, but Nikita wasn't stupid. She'd received a crash course in Paranormal 101, since her kidnap ping, and once she'd recovered from the shock of knowing that every childhood monster under her bed did indeed exist, she'd made good use of the extensive library of Draco's base of operation.
    She knew her only hope of holding onto what was left of her humanity was to refuse to drink the blood. To do so would complete her transformation to full vamp, and she'd rather die a slow, painful death than turn into a monster like Draco.
    Fortunately, he hadn't tried to force himself on her again, since they'd been interrupted by the arrival of the wolves.
    The thought that Raoul might be out there right now, fighting for his life made her heart ache with unshed tears, and it took every ounce of willpower she possessed to not try to stake Draco where he sat.
    Not that it would do any good at all.
    They had been surrounded by intruding wolves when they'd been interrupted, and Nikita had watched in abject misery and horror as one by one they had been gutted by Draco's claws, their own valiant attempts at breaking his skin proving to be completely useless.
    Nikita knew why. She had stood behind the plate glass window, when it shattered all over her. Several of Draco's wolf bodyguards had been gored by the razor sharp slivers of glass, but they had simply bounced off her skin without leaving a mark. It seemed with the vamp blood came the ability to withstand injury to such a degree that normal measures would not work.
    "That's my girl." Draco's voice had shown almost paternal pride when he'd noticed, and he'd laughed out loud when he'd made a grab for her and she'd dodged him easily.
    Since then her reactions had become even faster, and it scared her senseless.
    Draco laughed again as something hard and heavy hit the double oak doors from the outside with enough force to rattle the frame.
    "Why are you doing this? What can you possibly hope to gain from this? You're outnumbered. They will win."
    Draco simply smiled and cocked his head to one side.
    "Ah, it's simple really. I've come to claim what's rightfully mine. What your lover boy and his family stole from me."
    The doors burst open , and three huge and beautiful wolves burst into the ball room. Nikita forgot to breathe completely when the largest of them locked eyes with her. Her entire body tensed, and she fought the urge to run to him and bury her hands in his fur. Raoul was breathtaking in his wolf form, and when he shifted in a blur of movement, the wolves with him shifted, too. She recognized Raoul's father straight away. An older, greyer version of his son, he was familiar and safe, even as the cold hard look he threw in her direction made her want to heave. Raoul's blue eyes, too, lacked their usual warmth, and she hastily put her hand over the telltale pinpricks in her neck that refused to heal.
    Draco's chilling drawl brought her attention back to him , and she fought his pull on her. Like a narrowing corridor her attention focused on him, and she took several steps in his direction before she even