Renegade Alpha (ALPHA 5) Read Online Free PDF

blinked. “I’m going back to Cornwall this afternoon.”
    He gave a snort. “I don’t think so.”
    “But—I have to go,” she told him desperately. “I can’t—I won’t stay in London.” Coming back here at all had been an ordeal for her, and she wasn’t going to stay any longer than she had to.
    “You will,” Lijah told her firmly.
    Callie drew in a soft gasp even as she straightened determinedly. “I don’t believe you have the right to tell me what I will or won’t do, Mr. Smith.”
    He raised dark brows. “You gave us that right when you walked through the doors of Grayson Security.”
    “No—”
    “Yes, damn it! This man not only killed your boyfriend, but he fucked up your life and your head as well. Didn’t he?” he demanded harshly.
    Callie felt the burn of fresh tears in her eyes.
    She had studied art at university, then spent another couple of years learning her craft. Her job as assistant restorer at the Hammond Gallery had been her first, and she had loved it.
    Finding herself falling in love with the owner of the gallery had made her world complete.
    She’d woken every morning looking forward to going into work, to seeing Michael and being surrounded by what she loved best: the smells, the delicacy of the work involved in helping to restore a painting to its former glory.
    After the attack, she hadn’t even been able to step over the threshold of the gallery again, let alone remain in London. She had gladly retreated to her father’s house in Cornwall and stayed there.
    Even so, she hadn’t been able to escape the monster who still haunted her dreams at night and caused her to constantly look over her shoulder for shadows following her throughout the day.
    Even this morning, on the train journey up to London, she had chosen to sit in the corner of a carriage, watching and assessing everyone who came anywhere near her.
    So yes, that bastard had not only killed Michael and their budding love, but he had also completely destroyed her life.
    “Are you really going to let him carry on doing this to you?” Lijah looked at her challengingly.
    “You don’t understand—”
    “Of course I fucking understand!” His hands were clenched at his sides, dark eyes burning like twin coals. “You think Seth and I don’t know what it’s like to be scared shitless? Of course we do. Only a fool never knows fear. But you either let that fear rule you, define you, become you, or you rise up from the ashes, stronger and more determined that no one does this to me .”
    Callie had no doubt he spoke from personal experience, and that he had emerged from his “ashes” as a man of tempered steel.
    But she wasn’t like these men. Like her father. She had never been into battle as they had, nor looked death in the face and told it to fuck off in the way they had.
    But she wanted to!
    Oh yes, she dearly wanted to.
    She was so tired of being afraid. Of constantly looking over her shoulder. Wondering if the man standing next to her in the supermarket, or in the bookshop, or sitting beside her on the train this morning, was him.
    Yes, she was tired of it. So damn tired of being scared all the time.
    It wasn’t who she had been. It wasn’t who she was. Or who she wanted to be.
    “If we’re going to help Peter, then we need you to stay in London and help us do that,” Seth cajoled.
    “If you don’t feel safe going to a hotel, then you can stay with me,” Lijah added impatiently.
    He sensed rather than saw Seth slowly turn his head to look at him, and knew the reason for the other man’s surprise. Lijah’s home was his sanctuary. He never took anyone there, friend or foe. Except the look of fear he saw in Callie’s eyes was enough to tell him that if anyone needed sanctuary, somewhere where she felt safe, then it was her.
    He didn’t look at the other man, instead gave a hard smile as he saw Callie’s expression of horror at his suggestion she stay with him. “Or you could stay with Seth, if you