Katie hoped that Rick was smarter than to cause a scene in front of all these people. All she had to do was dodge him for four more minutes until their time was up. Getting him to the floor would need physical contact, and touching Rick was not on her to do list for today.

Alpha Zach hated how Rick's mischievous eyes were ogling Kat like a predator does his prey. Kat was no one's prey and Zach would be damned if he let Rick touch her again.

"Come on now, Katherine, don't play hard to get." Rick said once Katie dodged him again. Suddenly stepping to the left, Rick pretended he was about to attack only to get Katie to move quickly to the right, and once she did he grabbed her arm and spun her around like she did to him at the party. "Just like that."

Katie felt Rick's breath on her neck as he spoke and tried to wiggle her arm free, but he twisted it further. One more attempt and her arm might break. So he wanted revenge, it seemed.

Zach pushed himself to his feet in an instant, all his senses aware and alert. Hearing nothing but the loud rythm of his own heart, Zach was stopped by Nick. "Alpha," Nick hissed, "you have to stay calm."

"Either let go of me or end this fight, Rick." Katie demanded when she felt Rick smelling her neck for a few more seconds than appropriate. She hated how she had no control of this situation, but what truly worried her the most was her Alpha.

"Always in such a hurry, Katherine." Rick pushed his head closer to the skin of Katie's neck, his breath sending a nauseating shiver down her spine. "I wanted you then and I want you now even more. But not before I make you submit." Rick's words made Katie's stomach turn and before she could utter a single word she felt his teeth on her neck, sending her a wave of paralyzing fear like she had never felt before. Rick was going to bite her, in a way only her mate was allowed to. He was going to take from Katie something that wasn't his to take.

Yet before Katie could feel his teeth pierce through her skin, Rick was shoved away from her with so much force that she heard bones breaking. Snapping her head around, Katie saw Alpha Zach pinning Rick to the ground and punching him repeatedly, just like a monster whose leash had finally been loosened.

"Alpha!" Nick called as he ran to Zach, but didn't dare touch him. No one would ever dare touch him when he was in such a fit of rage. "Alpha, stop! He's out, just stop." He yelled but Alpha Zach was not listening.

The image of Rick's teeth on Kat's neck blinded him as it kept replaying in his mind. How dare he bite the Alpha's mate? How dare he try to steal such a precious gift from his Kat? Zack had never felt such fury as he did now and throwing a punch after another did little to ease it.

"Alpha!" Nick shouted once more, his voice louder than the crowd that had gathered. Katie looked around, watching as members of her pack whispered in fear around Alpha Zach, wondering what was happening and why was he killing one of their own, and she finally broke out of her shocked state.

"Oh, my god." Katie ran to the Alpha's side, getting a glimpse of Rick's bloody face passed out on the ground. Her whole body shook in fear, from what Rick was just about to do and from what Alpha Zach was now doing.

"Katie, don't get any closer!" Jared yelled through the crowd, afraid his best friend might get hurt, but Katie knew her Alpha would never hurt her. Not even if his own life depended on it.

Ignoring Jared and Nick's shouting, Katie stepped even closer to Alpha Zach. "Alpha, stop, you're killing him."

Zach could hear people shouting for him to stop, to let Rick go, but he wasn't going to. Not until he made sure he never touched another female without her consent again.

"Katie," Megan pushed her way through the crowd and ran to Katie, stopping only a few feet behind her. Katie was shocked and her mind was unable to find a solution, Megan saw that clearly. "Do something. He's going to kill him if you don't stop him! No one else can but you."

Looking back at her Alpha, Katie felt her stomach knot at the sight of him so angry and hurt, as if something precious was just taken from him and he didn't know what to do. Katie suddenly realized what he was thinking. "Zach, stop! He didn't bite me! I'm okay."

Hearing Kat call his name finally awakened Zach's senses once again, stopping another punch that was on its way to Rick's face. Snapping his head toward her, Zach blinked, his eyes scanning her head to toe.

"I'm okay." Katie blinked, her eyes tearing at the sight before her. "I'm okay." She repeated multiple times as Zach finally let go of Rick and stood up, his eyes never leaving hers, his knuckles dropping blood on the floor.

"Paramedics, now!" Nick yelled as he rushed to Rick, and Katie stood still as Zach made his way to her.

"I'm okay. Come with me." Grabbing his bloodied hand in hers, Kat pulled Zach away from the wary eyes of everyone around.

Zach's hand tightened around Kat's, his mind yet to register what had happened. She was okay, that was the only thing he cared about. Ignoring everyone's stares and whispers, Zach let Katie lead him into the woods, far from the chaos they left behind.

Katie stopped once they were far enough and looked at Zach, his blue eyes were a little lighter than a minute before, but still far away. She knew he still needed assurance, still needed to calm down. "It's okay."

Zach frowned at the tears in Kat's eyes and he could tell that he scared her. He acted like the monster everyone knew him to be and he know she must be afraid of him. "Show me your neck. He bit you." Zach's voice was small yet so deep and still laced with anger. His wolf wanted to be let out and murder Rick already.

"He didn't. He was about to, but he didn't." Moving her head to the side, Katie showed him her perfectly intact skin. Letting out another roar, Zach felt his anger subside, but not completely. The rage and fear he had suddenly felt when he saw Rick's mouth on Kat's neck was something he had never dealt with before. He had lost control at the sight.

Katie's heart was beating as rapidly as she was shaking. Rick was just about to bite her and she didn't know what she would've done hadn't it been for Zach's interference.

"Calm down, Zach, please. You saved me. You protected me."

Zach's eyes met with hers and he felt terrible for the fear he saw in them. "You're scared."

Katie nodded, her tears about to fall. "I am." Rick had been an asshole before, but she handled him. This time he took her by surprise when he was about to slip her from something so precious, something that she had been saving for eighteen years.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it." Zach shook his head, loathing himself for ruining the progress he had achieved with Kat. Yet he knew perfectly well that if the situation was to repeat itself he would do exactly the same. No one who dared to touch her would walk away, Zach decided. "I won't let anyone touch you, Kat, not without your consent. Even if that makes me a monster. Go ahead and despise me for it, but I still can't change that and I won't try."

Katie frowned at Zach's words, despite the beat her heart skipped. He thought she was afraid of him. He thought that the side of him she had just witnessed would make her run for the hills. She had run from him before, more than once, but never because of that. He had just saved her from years of trauma and therapy and self loathing. Yes, he had been out of control, but she understood why. The precious part of her that Rick was about to steal was supposed to be Zach's. "I'm not scared of you, Zach. I don't want you to change."

The Alpha's heart jumped in his chest at Kat's words. She wasn't blaming him for what had happened, nor was she repulsed by it. His eyes softened at the tears that had fell from her big beautiful eyes. "Then why are you crying, Kat?"

"I'm just..." She shook her head, unable to explain. If she told him how scared Rick had made her, how going through what she just had had shaken her very core, Zach might go finish him already.

Only Zach seemed to read her eyes better than she thought possible. "He scared you. He's why you're crying; you're afraid of him." Just like that, Zach was again filled with hot rage. "I'm gonna kill him."

Katie's mind didn't know how to stop Zach's fury as badly as her own fear, yet her heart did. Doing the one thing her heart told her to, Kat stepped closer to Zach and wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing herself on her toes and hiding her face in the crook of his neck. And when she breathed in his scent, she felt her fear and agony slowly begin to fade away in his embrace. "Yes, you're the Alpha, but you'd still get in trouble, so don't."

Zach's eyes widened as he felt Katie hold on to his figure as hard as she could. She was afraid and shaken and she was seeking safety and comfort in his arms. Just as if he had won the goddamn lottery, Zach never felt happier. Better, he had never felt like a man as much as he did when he wrapped his arms around her slim waist and pulled her even closer to his chest. "Don't be afraid, kat. I'll always protect you, I promise."

Breathing rapidly, Katie felt a blush colour her cheeks and warmth fill her heart. Being in Zach's arms was a new level of happy, a new level of safe, that she had never felt before. He had done nothing but wrap his arms around her and she felt like she was the safest woman on the planet, because she knew her alpha would rather die than let anyone touch her again.

Slowly letting go of him, Kat couldn't help the shy smile she had on, as she admitted, "I'm not scared anymore."

Zach instantly grinned. "And I'm not angry anymore."

She giggled at him, her heart finally light again. "Well, what are we going to do about that mess back there? What are we going to tell everyone? They saw how you reacted and they saw how I pulled you away. We have to think of something to say, because we can't just say that we're mates, Zach. We're not mates, and it's too late now to explain." She was right. What had just happened between them was unexplainable. Even they couldn't understand the logic behind what they both were feeling. But honestly, the Alpha couldn't give a shit.

"Keep calling me Zach and we'll see about that." Smirking at her, the Alpha flirted shamelessly.

Katie couldn't help but laugh at his comment. She knew he hated it when she called him Alpha. She knew what it meant for him, what it indicated. But she couldn't deny that right now he wasn't the Alpha, he was simply Zach. "It honestly depends on your behavior." She shrugged playfully.

"My behavior?" Zach's eyebrows shot up as he asked, his smile wide. "So if you're happy with me I'm Zach and if you're mad at me I'm Alpha. I get it now. Well, if almost killing that asshole is what it takes for you to be happy with me, then I'll gladly do it daily. More than once a day too if required."

Hearing how much he wanted her to be happy with him made Katie's heart, along with her wolf, jump with a new kind of joy they had yet to learn. "That's not why I'm happy with you and you know it."

"Happy with me is the only part I care about, love." Once again, Zach showed Kat how sweet of a talker he could be. Her heart was going to stop at the fact that being happy with him made him this content and satisfied, as if it was now his life mission to be on good terms with her.

Taking a deep breath to stop her heart from jumping out of her chest for good, Kat felt her face warm and she knew she was blushing insanely, but she decided to focus on the matter at hand. Clearing her throat, Katie said, "but I'm serious. What are we going to tell everyone? People talk."

"Let them talk, then." Zach shrugged with a slight frown between his brows. "I don't give a fuck about what they might say. No one touches you, that's all they need to know."

"Yes, but why? They will demand an answer, if not from you then from me. They might even ask my friends. Why did you get that mad? Why didn't you calm down until I stepped in? Why did I call you Zach in front of everyone and not Alpha?" Katie asked the questions she knew would be thrown her way once she got back.

Because you're mine as I am yours, Zach thought. Because you're my friend, my mate and my luna, he wanted to say, but he knew it was too late now. Letting out a sigh, Zach asked, "What do you want to tell them, Katherine?"

Katie froze at the name he called her and her face fell. "Don't call me that." Unpleasant memories rushed her way in an instant. "I hate it when you call me that."

Zach's eyes softened when he remembered the only time he had ever called her Katherine was right after saying the three words he would forever regret. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Katie shook the memory out of her head. Taking a deep breath, she felt exhaustion hit her. "Let's get back now and we'll figure out what to tell them later. I'm in desperate need of a hot shower."

Trying not to think about her naked and showering, Zach nodded his head and followed her silently back to the tents.