Oops Wrong Girl to Bully (Angelina) by Xena Kessler novel Chapter 1

Angelina’s POV

The Pacific sun hit my wine glass just right, turning the Cabernet the color of fresh blood. I leaned back against the yacht’s railing, letting the ocean breeze pull at my hair.

“Alpha.” My head of security’s voice crackled through the earpiece. “Perimeter clear. Ten miles out, nothing but open water.”

“Copy that.”

Five years. That’s how long it took to conquer forty-nine packs and unite them under Riverbend’s banner. Some called me ruthless. Others called me a visionary.

I thought, watching a seagull dive for fish.

“Zzzzt—zzzzzt—”

The communications array died with a screech.

Then nothing. Dead air.

My hand went to the gun at my hip before I’d even processed the thought.

But too late.

“BOOM!”

The yacht shuddered.

My Pack link started to fuzz out. Static where there should’ve been voices. Interference where there should’ve been clarity.

EMP, I realized. They hit us with an electromagnetic pulse.

Which meant someone had just fried every electronic system on board. The monitoring equipment, the weapons systems, the communications—all of it. Gone.

But killing the Pack link? That took serious magic. The kind of magic that cost a fortune and left a trail of bodies.

Blackout, I thought. They actually grew a pair.

“BANG! BANG! BANG!”

Gunfire erupted from the lower decks. Screams. Snarls. The wet sound of something tearing.

I didn’t hesitate. Grabbed the railing and vaulted over, dropping three levels to land in a crouch on the main deck.

Five of my guards were already down. Bullets through the heart, every single one.

Eight figures in black tactical gear stood over the bodies, weapons trained on the doorways where my remaining guards would be pouring out any second. Human scent, laced with gun oil and something else—wolfsbane, probably. The spray kind that burned like acid.

One of them turned to face me, and I felt my lips pull back in something that wasn’t quite a smile.

“Drake.” I let his name roll off my tongue like a curse. “Didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to come yourself.”

He lowered his rifle just enough to meet my eyes. Tall, scarred, the kind of face that had seen too much violence and decided it liked the view. Former special forces turned mercenary turned hunter. I’d heard the stories.

“Angelina.” His voice was gravel and smoke. “Blackout’s offering fifty million for your head. The Order kicked in another ten. Sixty million total.” He tilted his head. “That’s enough to keep my family comfortable for generations.”

“If you live to collect it.”

“There’s the catch, isn’t it?” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “So let’s make this quick.”

The air itself seemed to press down as my Alpha presence flooded out. All eight hunters took a step back. Couldn’t help it.

“Open fire!”

Bullets tore through the air where I’d been standing.

Silver rounds punched through the deck, ripped through railings, shattered windows.

But I was already moving, too fast for their eyes to track. A bullet grazed my shoulder. Another tore through my jacket.

The shift hit like a freight train. Bones cracking, reshaping, my entire skeleton rearranging itself in the space of three seconds.

The hunters’ faces went white.

Drake managed to lift his rifle. “Sh—”

I was on him before he could finish the word.

Sixty seconds. That’s all it took.

The first hunter’s throat opened under my claws, arterial spray painting the deck red. The second one I caught mid-run, jaws closing around his spine with a wet crunch. Three, four, five—they fell like dominoes, like they’d never even held a weapon before.

Silver bullets punched into my hide. Burned like hellfire, but I’d had worse.

Seven down. Just Drake left.

He’d backed up against the railing, rifle gone, just a silver combat knife in his shaking hand. Blood streaked his tactical vest.

I stalked toward him, slow and deliberate. Let him understand exactly how outmatched he’d been from the start.

“W-wait—” His voice cracked.

I shifted back to human form, standing naked and blood-splattered in front of him. The necklace expanded with me, settling back against my throat.

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