Page 180 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

“Who’s this?” Dustin said, giving Flynn a once-over.

The look in Dustin’s eyes told me he’d noticed the aura coming off Flynn. In fact, all the other shifters in the clearing were giving Flynn discreet looks. None of them had ever felt an alpha as powerful as the other man.

“Flynn Edgerton,” Flynn introduced himself, extending a hand to Dustin.

“Hey, there,” Dustin said, staring at the massive man in wonder. “Dustin Baldwin. I’m Jace’s brother-in-law.”

Flynn’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, wow. Okay, then. A family affair?”

“Sort of, I guess.”

“Flynn’s got a ton of military experience,” I said. “He’ll be running most of the training along with Langston and Waylan.” I pulled Dustin over where no one could hear. “He’s also Eren’s half-brother, by the way.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Dustin hissed at me, casting a glance over his shoulder at Flynn. “He looks like a body-building, underwear version of Eren. What the fuck, Jace? When did Eren ever have a brother?”

“It’s a long story. We found out yesterday and met him last night. He’s sworn to help us take Eren down. He’s the rightful heir to Scottsdale. If all this works out, Flynn will be the new alpha. That is a much better scenario than me having to take over that pack along with my own.”

Dustin shook his head in disbelief. “Can this shit get any weirder? Witches, forced ferals, child slaves, long-lost brothers?”

“I know, I know. We’ll get it all figured out. For now, we need to get everyone prepared.”

Dustin nodded and walked to Flynn. “Hey, I’m glad you’re here.”

“Thanks,” Flynn said, and glanced at me. “Did Jace tell you?”

Dustin nodded. “I knew your father. He was always a good alpha to his people. Hopefully, you can take that mantle and run with it.”

Flynn nodded, though he looked somewhat unhappy. “Sounds like he was great to everyone. Everyone but me and my mother, that is. If this all works out, I hope I can be the alpha he was and then some. I’ll make up for some of his past mistakes.”

“I don’t blame you for that,” I said. “All a son can do is try to be better than his father. I have no doubt you’ll outdo him in every way.”

A pickup truck rumbled up the dirt road, pulling our attention away. Around eight or nine guys sat in the bed of the truck, a host of wolves sprinting to keep up. Ivy was at the wheel. Peter, her enforcer, sat in the passenger seat.

“Looks like the gang’s all here,” I said. “Noah and Hollis aren’t coming. Their packs are much smaller, and they didn’t want to send most of their people of fighting age here. This will be a good start, though.”

Flynn clapped his hands together. “Let’s do this.”

I’d assumed from the way he’d dealt with Langston and his background that Flynn would know a bit more about fighting than we did. I’d been way off. The man was an encyclopedia of tactics and strategy. As shifters, we all had an innate and instinctive level of combat from being closely tied to our wolf sides. In the wild, real wolves were constantly fighting, and those knowledge and instincts carried over. Some, especially alphas, took to that skill better than others. What Flynn knew was like a masterclass in war.

After an hour of warming up—he had us all do multiple exercises in both our human and wolf forms—he broke us into groups and tried to get us to work through drills. It did not go well. We weren’t used to moving in sync, instead relying on chaos and our strength along with overwhelming numbers to succeed. Our terrible performance embarrassed me.

“Hang on. Stop!” Flynn called out. He pointed at a few wolves. “You, you, and you—you aren’t listening, and it’s screwing up the entire formation. This isn’t a damn free-for-all. If you get too far ahead, then the formation is no longer in the shape of a spear; it becomes a fucking blob. Can you stab someone with a blob of shit?” He glared at one of Ivy’s betas, who had shifted back to his human form, waiting for him to respond. When he didn’t, Flynn walked forward, raising his voice like a drill sergeant. “I said, can you stab someone with a blob. Of. Shit?”

“No,” the man finally said, lowering his head in deference to Flynn’s powerful aura.

“Good. Thank you. Let’s do it again. Stay in formation.”

He seemed to see everything at once, calling out wolves who were lagging, slacking off, or not listening. Even when he formed us into teams to do war games, he could still see who was right and who was wrong in the chaos. His aura was so strong that even if some of the guys were butthurt about being called out, they literally couldn’t defy him. It was damn near impossible—even for me and the other alphas. We could resist his aura, but it was difficult.

After our lunch break, he sat us down to talk through what we should be visualizing during a fight. “This,” he said, gesturing to the entire group, “is a family. That’s how you need to see things. Whenever I went into battle, I had to look at the person beside me and understand that, in the heat of it, when the shit hits the fan and bullets start flying, I might need to lay my life down for him. It was a decision everyone in my unit made. That’s what you all need to understand.

“You’ve spent your lives in little skirmishes and back alley fights. A group of lone wolves encroaching on your territory is not the same. Before, you could use your numbers and the power of your alpha to overcome anything without really knowing what you’re doing. This kind of fighting is different. You have to know the man beside you and play off of their strengths and weaknesses, understand what they can and can’t do, and pick up the slack. Just because the guy next to you is stronger or better doesn’t mean you get jealous—that’s a one-way ticket to the grave. Frenetic biting and clawing will do nothing but get you killed out there. Or worse, get the man beside you killed.” He glared at us, then shouted a question. “Do you want to live?”

A resounding “yes!” erupted from the crowd, and the ground vibrated beneath us.

“Do you want your families, friends, and packs to live?”

“Yes!” This time, the vibration of the word rattled in my chest. Birds fluttered in the forest, disturbed by the explosion of sound.

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