Page 203 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

“Thank you. Oh, God, thank you. Where’s my brother?”

Kirsten knelt and rubbed his back. “He’s somewhere safe. I promise. We’ll take you to him.”

Alex looked up, his face streaked with dirt and tears. “Really?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

Alex’s lower lip trembled, and a sob broke from his chest. “Can you hold me?”

She took the boy into her arms and rocked him like he was a baby. Alex cried, and I choked up and wiped my eyes. The madness he’d endured, the terrible things Eren had done to him, and now getting a second chance? It was almost too much for anyone to go through.

While the boy sobbed into Kirsten’s shoulder, I turned my attention to the other ferals in the pen, then to the two I’d killed. Both had been in self-defense, yes, but I’d still killed them. They’d been innocent. Someone’s babies. Children who would never come home, and I’d done that. In those few seconds, I wished Eren was still alive so that I could kill him again.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Alex stopped crying. I called Tank over.

“Get my truck,” I said. “I want this boy taken to Dustin and Shayna—fast. I’ll text them to let them know you’re on the way. They’ll have Morgan there when he arrives.”

“On it,” the big man said, and ran for my truck.

A few minutes later, Alex was waving to us out of the passenger side window as Tank hurried him off to reunite him with the only family he had. Kirsten waited until the truck was out of sight before sagging into me.

“That took a lot out of me,” she admitted, then looked toward the pen again. “But there’s so many who need help.”

I wrapped my arm around her and turned her from the pen. “We have time. We’ll help them all, I promise, but you need to rest some more.”

“Did I do good?” she asked as we went back up the steps.

“You did amazing.”

Chapter 27

Kirsten

My life became a cycle of work and rest. There was so much to do, and only so much energy to complete every task. My main driving force was curing the ferals. It was slow-going. The magic I used wasn’t visually spectacular like some of the other kinds I’d learned, but it was so draining. After saving each wolf, an immense wave of exhaustion washed over me. It made it so I could really only bring a few of the ferals back at a time, followed by several hours of rest. Even with Tinsley and Harley helping me, it was tremendously draining. But after nearly a week, they were all back to normal. I didn’t think I’d ever felt so accomplished about anything else in my entire life.

Seeing the children’s looks of surprise, happiness, and abject relief made my heart grow. We cradled the children and boys, drying their tears and helping them calm down before sending them off to wherever their parents were. Some had been part of the groups sent to the other packs, while many were still in Scottsdale.

Jace had been spending much of his time there. The town had been thrown into complete disarray in the wake of Eren’s death. Jace, Flynn, and Stephanie were doing all they could to calm everyone’s fears. Many thought that because of the evils Eren had committed, Jace might decide to kill everyone as revenge. He’d come home to me that night and cried. The fear in their eyes had gutted him. The fact that they all thought an alpha’s first thought would be to hurt or kill broke his heart.

As little as I knew of the shifter way of life, I’d seen how a pack should run. The members should love, honor, and respect their alpha, not fear them.

“He was a monster, Kirsten,” Jace said as he curled into me one night. “A total monster. I don’t know how Flynn will be able to get them back to the way they used to be.”

I rolled over and placed my palms on his cheeks. “He will. You will. It won’t be easy, but I have faith in you. You can guide Flynn and help him show his whole pack what a true alpha can be.”

“You’ve got a lot of faith in me.”

“Of course I do. That’s what a mate is for.”

He smiled and kissed me before drifting off to sleep. I did have faith in him, but I also had faith in Flynn. He was a better man than either his father or his brother. I had no doubt he’d be able to bring Scottsdale back to glory and honor. It would take time, but he’d get it done with Jace’s help—and Stephanie’s.

Stephanie had become a different person since Eren’s death, almost like a suffocating weight had been lifted from her shoulders. A torturous, malevolent being had been erased from her life, giving her a second chance, and she ran with it.

Steph had been by Flynn’s side every step of the way. She was one of the few people the members of the Scottsdale Pack trusted after she’d helped save the children. That, along with her experience on Jace’s council, meant she had become a person Flynn could rely on to learn how to run the day-to-day operations of a pack while Jace taught him the personal touches that would win over the members.

It all sounded exhausting to me, as draining as my healing of the ferals. In fact, I’d have much rather helped heal a hundred of the sick wolves than deal with the chaos those three had to.

“How are things going with Steph and Flynn?” I asked Jace one night over a dinner of frozen pizza, both of us too tired to cook anything more substantial.

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