Page 104 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

Fuck. Anger boiled up inside me. I didn’t even know if the bastard had taken her to his lands or somewhere else.

“What about the old Stephenson farm?” one of my pack mates said, pointing at an area to the north of Scottsdale.

I sat in silence, fists clenching and unclenching. Langston nodded and circled the area with a marker.

“Possible,” he said. “I doubt Eren would take her to a human-owned area, but we can’t rule it out.”

“Yeah, but old man Stephenson’s been dead nearly ten years,” another pack member replied. “That place has just been sitting there. For all we know, Eren could have crept in there, quietly taking it as part of his own pack lands illegally.”

“We’ll check it,” Langston said. “But I think it’ll be a lower priority.”

Lacing my fingers together, I lowered my head, taking deep breaths to try and stay calm. Images of Kirsten’s wrecked car flitted through my mind. I’d arrived at the scene to find it at the bottom of an embankment. The sight had sent jolts of long-gone misery through me. It had happened in almost the exact same spot where my parents died. Seeing her car all twisted and smoking had been like stepping back in time to that day when my life had forever been altered. I’d nearly broken my neck rushing down the hill to find her, horrified by the thought that she’d be lying in the mangled car, broken and bleeding.

When I found the car empty, I’d been both relieved beyond words and enraged in a way I’d never known. Kirsten was alive, but Eren had her. Now, my pack and I were preparing for war. A war the likes of which hadn’t been seen in this area in two centuries.

Waylan paced the length of the room, phone held to his ear as he spoke rapidly to someone on the other end. “I told you, we need intel, for fuck’s sake, that’s why I sent you… Fine, but that doesn’t tell me what I need to know… What do you mean there’s no sign of them? It’s Eren’s fucking pack lands, he has to be there somewhere.” Waylan listened to the response and grimaced. “Keep scouting. I’ll have Langston text you more locations to check. The moment you see Eren or Kirsten, let me know… Yes, Jace is all right. He’ll be better once we find Kirsten.”

Waylan hung up and looked over at me. “Jack and Corey haven’t seen anything so far. They’ve penetrated pretty deep into the Scottsdale Pack territories, but haven’t seen any sign of Eren or his most loyal betas, and no sign of Kirsten, either. They can’t get much closer without being seen, but they’re still on it.”

I nodded, chewing on the inside of my cheek, unsure how to respond.

“What’s our next move?” Waylan asked after I stayed silent. “We don’t have much to go on. They lost the scent a few miles from the scene of the crash.”

“What I’d love to do,” I said through gritted teeth, “is go to fucking Scottsdale and tear the town apart, rip every building down to its foundation, and burn what’s left until I find her.”

Waylan looked me dead in the eye and nodded slowly. “We’ve tried to do this by the book, but diplomacy isn’t working. If you’re down, I’m down. Everyone here is good to go on your word.”

Eren had tiptoed on the line for years, always staying just safe enough to keep his good standing with all the other packs. Today, he’d crossed that line. I stood, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans.

“Listen up!” I shouted.

The room fell silent almost instantly. Langston and the other men turned to give their alpha their attention.

“Eren Miller kidnapped my mate. He stole the person that is most precious to me. Tonight, we go to Scottsdale and bring hell to Eren’s pack lands. He will rue the day he thought to push the Crestwood Pack like this.”

I couldn’t help but push my alpha energy out to my pack, my anger and anxiety making it hard to control my emotions. The men around me fed on it, the fire in their eyes blazing as the wave of energy washed over them.

“Does anyone here have a problem with that?” I asked. “If you do, I will not hold it against you.”

No one spoke. A few men simply nodded their heads. They were with me.

I gave them a savage grin. “Good. When we go, we will not be like Eren. Hear me when I say this—we will not be like him. Protect yourselves as needed, but no one harms any women or children.”

The men were damn near bouncing with nervous energy as they fed on my aura. My conviction to rescue Kirsten was one of the most powerful things I’d ever experienced in my life, and it was leaching into them, the mystical connection between alpha and pack on display before me. I rarely got this worked up, normally priding myself on staying calm and collected. But with Kirsten in danger, I couldn’t help it.

I opened my mouth to order them all outside to shift and descend upon Scottsdale when my phone rang, silencing me. Irritated, I pulled the phone out, hoping it was one of our scouts saying they’d located where Kirsten was being held. When I saw Eren’s name on the screen, I nearly gripped the phone hard enough to shatter the screen, but I stopped myself before that happened.

Was he calling to rub my nose in it? To tell me how pathetic I was for failing to protect my mate? Or would he try to get some sort of ransom? Maybe he’d attempt to get me to concede leadership of my pack in exchange for Kirsten. No matter what he wanted, he’d never get it. I’d tear him limb from limb before I ever let him win.

I answered the phone, my anger a tempest I couldn’t quite control. “You son of a bitch. If you hurt one hair on Kirsten’s head, I will kill you, do you understand? Touch her and you die.”

The other end was silent for a moment, then the sound of a woman sighing or sobbing—I couldn’t tell which. Relief flooded me, pushing my anger to the side. I’d know that voice anywhere.

Kirsten.

“Jace,” she whimpered. “It’s me. I need you.”

“Where are you? What’s happening? Is Eren with you?”

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