Page 131 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

“Oh, shit,” Hollis muttered. “Worse than kidnapping and sexual assault? I need a drink.”

“Two days ago, two wolves made an attack on my house. I’m certain Eren sent them to take Kirsten back.”

A murmur of unease rattled through the alphas.

“He attacked your house? On your property?” Ivy asked, incredulous.

“It’s worse than that,” I said. “One of my betas killed one of them. The other ran off. The dead wolf didn’t shift back to his human form, though. Reese here—” I gestured to the other man—“inspected the body and determined that he was, in fact, feral. The body stank of Eren’s pack. He’s somehow managed to get feral wolves to attack us, perhaps training them in some way? I don’t know.”

“God,” Noah hissed. “He really has gone off the deep end. But how the hell could he get feral wolves? Did he hunt them down or something?”

“We think he may have made them feral,” I said. “At first, I thought it was magic, but that seems unlikely. The other option is that he’s somehow forcing shifters to go feral.”

Shayna let out a disgusted, humorless laugh. “That fucking guy. I’d cut his balls off myself if he was here with us.”

“Wait in line,” Kirsten said. “I’ve got dibs.”

“This needs to be settled soon,” Dustin said. “I’ll go ahead and have my pack host the mating party this year. We did it last year, and the location is still good for it. Any objections?”

Everyone nodded. No one seemed upset.

“I’ll take a few of my betas up to Eren’s place to inform him that we’ve all agreed with Jace’s challenge,” Dustin added.

“Can we get back to this dead shifter, though?” Hollis asked. “Is there no way to find out who they are?”

“We’ve tried,” I replied. “The county coroner stopped by, and he’s done everything he can. Best we can do is hope for a DNA test, but that will take weeks.”

Shayna cleared her throat and leaned forward. “It sounds morbid, but have you thought of taking photos of the body? Dispersing them to see if anyone recognizes the—”

“Stop! I said stop, goddamn it!” Tank’s booming scream outside had us all flinching and turning to the front door.

“What the hell?” I stood up.

Tank shouted again, closer to the door. “Not one more step! Not one more!”

The others rose and followed me as I rushed toward the door. Kirsten, Harley, and Tinsley followed at the back of the group.

“Waylan, Langston, watch out for Kirsten and her friends,” I ordered, taking the doorknob in my hand, and the two men moved back to the women.

I turned the knob, jerked the door open, and hurried outside. I was at the base of the steps before the scene before me really sank in. My jaw dropped in shock and horror.

Tank was on his knees, struggling with a shifter. It was a boy, but what I saw made my stomach turn. He wasn’t fully shifted. One arm and his lower body were that of a wolf, but the torso, other arm, and face were human. The boy was thrashing in Tank’s arms, tears streaming down his face, and he looked like he was in agony.

“Help me,” the boy sobbed. He couldn’t be older than eleven. “Please help me.” He dissolved into wracking sobs.

Tank turned and looked at me hopelessly. “He came out of the woods. I thought it was another attack, but then he tried to shift and this happened.”

“Oh my god,” Kirsten gasped. Before I could stop her, she pushed past all of us and fell to her knees next to the boy.

I reached to pull her away, but cool fingers on my arm stopped me. Turning, I found Tinsley shaking her head slowly. “Let her. See what she can do.”

Gritting my teeth, I knelt beside her, letting Kirsten inspect the boy.

“What happened, sweetheart?” Kirsten asked, her voice gentle and calm.

The boy’s eyes rolled wildly with panic. He was nearly mad with pain. “It hurts,” he whimpered.

My blood boiled. A child? Eren had done this to a child? The boy was not from any of our packs—he had the scent of Scottsdale on him. It seemed that as soon as I thought my hatred of Eren couldn’t get any worse, he outdid himself.

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