Page 197 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

“Stay with Kirsten,” I said. “Protect the women.”

He nodded, giving the charging ferals a fearful look before shifting and running behind the house.

I stood, gazing over the oncoming battle. Over a dozen ferals emerged from the woods. Fuck, how many children had Eren tortured? The muscles in my jaw clamped tight. I shifted, falling onto all fours, and sprinted to join the fight.

More wolves emerged from the forest, but they weren’t feral. They were Scottsdale men, pack members and the lone wolves Eren had recruited to be a part of his makeshift army. I tried to spot Eren in the crowd, but disorder and confusion reigned. Even with Flynn and the other alphas guiding and leading their people, a fight was still a fight.

From my left, a feral dodged between two of Ivy’s wolves, running straight at me, mouth open, saliva flying from its open maw in strings. Stopping where I was, I turned and attacked the feral head-on, using my size to headbutt the creature in the chest. It sent the wolf tumbling away in a yelping tangle of fur and limbs. A second feral snapped its jaws at me from behind, nearly latching onto my hind flank. I spun, bit down on my attacker’s shoulder, and flung my head to the side. The smaller wolf went flying, colliding with one of the other ferals that had been fighting with Dustin.

A non-feral wolf, massive in size, charged through a group of Noah’s men, sending them crashing away like bowling pins as he rushed toward me, his eyes blazing with recognition and anger.

Poli. I’d know that gray-furred son of a bitch anywhere.

I snarled at him. He charged me, leaping at the last second and coming down on my side, sending me tumbling over. Before I could right myself, there was a sharp tearing sensation as he sank his teeth into my side, sending a white-hot lance of pain into me. I growled and bit him back, tasting blood on my tongue as I tore a shallow gash in his chest.

All around us, the battle raged on. The sounds of paws and feet on dirt, teeth snapping and biting, howls, yelps, and growls of rage and frustration tore through the calm late summer day. War had come to Crestwood, and it was as awful as I’d feared it would be.

Poli released my side and shot forward, trying to clamp his jaws on my throat, but before he got to me, a massive black wolf jumped between us. I looked up to find Flynn standing before me. His growl was deep and loud enough to terrify me, and Poli must have felt the same. The big wolf bowed its head instinctually at the power of the alpha aura Flynn was pushing out in waves. Poli tucked his tail and ran, retreating from the larger, more powerful alpha.

I climbed to my feet and gave Flynn an appreciative nod before he went back into the fray.

That was when I spotted him. Eren. He was standing just inside the tree line, well away from the fighting. Even at this distance, I could see his face. His eyes were wide with horror and shock as he watched Flynn taking down the ferals. Eren shook his head slowly back and forth as though in denial. I watched as his lips formed a single word. Dad?

Flynn was the spitting image of his and Eren’s father in his wolf form, though much larger. I could still remember how Alpha Miller had looked like decades ago before he’d died. The terror in Eren’s eyes told me he thought his father had returned from the dead to punish him.

Little did he know it wasn’t his dead father who would make him pay. It was me.

Eren stumbled back a step, falling on his ass before scrambling to his feet and running back into the forest.

Flynn spotted him and shifted to his human form, pointing in the direction his brother had escaped, then looked at me.

“He’s yours. Take him!” Flynn shouted before returning to his wolf’s body and lunging back into battle.

I did just that, flying along on my paws, feet barely touching the ground as I bobbed and weaved between the combatants. My eyes zeroed in on the path Eren had taken, a well-worn foot trail I knew well. He dared attack me on my land? To come here and try to take what wasn’t his? He’d pay for that mistake with his life.

As I plunged into the forest, the sounds of battle died away behind me, muffled by the trees and shrubs as I ran as fast as my body would allow. I already had Eren’s scent. Ahead of me, the sound of human panting and breathing told me Eren hadn’t shifted. He was still in his human form. Why? He could run faster as a wolf. The only thing that made any sense was that seeing Flynn, who looked so much like his father, had terrified him to the point that his inner wolf was cowering in fear and unable to come forward. Even Eren knew his father wouldn’t have approved of what he’d done. As shitty of a man as old Alpha Miller had been in private, he wouldn’t have gone to the lengths Eren had. Watching Flynn rain destruction down on his forces was too much for Eren’s mind to handle.

Good, I thought. The slower, the better. Easier to catch and kill that way.

I finally spotted him at an opening in the trees—a small creek where I’d fished as a boy. It cut through the woods, and Eren was knee-deep as he tried to cross it.

I shifted and bellowed out at him. “Eren!”

The other alpha froze and turned to look at me. The look of confused terror faded at the sight of my face, replaced by the familiar sneer of disgust and loathing.

“Stone,” Eren grumbled and turned to wade back out of the creek. “Who the fuck is that?” He pointed in the direction of the battle. “Which motherfucker did you get that looks like my dad?”

There was a faint glimmer of fear in his eyes. He still wasn’t a hundred percent sure his father hadn’t come back from the dead.

“Your dear daddy had more secrets than you knew about,” I said, striding toward him. “That’s the man who’s going to sit on your throne after I tear your throat out. Your half-brother is a better man than you could ever hope to be.”

At the mention of a half-brother, Eren blinked in surprise. His brows furrowed as the information sank in. He really hadn’t known. Probably too lazy to be bothered with looking through his own father’s papers and files after the old man died. Well, that would be one of the last mistakes he ever made. His final mistake was setting foot on my land again.

Done with talking, I shifted and lunged at him. Eren shifted to his own wolf a half second later, standing on his rear legs to meet my blow. My chest crashed into his, and we tumbled into the creek. Ice-cold mountain water splashed across my face and up my nose. Snorting it out, I got to my feet and went for Eren again. My jaws clamped onto the skin behind his neck. He yelped in pain as I drew blood. His head jerked back and forth as he tried to bite me, but the angle was wrong, my bite too strong. I bit down even harder, this time drawing a howl of agony from him.

I was bigger than Eren—stronger, faster, and more powerful. He didn’t stand a chance. Digging my paws into the sandy mud of the creek shore, I pressed my head down, shoving Eren’s face into the water. Straddling him, the massive muscles in my neck, back, and chest kept the other wolf pinned. Blood spurted into my mouth as his struggles tore his skin even more. I was going to drown the life out of him, and once and for all, he’d be gone.

A raging fire exploded on my back left leg, searing and awful. Unbidden, my jaws opened, releasing Eren. Howling in pain, I turned and found an adolescent feral wolf, its jaws clamped on my back thigh. Its head jerked spasmodically back and forth as it tried its best to tear a hunk of flesh from my body.

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