Page 45 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

The door on the driver's side opened, and the last member of their little clique came out. Finn stepped back to stand next to Lincoln without the signature fake smile on his face. Dark magic was already rippling all around him.

"Think very carefully about your next moves," he growled. "You've defied my order not to step foot on my land again, and you’re threatening Layla."

His pack was listening, and his warriors were close, but they would not intervene against the Circle.

It was Finn's anger that flared up first. The arrogant Circle member sneered and looked him directly in the eye.

"You had no right to do that. We are the law; you must submit to us," Finn spat out.

Finn's magic rippled, fed by his emotions. But it was his next words that broke the string holding the beast back.

"Bring that bitch to me, or your whole pack will pay for your insolence."

Chapter 25

Blood. The scream that died in his throat. The limbs that landed on the roof of their little toy car. The lifeless eyes staring up at him from the ground.

Fin was dead before his magic could flare up to defend him.

He felt the stinging dark magic shackle him from behind and turned to see Alpha Hugo with his eyes black and black veins around them. Soft chants came from his lips and made his invisible shackles tighter. And then, in front of him, Lincoln did the same. The whites of his eyes bled black, and he lifted his palms to start chanting.

He had seen them in action once or twice in his lifetime, but their magic had never been used against him or anyone with his blood. If his father had been alive, he would have told him he’d brought shame to the family name.

But he was fighting for his child’s life. Richard King hadn’t had a paternal bone in his body, so he wouldn’t have understood this. But it was his mate bond that had driven him to madness. That much he would have understood.

The magic increased around him and brought him down to his knees with a painful thud beside part of Finn’s body. The air around him started to crackle. He knew what that meant. Lincoln had mastered elemental magic even before he had become part of the Circle. But without the third member of their team, their power was not absolute. They would have to work harder to incapacitate him.

Electric shocks jolted through him and made him roar. His muscles tensed and kept him frozen on the ground. The chanting increased in speed and volume.

“You will not win,” Cain growled at Lincoln. “I’ve taken your third and am about to take your second.”

He dug his claws into the tarmac and pushed against the magic. It was supposed to stop him from shifting, but he had never shown his full strength to anyone. His body started to get bigger, his claws longer. Hair formed on his limbs as his face stretched. Panic formed in the air. And more fear. So much fear that it strengthened the beast within him that craved it.

His sweatpants ripped at the seams until they hung by a thread around him.

‘Alpha... please don’t.’

But even Dylan’s pleas could not pull him back from his rage. The Circle meant to kill him and Layla. If he had done his job as a mate and ensured Layla would be safe, he would have gladly let them take him.

“You will never take what’s mine,” Cain growled, his voice distorted as he became more animal than man. “My land. My pack. My Layla.”

The bigger he got, the easier it was to push against the magic. And when he was fully shifted, he rose to his feet and launched himself at Alpha Lincoln. His huge jaw clamped down on his torso until the man stopped chanting and started screaming.

The magic died down in an instant around him.

“No! Please stop!” Hugo screamed behind him. “Please!”

He bit down a little more. Alpha Lincoln's dark magic-infested blood tasted bitter in his mouth as it dripped to the ground.

“You’ve made your point!” Hugo screamed again. “You’ve taken Finn, don’t take Lincoln, too. We will leave.”

He’d let too many people go lately; Cain hadn’t been happy about that. Would the beast listen this time? They were already fucked after this, no matter what he did.

‘They will all descend on my land and avenge their brothers,’ Cain growled to him.

‘Yes.’

‘They will kill my pack and Layla, anyway.’

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