Page 83 of Alpha Reid

‘Gray…’I warn, glancing around at the shadow pack soldiers beginning to slink our way.

‘Go,’he snaps back.‘I’ve got this.’

He moves past me to help Fallon with Chase, while Serena and I exchange glances and turn to face the incoming attack.

‘We’ll cover you,’Serena says confidently through the mind-link, and I just gaze at her in adoration, so fucking proud to have this badass warrior goddess beside me right now. As much as I’d prefer to shield her from harm and have her tucked away somewhere to ensure her safety, I have to admit that there’s something damn sexy about a woman who can hold her own in battle; who’s as strong and courageous as she is beautiful. We exchange another glance, then both of us lunge toward our incoming foes.

Serena and I fight side by side until we’ve fought our way through the enemies in our path. We work in tandem to take them down with ease, and only then do I look back to see that Fallon and Chase are gone and Gray is back in the thick of things, tearing through a clump of shadow pack wolves with the assistance of Theo. It’s obvious that their numbers are thinning, but someone is still notably absent- their leader. Through the entirety of the battle thus far, there’s been no sign of Xavier.

Serena and I are about to circle back to join Gray and Theo when another wolf suddenly jumps into our path, snapping his jaws and baring his teeth. He’s large, mangy looking with brown fur and a scar across his cheek. There’s somethingabout him that just feelswrongsomehow; something in his eyes that makes my hair stand on end. He zeroing in on Serena, and her instant change in demeanor immediately sets off alarm bells in my head. Gone is the fierce, fiery she-wolf that was beside me moments ago- she’s now standing rigidly, her body beginning to tremble, a look in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. One of absolute terror.

‘Serena?’I question through the mind-link, but she doesn’t respond, which is even more alarming. Her breathing rate rapidly increases as the wolf comes closer- she’s fucking hyperventilating, staring at him as he prowls in her direction, teeth bared and gaze transfixed on only her.

‘Serena!’I demand, and she finally snaps out of it, whipping her head sideways to face me.

‘It’s him,’she squeaks, and her voice is smaller than I’ve ever heard it as it comes through the mind-link, barely audible.‘The one with the dead eyes.’

I immediately know who she means. Her guard in captivity that still haunts her dreams.Her monster.

I once promised her that I’d take the bastard down, put an end to her nightmares. Now’s my chance to deliver. Rage bubbles in my veins- for what this asshole put my girl through, for what I went through as a result of him poisoning her mind and making her feel like there was no other way. Looking at him, I see red, and for the first time in battle, I lose control.

I launch myself in his direction, and he’s so focused on Serena that he doesn’t even see me coming until it’s too late. I tackle him to the ground, sinking my teeth into him and locking my jaws, yanking backwards until hot blood sprays my face. He writhes beneath me, a whine escaping his throat as he scrambles to get free, but there’s no way in hell that’s happening. I’m blinded by my rage as I keep tearing into him- literally tearing him apart. Even once it’s obvious that he’s already dead, I continue ripping flesh from bone until nothing recognizable about him remains.

I only snap out of it when Serena tackles me off of him, sending the two of us rolling across the ground. When we come to a stop, she’s on top of me, fire blazing in her eyes. She nips me and licks my face and judging by the look in those eyes of hers she’s having deviant thoughts- like watching me tear through her tormentor was a turn-on. Like she wants to shift to our human forms right here in the middle of the battle so she can take my dick for a ride while I’m covered in her captor’s blood.

‘We found Xavier,’Jax announces through the mind-link, and in a second flat both Serena and I snap out of it and are on our feet again, heads back in the game and ready to rejoin the fight. The two of us locate Jax and Quinn, and Brock, Astrid, Gray, and Theo arrive moments later.

‘Up on the ridge,’Jax supplies, and we all look to where he’s indicated. A chill creeps up my spine when my eyes land on him- a large black wolf sitting on his haunches and gazing out over the battlefield. He almost looks bored, watching lazily as his ranks continue to be decimated by our fighters. They may have the numbers, but they can’t match us for skill; it finally looks like we’re poised to come out of this thing victorious. Xavier has to pick up on that, but he still appears unphased- like the lives of his men are meaningless to him. Given his capacity for cruelty, they probably are.

The most unsettling thing about it all is that it appears as if Xavier is here purely as a spectator, having no real intention of joining the fight. All I can surmise is that he’s got some sort of backup plan worked out in the event of his pack’s defeat- and if that’s the case, then what the hell will all of this have been for? This was supposed to end today; we didn’t tirelessly prepare for this war and risk so many lives in battle only to be left wondering when they’ll strike again. We did it to put an end to the threat of the shadow pack that has been hanging over us for the past six years, once and for all.

The only way to end the shadow pack is to take down Xavier; cutting the head off of the snake so the rest will fall. He’s not alone up on the ridge; he’s flanked by several other wolves, likely individuals of rank within his pack. His inner circle. We’ll have to take them on in order to get to him, and right now, they have the advantage. All of us are tired, sporting injuries, while Xavier and those with him are still fresh.

‘We’ll have to pick off the others in order to get close,’Brock’s voice grumbles through the mind-link, clearly thinking on the same wavelength as I am.

‘Easy,’Theo scoffs.‘Nine of us, nine of them.’

I look around at the others, only counting eight including me, the other guys, Serena, Quinn, and Astrid.‘Nine?’

‘I think it’s time we bring in our secret weapon,’Theo replies through the mind-link, cocky as ever. It’s almost like you can hear the smirk on his face.

I almost forgot about this part of our plan- the unlikely warrior that we’ve had lying in wait until this moment. She must be listening in through the mind-link, because it doesn’t take long for Brooke’s tall, tawny wolf to slink out of her hiding spot and sidle up beside him.

He nuzzles her neck affectionately.‘Let’s go get ‘em, baby.’

All of us were surprised when Theo agreed for his mate to be weaponized against the shadow pack- both because she strictly works IT for the squad and therefore doesn’t have warrior training like the rest of us, and because the dude is insanely overprotective of her. In the end, though, even he had to agree that we’d be foolish not to use every resource at our disposal to take down Xavier. Brooke’s wolf is an absolute savage- in stark contrast to the demure, shy, sweet demeanor of her human side, her wolf is wild, feral, and ruthless. While Theo put his foot down when it came to his mate engaging in the full scope of the battle today, he agreed that we could call her in as a ringer to help take down Xavier and his inner circle. And as resistant as he was about it all in the beginning, I think he’s actually really proud of Brooke and excited to fight beside her.

‘They wont know what hit them,’Quinn muses, glancing over at her. She’d know- Brooke’s wolf took a chunk out of Quinn’s on the practice field one day. We still joke that it gave Brooke street cred around the complex, because people couldn’t stop talking about how badass her wolf was for weeks afterward.

‘You guys can have your pick of the rest,’Astrid says, her eyes fixed on one of the wolves positioned near Xavier.‘That one’s mine.’

Brock follows her line of sight.‘Is that her?’

‘Uh huh,’she chirps in response, not taking her eyes off of the smaller black wolf.

Astrid only had one request ahead of this battle- that if we run into either of her guards from her time in the shadow pack’s captivity, she be given the opportunity to take them out. The one she’s staring at must be Kara, the bitch that made Astrid’s life hell while she was held prisoner.

‘What’d I miss?’Fallon asks, approaching our circle. The short time away did her good- she looks a lot better than when she left with Chase, the gash in her cheek already healing well.

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