Page 45 of Red's Beast

"I am your alpha, and you will obey," he screams in my face. “Obey me!”

When I speak, I realize my wolf's voice is mixed with my own. "You are no alpha of mine, but you will meet the one I call alpha.”

“What?” He asks, completely confused.

His confusion only grows as he hears the roar in the forest, and it is heard by all. I can’t see the pack’s reaction, but I know they heard him and catch the scent of fear on the breeze.

My wolf surges forward again, controlling my voice. “Meet the one I answer to.”

Something comes running from the right side of the woods and Nigel turns his head in that direction, his eyes widening with fear.

But it’s too late.

The beast in the woods is coming for him because he dared to touch me.

I blush as I realize he cares for me unlike anyone ever has besides my grandmother.

All the color drains from Nigel’s face as he screams out. “The monster!”

He jumps up, leaving me on the ground, but not before casting one last look at me. “You will pay for this.”

I watch with a twisted smile as he tries to run for the safety of the village, propped up by only my elbows. The beast comes out from the left side of the woods, soaring through the air and snatching Nigel by the shoulder, before dragging him onto the other side.

It happens so fast that I don't get a good look at him, but I hear Nigel's screams as he's dragged off into the woods.

I push myself to a standing position right as Nigel's screams die. Hobbling, I make my way to the edge of the village with a slight smile on my face. Everything feels surreal.

The council members are in all states of disarray, with some looking at me with wide eyes.

"Why are you staring at me? Don’t you want to go get your noble alpha from the beast’s clutches?”

One woman named Asella screams and points behind me. I turn slowly, only to see Nigel stumbling out of the woods. He falls to his knees, his hand covering his face. I notice his other arm is gone and his body is covered in claw marks. Blood is gushing from multiple wounds and from the socket of his missing arm.

"Help me," he pleads.

My jaw drops open because I can't believe what I'm seeing. Before he can crawl away, the beast's massive jaws come out of nowhere and grab him from behind. He's yanked into the woods, his screams filling the air once more.

I hear a commotion with the council members and turn to see what is going on. Asella has passed out with one man holding her up. The other man, Samson, looks at me with venom in his gaze. "You! You did this to the alpha."

"Me? How did you come up with that? Did you not see the beast get him?" I ask as the smile falls from my face.

I know I feel safe and I know the words that tumbled from my lips about Nigel meeting the one I answer to, but that was my wolf.

Not me, exactly.

He shakes his finger at me and takes a step forward. "You summoned that beast. It's been you all along that has kept us trapped in the woods with that beast at your beck and call. That'show you could go to your Grandmother's all these years without being attacked."

"That is nonsense. Do you even hear yourself? The beast has supposedly been in the woods for two hundred years. I’m twenty-four, so do the math.”

"Lies!" He screams. "I saw you walk out of the woods before going to your house. You must be a witch."

Right as I'm about to answer him, I hear a sickening thud behind me. Slowly turning my head to the right, I can see Nigel's headless body lying at the edge of the woods. I swallow hard as the head comes out of the woods and lands beside my feet.

"I don't control the beast." Anything I planned to say after that dies in my throat.

"It sure looks like it. Why else would it save you and throw our alpha’s head at your feet?”

Corbin comes out of his house after feeling the bond break with his father, along with his mother. She is screaming and crying. I watch as Alana runs down the steps and goes straight for her mate's body, but Corbin remains on the porch with an odd expression on his face.

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