Page 121 of The Alpha King's Fate

‘I don’t think you can,’ she said.

She turned and looked at the second cage, and her eyes widened. It was the Hunter she bit. He wasn’t mangled or half-shifted, but his muscles were more defined than they should have been. He paced the length of his cage, clenching and unclenching his fists.

His eyes flickered between his usual blue and blood red.

And he smelled like a wolf.

“It’s time for the next stage, Layla,” the Commander said, facing her.

And she knew by the look in his beady eyes that she would not like it.

“Bite me,” he said.

Chapter 54

Irvine had been a rookie, but he’d had traps set up all over his property. It was only right to assume all the Hunter families near the base would do the same. Their traps would probably be more elaborate.

‘Everyone’s ready.’

Jax looked back at Dylan and then at the gates of the house he had chosen. He had never thought much about the Hunter family structures since he assumed they were all soulless bastards. For what he planned to do to them, he hoped that was true. Not that it would damage his already unsalvageablereputation, but Layla wouldn’t like it if he went around killing innocent people.

Even if they fucking deserved it.

She’d been disgusted by what he did to the Circle’s vampire assassins, but this would get uglier.

‘Remember to watch out for the traps. I see a lot of silver and smell wolfsbane. The fuckers must bathe in it,’ he told Dylan.

Dylan turned back to whisper, ‘silver and wolfsbane’ to Chase, who was foolishly sticking to him, and another wolf from Ryker’s pack. Someone divided them into small teams; all the members mixed so they could still mindlink and relay all messages. He didn’t know whose idea that was; he just wanted to go in and get the ball rolling already.

He stepped out of the woods and into the road, looking at every inch of the locked gates and high walls that looked innocent to the naked eye. He’d chosen to take one of the bigger Hunter houses, where the stench of Hunters was most pungent. Nothing would be innocent about the gate or the big house at the end of a long driveway. To human eyes, it looked like a nice, wealthy, respectable family lived there. The lawn was manicured, the paint on the house looked fresh, and the whole setup looked welcoming.

But he heard an unwelcoming buzz as he reached the gates. And there was nothing welcoming about the suspicious substance that someone sprayed on the silver bars of the gate.

And there was something else.

He sniffed the air and looked up at the stone pillars on either side of the gates, following the scent that had no business being at a Hunter’s house. Was it possible? His body wound up tighter than it had already been when his gaze landed on what looked like talismans on the ground behind the pillars. They were disguised as garden gnomes and reeked of dark magic.

‘Magic,’ he warned Dylan.

Even though Hailey attacked them, he never once assumed any other witches would align themself with the enemy. Because the Hunters destroyed as many covens as they did packs. Who the hell would take their side?

‘Shit,’ Dylan said. ‘What should I tell them?’

‘Tell them they should look out for talismans protecting the gates. They’ll probably have some in the house, too. They should just draw the Hunters out if they can't go in. I bet they all have security cameras like this house.’

His gaze went up to the blinking light on the camera on top of one of the pillars. The residents in the house already knew he was there. They became alert; he could pick up their whispers and sense their growing fear.

Not active Hunters, then. The Hunters he’d dealt with feared nothing. Felt nothing. They were dead inside, like a void of darkness. Maybe not all Hunters became part of the army that hunted them. Perhaps some were just there to increase their numbers, as he said to Irvine.

‘The result will be the same. The calvary will come.’

On that thought, he ripped off the clothes Dylan forced him to wear so they could walk through the town without being reported to the police for indecent exposure. Even though it was still dark, several humans were still out on the streets. Bluffhill was a lot bigger than Wolfdale, so their nightlife was on a different level. It might as well have been daytime with all the potential casualties still walking around. If the Circle heard of this, they would not let it slide.

But he didn’t give a shit about that anymore.

His claws were extending, and his arms thickened by the time he grabbed the silver bars. As he expected, a fine mist of wolfsbane coated his palms when he shoved the gates forward and broke the linked chain.

‘Now!’ he min- linked Dylan.

---