Page 99 of The Alpha King's Fate

Gavin smiled and lowered his head.

“Godspeed, Alpha.”

Cain had remained quiet through the exchange and didn’t try to stop him when he turned away from Gavin and ran into the woods. Was he making a mistake?

‘No,’ Cain said. “They’re right. We can’t do this alone. We have to end this. For Layla. For Hope.”

When he was far enough away from Beacon Falls, he shifted. Could they take down the Hunters and The Circle at the same time? He’d have to trust what Dylan and Gavin said. They were in it together. One pack.

Chapter 45

Cain didn’t bother hiding as he ran down the road leading to his gates. Dylan hadn’t been kidding. He sensed the dark magic all over his woods—Circle soldiers lying in wait as if they came prepared for war.

Diedre reinforced the wards, so they probably couldn’t go in. But how did the Circle go in? How were they rounding up his people?

Two vampire assassins stood on either side of his gates as if they owned his pack’s property. Their eyes trailed hismovements even though he was still going at breakneck speed, but they didn’t look concerned.

Did they think they had already won? He had no time for this shit. He needed to go back to wait for the Hunters and send Gavin back to his chosen mate and kids.

Without stopping, he launched over the high gates. The vampires didn’t even flinch. He should have killed all of them when he had the chance. Lesson learned. He’d gone soft when he’d been counting down the days to his death when the witch cursed him, and even more so after accepting Layla as his mate. The Circle had never once been so blatantly disrespectful to him to go as far as to summon him for that trial.

The town was deserted, so he hoped Dylan had the good sense to have everyone inside the packhouse wards. Diedre had assured him those were impenetrable.

He’d sensed the group of people outside the packhouse when he’d vaulted over the main gates. He slowed down as he turned down the main street that led to his home. A familiar flashy car was parked behind some people. They sat in front of the packhouse gates, some huddled together, all with their heads lowered. And their scents were familiar. Were they Chase’s pack?

He sensed his pack in the house and the fields behind it, away from the Circle’s reach. But Alpha Chase’s pack was all exposed.

Behind them, two more vampires stood. The wards weren’t supposed to allow in anyone who meant them harm. How the hell did The Circle manage that? Diedre was strong before the curse, but after Layla healed her, the spells and potions reached another level. He doubted the Circle had anyone as strong as she was to break through it easily.

They would only have gone in if someone invited them through. As members of the Circle, they were strong enough to have commanded any of the wolves present to do that.

The group turned back to look at him as they sensed his approach. They shuffled back and parted, creating a path for him to the packhouse gates.

Cain slowed to a walk, his head down as he assessed the situation. There was a lot of fear in the air; it ramped up as he walked past them. Only a few people outside his pack saw his beast and lived to tell the tale.

‘We’ve been waiting all day for you, Jackson King.”

Cain lifted his head to look at the men standing directly in front of his gates.

Jackson King? Did they forget their last encounter so quickly that they thought they could push Cain’s buttons? What gave them the balls to do that? Before he attacked their assassins, Hugo at least tried to calm Cain down after they’d separated him from Layla. But now, there wasn’t even an ounce of fear from them, not even from the new Finn.

Something was wrong with that picture.

The beast continued walking until his face was inches from Lincoln’s. The Alpha didn’t even flinch.

But that close, the stench of dark magic assaulted his nose. Maybe that was what they were relying on. A ward made with dark magic, perhaps a protective ward. Maybe something that would curse him as Hailey’s mother did with her dying breath.

Such magic shouldn’t have passed the first gates because its only purpose was to harm others.

‘Let’s find out why they’re here,’ Cain said. ‘They were scared shitless at the trial. I smell a trap.’

‘So do I.’

He shifted faster than any of them could do and closed the distance between him and Lincoln again.

“Why are you here, Lincoln? Doing Cole’s dirty work again?”

A muscle in Lincoln's jaw ticked, but he didn’t look away.

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