Page 100 of The Alpha King's Fate

“Alpha Lincoln. And I don’t need an excuse to give you what you deserve.”

“And what’s that?”

“The Circle hereby strips you of your role and title. You’re banished from this land effective immediately,” Lincoln growled. “Anyone still here by sundown will burn along with everything here.”

“Do you really want to believe I’ll stop being a king just because you say so? Would that make you feel better?”

“There you go again. Selfish as usual. You don’t give a shit what happens to anyone but yourself,” Lincoln hissed.

It was the first time he’d seen Lincoln lose his composure. No, he’d seen that look before. At the trial, when he told the three of them that Cole didn’t acknowledge their complaints about Layla.

“I see what’s happening here. You’re angry that Cole’s got your balls in his purse, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“This has nothing to do with Alpha Cole.”

“I know it doesn’t. I bruised his ego. I killed his people, and he couldn’t stop me. And he still has no idea how my mate commanded you and also walked out of her prison at the trial. A man like that isn’t going to send his minions to kill me—he will want to do it himself.”

“Every member of the Circle is equal. I have every right to be here today,” Lincoln spat out, stepping back from him. “Now open the gates and let us in.”

Hugo and New Finn stepped back, too, and only then did he see Alpha Chase on his knees in front of the packhouse gates. He was bloody, bruised and naked, with his head lowered like the rest of his pack.

“What did you do to him?” he growled.

“He tried to resist. And now the mighty Alpha has fallen in front of his pack.”

Lincoln sounded proud of himself.

The rage still stewing in him bubbled up as he faced Lincoln again. These were all mind games. Lincoln would never stop until he went on his knees for the Circle, too.

“Right now, all of us are in danger, but you’d rather be here, trying to make me submit to you instead of doing your fucking job to protect us all,” he growled.

“All of that is on you. You messed with the Hunters—you and that bitch, and now we all have to cower and hide!”

He had Lincoln by the throat before he finished speaking. Immediately, he realised why the Alpha had been so confident. The dark magic stung his hand and sizzled up his arm, burning his veins as it slithered into his body.

Lincoln grinned, even as he lifted him off his feet.

“Say it again. Call Layla a bitch one more time.”

His fingers tightened and the grin fell off Lincoln’s face.

“Your Majesty!” Hugo shouted.

The vampires that had been waiting appeared behind him in a flash. Something sharp sliced into his side, but he side-stepped and turned before it went deeper. Without missing a beat, he slashed his free hand across the vampire's throat and pulled the silver blade from his side. The second vampire's body fell at his feet.

The fear around him ramped up as Cain took over, half-shifting with his fingers still around Lincoln’s neck.

“Do you think this is a game?”

The dark magic burned in his body. Without Layla beside him, he didn’t know if he could still heal himself, or even what it would do to him. But he was done wasting time.

“Please put him down, Your Majesty,” Hugo whispered.

“Your Majesty? I thought you stripped me of that title?”

His claws lengthened and Lincoln’s blood dripped onto his crisp blue suit. Lincoln started to struggle and claw at the fingers that could finish him in a second.

“We’re following protocol...”

---