Page 21 of Alpha Exile

"Come one, come all, for a show!" Niall shouts in an exaggerated carnival barker's voice, spotting me and ushering the crowd back together. "Folks, you'll want to make room. Trust me. I haven't seen what we're all about to see, but I've heard that it's something spectacular."

Heard from Cat, no doubt. I try not to think about what they were doing when she told him. Some things are better leftoutof the imagination.

Niall paces over to me and lowers his voice. "Do you need a target?"

"Preferably. Got anything for me?"

He eyes the mostly empty square around us, then sweeps his gaze across the shops. "Ron has some marble slabs out front. I'll get him to bring one over for us."

While that task is taken care of, I sweep across the square and rearrange the crowd, giving me enough room for the task at hand. Curious eyes are watching me, wondering what's going to happen next. I worry for a moment that they're doubting me because I didn't participate in the tournament, but cut that bit of self-doubt off before I can explore it any further. It doesn't do me any good.

All of this is for one purpose: to build up the pack so we can hunt down Delphine tonight and return my mates to me. Nothing could possibly be more important.

As the sun fully sets and darkness stretches out across the territory, I have one mission on my mind. I want to fill the hole in my heart. To return the space where my strength, my loves, once were. Then to tell them how much I love them, how sorry I was that I hadn't given in to saying it before, and how happy I am to build our new lives together.

Lives that can't have been cut short before we really started them. Because I refuse to believe that I'm meant to go through this world alone. Every painful beat of my heart tells me that I can't.

I fear that I might already be too late.

But I wouldn't feel the emptiness in my chest if they were gone. I have to believe that.

Ron, Niall, and a few workers arrive with a marble slab held between them. I instruct them to stand it up in the middle of the square, balancing on one of its thin edges. Anticipation builds inside me as they step away, leaving the white marble a lone sentinel in the middle of everything. The moon glimmers overhead, turning the white and gold veins of marble bluish and purple with its light.

I clear my throat and raise my voice so my entire pack will hear me. "What you're about to see is a demonstration of the kind of power only a wolf-witch hybrid can have."

My eyes roam their faces, and I let my awareness flow out of me, sensing their emotions. Anticipation, curiosity, trepidation, and boredom all roll back to me.

"I'm going to show you what I'll do to our ancient enemy Delphine, the woman who cursed us, who killed us, who stole our mates and now our alpha." I lick my suddenly dry lips. "My mates."

There's a silence in the air. You could hear a pin drop.

"She will pay for what she's done."

I let the fire energy flow down my arm again, stronger and fiercer than before. Wetness stings my cheeks, but I don't wipe the tears away as they flow, grief and rage mingling in my chest. My hand begins to glow, and I'm afraid that I'll burn my skin if I touch myself.

"Delphine will regret the day she stood against the alphas of Glass Pack!" My voice is a roar now, the strongest light in the square the light that flows from my skin, which is so hot that I have to pull my hand away from my torso to bear it. "She will pay in fire and fury!"

Drawing my arm back, I pull the energy to the surface. It howls against my skin, licking and devouring. Its only purpose is to burn. It hungers for a target.

So I give it one.

I throw it directly at the white slab of marble, which glows in the moonlight. The fireball flies from my fingers and doubles in size almost immediately. It grows as it scorches across the square, heat licking up at it.

Then it pummels into the marble slab, flattening out against it and licking around its edges with fury.

Any natural fire would burn out, finding very little tinder to consume.

The fire of the flowers doesn't. Fed by my grief and rage, it eats away at the marble, licking its surface until it drips and melts down to the square's concrete stones. The process takes several long seconds, during which the crowd around me is completely silent.

My pulse feels loud in my ears.

I reach up with my left hand to dry the tears from my cheeks only to find them gone—evaporated by the heat and energy that poured out of me.

After a long moment, the fire ceases its burning. Once its light is snuffed, there's no way to see the marble slab clearly. So Niall takes out his phone, flicks on the flashlight mode, and raises its screen to illuminate it

Several others follow.

Under their bright lights, you can see that half the marble slab has melted. It's bubbly and shiny, pooling on the ground and cooling slowly. Gold veins streak through the molten surface.

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