Page 27 of Her Reborn Mate

Upon seeing this, the wolves leaped onto the remaining vampires and tore them to shreds.

The culling field, it turned out, would be used as a graveyard after all, just not for the werewolves.

I shifted back to my human self and felt the surge of strength rush through my body as I realized that not only had I managed to attain my wolf form again, but I had also unlocked the latent wolf within to my advantage. I had used this newfound ability to turn the tide on an otherwise doomed night.

I watched as the stray vampires tried to flee the field but were stopped dead in their tracks by the werewolves. Vincent was at the forefront of this last leg of battle, pinning down the vampires one by one, usurping their lives from them, tearing their limbs apart.

I looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Alexis in the crowd, but she was not there. I did not let this thought bitter my mind right now. This was a victorious night. It had started in the most uncertain way, but by the end, I had managed to get revenge on one of the three culprits of my calamity. Now only Maurice and Blair remained.

I would see to them in my own time.

As the last of the vampires were dealt with, the wolves gathered around me, shifting into their human forms. They cheered loudly as they lifted me on their shoulders and began chanting my name as they whistled, howled, laughed, and celebrated.

“Quiet now,” I said once I had gotten off their shoulders. I stood facing them all, staring into their eyes as they stared back into mine. “This has been a hard-earned victory. But we must not rest now. The vampires, though leaderless, are still out there, and we may have to face their retaliation. Now is the time to strengthen our defenses and brace for any attack that might come our way!”

“Will, where were you?” a pack member asked. “We all saw your body at the burial. Tell us what happened!”

“Aye! Tell us!” More voices like this rose from the crowd.

“I can tell you this. This town has been used and abused by powerful people for the longest time. Maurice was one of them. Ralph was too. And now, Blair Beckett, the son of the madman who imprisoned me, remains. They tried to kill Alexis and me, but clearly, they failed in doing so. All I can say to all of you is that I am back, and this time, I am not leaving your side. Your Alpha has resurrected and returned!”

Upon hearing this, the crowd broke into hurrahs and cheers again, and this time, I did not stop them. They had earned this. As had I. I threw my head back and let loose a loud howl that rang through the clearing. It felt good to win for a change.

But it felt best to be back in control once again.

The only thing that stung was the absence of Alexis. The question remained. Where was she? I wanted to tap into our bond and find out where she was or how she was faring, but I drove off this temptation in the face of the victory I had just achieved. If Alexis had indeed chosen to run away, then that was her choice, and the least I could do was respect it and let her be.

Chapter 11: Alexis

I made sure to tell myself that it wasn’t my allegiance to Will that was driving me back to Fiddler’s Green. I repeated it like a mantra inside my head throughout the rickety bus ride. Deep down, though, where all the secret truths dwelled, I knew that no matter how many times I’d tell myself that it wasn’t related to Will, I was lying. It was about him as much as it was about Fiddler’s Green.

It came down to roots and their inescapability. Wherever I’d go, my roots would follow. Someone would ask me somewhere where I’d come from, and my instinct would be to say Fiddler’s Green. I could live in Boston or New York, or San Francisco all I wanted, but the answer to the question “where did you come from” would always be the same.

My town was in peril. As shitty as it had been to me, it needed me right now. That’s why, when the ticket lady asked me if I’d made up my mind between the ticket to San Francisco and the ticket to Fiddler’s Green, I finally asked for a ticket for the latter.

I hated myself for it, realizing in between bouts of responsibility and shame that this was some metastasized form of Stockholm Syndrome. But then, the rational thought would follow, suggesting to me that since I’d already escaped Fiddler’s Green once, I could do it again whenever I willed and that going back to save my pack was not an obligation but a choice.

When the bus finally dropped me off at Fiddler’s Port, I knew immediately where I had to go. It was more than just instinct; my bond with Will tugged at me. As much as I had tried to bury it deep somewhere within me, break it into a million pieces, or pretend that it didn’t exist altogether, the bond prevailed. At this point, the bond felt less like some fated connection between two mates and more like the voice of my conscience guilting me into getting back with Will, coaxing me into following him, worrying for him.

As if the bond knew more than I did. If it was so much a part of me, then why didn’t the bond register the terrible pain I had felt when Will had apparently died on me? Why hadn’t it acknowledged the betrayal I felt when Will said Ariana’s name? Did the bond simply not care?

“You can’t just stand there,” a voice growled from behind. “Piss or get off the pot!”

It then occurred to me that I was musing over all these thoughts while standing at the exit of Fiddler’s Green bus station, completely blocking the entrance.

I stepped to the side, allowing the old man to pass. He grumbled rudely as he walked past me, shooting me a hostile look. There it was, that good old Fiddler’s Green hospitality that I was so used to. I chose to ignore the man and focused on what was happening around me.

The night bore several ill omens. I shot a look up and saw that the stars were completely smitten by the dark red haze tinting the sky. Crows who had no business being out of their nests at this hour were cawing and flying chaotically as if rendered restless by something maddening beyond their understanding. The very air was still and heavy with anticipation of some terrible horror that had yet to come to pass.

The Grimm Abode was at an elevated plateau north of where I stood. I could see that all the lights at the commune were switched off. But there was a strange luminescence coming from the woods to the northwest. I had never seen something like that before. No matter how hard I tried to heighten my senses and perceive what was happening that far away, the thicket of trees blocked the trajectory of my vision, hindering me from seeing what was really happening. I did spot Lawrence’s car stranded at the precipice of the forest, which was all the sign I needed to know that Will was in there with his pack members.

Will might have been having trouble with shifting, but I was not deterred by such limitations. Seeking the cover of shadows ahead of me, I shifted into my wolf form and headed towards the wavering lights coming from the forest. Begrudgingly, I used my bond with Will as a compass to ascertain that I was headed in the right direction.

Once I was clear of Fiddler’s Green and was prowling in front of the Grimm Abode, the abandonment that I laid my eyes on was troubling enough to make me quicken my pace and head into the forest. How had all the pack members just blindly followed Maurice into the forest? It was as if they had bartered common sense for blind obedience. Fear could make many men do foolish things. I understood that with Will’s apparent death, the pack was thrown into a pit of tumultuousness and uncertainty, and naturally, in this ambiguous time, they looked to Maurice’s leadership.

As I passed Lawrence’s car, I caught a whiff of his decomposing body and couldn’t help but feel glad that he was dead after what he had tried to do to me. And not that I would admit it out in the open anytime soon, but I was happy that Will had been there to save me. But even that happiness had a bitter aftertaste. Whatever had transpired between us was still too convoluted for me to think about Will in anything other than a very confused and frustrated way.

But now was not the time to waylay my mind with these thoughts. With each step I took deeper into the forest, my ears picked up more sounds of cacophony coming from ahead. It wasn’t until I had reached the field that I saw what was happening and reeled in fear and shock.

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