Page 56 of Claimed By the Alpha
Could I live with myself having Laila’s death on me? Yes, when she wasn’t pregnant. It would have been fitting though, seeing as my pregnant mate died in her presence. However, I wasn’t that person anymore. Not entirely.
“You should leave,” I said to William. “They are here for me, you don’t need to die. Just find Joanne and make sure she is okay.”
“No, we are not leaving. We have a better cha—”
“William, please. I don’t want your blood on my hands. Not anymore.”
“Isaac—” he started again, but I wouldn’t hear it. I stepped away from them, moving closer to the sound of snapping wolves.
“I won’t die this time. I promise,” I joked, knowing all too well this would be a more challenging fight than the wolves I fought against days ago.
Now I didn’t have a narrow passage helping me, trees guarding my sides. Now, it was an open feast for them. And still, I would fight till the end. I would make Joanne proud and tell her everything I did to get to her. All the blood that stained my skin.
Laila tugged William away as I held her gaze. There was something there, as if she wanted to say something. But there wasn’t anything that needed to be said.
I never wanted to forgive her, and maybe I still didn’t. But this was the right thing to do. Even though I didn’t believe in her innocence, the child she was carrying was innocent. And I didn’t want that kind of blood on my hands.
Listening closely as William’s and Laila’s footsteps faded in the distance, I readied myself to take all these damned hunter wolves with me.
The same sense as the day I died trickled through me. I brought myself here, my decisions, lies, and tricks.
But I wasn’t the only trickster, it seemed.
“So, what’s the deal?”
Waiting patiently for Dale to fuck up, tell me the story he shouldn’t. Because I knew that ass liked to brag.
“Apparently, Isaac. You have more enemies than I thought you had. It is a death wish to stay on your side.”
I chuckled darkly. “Perhaps.” Ice layered at my fingertips, slowly crawling down, covering the ground around me in a thin layer of ice. “But there is one thing they forgot to mention, Dale.” His wolves edged closer, knowing what came next.
“And what’s that, Isaac?” He remained out of sight; the scared fuck was hiding. Letting his pet wolves fight for him.
Usually, that was the right thing to do. But it wouldn’t matter if he sent ten my way or a hundred. No one would get between me and my goal, my reason to stay alive.
“My motivation to stay alive, to get to my mate, is much stronger than my enemies.”
The moment was there, an eerie silence thickened, and then they came. Leaping toward me, ready to rip me to pieces, scatter my remains so I could never be found.
The Board wouldn’t make the same mistake, they wouldn’t let me come back this time. But I wasn’t planning on going either.
With my arms wide, I welcomed them all. My body smacked on the ground, eyes closed as the cold layer expanded, covering me, and protecting me while hurting those who dared to touch me.
I was the monster of their nightmares, and the thought made me smile. There was nothing for me to do, other than take what they threw at me, what came back to them tenfold.
Their fur turned into icy strings, their skin followed, and the eerie silence from earlier, that small sense of peace they had before their death was gone, and now the air was filled with their howls, their agonizing screams.
As I rose, as the dead bodies fell to the frozen ground, some tried to escape, but I didn’t need to be a hunter wolf to claim my targets.
“Such a shame,” I whispered as I lunged for the two closest. Peeling their frozen skin from their bones, watching the life leave their bodies until they were nothing more than a bag of meat and blood.
This all made me realize that Logan might not be the craziest of us, and that alone made my smile widen.
I had a second of fear in the last few days, fearing I might lose authority over my wolf, as had happened in the past, but now, with this, it only showed my control.
The stench of blood surrounded me, and whispers hid behind the trees as the sun had done hours ago. The whispers were begging for mercy, begging the moon goddess to save them from my wrath.
“I think you are praying to the wrong person,” I laughed, moving closer to the last remaining heartbeat.
