25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

B lood. The scream that died in his throat. The limbs that landed on the roof of their little toy car. The lifeless eyes staring up at him from the ground.

Fin was dead before his magic could flare up to defend him.

He felt the stinging dark magic shackle him from behind and turned to see Alpha Hugo with his eyes black and black veins around them. Soft chants came from his lips and made his invisible shackles tighter. And then, in front of him, Lincoln did the same. The whites of his eyes bled black, and he lifted his palms to start chanting.

He had seen them in action once or twice in his lifetime, but their magic had never been used against him or anyone with his blood. If his father had been alive, he would have told him he'd brought shame to the family name.

But he was fighting for his child's life. Richard King hadn't had a paternal bone in his body, so he wouldn't have understood this. But it was his mate bond that had driven him to madness. That much he would have understood.

The magic increased around him and brought him down to his knees with a painful thud beside part of Finn's body. The air around him started to crackle. He knew what that meant. Lincoln had mastered elemental magic even before he had become part of the Circle. But without the third member of their team, their power was not absolute. They would have to work harder to incapacitate him.

Electric shocks jolted through him and made him roar. His muscles tensed and kept him frozen on the ground. The chanting increased in speed and volume.

"You will not win," Cain growled at Lincoln. "I've taken your third and am about to take your second."

He dug his claws into the tarmac and pushed against the magic. It was supposed to stop him from shifting, but he had never shown his full strength to anyone. His body started to get bigger, his claws longer. Hair formed on his limbs as his face stretched. Panic formed in the air. And more fear. So much fear that it strengthened the beast within him that craved it.

His sweatpants ripped at the seams until they hung by a thread around him.

‘Alpha... please don't.'

But even Dylan's pleas could not pull him back from his rage. The Circle meant to kill him and Layla. If he had done his job as a mate and ensured Layla would be safe, he would have gladly let them take him.

"You will never take what's mine," Cain growled, his voice distorted as he became more animal than man. "My land. My pack. My Layla."

The bigger he got, the easier it was to push against the magic. And when he was fully shifted, he rose to his feet and launched himself at Alpha Lincoln. His huge jaw clamped down on his torso until the man stopped chanting and started screaming.

The magic died down in an instant around him.

"No! Please stop!" Hugo screamed behind him. "Please!"

He bit down a little more. Alpha Lincoln's dark magic-infested blood tasted bitter in his mouth as it dripped to the ground.

"You've made your point!" Hugo screamed again. "You've taken Finn, don't take Lincoln, too. We will leave."

He'd let too many people go lately; Cain hadn't been happy about that. Would the beast listen this time? They were already fucked after this, no matter what he did.

‘They will all descend on my land and avenge their brothers,' Cain growled to him.

‘Yes.'

‘They will kill my pack and Layla, anyway.'

‘Yes.'

"Please, Your Majesty," Hugo whispered as he fell to his knees behind him.

Cain turned to face the Alpha who had stopped attacking him. He'd never seen Hugo less than perfect before, but the man had his friend's blood splattered on his face and clothes, and he'd dropped himself into the blood still flowing down the tarmac.

‘We have to hide Layla,' Cain said.

The red haze that was over his vision faded.

‘There is nowhere to hide," he sighed as his anger faded.

‘She's a red wolf. She can hide anywhere.'

Cain dropped the Alpha that was still in his mouth and stepped back. Hugo immediately rushed to Lincoln's side to put pressure on his wounds. As an Alpha, he would stop bleeding before they even drove through his gates. As an Alpha who'd sold his soul, Lincoln would be as good as new before they left his forest.

Cain retreated, forcing the shift and once again leaving him to deal with the consequences alone. But he had made this decision with Cain. They were his consequences, too.

"I will always protect what's mine," he said.

Hugo looked up, and relief filled his eyes when he realised the beast was gone.

"We have rules... How am I supposed to explain this?" Hugo whispered, gesturing over their deceased friend's remains.

"There is a reason that out of everyone in the Circle, only you and Lincoln are sent to me. You've never challenged me. Perhaps when you get another third, you will teach them not to start a fight he can't win."

Excuses. They were all just excuses. He'd just killed a man; he should have been full of remorse. But his emotions were still mixed with Cain's, still sunk deep in that vortex that he had worked hard to pull himself out of when he had accepted his looming death.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Tell the Circle I will make any reparation necessary. Please take them both and go."

With that, he stepped back and watched Hugo load his friend into the car before he started to deal with Finn. If he had any loved ones, closure would come quicker if they could bury him.

By the time the flashy car sped back up the main street, he could feel the anger and disappointment around him. It was worse than when he hadn't been there to defend them.

There had been people that Zach had been speaking to who had been unsure if they would join him in his mutiny. They were probably sure now.

He started to walk back slowly, his ears and eyes open. There were no whispers, but he was sure hundreds of private conversations were happening in the mind links. He'd made his bed. He'd fucked up. There was only one thing he could do now.

The packhouse gate opened before he approached it, and the warrior inside the gatehouse was a trembling mess, and his emotions mirrored the rest of the pack.

He couldn't blame them. He'd put them all in danger. Again.

No one was left on the grounds and he knew the packhouse was empty before he walked in. The sense of impending doom increased as he went up the stairs. He could hear Layla's heartbeat going faster than it should have, so he knew she had heard it all.

When he opened the door, his mate stood in front of it, eyes wide and hugging herself. Her gaze lowered to his body, and only then did he remember he was naked and covered in blood. But Layla didn't show any fear or recoil from him. She didn't react like the rest of his pack.

But that was because she had no idea who he had killed. She had no idea about his world, but he had thrust her into it anyway. It wouldn't matter now if she left after she gave birth; she would always be on the Circle's radar.

He closed the door and stepped close to her. He lowered his head to her ear and whispered softly enough for any other ears not to pick it up.

"Pack a bag quietly. I fucked up. We have to leave before they kill us."