27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

N one of them had lowered their gazes or shown any other deference to his rank as their King. They were openly challenging him.

He'd suffered from his guilt for weeks. Slaughtering the people who killed his pack members hadn't been enough; he should have tried to make amends. But their whispers about him and Layla had held him back.

And his guilt was holding him back now.

Though Cain was still on alert, even he recognised a wounded animal and the need to grieve. The woman who demanded he give Layla to them was projecting as much pain as most of them. Zach had used their vulnerabilities to get them on his side, like the asshole he was.

His declaration didn't scare him as much as the emotions his pack members were projecting. The amount of pain they were in was enough to tip them over into doing anything to make it go away.

"You'll never be Alpha, Zach. You're too much of a coward and dick to fit into that role. There's a Beta and a Gamma, and all the pack warriors who would do the job better before anyone even considers you," he pointed out.

"And yet I'm the one who's been comforting them in their time of need. I'm the one who's been checking up on them," Zach growled, his fake demeanour fading as his real nature showed through.

"And where were you?" a man behind him asked. He was one of the people that Zach had turned long before Layla had arrived. He had done Zach's bidding and planted seeds in people's heads. "Playing house with a human while everything burned around you."

His words caused the desired effect. The grieving pack members' anger rose as they looked for anybody to blame. It was part of the grieving process that he couldn't fault them for.

"I admit I have been less than I should have been," he said. "In the future, maybe you will understand why, but I never abandoned any of you. The pack that attacked was all bolstered by dark magic; they would have attacked even if I'd been here."

"They wouldn't have attacked if you hadn't killed their Alpha. The Circle was right," Zach said. "It doesn't matter now because we've made our stand."

Zach was right about one thing. All of this was happening because of him. Because of the witch's vendetta against him and her need to see him suffer before he died. The pack had a monster for a King, and they were paying the price for his sins.

But he couldn't let them hurt Layla. He had chosen her over the pack before and knew he would choose her again even though she didn't understand what she had done to him.

"Even if your human tries to drive away, we own these woods. She will be dead before we have our breakfast," Zach sneered as he stepped back.

That smirk returned to the older wolf's face, and he knew his time was up to convince anybody. There was nothing that he could say that would make the situation better.

"Get them," Zach ordered.

Several wolves came forward at once to circle him and the car. He could see a considerable number of his pack outside the carport and sense even more of them surrounding the house. And he saw a few children on the grounds in front of the house. Young boys and girls watching the proceedings, their fear more than the adults.

They had already seen enough death when they had been attacked. He couldn't let them see anymore.

"Do you know what the she-wolf you banished into the woods said?" Zach asked.

It was a distraction tactic to give the other wolves an advantage. They all knew he could take on all of them at once if he had to, but he was sure their grief, mixed with the fear of the Circle's retaliation, was bolstering them,

"No. What did she say, Zach?"

"It's Alpha," Zach growled.

"Oh, that will never happen. But please, carry on. I'm sure you're dying to tell me the real reason you're using the pack's grief to gain a position you've coveted even when my father was the Alpha."

"Your father was a demented man who ran the pack to the ground with his constant raids and wars," Zach snarled.

"True. That's why I had to kill him."

"And you're just like him!" Zach spat out. "A rogue has bewitched you, and now the pack faces extinction. That she-wolf saw it with her own eyes. Your human is not normal."

"Rogue or human? You have to make up your mind," he said.

He kept his senses on the wolves that were going to attack him and the ones set to get Layla. And he kept his senses on Layla. Her fear was growing with each word that Zach spoke. If she let her emotions get the better of her, she would reveal her nature to everyone. And then it wouldn't matter if she got away today or not. The moment he died, they would kill her for being an abomination.

He looked at the woman who'd lost her family.

"I'm sorry, Gina. I avenged your parents, but I will make amends to you," he promised.

"You will make amends by dying and ending all of this today," Zach snarled, pushing Gina out of the way. "I said get them. Everyone is dead because of them. We were happy and free before the human came."

Gina was the first to move. She came at him so quickly that he would have been impressed if he wasn't so guilt-ridden. She punched him so hard his head snapped sideways, and he caught a scent of his blood.

"They were all I had left," the woman screamed as she shoved him.

Cain didn't react. His beast felt all the emotions between the bonds magnified but he took all of it without complaint.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

The other wolves came closer while the others tried to open the car doors.

"She hasn't done anything wrong. Take it out on me," he urged them.

"Oh, they will," Zach laughed as another punch caught him on the other side of his face.

"We trusted you!"

"They will never come back to us!"

"Our children were never meant to go through the same things your father put us through!"

All true. He took every hit in silence and hoped their anger would pass before they got to Layla. Neither he nor Cain would let that happen. He didn't want to hurt his pack anymore, but there would be no other option if they put a hand on Layla.

And through all the punches and kicks, he heard Layla's sniffles in the car. He heard her call for them to stop hurting him. He heard her pound on the windows, screaming.

"Stay in the car, Layla. I'm okay," he grunted as he spat some blood out of his mouth.

"No, you're not okay," Zach laughed.

His right-hand man dragged over a heavy barrel from the driveway and tipped it at his feet. Large silver chains spilt out and landed on his bare feet. He pulled away out of habit and looked up at Zach.

So this was how they meant to contain him? Had they not figured it out yet? When he'd had to defend himself against his father the day he'd ended Richard's life, had they not realised that silver hadn't worked then either?

The pack members continued to assault him while others tried to break the car's windows. It was a bulletproof, armoured truck he'd commissioned to withstand most attacks because of the constant threat of Hunters. It would hold long enough for the pack's anger to fizzle out. Despite all their anger and frustrations, they were still wolves. Their wolves still recognised him as their Alpha even if they didn't want him.

Maybe it was a good thing this was happening. It was like a cleansing of sorts. Perhaps they could then grieve together and learn to move on.

He was lost in this thought when he felt a blow sharper than any other at the side of his head. Blood started to drip into his eyes as he staggered back into the car. Zach's right-hand man wore rubber gloves and wrapped the silver chains around his huge fist.

It was apparent the man wanted him dead as much as Zach did. He must have realised that their failure would mean death.

He was about to push himself off the car to defend himself when the door opened, and Layla got out.

"Stop!" she screamed as she rushed over to stand in front of him.

No!

He'd told her to stay in the car!

For the first time since he'd told her they had to leave, he felt fear stab through him.

The pack members, hungry for revenge, grabbed Layla and tried to pull her away from him. He pulled her to his body and flipped them around against the car so he could use his body as a shield.

"What have you done?" he hissed.

Everything had changed now. He was going to have to defend his mate against the rest of the people he had sworn to protect.

His mate trembled, and her fear coloured the air, but as she touched the blood on his face, he realised that she wasn't thinking of herself. He would have been fucking murderous if the tables were turned and he'd had to watch her getting beaten up. She couldn't help their bond any more than he could. It had forced her to come out to protect him.

He should have told her to close her eyes. Fuck.

Her hand shook as she looked at the blood on her fingers. The metallic scent of his blood filled his nose.

Not just his blood. He sniffed the air, and his brows furrowed as he looked at the woman in front of him. And then he took a step back and lowered his gaze, hoping against hope that he was wrong.

But he wasn't.

There was a red stain between her legs.