35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

W hen Jackson sensed the danger approaching, he assumed the Circle had finally come to get their revenge.

But when he shifted, he sensed the more ominous scent of death. This was the witch's doing. Had she come to fight him herself this time? The magic felt a lot stronger than it usually was.

He was already at the main gates when the warriors on lookout duty sent the alert of intruders approaching. Plural. More than one. And yet all he could sense was the dark magic as a large, single entity.

The guard opened the gate for him and then closed it while his warriors started to assemble and prepare for the attack. He didn't want to waste any time. If they breached his boundaries, he would lose more people. He would fail his pack again; he couldn't allow that to happen.

But the scent of death was around his whole territory. They had somehow surrounded them, and he hadn't noticed.

What the fuck was going on?

‘Stay inside and defend the boundaries. Concentrate on the areas that were easily breached last time,' he ordered through the pack link.

‘Jax! You can't fight them by yourself!' Dylan said.

‘Take care of Layla and my pup,' he ordered before he cut the link off.

He couldn't afford any distractions. This group was much bigger than Kendrick's pack, and the magic around them could only mean one thing. The witch had been busy taking control of more wolves.

Cain growled and started running through the forest. The animals that lived in it had already disappeared, having sensed the danger approaching. He had heard how quiet it had become when he'd been walking with Layla. He should have investigated immediately.

But there was no time for regrets now. The further Cain ran, the darker it became. Daylight didn't reach many parts of the forest, which was why the humans stayed out of it. In that darkness, he started to sense the approaching wolves. They were moving fast and approaching the perimeter of his land as a well-oiled unit, confirming that the witch had indeed built another army.

How was he supposed to defeat an enemy that stayed hidden? Was he meant to slaughter all the wolves she hexed?

A group of wolves broke off from the rest and made a beeline in his direction. It was the moment he realised that these were not like before. They had already sensed him before he could attack them, even though he was still far from them. They were stronger than the last ones.

But Cain didn't stop running. His wolf's rage was different this time. It was laced with fear for Layla and their unborn child. It consumed him instantly as the red haze bled into his vision with a force greater than before. But he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that it still wouldn't be enough.

Something flew at him from behind. He dodged and watched a brown wolf barrel into a tree trunk, missing him by just a few centimetres. The last time one of those things had managed to take a bite of him, he'd almost died. And now he had several of the monsters surrounding him.

How had he not sensed that before? Had the witch learned to mask them better?

Dread filled his stomach as he thought of what that meant for him and his pack. If more wolves were hiding in the forest, they would overrun his territory, and there was nothing any of them could do about it.

Another wolf flew at him from the side. He intercepted the rabid wolf and clamped down on its neck, snapping it before he threw the body at another wolf. They were all smaller than him, but they had no fear. They came at him from every direction, snapping their jaws relentlessly.

‘Show them who we are,' he urged Cain.

Cain growled and lowered his head. He inhaled, and the scent of blood from the dead wolf filled him, bringing to life the side of him that he kept hidden. Cain's hunger for destruction was unparalleled. Bloodlust made his teeth ache as he launched himself into the growing circle of wolves. His bloodlust had brought him the curse, and it would be the bloodlust that would end it.

He knew that now. There would be no redemption for his soul. Only a monster could make sure Layla and his child survived.

Limbs flew in every direction as Cain defended them. And with every drop of blood he spilt, he grew stronger. Hungrier. His teeth sunk into flesh as if it were butter. In the back of his mind, he knew the wolves were innocent, just as the rest of them had been, but they were just husks of themselves now. They would have died the moment the witch got them because there was no sign of life behind their dead eyes.

It was what he told himself as he took life after life.

As he soaked the ground with the blood of his enemies.

The small group of wolves around him took longer than he expected to get rid of, but when he was finished, he realised maybe that had been their plan. They had been a distraction. The other wolves had already run past him and were at his boundary.

He didn't waste another second. He raced back to his boundary and started to attack them from behind. But they were as relentless in their need to fulfil their objectives as the other wolves had been. He guessed these hexed wolves had been sent to kill his pack, not play mind games like the rogues who had claimed Layla was one of them.

There were just too many of them. Whichever way he looked at it, people were going to die. He wouldn't be able to save everyone. He could already hear the children screaming in his pack.

He'd just thrown another lifeless wolf aside when he felt teeth clamping down on his thigh. A howl of pain left his lips before he could stop it.

Despite knowing they were outnumbered, he had become too cocky, too overconfident in his strengths. He had forgotten how easily that had snuck up on him the first time.

He gritted his teeth and turned back to see a giant black wolf preparing to rip his leg off, and his heart almost stopped when he realised this wolf could do it. He knew this wolf. Alpha Braxton. The wolf who preferred to keep to himself and stay out of anyone else's business.

The biggest Alpha out of all the Alphas in his territory and the strongest.

He ignored the pain in his leg as he twisted his body to snap at the wolf. Brax sunk his teeth deeper and shook his head like a dog with a bone. He heard his bone snap and excruciating pain radiated through his whole body. And worse still, he could feel the dark magic already infecting his blood.

He snapped at the wolf again. And surprisingly, Brax let go of him and stepped back. Maybe that had been his order. To infect the Alpha King and then sit back and make sure he died this time.

The magic started to burn through him, forcing him to shift back into his human form. It felt nothing like before. It was much worse, as if the witch had thrown everything at him. He fell to his good knee and looked down at the blood pouring from the wound on his broken leg briefly before looking at the wolf that was now a lot bigger than him in this form.

But something occurred to him as the black wolf bared his teeth and lowered his head, ready to attack. He was still the Alpha King. He was at the top of the food chain. Did it still count on a wolf that was hexed? It was the only choice he had now.

"Shift!" he growled.

There was a flicker in the wolf's eyes before his body started to morph and change. His bones cracked, and his fur receded. Moments later, Alpha Brax lay naked before him, throwing his guts up on the ground. He had welts that criss-crossed his back, which could only mean the witch had had to subdue the black wolf with a lot of silver to make him submit to her like this.

"Your Majesty..." Brax gasped.

Brax sounded like himself. The stench of death around him was weaker, like maybe the witch's spell hadn't been strong enough to hold him. He couldn't get closer to check his theory. The wound on his thigh wasn't closing, and his bone was sticking out. The loss of blood was making him weaker. He had to act now.

He opened up his senses to reach the attacking wolves and growled. The sound was low, but it came from the darkness deep within him and caught all the wolves.

"Shift!" he shouted, and the command ripped through the forest.

He had never done that on such a large scale and had no idea if it would work, but they had already breached his land. Layla was in danger. It was his only hope.

As Braxton sat up, he heard the other wolves begin to whine as the forced shift caused them pain. He heard their bones cracking and reforming as hundreds of wolves started shifting in unison.

And then there was silence in the forest.

Complete silence.

He felt for his bond with Layla, and only when he felt it burning brightly did he allow himself to lie down and close his eyes.