Chapter 16 - Kiara

The fact that Harvey was even well enough to hold a meeting the following evening was a shock to me and to everyone else in the pack. None of the cabins were big enough to hold all 20 members, so we had to sit outside in the backyard beside a bonfire that Kirk and Shiloh had built. The two battered each other every chance they could get, and though it appeared like they were constantly fighting to anyone on the outside, I was aware of the friendly banter between them, the smirks and the laughs. Everyone seemed to be in better spirits. There didn”t seem to be so much of an imminent threat hanging over their heads, and it was just a question of what was going to happen next.

That was the whole point of the meeting and the conversation I had with Harvey last night—about what exactly had led to his demon being defeated. Not only had the demon Cybal left Harvey”s body, but it had completely disintegrated. Clancy had done another magical scan this morning and found that there was absolutely no trace of the evil that had once resided inside Harvey”s body. Since that discovery, Clancy, Harvey, and I spoke about how exactly to address the pack and what we were going to do to rid everyone of their demons.

I didn”t understand the mechanics of how Harvey ran his pack. Having Troy and Blake work alongside each other as two alphas meant that things were run differently where I came from Our combined packs worked together, but this was a singular, very small pack, that was made up of people who intended to follow Harvey to the ends of the earth. Considering the size, this was commendable and amazing to witness.

Every set of eyes rose to meet his, and every hand reached out to hold and shake his hand. The youngest of the group was a 20-year-old named Leroy, who was often considered to be a child because of the immature jokes he made. Even so, he had managed to calm down from being too hyperactive before the meeting began.

Though the wind threatened to knock out the fire, the flames burst with life every time the wind died down. It seemed to represent the perpetual spirit of the pack in resisting the arrest of demonic forces. Harvey stood on the porch of his cabin, the back porch, which was simply a series of steps—short steps with no banister or railing. While he stood there, Clancy urged everyone to quiet down. Within a few minutes, all eyes were on Harvey. Some eyes were on me as I stood beside him down on the ground level.

Harvey gave a soft smile. “I”m happy to announce that my demon is finally gone.”

Most of the pack had already heard this news, but the ones who hadn”t were shocked—flabbergasted, even. Harvey raised his hands to calm everyone down once again.

“The way we do this is by developing a true mate bond with an unpossessed wolf who accepts the demonic wolf form.”

A few women near the fire huddled inside of their shawls perked up. One of them named Pam, with dirty, brown hair tucked into a loose bun and a plump figure, scoffed.

“Did you forget that some of us are already mated?”

Harvey looked at her sympathetically. “I realize that this is going to be complicated for those who already are bonded together.”

Pam interrupted again. “My Virgil can’t do much, you know. He can”t even stand up to me, let alone his own demon.” Some chuckles surrounded the couple.

The man in question, Virgil, was sitting on the other side of the fire, rolling his eyes and waving his hand. His hair was a platinum blonde with tight curls that clung to his head. Green eyes stared back at us, stared back at me and Harvey, almost defiantly.

“So, unless you”re planning on un-mating us, what do we do?”

Another round of laughs seemed to swell around them. A couple of people, Carrie and Brady, stepped forward. Both of them were clinging to each other.

“Are you seriously going to break the bonds that already exist? Just to have us to be unpossessed, just to exercise our demons?” Carrie asked.

Harvey tried to wave his hands more to stop everyone from going into a frenzy, but there wasn”t a lot he could do. While the questions that they were asking were frustrating, they were important questions.

I turned to Harvey, my brows knitting together. “Unfortunately, I think they have a point. How are you planning to mate people with unpossessed wolves if they already have mates?”

Clancy stepped forward. “I made a list of people who have already been mated. It”s only around two or three couples. A couple of people also have mates that have died or ran off.”

I thought about it for a second and then turned back to the group of people. “I realize this poses a big problem and we intend to solve it as soon as we can.”

Nora gave an excited clap, inviting Sophia and Marjorie to do the same, and then the rest of the women. A very loud applause spread to some of the people around them. But half of the crowd were still unimpressed and I was worried about how to convince them. I was worried about what they would do and how they might react to Harvey”s leadership. He was just freshly exorcised and barely had his head back on his shoulders. He”d only had one night to recover, and that night had been spent intimately on the beach. Was it really smart for him to throw himself into the bullpen when he had barely recovered at all?

Another pack member stepped forward. He had orange hair and brown eyes, and his skin reminded me of multicolored sand.

“Alpha,” he began. “I understand that you”re trying to do the best for us, but I don”t agree with being forced to marry anybody.”

Harvey stepped down to ground level. “We”re not forcing anyone to get married. It”s simply a mate bond.”

“But that means something,” Kirk argued. He was standing to the left of us, keeping an eye on the crowd while Demarcus and Shiloh kept an eye on the other side of the crowd. Even though it was reportedly safe to be here, they were so paranoid about other packs trying to come after them.

Kirk shoved his hands in his pockets. “I really don”t think there”s anyone out there for me—and how are we going to find anybody anyway? We’re isolated here, and nobody wants to be near us.”

Harvey started to speak just as a couple of others stepped up to talk as well. Leroy and Brady were among the loudest voices—and among the most annoying, if I had to be honest. I didn”t really want to judge anyone, but at the same time, they”re being pretty obtuse about the whole thing. It was a huge deal to discover that their demons could be exorcised at all. Without the original witch around, the one who did the cursing, and without any way to contact them, it was the best option that they had. Some of the members were very keen to hold on to their demons, while the others wanted very much to be exorcised and be in a proper mate bond.

Pam seemed to be leaning toward the side of being into an actual mate bond, which only made Virgil jealous and caused him to yell chaotically. Many more voices rose from the collective pack, a lot of them sounding like the voices I”d heard coming from Harvey the other night when he was still possessed.

Suddenly, there was this terrible cracking sound. The group fell silent. Some of them were sitting, and others were standing. The eyes of those who were standing had turned black. The others seemed like they were trying to get away from what was happening. We were hard-pressed to address the situation as it was unfolding, but it just kept getting more complicated. Clancy drifted close to Harvey and I did the same. The three of us were huddled together with Kirk standing at the edge of the group. Demarcus and Shiloh were on the other side. They didn”t seem like they were defecting or giving into their demons, but we could see that several within the group were doing exactly that.

There was about to be a mutiny on our hands. I could feel it in the air with a terrible chaos that I knew would devolve if we didn”t get a hold of it. I leaned against Harvey, feeling him wrap his arm around me. The way his hand slid up my arm to my shoulder and then to the back of my neck told me that he would always protect me, no matter what happened. I was worried about him, too. I was worried about him not having a proper bite mark on his neck. I wanted to do it now to showcase the strength of our bond in front of the rest of them. But there wasn”t much time for that as one of the members, who was bulky, muscular, and as tall as a skyscraper descended upon some of the others.

People knocked over chairs, were knocked over themselves, or ran off. Some of them remained and clashed with each other. Another terrible cracking sound seemed to split the earth into two, revealing a horrifying underbelly to the situation that we hadn”t considered—that many of these people had demons that could change them into demon wolves. In their demon wolf forms, they could wreak havoc. I kicked myself for not having thought of this before and I could feel the same energy coming from Harvey and Clancy. The two of them remained relatively calm, despite the circumstances.

Clancy darted forward to try to break up some of the fights. Shiloh and Demarcus were hard at work on the other side as well. Harvey dove forward, but I felt that he was wasting his time. No offense to him, but if the other members of the pack didn”t want to be saved or didn”t want to be properly mated, then they needed to be left behind because they were just holding the rest of the pack back.

I grabbed Harvey”s arm to stop him. “You need to let them go.”

He stared at me aghast. “Are you serious right now?”

“We really just need to let them fight and see who”s left standing.”

He blinked. “Have you been possessed?”

I shook my head and then released him as I stepped back. I looked to the chaotic crowd that resembled an uncontrollable mosh pit that I knew would turn bloody if something wasn”t done soon, which is why I suggested to Harvey to let the people fight it out.

I stared back at him with a deep frown. “I don”t know. I don”t think I”m possessed.”

He touched my forehead. “You”re warm. Maybe you just need to lie down.”

I pointed over his shoulder. “Well, we have bigger fish to fry right now.

He turned back around to face the members who were fighting. There was so much going on that it was hard to pinpoint who was doing what and why. The members’ wolf forms were all blending into each other in the great night, and as someone who wasn”t possessed—or hopefully wasn”t—I wasn”t sure I was strong enough to face these people. I wasn”t sure Harvey would be strong enough either without his demonic form. All of this had started with me accepting his dark side. What if I tried to do the same thing with everybody else? Would that be enough? I didn”t have time to think of the alternatives.

I didn”t have time to try anything, because the biggest member of the pack, in his demonic wolf form, opened his jaws, and snapped them around Leroy’s neck.