Page 39

GRAHAM

Screams echoed deep in the woods. Blood curdling screams heard in nightmares. The wet thud was accompanied by a snarl. I’d not wanted to leave Violet, but she’d begged me to check on Simon, and I couldn’t deny her sweet plea.

I padded up the incline as the land evened out. With each step closer to the sounds, the smell of blood thickened in the air. Another scream ripped through the forest. I came upon Simon slicing his thick claws into a woman’s throat.

She flopped on her side, landing on another dead male.

This was a massacre. Blood stained every surrounding tree in the clearing. A puddle of blood bloomed beneath the dead bodies, spreading and seeping into the patches of grass. Simon stood in his third form, panting raggedly. His head slightly turned. He’d heard me arrive.

A thick copper scent coated the clearing, like I’d slammed into a wall. I shifted into my human form.

“What the fuck, Whitlock?” I snarled.

He looked at me with an unholy light in his gaze. Pure rage glistened in them. He peeled back his muzzle and bared his teeth at me.

Three, five, six bodies littered the clearing.

“I planned to take you out after your mating ceremony.”

I stiffened.

Take me out. I fucking knew he couldn’t be trusted.

“I would have killed you without a second thought.” My body shuddered and fur exploded from my body. He wouldn’t have the chance to catch me off guard. I lowered my head, sneering. “That was before.”

“Before?” I mocked, gutturally.

“We have something more important to take care of.” He wiped his claws on his fur. “Our mate.” The mention of Violet calmed the rage coursing through my veins.

“And this?” I scanned the dead.

“They are the ones that had family killed by you and your pack. Their hate festered and I encouraged it.”

Unbelievable.

“That’s not all,” I accused, cocking my head. Whitlock grunted.

“Sebastian, one of your pack enforcers, he was an informant of mine.”

A traitor in my pack? Violence vibrated through my limbs. Simon managed to infiltrate my pack.

I wouldn’t have guessed any of my wolves would stab me in the back.

“I can’t risk my—our,” he gritted out, “Female.” His body shuddered and he turned back into his human form. Blood covered him from head to toe.

He was far from innocent, I never trusted him, but I’d believed he’d been genuinely attempting to put the issues behind us. All lies. If we went at each other’s throats right now, it could potentially leave Violet without protection. There had already been an attack against her. The cunt we’d killed had likely been another one of his pawns against me and it’d caught up to him. My mate apologized to this fucker for ‘the woman he loved’. I could have told her that he’d never had the capacity to love anyone before her. He’d been too fucked in the head.

I grappled with my anger. My mate’s face came to mind. “I will give in and be second to you.” The words seemed dragged out of him. He was relinquishing, no, submitting to me. I shifted back into my human form for a clear mind.

“And you will do as I say. My decision is law?”

“Yes.” He sneered.

The dead bodies littering the ground seemed to take on a different meaning. Symbolic. With us on the same page, no one would ever lay a finger on our sweet Violet.

“Fine,” I finally said.

Simon nodded once. He crouched and grabbed the ankle of one of the dead bodies and dragged it to the pile with five other corpses.

Yips and howls echoed from a short distance.

“I called a meeting,” he said, turning and striding through the brush. I followed, but stopped shy of stepping out into the crowd shuffling into the cabin-style building. As soon as Whitlock stepped into view, a hush came over his pack.

A mix of trepidation and nervousness. He disappeared into the wooden structure. A sharp howl erupted from inside.

“Many things will change in our pack,” Whitlock bellowed.

He would handle things here, but I needed to eradicate the traitor in my pack before I returned to my mate’s side. I shifted into my wolf form and took off at a sprint.