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CHAPTER FOUR

STONE

“Eshe is Zuri’s sister,” James said to me, jogging to keep up with my pace.

By nightfall, we, along with a couple of other warriors from my pack, had run in our wolf forms all the way back to this shitty town from Durnbone. I slowed my pace when I spotted the restaurant, still bustling, even late into the night.

I had promised to return.

With revenge.

Soft yellow light glowed through the glass windows. I lengthened my nails into sharp claws once more, still feeling the dirt from our run underneath them. I would slaughter every last one of them for what they had done to Zuri.

For what her own sister had done.

Calling her names. Shouting at her in disgust. Attempting to kick her.

And these fuckers were just going to let it happen. The alpha and this pack had no respect for her because if they had, nobody would have been treating her that way. Packs were supposed to be fucking family.

Not bullies.

“I don’t give a fuck who Eshe is to Zuri,” I growled. “Zuri is your new luna and my mate.”

James nodded and looked back to the others. “You know what to do.”

Deciding that I wouldn’t wait any longer, I kicked the door open and stepped into the room, commanding silence. The visitors paused, small murmurs erupting from the back. And then the pack members began running toward the doors before I could say a single word.

They pushed and pulled on the doors and attempted to escape through the windows, but my warriors had barricaded them into the wooden building. We allowed for no escape. A pack like this must be purged.

A flame of fire licked the outskirts of the building, crawling underneath the door and igniting the wooden floorboards. Men and women screamed for mercy, the same ones who had been murmuring about Zuri earlier.

Eshe ran my way. “Alpha Stone, you have to?—”

I snapped my hand around her jaw and smirked at the pathetic woman. “Have to?”

“Get us out of here!”

“We’re going to burn here together.”

“You’re going to burn in here with us?” she cried. “You’ve gone mad!”

“Only those who’ve sinned burn,” I snarled, the heat crawling up my limbs.

“You murdered an alpha this morning, and you’re talking about sin?!”

“A deal with the devil goes a long way.” I smirked. “Burn in Tartarus, bitch.”

I tossed her into the fire. Flames engulfed the room, burning bodies, the roar of the fire louder than the screams of dying wolves. I hoped that nobody in this pack fucking survived. They all deserved to be shit on for the rest of eternity.

Once the building burned to a crisp, I stood in the ashes with the blood of Eshe all over my naked body. A woman sprinted up the walkway to the old, dried-up wooden building that would never be a place where packs could bully my mate again.

“My … my restaurant!” the woman cried, falling to her knees when she reached the pile of ashes that she had once called work . Tears streamed from her cheeks. “What have you done?! I just went out for some asparagus.”

My lips curled into a smirk. “What Zuri should’ve done years ago.”

“Y-you’re …” She opened and closed her mouth, as if choosing her next words carefully.

As if what she said would sway my mind.

“I’m what?” I asked, stepping closer to her. “Insane? Mad? Try again.”

“That’s not what I was going to … to say,” she said. “Please.”

“Please what?”

“Please don’t hurt me.”

Another step toward her. “And why would I do that?”

“I-I’m one of her friends,” she said, backing up with her hands in the air. “I promise. I?—”

I snatched her by the throat, completely engulfed by blind rage, and lifted her into the air. “Sophia Lamb, the owner of this restaurant and the manager of the employees. If you were her friend, you would’ve terminated Zuri’s sister immediately.”

How fake could someone be?

All these people, feeding my mate bullshit and forcing her to believe things about herself that weren’t even close to being true. Once I was done cleaning up this mess, her ex-pack was next because a toxic work environment should never be tolerated by an alpha.

I didn’t give a fuck what pack she belonged to. I would kill her alpha myself.

“I know,” she said, bowing. “She will be fired.”

“She was here, serving tables, when I returned!” I growled through my canines. “She’s already been fired because she’s dead. Because of me. And any attempt to rebuild your little restaurant will cease to exist because of me too.”

“No!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Don’t do it! Please! I have a?—”

Locking one hand to the top of her head and the other to her jaw, I ripped her head from her body and snarled as the headless corpse fell to the ground with a thud. I would do anything for my mate.

Anything.