Page 45 of The Curse of Monsters

Lyr had warned us about the alliance between the wolves and Warrick, but the sight of it still made me want to rage. I had no problem tearing apart the outliers, but the wolves…? I let out a long breath through my nose.If they try to stop me from getting to Raine, they’ve made their choice.

“If Lyr’s intel is correct, the mansion is mostly empty,” Darian said quietly. “But it’ll still be a fight for us to get through those doors.”

Asher flexed his back and tightened his grip on the axes in his hands. Lyr and her mates had armed Darian, Locke, and Asher to the teeth, but I opted to rely on my stronger wolf form.

“Don’t know ’bout you, but the fight couldn’t come soon enough,” Asher groused. “How long do we have to wait? Who knows what Warrick is doin’ to Raine in there, and I’m lookin’ forward to seein’ the vampire’s head roll.”

“Any moment now,” Darian assured him. “We must wait for the signal.”

I still wasn’t entirely sure why the tiger shifter and her mates were helping us, but I couldn’t worry about it now. A loud bang followed by a chorus of shouts and howls came from the left side of the mansion, and that was our cue.

As the outliers and wolves ran to fight Lyr and her mates from the side entrance, we sprang into action. Leaving the cover of the small house we were in, I sprinted toward the iron gate, my powerful body flying over the cobblestones. Asher and Darian sped after me, but I didn’t wait for them as I bunched my haunches, leaping clear over the gate and landing with a thud as my large paws connected with dead grass. Half a dozen outliers still guarded this side of the building, and the beasts screeched and lumbered toward me. I snarled and lunged for the closest outlier, my jaws closing around its meaty arm. Before I could tear the limb from its socket, another outlier grabbed hold of my tail, throwing me back toward the gate, and I dug my paws into the ground as I landed, maintaining my balance.

Darian and Asher dropped down on either side of me, the pair of them crouching low, and we fought off the outliers. We’d only managed to bring them down when six more outliers streamed out of the mansion.

“So much for the buildin’ bein’ empty,” Asher commented grimly as the three of us ran to attack the monsters. Darian spun and lunged, using his speed and agility to carve his sword into the outliers, and Asher cleaved into them with brute force, his strength an even match with the giant beasts. I tore my teeth into the creatures, ripping limbs and shredding throats.

A body fell from the roof, bones cracking as the limp outlier slammed into the stone steps at the front of the mansion, and I looked up, expecting to see Locke standing at the edge of the rooftop. In the moment of distraction, an outlier lifted me off my feet, a clawed hand wrapping around my furry neck and squeezing.

I jerked my head from side to side, trying to work myself free as the outlier opened its huge toothy mouth, ready to swallow my head whole. Swinging my body, I lifted my hind legs, scraping my paws down the outlier’s abdomen and letting my claws slide in deep, cutting through flesh. The outlier snapped its mouth shut, and its hold on me loosened. I slipped from its grasp, falling to the ground before lunging and tearing the beast apart.

As I tossed the outlier’s head away, the pain in my chest intensified like acid was eating its way to my heart, and I growled and slavered, driven wild by the physical reminder that Raine needed me.

“Get her!” Asher roared from somewhere behind me, and I twisted my head back. Outliers and wolves circled around Asher and Darian as the duo fought back-to-back, their blades gleaming in the moonlight. My demon brother sank an ax into an outlier’s throat, and his gaze locked onto mine. “We’ve got this!” he shouted, but he grunted when a wolf sank its teeth into his right leg. I’d foolishly hoped that when it came to it, the wolves wouldn’t fight us, but they moved alongside the outliers, not holding back.

I hesitated, my gaze sliding to Darian, who took down another outlier. “Go, Kade!” the siren yelled, and as the pain in my chest increased, it was all the encouragement I needed.

Shooting forward, I aimed for the door of the mansion, but three wolves darted from the side, moving into my path. Kasey, Tristan, and Zacal faced me in their shifted forms as heavy rain started falling from the sky, soaking into my fur, and running into my eyes. I growled a warning at the wolves and curled my lips to expose my fangs, but they only snarled back at me, their snouts wrinkled and bodies taut. Zacal stood ahead of the others, asserting his dominance, but I wasn’t willing to submit to the inferior wolf anymore. I wasn’t that same broken wolf, the one so weighed by guilt that I let them take out their anger on me. No, I was an alpha, and nothing and no one was going to stop me from saving Raine.

Straightening my legs, I rose to my full height and filled the air with my dominant scent, then I let my growl build in my throat before the sound crashed through the air. Kasey and Tristan instinctively lowered their heads, but they quickly lifted again, determined to resist me.

I wasn’t willing to give them a second chance. As I charged forward, it took all but a few moments before Kasey and her mate, Tristan, were on the ground, bleeding and bruised but still alive. Zacal was the last wolf before me. I expected him to cower and submit now that it was clear I wasn’t backing down, but his copper eyes glinted. I snarled, ready to dart forward and clamp my jaws onto his throat, but a body crashed into me from the side. Claws raked across my chest as the outlier’s powerful arm sent me sprawling.

Before I could rise, the outlier stood over me, slamming a heavy, clawed foot onto the side of my rib cage and pressing down, holding me in place.

Zacal shifted then, his body molding and changing as he stalked toward me until it wasn’t a wolf but a male in human form standing a short distance away. He smirked smugly as he peered down at me, a self-satisfied expression on his face.

I scratched my paws against the mud as I tried to lift from the outlier’s foot, but the creature held me still.

“Now there’s the Kade I remember,” Zacal sneered. “The pathetic alpha scrabbling in the dirt without a house or his pack behind him.” Zacal peered over at where Asher and Darian were fighting to get to me, and his smile stretched wider. “Oh, how proud you were to become alpha of the House or Worzel all those years ago, with your grand ideas of family and honor. Your mother doted upon you, and your sister was as fierce as you, all too ready to act as your second. But all it took was the guilt of their deaths and you crumbled, turning your back on the wolves.” He paused then, nodding to the outlier who pressed harder on my chest. I gnashed my jaws, snapping at the air as my ribs came close to breaking.

Zacal’s face hardened. “How I’ve wanted to kill you, but I couldn’t before now. Not when you always submitted, leaving me with no choice but to allow you to keep breathing. But now that Warrick and his outliers rule this city, there’s nothing to stop me.”

His gaze flicked to where Kasey and Tristan lay unmoving, and when he turned back to me, cruelty twisted his face. “Think of it this way. Now you’ll finally get to see your mother and sister.” He cackled at that, and I fantasized about the thousand different ways I could make the wolf suffer.

Kasey blinked her gray eyes open, her bloody muzzle shifting almost imperceptibly as she regained consciousness.

Zacal’s laugh died off, turning to a snarl, and he continued, “Oh, you signed your death notice the moment you took over as alpha of the house, eager and brimming with possibilities. I knew my goals didn’t align with yours. You would have found a way to push me from the pack and drive me to one of the lower houses, and I couldn’t allow that. I’ll admit it has been bothering me that you didn’t know the true reason for your grand fall from power.” Zacal laughed. “I guess now that you’re about to die it’s only fitting that you know I’m the one who pulled you from that pedestal the wolves put you on.

“Oh yes, when Warrick approached me with an opportunity, I was all ears. It seemed your sister had learned of his early experiments to create the outliers, and she had plans to find you that night and share the information. Instead, Warrick unleashed one of his creatures, and we silenced your sister and the other wolves who witnessed the event, including your mother.”

I growled, anger coursing through me at Zacal’s admission, but he shrugged as if he felt no remorse for the wolves.

“Warrick had little control over the outliers back then, so there was more bloodshed than expected, but the end result was as intended. Warrick destroyed the outlier and disposed of its body, and all I had to do was spin some tale about the fae attacking and disappearing back to the fae realm, and you were crushed by the guilt of their deaths. I didn’t even need to call in my favor with Warrick to have you expelled from the pack. You can imagine my delight when you stepped down of your own accord, leaving me to take over the house.”

My nostrils flared as I pawed furiously at the muddy ground, snapping and growling as the rain pelted down on us.It wasn’t the fae. Zacal and Warrick are responsible for the deaths of my family and the other wolves.It was a fucking planned attack.The truth settled into my bones, and I howled in both anger and anguish.

Zacal signaled to the outlier, and the creature reached for me, its clawed hands aiming for either side of my head. Before it grabbed my fur, a silvery gray blur slammed into the outlier, pushing it off me. Kasey growled as she sank her teeth into the outlier’s shoulder, and I was up in an instant.