Page 49 of Wild Games

22

JAX

Dean?I reach through the pack link, desperate for backup.Callum?

Nothing. Just empty silence where their minds should be. The void makes my chest tighten with dread. They’re down. The magic got to them. Whatever Williams is using, that purple mist, it’s strong enough to drop two alpha wolves without a fight.

Which means Camille is alone.

Burying my nose into her scarf, which my wolf insisted we wear like a neckerchief, I pray it does something to help as I burst from the tree-line at full speed. There’s no warning growl and no posturing.

I have no intention of letting him plead his case or try to bullshit his way out. This situation is black and white. They’re hurting my mate and my brother.

There will be no mercy.

I feel the moment our minds align, two halves finally working as one.

My human consciousness doesn’t retreat in fear or battle for control. Instead, I step back, trusting the primal instincts I’vespent so long trying to cage. My wolf pushes forward, not wild or rabid, but laser-focused on what needs to be done.

Protect mate. Kill threats. Bring her home.

I sink into the background of our shared mind, simply an observer to what’s about to happen. For the first time in my life, I’m not broken. We’re whole.

Williams stands twenty feet from Camille, the crystal pulsing in his hand. It glows with a sickly green light that turns the moonlit scene poisonous. Magic rolls off it in waves, thick enough to taste.

“Halt.” Williams’s voice booms across the water, filled with alpha command.

Every wolf is born knowing to submit to an alpha’s order, and in most cases, they have no choice if it comes from their own leader. It’s coded in our DNA, reinforced from birth. An alpha speaks, and lesser wolves obey, generations of pack hierarchy running through our veins, demanding obedience.

Williams is powerful and high-ranking. But he’s not my alpha. Even if he were, I’m not sure it would matter. Years of being abused have broken my wolf’s faith in rankings and learning how to disobey alpha orders is what’s saved his life countless times.

So, while the shouted command hits me in the gut like a punch, my wolf was beaten and battered every day for years as a youngster, and we’ve endured much worse. Nothing will deter him from his mission.

“I saidstop.”

Our steps never falter as Williams’s alpha aura slams into us. My wolf doesn’t even slow down, that is, until I see my mate clearly for the first time.

Camille kneels, body swaying like she’s drunk, in a foot of water. She’s barely staying upright in the shallows, her hands pressing against the rocks for balance, but even that’s failing. AsI watch, her right arm gives out, and she lands awkwardly, barely keeping her head out of the water.

Tanner hovers near her, sweating despite the cool night, and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

Nervous. Feeling guilty even. But it’s too late for remorse now.

Something like confusion flickers across Williams’s face as I continue to charge him down. He’s not used to being disobeyed. Alphas like him never are. Born with power and raised to expect submission, he doesn’t understand that my wolf recognizes nothing but the threat to our mate.

Williams’s eyes widen as he realizes his mistake. He raises the crystal higher, magic pulsing brighter, casting twisted shadows across the stones.

My muscles spasm, nerves firing wrong. The magic wants me down, wants me helpless, but my wolf burns through it in pure rage.

Williams steps back, mouth opening to release another command, or maybe a scream, but it doesn’t matter. He’s too late. We collide with force, and his body folds under our weight, expensive suit tearing as I drive him into the rocky ground. His ribs crack, giving way beneath our mass.

He’s a strong alpha, but he was caught off guard, fully expecting the magic to stop me in my tracks. Had he trusted his wolf instead of some dangerous artifact, he might have stood a chance.

The air leaves his lungs with a pained oof, and his head snaps back, hitting the stone underneath us, hard. The crystal goes flying, its light spinning through the darkness before splashing into the lake, still glowing as it sinks into the shallow water.

My jaws find his throat before he can make another sound. Soft flesh splits apart beneath my teeth like a knife throughbutter. The taste of blood fills my mouth, hot and metallic. I bite deeper, and his windpipe crushes with a wet crunch.

Cartilage tears, and blood vessels rupture, creating a spray that paints the white stones red.