Page 73 of Hexy Beast

Instead of my number two, though, two burly pack members walk out of the alley behind the Main Street shops.

“There’s no bluff, Darius,” Nikos says from some shadows close by without emerging. “You never should have been alpha.”

The two werewolves rush me at the same time. I dodge one’s wild swipe while sweeping the leg of the other. He goes down but pops back up, and they both come at me again. I take a sucker punch to the kidneys before delivering an uppercut that sends one werewolf flying back into the brick facade of the Charming Revenge shop. The other werewolf hesitates just long enough for me to deliver a barrage of body shots followed by a right hook that leaves him in a crumpled ball in the middle of Main Street.

I’m barely breathing hard, but there’s something tight pinching my lungs, and it takes me a second to place it. Standing over the fallen werewolf, I scent the air. My wolf rears back. This man, my pack member, stinks of the Council just like the werewolves acting as Kyle’s guards.

“You know, the thing I’m going to enjoy most about becoming the Aetos pack’s alpha is getting rid of all the weaklings like these two,” Nikos says as he walks out from the alley. “I’m tired of having to do absolutely everything myself.”

Since Nikos hightailed it out of the woods, he’s had time to heal his injuries from our fight earlier. He’s no longer limping or favoring his left side. However, even with our shifter speedy recovery, there should still be some bruises or other signs of our brawl.

But there’s not.

Nikos doesn’t just look relaxed and carefree as if he’s just gotten back from a week at Myrtle Beach minus the sunburn. He looks bigger. Taller. More muscular. Heavier in the way of a boxer who’s gone up a weight class after spending twenty-nine hours a day in the gym. This isn’t just shifter recovery. This is some kind of a magic boost from the Council witches.

My wolf senses the difference too. He tenses and the fur on his back goes into mohawk mode as he emits a low, dangerous growl.

The stench of the Council on pack members, the extra healing power Nikos is exhibiting: It can only mean one thing. The rot in my pack is deeper than I knew, and like an idiot, I’ve missed it until now, too concerned with keeping my distance to keep the others safe rather than actually paying attention to their needs.

“What have you done, Nikos?”

“Me?” he asks with an unhinged smile as he strolls over to the opposite side of Main Street, the body of the knocked-out werewolf between us. “I’m not the alpha. This is all because of you—because you’re weak. You gave them votes. You listened to their opinions. All they want is someone strong enough to tell them what to do.”

As much as I hate to admit it, there may be a line of truth interwoven in all that bullshit—but only a thin line. “If that’s the case, then why did the Council witches have to spell them?”

He rolls his head from side to side as he loosens up for the battle we both know is about to go down. “Because you were too weak to stop it.”

Shame burns through me like I just swallowed all the contents of a five-gallon gas can. Some fucking alpha I turned out to be. No, I may not have bent the pack to my whims like my dad and my grandma, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been good for them. I’ve been just as bad if not worse if this is what I’ve let happen.

I already knew this was likely to be a suicide mission, but before this asshole takes me out, I’m going to fix what I fucked up.

With one last look at Aunt Artemis, who’s gone into full oracle mode even though she’s still tied up, I tap into the part of myself I’ve always kept on lockdown until Effie. I don’t just loosen my hold on my wolf’s leash, I let go completely, and in the same instant, I send out my alpha power to break my pack members free.

As the spelled-up Nikos launches at me, I brace for the hit, knowing all I have to do is stay on my feet long enough for my pack members to be freed.

Keeping Nikos distracted from what I’m really doing by taking a series of hard body blows, I focus my concentration on unleashing my power and letting it snake out through Arcadia’s twisting streets and curving lanes. He lands an uppercut to my chin that fills my mouth with the metallic taste of my own blood, but I manage to stay upright as my power finds one werewolf after another and yanks away the last vestiges of the Council’s control spell over them.

Nikos lands a haymaker that makes my teeth rattle. “Did you really think you could walk away from this without a scratch?”

The cocky, dumb bastard really thinks he’s just kicking my ass because I can’t fight him, not because I’m keeping him busy until my mission is complete.

I shake off that last head shot. “I never thought I’d walk away from this at all, but neither will you.”

“That’s some promise from a guy who can barely stand,” Nikos says with a grin. “Especially when the only thing bloodied on me are my knuckles from beating your ass.”

I roll my shoulders before bracing for another series of shots while my power finishes up. “There you go, only looking at the little piece of the big picture that directly involves you again.”

That makes him ease up for a second. “What are you talking about?”

I stand back and watch him try to work it out as my power comes back into me, depleted and sore, but still there.

“I know the feeling, man,” I tell my wolf as he rubs his head against me.

Knowing half of what I came here to do is done, I grin at Nikos, letting him know just how fucked he is without saying a word. “Call your werewolves, the ones the Council helped you spell.”

Nikos stiffens, a worried look making his face all pinched. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. They support me because I should be the alpha, not you, and everyone knows that.”

“A few, maybe,” I concede as I spit out a mouthful of blood and a broken tooth. “But not most of them. It was your lies and the Council’s magic that put them under your control.”