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“Your Alpha,” Ox said, voice deadly calm, “has sent hunters. Into our territory. To take out our pack.”
The female witch bristled. “They are under strict orders to only handle the infected Omegas—”
“And you really think that’s where they’ll stop?” Joe asked coolly. “Don’t you have any idea who they are? They came once. They killed my grandfather. They killed children. You think they’re going to stop at two wolves?”
The woman turned to Dale, eyes wide. “She sent in the Kings? Dale, what on earth is she—”
“She knows what she’s doing,” Dale snapped, and the woman fell silent. He looked at Ox. “They won’t hurt anyone else.”
And I said, “They’ve already killed a human cop.”
“Shit,” one of the other witches muttered. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
Dale looked tense. “If there was a reason—”
Joe wasn’t having any of it. “The reason was that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They murdered him. They spilled innocent blood, and that’s on your Alpha. His death is on her hands.”
“Dale,” Mark begged, and Christ, I hated hearing it. “Listen to me. Please. If there was any part of you that cared about me, you need to let them out. My pack. Leave Carter and me here, fine. But you need to get everyone else out of here.”
“Yeah,” I said, taking a step toward the wards. “Open up the wards. Come on. You cared about him, right? Do it. See what happens.”
“Gordo,” Mark said.
“No,” I retorted. “Absolutely not. You really think I’d leave you here by yourself? Fuck that, and fuck you.” I turned back to Dale. “Open it up. Do it now. If you do, I’ll give you a head start. If you don’t and I get out of here, you’re not going to like what I do.” I looked at the other witches behind him. “That counts for all of you. You think this can hold me? It might take me some time, but I’m a Livingstone in Bennett territory. I will get out. And there is nowhere you can run that I won’t find you.”
For a moment I thought one of the witches would break. The men looked worried, the woman fearful.
But in the end, it was Dale who stepped forward.
Mere inches separated us, but they were filled with a wall of magic. I could see the wards clear as day. I could see the magic they used, the swirling archaic symbols that were lock and key.
“You know what must be done,” h
e said quietly, though he had to have known all the wolves could hear him. “The infection will be contained.”
“And you think that if we do as you ask, if we just… kill Mark and Carter, that this will all be over? You can’t possibly be that stupid.”
He glanced over my shoulder, then looked back at me. “It could be. My Alpha is not the monster you make her out to be.”
I laughed bitterly. “She aligned herself with the hunter clan that murdered most of the Bennett pack. The same clan that killed children. And then she sent them here. If you don’t think that makes her a monster, then you’ve got some seriously fucked-up morals, my friend.”
He wasn’t fazed. “She has given the Bennett pack ample warning. This isn’t on her. This is on all of you.”
“We have Pappas. I will kill him as soon as we get back to the house.”
“Alpha Hughes is aware that Philip Pappas is lost to her. It’s regrettable, but casualties always are.”
I slammed my hands against the wards. My tattoos felt like they were burning. Dale barely blinked. “I’ll kill you. I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Empty threats, I’m afraid,” Dale said. “The wards will hold—”
Mark said, “If you promise me that everyone else will be safe, I’ll come with you right now. I won’t fight, I swear I won’t fight,” and I said, “You shut your goddamn mouth. I won’t let you, I won’t let you.”
Mark looked at me with sad eyes. “Gordo. It’s—”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m goddamn sick and tired of the fucking martyrs in this pack.”
“That’s rich coming from you,” Mark said, taking a step toward me. He winced as he got closer to the wards. “But if it means—”
