ALEXANDER
Fury.
It wasnât potent enough to describe what he felt. What drove him.
That damn beta, standing there, acting like he owned the world. Like he was the puppeteer, and he was relishing in the chaos of her life.
He should have torn him apart himself. That night. He shouldnât have let him walk away, he shouldnât have been the bigger person. He didnât deserve it. At least he was smart enough to know he couldnât take on an alpha.
Not without his little tricks. Of course, he would play dirty; heâd proven from the start that he had no integrity.
For someone who despised packs, who portrayed alphas as villains, he had no issue aligning himself with them when it suited him. Now that he had nothing left to lose, he was ready to risk it all. No.
He didnât get to keep taking from others. He didnât get to keep manipulating the story to his advantage.
He would have hunted him down himself if he could have. But that ~damn jerk~ alpha got in his way. A challenge.
A challenge for his mate, for his packâfor his child. He couldnât back down. That damn beta had banked on it. Thatâs why he had fled the moment that ~jerk~ showed up.
Did he think that would hold him back for long?
Did he think it was enough to keep him restrained? ~It wasnât~. Alex lifted a hand, wiping the blood trickling from his chin. His other arm hung limp, his fingers gripping hair.
What he had wanted to do was tear that damn alpha to shreds. Couldnât do that with paws.
Once he landed the final blow, watching his foe revert back to human form, he did it; he decapitated him.
Alex looked down, observing the severed head hanging from his hand.
This was a rehearsal, a warning. The next head to roll would be the betaâs.
Jason had pursued him after a few pack members had distracted the alphaâs followers.
He should have been the one to go, he should have been the one to aid ~his own damn~ mate. But heâd been challenged. The thought of those bastards touching her made his skin crawl.
~No~, he had promised to protect her and he was failing.
He raised his arm, tossing the head, watching it roll away, blood splattering and staining the ground.
He could smell her now, but there were so many different scents, so much blood, that he couldnât tell if she was injured or if it was an old wound. ~If they hurt herâ¦~ If they touch her or if they hurt their childâ¦
Alex ignored the throbbing pain in his chest, the wheezing sound when he breathed; that jerk had hit him in his blind spot. A direct hit. ~Maybe a collapsed lung~.
Heâd broken nearly all of his fingers trying to pry its jaw open, and lost chunks of skin in the process. He hadnât been messing around.
~But~.
That alpha had nothing to lose.
Alex had everything to lose.
They had threatened to take ~everything~ from him.
And they thought heâd take it lying down?
What did that beta promise them, what did he tell them to send them on a suicide mission? Did he think all alphas were the same?
Did he think it would be a fair fight from the start? He knew ~nothing.~
~And then⦠Blood. A lot of it~.
He saw red as he shifted back into his wolf form, gaining speed as he raced to her location.
The faint trace of her scent in the air was the only thing guiding him. He closed his eyes, his nose leading the way.
He pretended it didnât feel like his shoulder was being torn from its socket, he pretended he couldnât feel his skull threatening to split.
His pain didnât matter; hers did.
He had to get to her.
It didnât take him long to reach the scene.
In one corner, there were two dead bodies. Two wolvesâneither of them was from his pack. He couldnât care less.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Jason fighting with one wolfâ¦while another was biting Oliviaâs ~human~ leg, dragging her, trying to move her away fromâ¦the betaâs body.
She was hunched over it, her naked body stained with the color red.
Red from the blood.
The blood gushing from Willâs chest.
Olivia was sitting there, a rock in her bleeding hands, her arms raised above her head.
Her movements were unsteady, and she was missing the betaâs body half of the time. Her leg had bite marks from the wolf, but she was completely ignoring it. She kept on smashing the rock down, again and again.
Blood had splattered across her face and bare chest.
But she didnât ~stop~.
His nose twitched, and he lunged forward, almost wincing when the pain hit his shoulder.
Alex seized the wolfâs tail in his jaws, biting down with enough force to make the creature yelp. Once Oliviaâs leg was free from danger, he redirected his attention. A bite to the ribs. A swipe at the snout.
He tore off its ear. He slashed at its neck. His anger, his fury, he channeled it all into tearing the beast apart. One limb down. Then another.
The creatureâs cries of agony were deafening, but Olivia seemed oblivious; she hadnât ceased her movements.
When all that remained beneath him was a bloody mess, Alex rose to his feet, shifting back to his human form. He wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his arm, then moved towards Olivia.
Feeling her back against his knees, he sank to the ground. His hands moved up, gently tracing her skin until they found her wrist, and then, he ~held~.
Her skin was cold as ice, and he could feel the rapid beat of her heart against his chest. ~She wasnât present~. Physically, she was there, but mentally, she was somewhere else. She tried to pull away, her arms straining against his, but he was stronger.
He felt a twinge in his shoulder, but it wasnât enough to deter him. He had to bring her back.
âLivy, sweetheart, let go,â he murmured in her ear. âItâs over. Itâs all over.â
His voice softened, becoming a soothing whisper.
He lifted his hands, gently prying her fingers loose, and then, the rock struck the beta in the chest. Amidst the blood, the destruction.
A quick look confirmed that his skull was fractured. He couldnât survive this. He couldnât rise from the dead againâ~and yet~.
Alex lowered her arms, tucking them against her body, and then, he let one go. He used his free hand to pick up the rock, feeling its sharp edges cut into his palm.
~He wouldnât repeat the same mistake~.
One blow. That was all it took. One powerful swing with his good arm, and the betaâs face was crushed.
~She didnât even flinch~.
But then, he felt itâwetness on his arm.
Warm tears were streaming down his skin.
~She was weeping~. He left the rock where it was, on the betaâs face, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close against his chest.
He gently rocked her as she went limp in his arms, her body shaking with the force of her emotions. Her shoulders trembled, her body quaked, and a sob escaped her lips. She was breaking down in his arms.
â~Youâre safe now~.â