The women smiled, and Deb bobbed her head feverishly.
“You are always welcome with us.” Ingrid touched my face and the warmth of healing spread through me. She healed my entire body with one simple touch. “I gave you the energy of our coven so you are now able to call upon us whenever you need. Now, go. Find your mate.”
I nodded and took off in a sprint, thankful all witches weren’t as evil as Hollows coven. My heels struck the Forest ground, sending dull pain ricocheting up my legs from the force. It didn’t take me long to find the concrete box of a structure we had been in. I rushed to the door and flung it open.
“Xavier!” I bolted inside and lifted Lockhart away from him with my magic, blasting him into the wall with force. A deafening pop came from his body from the impact, and I knew he’d be down for at least a minute or two.
As I rushed to Xavier’s side I hissed. His skin ruptured above growing purple blooms all over his still body. Blood dripped from the different wounds onto the dirty concrete floor. I waved my hand over his restraints and released him. He’d been tortured with no mercy, and it made my heart twist in my chest.
“Harlow?” He blinked a few times.
I cupped his face and kissed his lips once, pouring healing energy into it. When I backed away, he looked good as new.
Ingrid had taught me something new already, and my healing powers had strengthened. “Kill him.”
A deep, guttural growl erupted from his throat as he shifted into his wolf, stalking toward Lockhart who had just started getting up from my blow.
“Shit.” Lockhart had pure hatred in his eyes as he watched Xavier close in. “You’re not capable of taking me down, mutt.”
Xavier pounced with no hesitation, tearing into Lockhart. Blood sprayed onto the concrete, and Lockhart’s regret and anger burst out of him like a supernova before he could stop the attack. Almost immediately, his life force was pushed from his body.
Flesh was torn, muscle and blood flew from his body as Xavier ripped him into literal shreds. His organs spewed around him, and he was no longer recognizable as human or wolf.
Xavier shifted back and wore Lockhart’s blood like a Medal of Honor.
I scrunched up my nose. The air was pungent with blood, but I wasn’t the least bit afraid. “Werewolves are monsters.”
“You’re in love with one.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I threw myself at him, not caring about the blood that coated his skin or the complete animalistic kill I’d witnessed seconds ago. I wrapped him in my arms and sobbed. I didn’t want to imagine what would’ve happened if I hadn’t made it in time. “I love you so much it hurts.”
His arms went around my waist as he tugged me close, kissing his mark on my neck. Calmness washed over me from the matebond as an emotional let down reared its head. The monster that had my parents killed and caused the world so much trouble was dead.
Howls erupted from outside, and Xavier tensed up. “Riley just mindlinked me. The war has begun.”
TWENTY EIGHT
Xavier
The massive paws of my wolf slung me into the bloodshed. The Maxwell and Huntington warriors fought against the Lockhart pack. The ground was stained, soaked with the blood of wolves from both sides. I shifted into my human form in the middle of it all.
“Stop fighting, and shift back, now!” I commanded the three packs, standing with my chest puffed the fuck out and Alpha aura exuding from me.
All at once, they froze—unable to ignore an Alpha’s command and shifted back. Thanks to Harlow, my Alpha command worked for the two packs I was not considered Alpha of.
“What’s happening?”
“Why can’t I move?”
“He’s not even an Alpha.”
“Clearly, he is. But he’s not my Alpha.”
The wolves of all the packs were confused as fuck, not that I blamed them. I would be too, but when I killed that sonofabitch Lockhart, I took his Alpha rank and his pack.
“What’s happening, Xavier?” Riley stepped forward with Gabe.
“Did you kill him?” Blaine asked.
“I’ve killed Alpha Lockhart. In turn, I’m assuming the position of Alpha of his pack. The pack is now the Kingston Pack.” My Alpha voice boomed around us, and wolves from Lockhart had mixed reactions. Some growled, baring their fucking teeth in human form, while some bowed down with relief.
“Wolves loyal to your previous Alpha, line the fuck up. Wolves who want to stay under my rule, stay put.” My Alpha command weeded out the ones loyal to Lockhart, the ones that couldn’t be trusted to be in my new pack.
At least half of the pack lined up before me, low growls erupting from all of them.
I smirked, shifting into my wolf, and proceeded down the line of wolves, tearing their throats out. Warm, metallic liquid coated my mouth. I fucking reveled in it.
Revenge felt damn good.
I trotted back to my spot and shifted back into human form. “That is what happens to pack members who are not for me. I am your Alpha now, and we are not going to be mindless killing machines like Lockhart made you be.”
The members cheered, smiles, and tears of joy painted their faces.
“We will also be in alliance with both Maxwell and Huntington pack. No member is permitted violence against either of these packs or your own.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Harlow walk toward me and interlock her fingers with mine. “This is your Luna. You will respect the hell out of her.”
Nods from my members were synchronized. They seemed to be happy to have a pack that wasn’t full of killers, and that enough proved I could lead them.
“You were all under a chaos spell. It’s why the air was so hostile here. That is now lifted. You should feel more like yourselves now,” Harlow informed the members.
I smiled at her and addressed
