Allure of the Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 2) (33 page)

“He automatically forfeits for jumping you like that,” Freddie informed me.

“They all have to yield,” I growled. He didn’t know the plan or what was at stake. I put all my power in my voice.
“Yield, Diego!”

“I yield, Alpha,” he howled, whimpering then as he bared his neck. I bit it and told him what to do next.
Bastard
. He took off and the next few behaved better.

By the time I reached the Betas, I was really starting to tire. The plan was working but I’d never tested my powers like this, pushed them this far. I was scared I wouldn’t make it.

And that would be a very,
very
serious problem.

I won’t let us die
, my siren assured me.

I truly hoped not.

Nestor Martin was the first Beta, and he was going to be difficult, his mate being one of the ones who was in protective custody as well. So when he approached me, I gathered myself and was ready.

“Can I stay with my mate?” he muttered, glancing at Engle. “If you take over, can Joan and I still be together?”

My jaw fell open. It took me a moment to recover. “If she wants to, sure. But it has to be
her
decision.”

“I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of, but I did it all to keep her safe. I love her. She didn’t know everything going on, and I wanted to protect her from it.” He dropped to his knee and showed me his neck. “I yield, Alpha Thomas. Will you help me explain things to my mate? She didn’t know how bad Engle was and what he would do to her if he thought I didn’t have her
under control
. I swear I love her and would never hurt her on my own. I just wanted her safe.” His eyes filled with tears. “I miss her.”

I leaned over and kissed his neck. “I’ll help you, but I can’t make any guarantees Nestor. You should have told her.”

“She’s a fighter,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I’ve seen too much and know some fights you can’t win, and I couldn’t lose her. I didn’t want her to die.”

“I understand. We’ll talk later.”

“Yes, Alpha.” He stood and hurried off after the others.

Next was Freddie and then the other Beta who had given me that look of relief. The last three Betas were so shocked at how the others were acting I almost fell over when they all slowly dropped to a knee together and bared their necks to me.

“Traitors!”
Engle wildly screamed from his Greek wolf prison. “You’re all traitors! I trusted you.”

“You treat us like dirt, and I’m not potentially dying for you when you’re obviously going to lose,” the one muttered as I kissed his neck. “You tricked me and my mate into coming here and grow bullies as enforcers. She’s exponentially more powerful than you, so fuck you, asshole.”

“Well said,” Hagan chuckled. “I like the Betas. We just might need more enforcers.”

“Can I go back to being an enforcer?” one asked as he stood back up. “I miss my job. My mate and I are a little sick of being so involved in the pack after all we’ve been through. I’d rather be called upon if there’s a problem instead of always needed.”

“We’ll talk later, Jonathan,” I said gently. “I’ll need help changing leadership and making sure we don’t get invaded but I don’t see why not once order is restored.”

“Thank
fuck
,” he groaned, looking as tired as I felt. He started walking towards the edge of the pack lands, and I turned to the wall of Greek men.

“Okay, Engle, your turn.”

“You can’t take me,” he sneered, fear filling his eyes.

“We need the inner circle as witnesses,” Reagan reminded me.

“Right, rules, rules, and red tape,” I muttered as I waved the wolves towards the buses. “Let’s go.” I led the way back to the border of the pack lands, grateful for the break. Hagan and Reagan flanked me, and I could smell their worry.

“You’ve never used your power this long, have you?” Hagan murmured under his breath.

“Not even
remotely
,” I admitted quietly, glad Engle was still ranting like a lunatic. It gave us the cover to talk. “If the Betas hadn’t all yielded, I don’t know if we’d have gotten this far.”

“You would have won with the fights,” Reagan assured me. I winced.

Maybe, but that would have meant the rest of the plan was out the window, and I could go home and sleep peacefully without guilt
because
of this plan.

Once we were about fifteen feet away from the buses, I saw all the concerned looks, giving them the best smile I could muster. I checked that all the inner circle was there and paying attention before I turned to face Engle and nodded for the Greek wolves to let him go. They did and the last part of the plan began.

“Joseph Engle, I challenge you for Alpha of this pack. By law of the Shifter Council and with their backing of my becoming Alpha of the Chicago pack and as your entire inner circle has yielded to my challenges, you can choose to be remanded to their custody and give up the role of Alpha of your own free will, no dominance fight to the death required.”

“Fuck
you
,” he sneered, stretching out his arms, telling me which way he was choosing.

Moron.

“Don’t be stupid, Engle,” I snarled, stepping closer. “I just got them
all
to yield. Everyone here knows it’s over, even
you
. I can see it in your eyes,
smell
it on you. Relinquish the pack to me and go to the council, beg for their mercy and live the rest of your life in their prison or whatever. You don’t have to die here today!”

“No, Alpha! She’s lying,” someone called out. “It’s a trick. She’s a witch like Dorcus.”

I made the one mistake I knew never to make in a conflict or heated situation—I let something distract me. Even for a
split second.
I turned slightly to see who it was. Looking back later I think it was how tired I’d been, maybe the power drain… I don’t know. I was simply
exhausted
.

But it was my wolf and my clairvoyant tendencies that saved me that day, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as I felt the air around me change. I reacted on my instincts, my hands changing into claws as I saw in my mind Engle’s plan to tear out my throat while I wasn’t looking. Dropping down, I reached up to shove him away and protect myself.

Instead, I watched in
horror
as my hand went right through Engle’s chest, his eyes bulging out in pain and shock at the move. We both froze, his blood gushing down my arm from the probably fatal wound. Hell, I could feel what I assumed was his heart with my fingers.

“Sera, he attacked!” Hagan shouted my right. “You
have to
finish it now. There’s no other way!”

I nodded as I sucked in a harsh breath, staring into Engle’s eyes. “I tried to save you even if you didn’t deserve it, you stupid son-of-a-bitch.”

“This is the way an Alpha dies,” he choked out, sputtering blood all over me. “I’m just sorry I won’t be around to see when your day comes, whore.”

Famous last words from the man who forced every young girl of the pack to give him her virginity after she turned the first time. Remembering that took away my guilt, and I pushed in my hand enough to wrap my fingers around his heart before yanking it out of his chest. His body fell limp to the ground as I sat back on my feet staring at the organ.

The wolves on my side started howling in victory, and I just sat there, looking at Engle’s heart, his words haunting me.

He was right. Someday I would die this same way. I’d never thought of that when I’d agreed to do this. Or I’d be Alpha of the Chicago pack the rest of my
immortal life
. That alone made tears burn in my eyes.

“You did it!” Reagan cheered, shaking my shoulders. It snapped me out of my thoughts and I tossed the heart away before scrambling from him. I fell a few times trying to get to my feet, but then finally I made it to the bus and found the gallon of water I’d put in there by the door to hydrate for the fight. I yanked off my shirt and started trying to clean up.

“Sera?” Hagan whispered as I manically threw water on myself and scrubbed.

“I don’t want to die like that,” I whimpered, the tightness forming in my chest so bad I thought it would cut off the blood flow to my body. “Someone’s going to tear my heart out one day. I can’t die like
that
.”

“You won’t,” he murmured as he dumped some more water on me from another bottle he’d gotten from god only knew where. “You won’t.”

“You don’t
know that
,” I rasped, pushing the watered-down blood around with my soaked shirt. He ripped the shirt out of my hands and used a towel that appeared to clean me up.

“I
do
. We’ll make the pack strong. We’ll get the help we need and keep you safe, okay? We can
do this
. We’ll train your siren, and you’ll be just as powerful as Alena.”

I nodded as I turned so my back was leaning against the bus. “I didn’t want to kill him. I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted to push him away and keep safe. I fucked up and got distracted.”

“You’re tired. It happens. You’ve had too much going on,” Harris consoled. “It’s over now. Ashley’s safe.”

“Right, Ashley’s safe as long as I can keep the pack together and strong enough from being invaded and—” I started hyperventilating and suddenly Riley was in front of me, holding my face.

“Tomorrow, Sera. You can start worrying about what comes next tomorrow,” he whispered. “Today, you’re going to take the win and realize
you
just saved us from Engle and the Shifter Council stepping in, okay?”

I took several deep breaths before nodding. “Okay, yeah, okay. Can we go home now?”

“Yeah, let’s get you home and some sleep.”

“God yes,” I groaned. “And pizza. I want deep-dish pizza.”

“Whatever you want,” he chuckled as he helped me towards my car. A few of us had driven separately so we didn’t have to ride back with the others. I’d had the foresight to know I’d need a breather.

“What about all of them?” I muttered, nodding to the inner circle being loaded onto the lockup buses.

“I’ll handle this,” Monroe called over. “Go home and relax. That’s an order. I am your boss after all.”

“Yes, sir,” I muttered as Riley opened the passenger door for me. I collapsed into the seat, the adrenaline worn off and exhaustion from using my powers wearing on me. He closed the door, and I slumped against the window, out before everyone else got in and he turned on the car.

I didn’t even wake up when we arrived home.

19

I woke a few hours later, the need to shift and hunger riding me. Trudging downstairs, I found out there was basically a big celebration party in my house. I ignored it and everyone there.

“Hey, you’re awake,” Hagan greeted as I entered the dining room and checked pizza boxes. I flipped open about four lids only to find empty boxes before I growled.

“I hid yours in the oven,” Tristan informed me, giving me a concerned look.

I gave the barest of nods that I’d heard him. Then I went and checked. Sure enough there were two large deep-dish beauties from Lou Malnati’s Pizza hidden in the cold oven for me. I took one out and turned on the oven to reheat the other, taking a sniff to make sure they’d ordered correctly for me. Yup, mushrooms, onions, extra cheese, sausage, and garlic butter brushed on the crust.
Nice
.

Yes, it was an expensive pizza, but if it wasn’t done right there was no point in doing it at all to me. While that rewarmed, I pulled out a metal mixing bowl and started opening up bottle after bottle of the Woodchuck Pear Cider I kept tucked at the back of the fridge for when I wanted something more than beer but not hard booze. I carefully poured them into the bowl so they didn’t foam up.

“Um, Sera, whatcha doing?” Reagan muttered as he moved up next to me at the counter.

I shot him a look that clearly said,
what does it look like I’m doing
? I was pouring beer in a bowl. I was being rude. I
knew
that. But I wasn’t in the mood for people, and I hadn’t invited them over.
Granted
they had flown halfway across the country to save my ass. I understood that.

In the part of my brain that wasn’t working at the moment.

I wanted to be left alone. I was used to processing things by myself. It was
my way
. Since I was five anything that had come up or into my life I’d handled it solo. A crisis hit, I reverted into my shell. Call it a coping mechanism or survival tactic… Whatever. I needed it.

After the whole six-pack was in the bowl, I cautiously carried it out to the backyard and set it onto the stone porch, ignoring the stares. Then I came back into the house for my pizza.

“Alpha, we were waiting for you to go to the pack lands and turn,” Hagan tried again. I winced at the term, not having liked it
before
what happened today but now it felt like salt in the wound.