Carnage Island (Reject Island)(85)

He’s calling me a disappointment? After everything he’s done to my mother? After everything he’s done to me?

“Release her,” I hear Tieran demand.

Alpha Kin snorts behind me.

“That’s not how this is going to work,” Bryson says conversationally, the phone’s image angling down to the ground. “I make the calls here.”

My jaw clenches. Yeah. You always make the calls, don’t you? With my life. With my mother’s life. You’re a fucking disgrace.

Lava pumps through my veins, my wolf pacing angrily inside me, dying for a chance to kill.

Alphas protect.

Mates cherish.

Alphas protect.

Mates cherish.

She seems to be repeating those words over and over again in my mind, her tail swishing in fury as the Alpha at my back continues to hold me at knife point.

The Alpha who is supposedly my half-brother.

Maybe that’s why his scent is familiar.

Or maybe I’m smelling my father on him.

It doesn’t fucking matter.

I am not going to be a pawn, I decide. I’m done being a pawn.

My wolf roars in agreement, the snarl leaving my lips as I give her full control.

Alpha Kin isn’t expecting it.

His arm was loose around me, not firm, the knife at my throat pressing, but not cutting. So when I spin out of his hold, it’s in a quick maneuver he’s not ready to counter.

The silver cuts my skin.

But rather than scream, I embrace the burn and let it fuel my rage.

A roar escapes me, my wolf going absolutely feral.

I allow it.

I give her everything.

I let her lead.

My former father—Beta Gafton, I forcefully correct myself—lunges forward, finally fucking moving. But I’m ready for him, my wolf shredding my clothes as I shift in midair.

We collide and my paws take him down, the shift far easier than ever before. I didn’t even feel my bones break. I’m too busy going for his throat.

I chomp down as I feel a bite of silver in my flank. Ripping my jaws away from my Beta Gafton’s bleeding neck.

Alpha Kin growls behind me, the grating noise trying to force me back into my human form.

My wolf snarls as I fly around to face him. He’s not one of my Alphas. He will not control me. He will die instead.

But the silver blade in my rump is making it hard to focus on my movements.

It’s actually making me a little uneven.

I stumble.

He smirks.

Then his wild eyes go to the snarling beast at my back.

All the fur along my spine stands on end as the knife is ripped out of my rump and Alpha Dirk darts forward to slam the blade into Alpha Kin’s shoulder.

I blink, stunned.

Only to have a leg grabbed and twisted beneath me by Beta Gafton.

He’s rabid.

Feral.

With wild eyes I don’t recognize and an expression of pure animalistic fury.

“You did this,” he roars, leaping at me.

My wolf bounces out of the way, but the corridor is only so wide. I immediately hit a wall, which sends a jolt through my lower half.

I’m healing now that silver is out of me, but I still feel awkward.

Except I’m on my four legs.

And Beta Gafton is on two.

I also have a fully functioning irate wolf running the show while he’s clearly lost his mind. Likely a side effect of Bryson controlling him, which is the only explanation for his blankness.

How did he even get here? I wonder as he attempts to attack me again.

My wolf reacts, going straight for his throat with the intention of finishing the job this time.

His arms come around me and squeeze so hard, bones start to crack, but my jaws are locked tight around his jugular.

He didn’t expect me to leap.

And he thinks his strength is enough to intimidate me now.

But my wolf works through the pain, locking her teeth and ripping out his fucking throat. A harsh gurgling follows, his crazed eyes blinking in surprise as blood pours from the wound.

He’s choking.

My wolf is licking her chops, appeased.

His knees buckle, his hands clawing at his throat.

When a bullet goes through his head.

A silver bullet—something I know because I feel the blaze of it in the air.

I spin toward the shooter to find Alpha Dirk lowering the muzzle to his side, his body covered in blood.

And a dead Alpha Kin at his feet.

I back up, my rump hitting the wall as I brace myself for whatever fight is about to occur. Because pure unadulterated rage pours off of Alpha Dirk.

He’s bigger than Alpha Kin.

Stronger.

Fiercer.

My wolf growls, challenging him because she doesn’t know what else to do.

Alpha Dirk narrows his eyes in return.

Then a howl pierces the air, the source of it coming from the phone on the floor between us.

My legs buckle beneath me, my animal immediately submitting to the rage coming from that sound.

Tieran…





32





TIERAN





Several Minutes Earlier





Your lives or hers, Bryson said.

I choose neither, I think as he enters the clearing with the phone near his side.