“Alek. Stay calm,” Justice ordered, slowly removing his clothes.
Bell frowned. What the hell is going on?
“Bell, stay back,” Mac and Taleb warned, doing the same while Farica began to push the crowd away.
He didn’t know why they were warning him. He wasn’t afraid and he didn’t believe Alek or any of his beasts would hurt him. That wasn’t the problem.
“Come with me, now,” Wolf ordered Bell.
Bell didn’t retreat. He couldn’t submit. Not yet, not until it was earned. Alek, Wolf, and any others lurking inside his beloved’s body were going to respect him, or else. A heat that rivaled the morning’s warmth flooded off Alek as Bell came close. “I can see it’s you, Wolf,” he whispered against the shell of Alek’s ear. “Alek can’t make me stay and neither can you. I will return in forty-eight hours. If that’s not good enough, if you don’t respect me enough to give me two damn days, then so be it.”
Bell turned to leave, when Wolf grabbed one of his wrists, his print searing his skin.
“No! Alek don’t!” Justice yelled.
What the fuck are you doing? Let him go! Let him go now, Wolf! Alek screamed inside. Wolf had taken the surface before he could warn Bell or his brothers. Wolf must’ve agreed with the darkness that their mate couldn’t leave.
Bell yanked his arm away, glaring down at the bright red mark on his skin that quickly faded away. Alek fought like hell, fought like he never had before, aiming for the surface. He needed to tell Bell it was okay, and yes, he’d wait. He’d lock his animals away or bury himself in completing his part of the mission to prove to his mate once and for all that they could do this together, and no matter how insane he behaved sometimes, he did respect him as the Lord High.
“Alek, fight your wolf back. He’ll listen if you command him, brother,” Justice said, with his hand outstretched towards him.
“If you are his brother than do not send away his mate,” Wolf told Justice.
Wolf let me out! Let me out, goddamn you!
“I don’t answer to you,” Justice growled. “It’s the other way around. Now, let me speak to Alek.” Justice made the mistake of pushing some of his power at Wolf, which only managed to outrage him.
Alek felt his brother’s force penetrate them, but Wolf absorbed most of the energy, building it into a weapon, then pushed the power back at his alpha, times two, knocking Justice off his feet. “Do not challenge me!” Wolf growled, then shifted the rest of Alek’s body into his massive, white and gray wolf. He shook out his thick fur and growled menacingly at the rest of the pack around him.
Alek groaned at the pain when Wolf forced their shift. He was a mere bystander now, but he could still feel Wolf’s emotions. He was furious and he believed his brothers and the pack were all spineless traitors. They’d turned their backs on Alek when he was young and in the most need. After their land had been attacked and their mother killed, no one would console Alek or hold him while he mourned alone. Too afraid of his beasts. The pack had abandoned him, and Wolf hated them for it. He and Alek might could’ve reconnected if the aftermath of the trauma hadn’t been so great.
“Justice!” Mac rushed forward, his eyes wide. The rest of Justice’s betas and officers rallied behind their AZ, ready to defend him.
Justice rose fast, his bare, hairy chest heaving from the force Wolf had used to knock him to the ground. But not for long. “You don’t want to do this. I will speak to my brother even if I have to tear him out of you.”
“The hell you will. What is going on?” Bell stood in front of Wolf, blocking Justice’s aim.
Let me out! Let me out! Alek screamed. He couldn’t take the way Bell was watching him, unsure if it was Alek in there or if Wolf was acting on his own, like when he’d first bitten Bell. No one could hear him, not even his siblings, with their link. Wolf was powerful enough to cut it all off, and that was exactly what he’d done.
Alek was devastated, not only because he was now severed from his pack, his friends, his brothers, and his alpha, but he was also restricted from communicating with his mate. If they’d fully mated there’d have been no influence strong enough to break their mental link. But that wasn’t the case. Alek hoped Wolf didn’t keep the surface long. Often, Wolf thought he was acting in their best interest, and most of the time his animal instincts were right and got them out of very dangerous situations, but right now he begged Wolf to trust him that he knew what was best, and that this was an issue that Alek—the man—had to fix.