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Ambrose continued to choke, and I stabbed myself in the thigh with my claws. The pain was enough to override some of Colin’s dominance, and when I stood up, my Dad grabbed my arm.

He’s hurting him!

Those were the words I wanted to yell, and on the ground were Ambrose’s parents on their knees, whimpering in pain. Colin was hurting a child, a young pup, because of money. Colin had always been cruel, but he’d grown worse since he attacked Silverdawn Pack and lost.

“Hours… cut,” Ambrose choked out, his face red, and Colin loosened his hold enough for Ambrose to stand firmly on his feet. “My boss cut my hours at the mechanic shop, Alpha! I… I’m earning less!”

When Colin withdrew his dominance, a power alpha’s possessed to help keep their pack in line, a collective gasp was heard throughout the group.

My Dad held his knees, as did I, our breathing labored.

When I looked at Dad, his eyes were cast to the ground but bulging and unblinking, his face red with anger, and I laid a hand on his shoulder. This was what we had to live with, an alpha that abused his power to hurt us.

Ambrose was a child meant to be in school, but instead, he had to be working.

His mother was a bartender and his father a janitor, and being a part of Colin’s pack made regular jobs harder. I’d never had any issues with Ambrose and his parents. They were a few of the quieter wolves, but still, they were forced to work twice as hard by locals who hated the pack, only to be treated like this by our alpha.

Colin threw Ambrose to the side, his claws ripping the skin around the boy’s throat. “I do not tolerate disobedience,” Colin growled.

His head tilted somewhat, and my body grew hot when his lips curved with a smile.Keep it together, I coached myself, chanting the words like a beloved song. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t an alpha governing his pack. This was a man using his status to act on his sadistic urges to hurt and cause suffering.

“Goddess,” I prayed while Ambrose rushed to his parent’s side, “You see all, and you know all, so why won’t you stop this? Why won’t you do something before I’m forced to?”

My father had tried to do things the honorable way by challenging Colin to get rid of him, but perhaps someone needed to become as heartless as Colin, as savage and unforgiving as he was, to win. One day I wanted to pass on and go to the afterlife where I’d be in peace, but maybe, just maybe, going to hell for putting an end to Colin wouldn’t be so bad.

But I couldn’t stomach doing such a thing, so I stood silent and listened when Colin spoke to begin the pack meeting.

I said nothing, making myself as bad as everyone else, and listened.

After ten minutes, a wolf, Ranford, stepped forward. “Alpha, when will we be moving to another town?”

Colin took a breath. “That’s not been decided as yet.”

“We can’t stay here much longer, Alpha,” Ranford said again, although timidly, and several wolves grumbled in agreement. “Our living conditions are worsening, and the locals hate us. We left Wolfcreek eleven years ago, Alpha. Perhaps now we can return.”

I was surprised Ranford had enough balls to speak up, but I was even more surprised when Colin seemed to be considering the old wolf’s words. Everything said was true, but could we move back to Wolfcreek?

Was that even an option?

Colin turned to look at Jackson, who was waiting patiently like the rest of us. When Dad held my hand, I clutched his hand in return, allowing myself a second of hope. Returning to Wolfcreek wasn’t something I’d allowed myself to dream of.

In the middle of nowhere, the quiet town was a paradise where all supernatural creatures lived in peace until Colin had tried to ruin that.

“I’m afraid the decision isn’t mine,” Colin said after some time, and my shoulders dropped. “The decision lies with the pack that protects the town, the pack that ranusout of town.” Colin turned to face the pack, but he looked right at me. “The decision lies with Alpha Kaleem.”

Another chorus of whispers echoed through the forest, and my Dad squeezed my hand.

My hope morphed into panic, and I sank my teeth into my tongue. The only people that knew about Kaleem being my mate were my Dad, Jackson, and Colin. This conversation about moving back to Wolfcreek filled me with dread.

“Can’t someone be sent to Wolfcreek?” Ranford probed, and I felt like throwing a rock at his head. I knew where this was going, and damn it, I didn’t want to go there. “Couldn’t that be done? Someone can speak with the alpha there and plead our case to return, right? We’ve lost three members to anti-supers over the years, and yesterday at the bar, three drunk humans started talking about being anti-supers and wanting to make the world great again with creatures like our kind wiped out.”

Ambrose’s parents clutched him to their side with fear.

The anti-supers were an organization built around a common hatred against all supernatural creatures among some humans. They hunted us, discriminated against us, and although there were laws in place, they worked in silence and still found ways to hurt us.

“Perhaps Diana could go, uncle,” Jackson spoke for the first time tonight, and with a few words, he dragged my fears into reality. “She and Kaleem knew each other.”

Several wolves turned to look at me and my jaws clenched.


Tags: Layla Silver Silverdawn Wolves Paranormal