“If you do not unbind yourself from the coven and this witch, then you’ll force my hand, brother,” Alden growled.
I didn’t understand any of this. My triplet had always wanted power yet there was something else here that I wasn’t seeing, and it worried me. Something was behind and beneath this. I just didn’t know what it was.
“I’m not leaving my mate. You know you have no right to tell me to defy fate. We are bonded now.”
“And I will protect this pack with my life.” Sage’s voice was calm, collected, and firm. “I might be new to all of this, but I want to get to know you. An outside force shielded me from the world of magic. Faith and the other necromancers and whoever’s working with her wanted me kept away from Ravenwood. But I’m here now. I’m going to catch up. I promise I will protect you. I’m learning my magic, and I will use it to safeguard you and this town. You don’t need to push Rome away. I promise I won’t do anything to take him away from you. I will use all of my power to keep you safe.”
My bear preened at her words, and I could see some others nodding as if they saw her strength and felt the passion in her words—her magic. They could likely sense her power, but she couldn’t do anything more right now.
All she could do was wait. But, hopefully, they would see the strength she had and feel the truth of her words.
“This means nothing,” Alden growled. “I call for an alpha challenge. To the death.”
I blinked as someone gasped, and Sage gripped my arm. There were other murmurs, shouts, words. I wasn’t listening to it. Instead, I just looked at my triplet, at my brother, my blood. And I knew I would have to kill him.
Because there was no going back. Magic snapped within me, and the challenge called me forth.
Once you were in a pack circle and someone called for an alpha challenge to the death, there was no going back. One of us would leave the circle alive, the other would be gone forever.
Even in my wildest nightmares, I hadn’t thought Alden would do something like this. I had been wrong. Terribly wrong.
“So be it,” I growled, my bear in my voice.
“Rome,” Sage whispered.
“There’s no choice. You can feel the magic, right? Through the bond?”
“It feels like a vise. It’s so tight.”
“It’s the ways of our people. I’m sorry this is how you’re being introduced to the pack.” I leaned down and kissed her, and she gripped my shoulders, pulling me closer. “Be safe. There’s nothing we can do?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
And I could feel through the bond that she understood. If I didn’t die here today, if these weren’t my last words, I would have to kill my brother.
And I didn’t know who I would become afterward.
Alden stripped off his shirt and slowly crept into the center of the circle. Four men stood beside him, all in his corner. Those were the traitors I would have to deal with. I looked at Trace and Ariel, who nodded, Trace staying beside the witches, and Jaxton, who could do nothing since he wasn’t bear but a shifter of another group. Ariel moved closer to my other trackers and the elders, and I knew they would protect those weaker.
Because if I beat Alden here, it wouldn’t strip out all of the rot. It was only the beginning.
“What do I do?” Sage asked.
“Go stand by Trace. Get the others out if this goes poorly.”
She shook her head, her eyes narrowed. “You mean if you die?”
“Yes. If Alden becomes alpha, he will kill you and anyone else he can. Protect the weak, the cubs. Get Faith. Do all that you can. I need to take care of my brother.”
I kissed her again, even as rage filled her face. I could feel it dancing across the bond, but she simply gave me a tight nod before walking to Trace. Ash and Rowen stared, ready. Jaxton and Laurel had gone to the other side of the circle, and I knew that they would protect those on their side, as well.
We didn’t have to speak. We knew each other so well that it was understood we would do what we could to help those who couldn’t help themselves. I had to push that from my mind, though, and focus on what was in front of me.
Alden, my brother. My challenger. “Are you ready?”
“You didn’t have to do this,” I said. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
“You had everything handed to you. You were alpha, and Trace was beta. What did that leave me? Nothing. You never gave me a chance. You never listened to me. Instead, you went to the witches, the hawks. You listened to everyone else and ignored me. And, in the end, you hurt your pack. We needed you, and you did nothing. Now, you have to reap what you sowed.”
I shook my head and stripped off my shirt. “No, dear brother. It is you who will have to do that.”
“To the death,” Alden growled, his bear in his eyes.
“To the death.”
We shifted. It was bear against bear, and I could hear Sage’s small gasp from behind me. My bones cracked, my magic flared, and I dropped to all fours, roaring. The ground shook beneath me, the trees reaching out in their effervescence.
I did not want to do this, but I would. I would kill Alden to protect my people. Protect my mate. Some part of me would die in the process.
Alden was the one who swiped first. I ducked. He was slightly smaller than me in bear form, the only difference between our nearly identical human halves. Alden bit and clawed, and I rose, slicing out. I gouged out part of his side, but he came back at me. Claws and fangs. Alden roared again, and this time, he pushed out with something that wasn’t his.
It tasted of magic. Of witch.
I knew whose it was. That’s when I noticed that while Alden might be in bear form, there was still an amulet around his neck.
Faith.
Coldness swept over me, and I understood. The circle was a distraction, one part of many. Alden was the one helping Faith get into the town. While I worked with witches through the coven, Alden had been using magic far more sinister.
He had betrayed us all.
I exploded, my heart ripping and rending as magic sliced into me, tearing holes in my body. I heard Sage yell, and Rowen curse under her breath.
“Alden has used magic,” Rowen called out. “He’s cheating.”
“Liar,” one of Alden’s people spat.
“No, your so-called bear is a traitor,” Ariel screamed.
People were shouting, yelling, as blood poured from my side from the magical wound Faith’s amulet had allowed Alden to give me.
I ignored the pain, the burn, and leaped. Alden’s eyes widened for just a moment, and in that, I saw the young boy he had once been. The one who had smiled and laughed and rolled around on the ground with Trace and me. The one who was part of us with Ash and Jaxton. Who had been sweet, if a little quiet. Who had always stood off to the side because he hadn’t known how to play well with others. But he still tried. When had I missed the change? Why had I forgotten that he was no longer that boy but a man who couldn’t fit in or fight for what he wanted in the ways of our people?
When had I lost my brother?
My fangs dug into Alden’s neck, and I bit down. It was quick, a bare moment, and then Alden shifted back to human, blood pouring from his throat, his breath coming in pants. I shifted back as well and caught my brother before he fell.