Alphas burden

38CADEN

Rage simmers in my blood, but this is no time to lose my head. I need to fight for my pack. Root out my cousin and uncle for good and stop their absurd bid for power. They’ve waited all this time believing they can be brazen now. That they’re strong enough to steal my rank and my pack from me.

They haven’t won. Not by a fucking long shot.

My wolf is restless and ready to take my skin the moment I give him control. He’ll bring every shifter on this mountain to their knees and have their submission to him as the rightful Alpha.

“Where are the enforcers being kept?” I demand as we swiftly make our way across the perimeter.

“Patrol cabin,” Hodge answers. “They rotate the guards every few hours.”

“We should be catching them near the end of a watch,” Ford says.

“Let’s be quick, then,” I decide. “We’ll free Gabe and the others to have more numbers on our side if the next guard change comes when we’re breaking them out.”

The packlands are eerily still and deserted except for the pair of scouts we come across when we cut through the lower ridge line from the south to get up to the commons. I signal Hodge and he shifts, sneaking up on them from behind.

They’re not trained for the security team. That much is obvious from their lack of awareness that wouldn’t fly for one of my enforcers entrusted with the safety of the pack. One’s a Merryweather from maintenance group C that caused the fuss several weeks ago. The other’s one of the younger Hooper brothers who’s flunked out of enforcer tryouts three times.

When Hodge attacks, neither of them sense him coming. Hooper’s head cracks on the ground, knocking him out. Merryweather tries to run, scrambling away. He trips on a divot in the path and Hodge tramples him.

He screams. “I surrender! Oh, gods, I surrender! Please don’t kill me!”

This is the best my cousin could do? It’s a fucking insult.

“Knock him out,” I direct.

One of the witches with us steps out to the path, bending over Merryweather. He startles at her entering his periphery, squirming with renewed distress. She whispers something to him, then he relaxes, going still.

“He’s subdued,” she calls.

The witch casts the same spell on Hooper and Ford drags them into the woods, hiding them in a hollow under a jutting rock. We continue on, not encountering anyone else before we finally reach the patrol cabin. Kip’s hanging out front, leaning next to the door with a bored expression.

We stay downwind, creeping into the cabin’s back entrance. The a

“They won’t sense our approach,” she explains. “We’ll appear like ripples in the air at the corners of their eyes until you touch them. There aren’t any witches here, either. Only shifters.”

I nod in thanks, delegating to my lieutenants. “Get our people out of the holding cells. The rest of us will take care of the ones on watch.”

I’m the first one through the door. Weston glances up from one of the logbooks, brows furrowing. He shakes his head and bends over the desk again. Abbott paces lazily at the other end of the cabin. I wave Ford out.

He scans the holding cells and goes to the second one where Gabe is. Gabe jolts, stifling his surprise. He peers at Weston with a disgusted glare, then puts a hand on the bars. Ford squeezes it. Gabe’s eyes fall shut, a wobbly smile stretching his mouth.

Weston jumps up. “We’ve been through this, Gabe. Go sit down. You’re not tricking me again. Nothing you say will get you out of there unless you’re ready to come to our side.”

“You’re an idiot,” Gabe mutters.

Abbott laughs, coming this way. “We’re not the ones behind bars.”

Tobin grabs the back of his shirt when he passes his cell, yanking him in. “Won’t be that way for long. When Caden finds out what you did, you’re all dead meat.”

“Caden’s a weak fucking pussy who isn’t fit to call himself Alpha. A real Alpha⁠—”

I cut off his words, grabbing him by the throat. The spell hiding me from them sloughs off like water trickling down my back.

“What were you saying?” I seethe.

“Oh shit,” Abbott chokes. “A-Alpha.”

I slam him against the bars with a snarl. He grunts and swings his fists at me. I block one and catch the other in a punishing grip, flinging him aside like a rag doll.

“Weston has the keys,” Gabe shouts.

Ford whirls on Weston. He takes a fighting stance, attention on me. His bravery crumbles at the sound of Ford vaulting over the desk to get to him. When Ford shoves him against the wall, he drops the keys on the floor. Ford punches Weston and retrieves the keys.

Weston covers his nose and shuffles into a corner once Ford goes to let Gabe out. Abbott gets up and jumps on my back. He thumps my head and winds an arm around my neck to choke me out. I grunt, driving him into a column repeatedly until he lets go. He staggers to the side, then comes at me again.

“Get him, Alpha!” Tobin cheers.

The commotion draws Kip in from outside and two more guards from the security team from upstairs. Jordan flies down the steps with a curse, Lyle on his heels.

They pass by Hodge, still hidden by the spell. He snags Lyle by the scruff of his collar, dragging him backwards. Lyle compensates, throwing his weight to jerk Hodge to the floor with him. Hodge doesn’t let him get away, wrestling him.

Gabe emerges from the cell, blocking Kip’s charge. Ford tosses the keys to one of the witches and joins the fight.

The other witch shoots magic at Jordan. He dodges, clothes shredding as he lets his wolf out. Jordan leaps at her and attacks her shoulder, biting down. She screams, wrenching his fur in her grip to get him off. His bites are brutal and relentless. Fuck, I need to get over there.

I shove Abbott against the wall with all my might. He hits it hard and collapses with a groan as he loses consciousness, taking the chair he reaches for with him. I’m too late to help the witch. Her hands loosen, falling away. Her blood coats Jordan’s snout and the floor.

Weston pushes away from the corner with a yell. To my surprise, he doesn’t join the fight to attack my loyal guards. He goes for Jordan’s wolf, shifting as he tackles him.

His wolf’s a scrapper, smaller than his older brothers, but a cutthroat fighter. Jordan’s a fast wolf, yet in a confined space like the cabin, he can’t outwit Weston when he clamps his teeth on his back leg, rending it with a hard toss of his head. The bone fractures and Jordan’s wolf screams in agony. Weston wastes no time breaking the other one, then goes for his throat.

“Stop,” I command.

Weston freezes. I push him aside and drag Jordan by his scruff into an open cell. The remaining witch closes it.

Ford and Gabe have Kip beat. Hodge is up. He hoists Lyle off his feet, glowering.

“Enough,” he barks.

Kip struggles, but Gabe doesn’t let up, twisting his arm to the breaking point behind his back.

“It’s over. Give it up,” Gabe bites out. “You lost.”

Ford holds the cell door open while his mate shoves Kip inside. He slams it behind him with a scowl, surveying Kip and Lyle’s cells.

“Get comfy. We’ll be back to deal with you assholes later.” Ford points at Kip with a deadly glare. “Your days are numbered. You never should’ve touched my mate.”

“Ford, I’m fine,” Gabe mutters.

Ford releases a rough noise, pulling Gabe into his arms and tucking his nose into the crook of his neck. Gabe clutches him, murmuring to his mate.

Weston’s wolf crawls on his belly to my feet, whining. His tail is tucked between his legs and he covers his snout, muscles twitching continuously with how hard his wolf shakes. At my booming growl, he shifts back, remaining crouched and bowing his head. The others watch in silence.

“I’m sorry,” he pleads.

“You turned against your brother,” I say.

“He’s not Alpha. You are.” He bends his neck, shoulders quaking as hard as his voice. “I’m sorry. I failed you. I should’ve been stronger. I—I was afraid. I didn’t know what to do.”

I grit my teeth. “Did you join the security team so you could feed them information?”

“I—” He gulps, forcing out the words shamefully. “Yes. They made me. I didn’t tell them everything—only the patrol schedules and the route map.”

He cuts off as my wolf makes himself known, my hands begi

Weston presses his face to the floor with a fearful noise. “I know. It’s what I deserve.”

I work my jaw, staring him down. He’s no threat to me. He might’ve been swayed down the wrong path by pressure from his family, but he doesn’t smell like trouble or lies. When it came down to it, he did the right thing.

“Who do you pledge loyalty to?”

“You,” he answers immediately.

“Not your brother? Your father?”

“No, Alpha Blackburn,” he declares. “They’re traitors. I give my life to serve you.”

My gaze narrows. “You have one shot to prove I can trust you. Understand?”

He nods quickly, uttering a relieved cry. “Yes. I won’t let you down. We have to get to the compound. Lorne’s waiting for you there. He knows you’re coming back today.”

My lip curls. The smug bastard expects me to go to him? I want to rip his spine out by his tail.

“Get up. Help Tobin unlock the other cells and meet us there.”

We check the entire patrol cabin. There aren’t any other guards under Lorne’s command here. The witches ward the entrances and windows to keep out anyone who would help the traitors we captured escape.

“You three come with me,” I tell Hodge, Ford, and Gabe. “Tobin and Marissa, meet up with the group that made it off the packlands. Keep an eye out for any ru

I vault off the front steps of the patrol cabin, relinquishing control to my wolf. The transformation ripples through me before my paws touch the grass. His senses sharpen, listening for any signs of enemies. None are near, the stench of a threat wafting on the breeze from the opposite direction.

My lieutenants follow my lead, shifting to their wolves right behind me. My chest reverberates with a dominant rumble and they paw the ground, licking their jowls.

We take off for the Blackburn compound to the western slope of the mountain. It looms from the trees as they open to the wall he built around the territory he claimed for himself. I growl at the affront, not stopping my charge. I crash against the barrier to knock the outer wall down with a forceful blow of my shoulder. The stone gives. It’s no contest for the Alpha power flowing in my veins, giving my massive wolf immense strength.

The courtyard is empty. No guards. No one inspecting the unsubtle entrance.