Chapter 119

Chapter 119

Kyle, his wolf alert, bared his teeth at the warriors encircling him as he walked around his prison's circle. He observed them cautiously and deliberately, searching for gaps in their grip. His aggressive stare was as if he were trying to find someone or anything. As the warriors advanced in a calculated fashion, he growled menacingly and retreated his wolf into an even smaller area.

I hadn't seen him in his wolf form in a very long time; his fur was the deepest shade of grey and bristled with anxiety. It was the same fur cloak that had surrounded me and kept me warm in the dim chamber where we had both spent our formative years.

In an attempt to subdue the antagonistic wolf, Derrick advanced to demonstrate his supremacy, his title of power flowing off him in waves, but the two wolves were equally menacing. I knew that Kyle's wolf was nearly as big as the crowned monarch standing in front of him since I had also felt the strength between the two of them.

As the warriors closed in on him, Kyle bared his teeth once more, hunching onto his hind legs and adopting a confrontational stance.

He was aware of their intentions; they wanted him to change positions in order to weaken his defenses. Any rational wolf understood that we were stronger and more nimble while fighting in our wolf forms, while our human sides were far more constrained.

There were a lot of reasons why he might be here, and I needed to make sure that none of them involved destroying everything in front of me, so I waited for him to attack and watched to see what his plans were.

Inside of me, my powers were a surging tide that was just waiting to happen.

His ears perked up when Vera called his name, his wolf going crazy as a menacing roar echoed through the grassy aperture.

I noticed her as she approached the scene. I quickly moved to grab her before things could turn into a carnage scene, feeling anxious as I did so.

Trying to calm the rage and anxiety in her system, I whispered, "Nothing is going to happen to him; he's safe."

I would still ensure his protection, even if he came here to act against us. I understood how powerless it felt to have our mother's claws driven deep into us because we were the only ones who had experienced it. Even though he'd temporarily freed me, the trauma of it had linked us. I needed to know why he was doing this before I could defend him, but I would protect him just as he had protected me.

"I need him—I need to, I need—"

She tried to get by me, and her voice trembled.

She hadn't seen him in weeks, and I knew how crazy her wolf had been driving her without him. She didn't care about the calamity in her path; she needed him to function. For her, being in his arms once more was everything.

Her eyes met mine, almost piercing through me, as if torn between two individuals.

She wanted to be mad at me for keeping her from the one person she needed more than oxygen, but her better judgment also informed her that I was her best opportunity to ensure her partner would survive this ordeal unscathed.

Her hands went to my arms and gripped me even more fervently, as though begging me. She had seen me as a broken shell the last time she had seen me, and now she was staring longingly at the mark on my neck.

I was the one who could halt the Alpha King's order, if anybody could.

"You have to stop him from going after the king; they don't even know he's your brother." Vera interrupted herself to say this, and in the two seconds I took to calm down his partner, he discovered a weakness in his temporary confinement and leaped from the human cage.

"What the fuck have you done to them?" His words resounded throughout the vast space as his fist smashed into my friend's face, sending him crashing to the ground.

I was momentarily too stunned to move as the smell of blood filled the air.

The fighters advanced to seize him, but his sorcery swung back. The force of it pushes them outward, forming a wall to prevent them from meddling once more.

They now knew, if they hadn't before, that he was my brother.

Above my fallen companion, Kyle stood—the two of them locked in a quarrel that I had to break up.

With surprise and annoyance combined with the pain of my brother's power piercing through our mate bond, Derrick attempted to straighten himself up. But his magic was different from mine; it was deadly in ways that mine was not.

My heart started racing, and I felt his power draw a loose noose around Derrick's neck.

"If you've hurt them, I'll kill you before my mother even gets the chance." Kyle was transitioning between his beast form and human form, his emotions controlling his movements.

That's when I realized he wasn't here to carry out my mom's wishes.

Derrick battled the grip my brother had on him, but without my support, he was helpless.

Even if every cell in my body ached to break my brother's grasp on him, I forced my own powers aside.

"Don't hurt him." I broke through the barrier he had thrown up around us, and my voice had a soft urgency to it.

At the sound of my voice, Kyle's head snapped towards me, his eyes glimmering with relief.

He examined me once, twice, and three times before discarding the alpha he was holding. Even though there was no immediate danger for him to protect me from, he still saw himself as my big brother in this situation.

"The last time I heard he had you locked in a cell, he deserves more than what I'm doing to him right now." He was filled with rage and prepared to let it all out, seeking revenge in the wrong place and facing his own guilt for not getting here sooner.

"Kyle, please. Give up my partner." As I inched towards my brother, he gave me a stern look, clearly not pleased with my request. I moved my hair out of my neckline so he could see my mark. "You're hurting me too if you hurt him. Besides, wouldn't it be better to focus your energy on taking care of your own partner instead of pounding me to the floor? You know that she's waiting for you." That was sufficient to divert his focus, causing all of his defences to collapse.