A Myth - Kendric's POV
I make my way to the pack’s territory. I’m apprehensive and feel like something is already off, even though I’m just arriving. The closer I get to the beta’s house, the worse I feel.
My plan is to ask him to take Valeria away from here, but since she belongs to this pack, I have to have his permission.
Once I’m at the edge of his porch, he comes out the door with a look of panic etched on his face, which only intensifies as his gaze finds mine. “What are you doing here? I figured you'd be gone longer.”
“Well, I came back to see you. The council demands Valeria to come with me, so she can give her testimony at the trial. Afterward, she will leave this pack. It is best for everyone’s sake that you agree.”
With a distant look in his eyes, he nods. “Oh, is that so? There’s a slight problem. She can’t go with you.”
“Why not? If you won’t allow it, then the council will come for your head. There is no way to escape this.”
“Why would they come for me when she’s not here to send,” he says, swallowing the lump forming in his throat. “She won’t be back.”
I take a step forward, my hand reaching out to clasp around his throat. With a slight squeeze, I lean in. “And just where is she?”
“I don’t know, but I can show you she really isn’t here.”
I release him, but he knows he better do as he says. As he takes off toward her house, I follow behind him. Oddly, he veers and I’m not sure where we are going.
“Her house is over there. Why are you taking me here?”
A small fence encloses what seems to be a small cemetery. Large headstones dominate the graveyard, but one grave remains bare. The dirt has been disturbed, causing my heart to sink to my stomach.
He stops short of a fresh grave, and I look down at the marker at the foot.
“Valeria. This is impossible. She was fine when I left.”
He looks down at the grave, his face unreadable. “She has been through a lot because of Jackson and his family. We overlooked her vulnerability and I underestimated her resilience. Felicia said she noticed no signs when she visited her, just days before.”
I collapse to my knees at the foot of the grave. “No, she wouldn’t do this. You are lying.”
Valeria was a timid woman, but there was strength in her gaze that was undeniable. She wouldn’t do something like this.
“We didn’t expect it either, but you can go see for yourself. You’ll find all the proof you need in her parent’s house on the first floor in the kitchen. That is where we found her.”
I rise from the ground and run toward her family’s home. When I reach the porch, I fling open the front door, uncaring if it shatters or not. The scent of blood hits my nose as soon as I’m inside. Something is wrong.
The scent isn’t hers. It’s too coppery and too sharp. Wrong. I walk to the kitchen, checking the scene like evidence in a trial. Knife. Blood pool. Rope. Staged, all of it.
“Do you really expect me to believe this is how she ended it all? The blood isn’t even hers.”
I hear him walking behind me, and when I turn, his eyes are fixed on a bloodstain. “But this is her blood. You just need to accept that she’s gone and isn’t coming back. She’s really dead.”
“Why would I believe such a blatant lie?”
I don’t have time to think or react as the beta jumps toward me and grabs my shirt collar.
“If I were you, I’d run along and tell the council she’s gone. Consider punishing the alpha family. Just know that you haven’t won a single thing by doing so.”
I tell myself to hold the line. That control is power, and power is survival. But the monster inside of me isn’t listening. He’s done calculating. He’s done waiting.
“Technically, you are the alpha of this pack now, but all I sense is a beta. Why haven’t you claimed the pack?”
Then it all becomes crystal clear when he flinches.
“You’re helping them. That’s why you haven’t stepped up to claim the pack. You think they’ll return,” I say, my voice muted. “No, you know they’ll get out of it.”
His eyes flash as he releases my shirt. “Whatever. Return to the council, lovesick puppy. Whatever you think happened here didn’t.”
He turns to walk out of the house, which causes my wolf, who is hanging by a thread, to break free.
I can’t control myself as the shift takes over, causing me to stumble forward until I’m on my hands and knees. Levi turns as he hears my bones snapping, but it’s already too late.
“You’re feral,” he whispers.
I don’t respond. My wolf launches himself at his head and closes his jaws around it. With one swift jerk to the right, his head comes loose from his body. It hits the floor a second later and I look out the front door at the commotion outside.
Several men, presumably Jackson's inner circle, stand there.
This is going to be fun.
I stalk toward the door, my breath coming out in ragged pants. One of the men closest to the porch catches sight of me and realizes what I am before the others do.
He screams in terror and tries to run away, but the others catch him and hold him there. Then their brave facades drop as they make the same realization.
No one will survive this.
“You’re that wolf,” one says to the far right.
I stop as I reach the steps to the porch, studying each one of them with blazing red eyes. If I could smirk, I would be. The corner of my lip pulls up, revealing razor-sharp teeth.
“I thought he was a myth,” another one whispers.