KYLE
The second I knew the luna was safe in Elijah’s care, I let my wolf take half control of my mind. Doing this didn’t bring on a shift but allowed the power of my wolf to enter my b*dy, making me larger and stronger.
My anger blinded me to reason as my gaze fixed on Grayson and the girl on his lap.
No going back now.
Once I was in front of the bed, I grabbed the girl and threw her to the ground. She went tumbling, letting out a screech as her bare legs scraped against the hardwood floor.
I couldn’t bring myself to feel guilty for using my strength against a defenseless wolf.
She knew she was betraying her luna and, therefore, her pack.
“Get out of here,” I said, grabbing her
clothes pooled on the ground and tossing them at her. “Go!”
I was about to turn back to Grayson, ready to fight, when I noticed her eyes. Her irises were an unnatural
dark blood–red. Then I watched,
dumbfounded, as they turned to a normal hazel color. She frowned as her eyes cleared and scanned the room.
She looked down at the clothes I’d thrown at her, as if she’d only just realized she was n*ked.
Her face went pale and she hugged the clothing to her b*dy, trying to cover as much as she could. She looked at Grayson, who was still on the bed in only his boxers.
“What…?” She didn’t finish.
With tangible confusion and embarrassment in the air, she sprinted out of the room. The image of her terrifying red eyes burned in my mind as I turned back to Grayson. I didn’t have time to consider what the red irises meant.
Perhaps she was under a spell? Maybe she had some gene mutation?
All I knew was that I had never seen anything like it not in werewolves, at
least.
Lying back on the bed, Grayson growled loudly at me.
“You’ve ruined my fun,” he said sternly. “I thought gammas were supposed to help their alphas. You just threw out an opportunity at claiming more power.”
He had been my alpha for several years now. I had been lucky enough to watch him grow as a leader, developing the skills to make hard decisions and the
compassion to guide his people no matter the circumstance.
In this moment, staring at a man I no longer recognized, who couldn’t possibly be my alpha, I realized the things that I had idolized him for had all been an act. All performed to obtain and retain power. My wolf surged forward and took control over my mind and actions. Both of us could only focus on one thing.
Avenging our luna and getting revenge.
My fist went flying before I could fully comprehend my actions. Fueled by raw anger, it connected with Grayson’s face with more force than I knew I had in me, resulting in a satisfying crunch. Grayson let out a sound of surprise as his head flew to the side.
A hissing noise I had never heard him make before came from his throat.
I didn’t give him time to react as I
repositioned my arm for another punch, hoping to break his nose with this one. But then Grayson grabbed my fist, halting my movements.
“Stop,” he said calmly.
His jarring tone reached my ears and, like magic, immediately caused my b*dy to freeze.
I grunted in discomfort and shock–it was as if I were made of ice, frozen and cold, shivers running down my spine. I couldn’t move no matter how hard I tried.
My wolf howled in my head, wanting to charge forward and bang on my skull so that he could get out. But he was completely frozen too.
Panic encased me. How had Grayson done this? How was this possible?
He wasn’t looking at me. He still had his head turned away, wiping blood from the
corner of his mouth, and he dropped my fist.
“What the f**k did you do to me?” I seethed.
I tried once again to move my b*dy, but I was stuck in the same position, fist raised.
Grayson rubbed at his jaw.
“You carry a mean punch, little wolf.”
My wolf bristled at the insult.
Daip
“I can see why he wanted you to be his beta.”
I was barely listening, too focused on moving my b*dy. “Let me move!” I yelled.
He shook his head, his eyes finally meeting mine. They were blood–red just like the girl’s.
I sucked in a breath.
“Your eyes,” I whispered, “that’s how you got that girl to sleep with you. You were controlling her.”
He chuckled quietly but didn’t respond. I
didn’t need verbal confirmation. I knew I
was right.
Grayson stood from the bed and walked past me until I could no longer see him.
“Your little outburst has to do with that
little brunette girl, doesn’t it?” he said from behind me.
Little brunette girl. I knew he hadn’t forgotten her name. He was toying with me, trying to rile me up. I gritted my teeth.
“Belle,” I said, “the girl you were about to kill by mating with someone else. Your luna.”
“Ah, see, that’s where you’re wrong, my boy,” Grayson said.
I could hear ruffling behind me, as well
as the opening and closing of drawers. He was putting on clothes.
“That girl would have never been my luna. My plan was to mate with her and feed off the power of the mate bond. But she was never worthy of being my mate. Small and weak. A human.” Disgust
laced his tone. “We weren’t meant to be together. Even she knew that. It was why she ran away. It was why I chose another to mate with.”
“She didn’t run away, you f**ker,” I growled. “You chased her away.”
Grayson was in front of me in a second, faster than I had ever seen anyone move in my life, now fully clothed in jeans and a shirt. I blinked in surprise.
“How…” I began to ask, but was silenced by a hard slap to the face. Pain spread across my cheek.
“Remember who you are speaking to, wolf,” Grayson said, deathly calm. “You are lucky to still be alive.”
I bared my teeth. His harsh expression dropped as he watched me with interest, looking from my canines to my fist. I was still ready to strike the moment I was set free from this f**king mind control. He sighed.
“Stand down“-he waving his hand dismissively and walked away-“you’re making me nervous.‘
وو
The tension in my b*dy released in an instant. My arms moved to my sides and my legs stepped together. I was standing in a straight position and facing Grayson as if I were a part of the army. Grayson faced me as well. I couldn’t move, but my muscles weren’t taut in preparation for a fight.
He sighed in frustration and crossed his arms over his chest, watching me closely.
“Your loyalty to the luna is impressive. It shows your bravery.” He scowled. “Your loyalty to me is not. You have willingly defied me and doubted my decision to take another mate. My belief was that
werewolves had blind devotion to their alphas. This little stunt of yours proved
me wrong.
He rubbed the forming bruise on his chin, looking me up and down, assessing my b*dy.
“Be grateful that I am willing to let this go. You are one of the stronger members of the pack and a good gamma. You would be no good to me dead. But be aware that I let you live with faith in the assumption that you will not defy me again, wolf.”
I opened my mouth to swear at him, to tell him that he was no longer my alpha.
But a sudden realization stopped me.
He kept calling me wolf. Young wolf. Little wolf.
The names were meant to be belittling— but I was a wolf, young, and smaller than he was.
I studied Grayson: red eyes, hissing mouth, the way he could somehow control me with only his words. I had never seen him do any of those things before this moment; I hadn’t known he was capable of it. No werewolf had any powers of that kind.
As a matter of fact, there was only one species that did.
“Vampire,” I gasped.
The red eyes widened slightly. The jaw dropped. A small smile formed on the l*ps.
“Well,” he said casually, tilting his head to each side and cracking his n*eck, “good for you. I was beginning to wonder if
anyone was going to figure it out.” He laughed and rolled his shoulders. “A pity, really. I was having so much fun.”
I watched, still incapacitated, as Grayson morphed and shifted as if he were turning into his wolf. Only instead of growing and sprouting hair, his b*dy shrank and changed until there was a completely different man in front of me.
And not just any man.
Azazel Mortar.