Page 33 of The Alpha's Forced Bride
Harvey stepped down to ground level. “We're not forcing anyone to get married. It's simply a mate bond.”
“But that means something,” Kirk argued. He was standing to the left of us, keeping an eye on the crowd while Demarcus and Shiloh kept an eye on the other side of the crowd. Even though it was reportedly safe to be here, they were so paranoid about other packs trying to come after them.
Kirk shoved his hands in his pockets. “I really don't think there's anyone out there for me—and how are we going to find anybody anyway? We’re isolated here, and nobody wants to be near us.”
Harvey started to speak just as a couple of others stepped up to talk as well. Leroy and Brady were among the loudest voices—and among the most annoying, if I had to be honest. I didn't really want to judge anyone, but at the same time, they're being pretty obtuse about the whole thing. It was a huge deal to discover that their demons could be exorcised at all. Without the original witch around, the one who did the cursing, and without any way to contact them, it was the best option that they had. Some of the members were very keen to hold on to their demons, while the others wanted very much to be exorcised and be in a proper mate bond.
Pam seemed to be leaning toward the side of being into an actual mate bond, which only made Virgil jealous and caused him to yell chaotically. Many more voices rose from the collective pack, a lot of them sounding like the voices I'd heard coming from Harvey the other night when he was still possessed.
Suddenly, there was this terrible cracking sound. The group fell silent. Some of them were sitting, and others were standing. The eyes of those who were standing had turned black. The others seemed like they were trying to get away from what was happening. We were hard-pressed to address the situation as it was unfolding, but it just kept getting more complicated. Clancy drifted close to Harvey and I did the same. The three of us were huddled together with Kirk standing at the edge of the group. Demarcus and Shiloh were on the other side. They didn't seem like they were defecting or giving into their demons, but we could see that several within the group were doing exactly that.
There was about to be a mutiny on our hands. I could feel it in the air with a terrible chaos that I knew would devolve if we didn't get a hold of it. I leaned against Harvey, feeling him wrap his arm around me. The way his hand slid up my arm to my shoulder and then to the back of my neck told me that he would always protect me, no matter what happened. I was worried about him, too. I was worried about him not having a proper bite mark on his neck. I wanted to do it now to showcase the strength of our bond in front of the rest of them. But there wasn't much time for that as one of the members, who was bulky, muscular, and as tall as a skyscraper descended upon some of the others.
People knocked over chairs, were knocked over themselves, or ran off. Some of them remained and clashed with each other. Another terrible cracking sound seemed to split the earth into two, revealing a horrifying underbelly to the situation that we hadn't considered—that many of these people had demons that could change them into demon wolves. In their demon wolf forms, they could wreak havoc. I kicked myself for not having thought of this before and I could feel the same energy coming from Harvey and Clancy. The two of them remained relatively calm, despite the circumstances.
Clancy darted forward to try to break up some of the fights. Shiloh and Demarcus were hard at work on the other side as well. Harvey dove forward, but I felt that he was wasting his time. No offense to him, but if the other members of the pack didn't want to be saved or didn't want to be properly mated, then they needed to be left behind because they were just holding the rest of the pack back.
I grabbed Harvey's arm to stop him. “You need to let them go.”
He stared at me aghast. “Are you serious right now?”
“We really just need to let them fight and see who's left standing.”
He blinked. “Have you been possessed?”
I shook my head and then released him as I stepped back. I looked to the chaotic crowd that resembled an uncontrollable mosh pit that I knew would turn bloody if something wasn't done soon, which is why I suggested to Harvey to let the people fight it out.
I stared back at him with a deep frown. “I don't know. I don't think I'm possessed.”
He touched my forehead. “You're warm. Maybe you just need to lie down.”
I pointed over his shoulder. “Well, we have bigger fish to fry right now.
He turned back around to face the members who were fighting. There was so much going on that it was hard to pinpoint who was doing what and why. The members’ wolf forms were all blending into each other in the great night, and as someone who wasn't possessed—or hopefully wasn't—I wasn't sure I was strong enough to face these people. I wasn't sure Harvey would be strong enough either without his demonic form. All of this had started with me accepting his dark side. What if I tried to do the same thing with everybody else? Would that be enough? I didn't have time to think of the alternatives.
I didn't have time to try anything, because the biggest member of the pack, in his demonic wolf form, opened his jaws, and snapped them around Leroy’s neck.
Chapter 17 - Harvey
Cain had never shown that type of aggression in his life. I knew it was his demon's fault that he was gnawing on Leroy’s throat, but it was still a horrific scene. A terrible blood-curdling scream came from Leroy that got choked down by the mighty jaws of Cain in his demonic wolf form. So much chaos had erupted since my announcement. There were people who wanted to be healed and people who didn't, and then others who had just run off. I didn't blame them for not knowing what to do. I was at a loss for words, myself.
Trying to be logical hadn't gone as well as I had hoped. Even Clancy appeared shocked as Shiloh descended upon the crowd. Pam stood on the other side of the fire watching her mate get torn to shreds with no emotion on her face. No regret, no fear. Only an indifference that made me feel chilled to the bone. Beside me, Kiara stood while trying to figure out what to do herself. I sensed in her the uncertainty she felt in the situation, in the anxiety that grew with every mounting second that we didn't do anything. We needed outside help and we needed it fast. The wolves who were defecting would soon win, and there was not much we could do. Leroy was already lost but maybe we could save the others. Cain raised his head and howled, inviting six others to do the same.
They had all joined in on the howling. I knew Shiloh to be a defector as he had already begun attacking Brady. In the midst of tearing through Brady's stomach, he scratched at the ground and made a terrible squealing sound that I never wanted to hear ever again. The fighting continued as the howling ceased. Cain was the leader of the defecting group, urging each one of them to tear through somebody or something.
Lonnie and Shiloh launched toward us, heading for Kiara. I tore my clothes off and shifted into my wolf as fast as I could. I was only halfway shifted when Shiloh and Lonnie reached us. Shiloh bit my leg and Lonnie tried to go for my throat. From the left came a greater wolf—a great demonic wolf that smelled like Clancy. He knocked Shiloh over and then grabbed Lonnie and flung him toward the woods. Cain huffed, smoke billowing from his nostrils, heating the area with an eerie steam that diminished the bonfire behind him. With the backlight casting shadows on his head, he seemed to glow with a dark shadow. It acted as a halo around his body and illuminated the others as well. It all looked like the opening credits of a horror movie that I felt would never end. I stood in front of Kiara, feeling that my leg was injured, but standing nonetheless. Clancy stood right beside us in his great demonic form. Cain padded at the ground with his right paw slamming the earth and making it quake.
On either side of me were the people that supported me, the ones who were going to stay behind. Nora and Bessie, although they were older, stood in their wolf forms, limping from being attacked. Others soon joined our side, too. The others must have run into the village, which was fine because I knew that they were just trying to preserve their strength. In the face of such chaos, it was hard to say what would happen. Each of them seemed to be leaning into their demons, which meant that their power would increase tenfold. We wouldn't be able to face them alone.
Cain slammed the earth with both paws, causing the ground to shake violently and causing all of us to fall to our bellies as if we were supposed to bow to him and his greatness. The smile that spread over his demonic wolf lips was terrible. Both a threat and a promise that things were about to get worse. I shifted into my human form and stayed on the ground on my knees while holding my hands in the air.
“You don't have to do this.”
Cain shook his head, blood spattering the ground. He turned into his human form and stepped toward me, his muscles slick with red liquid.
“I'm challenging you for alpha of the Grimpaw pack.”
What a horrifying thing to hear in the midst of a mutiny. I stood to my feet and stepped forward. I felt Kiara grabbed my arm and heard her trying to convince me not to do it. But there was no other way. I shook her hand from my arm and glanced back at her with an apologetic expression for shaking her off. I wasn't denying her comfort, I was just asking her to take a step back.
