Chapter 11: A coincidence

Xander’s pov

*What the hell are these things?!* I roar at Warren through our pack's mindlink.

Brutus snaps its jaws with lethal precision, shredding the throat of the wolf-like creature before it can pounce. The black, foul-smelling blood splatters across my blonde fur as I kick its limp body to the dirt, my chest heaving from the adrenaline surge.

*I don't have a damn clue, Xander!* Warren says. *Do you think these freakish abominations belong to your uncle?*

I shift back into my human form, wiping a smear of dark blood from my face as I stare down at the unnatural corpses on the grass. Why would my uncle send these deformed monstrosities straight into my territory, knowing fully well the sheer devastation my warriors are capable of unleashing?

Warren and Gunnar step out to stand beside me, their eyes scanning the perimeter for any remaining threats. When Warren had called my phone to report a perimeter breach, I feared the absolute worst, terrified that while I was distracted watching over that damn human, my pack had paid the price for my sudden lack of vigilance. It had infuriated me to think our enemies might have sensed my divided focus.

To my complete surprise, I arrived only to find five mutated freaks.

How did they get in here?

“What are they?” Gunnar asks beside me.

Great.

Even the freaks got him to talk.

That’s how bad it is.

"What does it even matter what they are?" Lana's commanding voice says as she struts towards us, her silver blades in both hands.

"One of these things managed to take down three of my best warriors before we put it in the ground! If this is our uncle's sick handiwork, Xander, I’m going to wring his fucking neck myself. I told you we should have executed him years ago—he is an absolute disgrace to this bloodline!" She raises her blood-slicked blade, her golden irises shifting into a red.

"Woah, woah, calm down, sweetheart," Warren says softly, stepping towards her with his hands raised. "Let me take that off your hands before you cut off Gunnar's head with it. Am I right, Gunnar?"

Gunnar with his gigantic frame, simply squints his dark eyes in utter confusion at being dragged into their personal drama.

Warren rolls his eyes. "Yeah, thanks a lot for the overwhelming support there, mate," he dryly mutters before turning his attention back to his mate. "Come on, Lana, let's head back inside the house so you can rest."

"Rest? I’m not some fragile female, Warren, so stop treating me like I'm made of glass!" she snaps coldly, yanking her arm back from his touch and glaring at him.

I turn my gaze away from them as their bickering escalates, feeling a pang of sympathy for my Beta.

Warren and my sister have been trapped in a turbulent, crumbling marriage for months now, and while I know Warren loves her with every fiber of his being, Lana can be a nightmare when her temper rises.

I turn to the giant by my side. “Gunnar, get the omegas out here to burn and bury these monstrosities immediately. Goddess knows if they’re contagious. I’m going to interrogate our border scouts to find out how these things bypassed our territory lines in the first place. I want to know who was slacking on fucking patrol."

*Alpha, we have unexpected visitors waiting at the northern boundary* a scout's voice interrupts through the mindlink. *It's Alpha Marcus and his men. Should we grant them passage?*

*No, keep them right where they are, I will be there*

I turn back to my inner circle. "Gunnar, you’re with me, we have company to handle."

An omega runs up to offer me a pair of sweatpants, which I pull on over my blood-stained skin before slipping into the driver's seat of my car. Warren and Lana load into their own vehicle behind us, and we tear down the dirt trail toward the boundary line.

Alpha Marcus stands near the boundary, flanked by two of his shadow-clad assassins who keep their hands resting lightly on the hilt of their blades.

"WOW," Hank drawls with a smirk as he takes in the sight of my bare, blood-spattered chest stepping out of the vehicle. "Did I happen to show up at a bad time, Alpha Xander?"

"No. State your business, Marcus. What do you want?"

"The Council has granted me full permission to eliminate your uncle once and for all and I came to tell you as a courtesy." He says. “I apologize in advance for your future loss, I know how deeply you all care for him…..especially you, Lana," he grins, stepping forward and taking my sister's hand in his.

Before Warren can throw a punch, Lana’s hand flies out, striking Marcus hard across the jaw.

I grin.

"Touch me again, Marcus, and I will rip your abdomen open and feed on your intestines," she snarls, her glowing red.

Marcus merely wipes the trickle of blood from his split lip, his grin growing even wider. "Wild... God, I absolutely love it," he purrs, his eyes scanning her body. "Don't worry, my dear, I’m a very patient man."

I see Warren's hand clenching and unclenching, blood dripping from his palm where his claws had punctured. He was going to beat the sonofabitch.

*Keep your temper in check, Warren. He is deliberately provoking you*

Maybe not trying to provoke him though. My sister's beauty and violence was known far and wide. A siren who is as beautiful as she is deadly. That gets her lots of attention right from when we were kids. Alphas and betas had come far and wide to claim her as their mate but my sister had fallen in love with Warren and chose him.

Still doesn’t stop them from trying.

Warren nods and his hands stop clenching.

"So, do anyone have any special requests for his execution?" Marcus asks, turning his gaze back to me. "My assassins can end his life in a second, or they can prolong the torture for a few days."

"Get lost, Marcus," Lana spits, turning on her heel and marching straight back to the car.

Warren cast one final lethal glare at Marcus before striding after his mate.

Marcus chuckles, leaning closer to me as he gestures toward their retreating backs. "Everything alright with those two?"

I don't bother wasting another breath on him, as I turn around and slide into my vehicle alongside Gunnar. The moment I step into the house, I hear the echoing sound of screaming matches from upstairs, a door slammed and I see Lana marching down the stairs and past me towards the training grounds.

Warren steps down the staircase moments later, an exhausted look on his face as he runs both hands through his messy brown hair.

I intend to stay out of their marital mess and walk straight to my office, but seeing my Beta…..a man who would happily bleed for this pack……looking so broken stops me in my tracks. I pivot around and walk over to him instead.

"Still fighting?"

"It's getting worse, man," Warren groans, massaging the muscle on his neck. "Can you... can you please try talking to her, Xander?"

"What’s really going on?" I ask.

"She has been completely withdrawn ever since that godforsaken incident years ago," he says. "And now, she keeps taking back-to-back high-risk assassin contracts for the Council, doing far more than necessary just to keep her hands bloody. She seems to be in this self destructive path. I just want her to stop, Xander. I want her to settle down, heal, and start a family with me again."

I stare at him in silence, my mind wandering back to the brutal upbringing that shaped us all.

Me and my sister, even though we’re twins, have never been close, thanks to our parents always pitting us against each other.

Under our parents' merciless rule, our pack earned a global reputation for producing the most ruthless, highly trained assassins for the Council. Cold-blooded executioners deployed to eliminate political threats, rogue supernatural factions, and innocent collateral without a second thought. When my parents died and I took over as Alpha, I stripped the pack of that burden, cutting our ties with the Council's dirty work and allowing Marcus’s pack to take over the role of supreme hitmen. I refused to send my people out to slaughter children or enforce tyrannical decrees, but Lana refused to walk away from the violence.

"Please, Xander, you're the only one she might actually listen to," Warren pleads. "Will you talk to her?"

"Sure, man," I say, giving his shoulder a firm, reassuring squeeze. "I'll talk to her tonight. Do you want a drink? We both look like we desperately need one."

He nods, following me into my office toward the bar cart and we drink for a while before he retires.

I click the button and enter my surveillance room, just as my satellite phone rings.

I picked it up. “That was fast,”

“Haven’t found him yet, big man, but get this,” Derek says. “I followed the trail I could find and it led me right here to your city, Manhattan. What a coincidence right?”