Chapter 416
Four hundred and eighteen
Alexander’s POV
An evil grin spread across Lucas’s face as I told him to gather ten of the guys and get some heavy gear.
“Are we finally giving your little brother a wake-up call p>
“Zachary wants to ignore my letters,” I said, grabbing my coat from the peg near the door and pulling it over my. shoulders. “So we’re going to make it impossible for him to look away. We leave at midnight p>
If they wanted to treat me like a monster, I was done trying to be a saint.
I was going to force my way to that table, and everyone who’d tried to bury me was going to answer for it.
The night was thick with pine fog. I crouched on the ridge overlooking the pack trade bypass, watching twin headlights cut through the mist below. Behind me, Lucas and ten of our best fighters crouched in the brush.
“Eight lorries.” Lucas grinned. “Grain, diesel, and ration kits bound straight for the main depot. Exactly like the scout said. We hit the lead truck, choke the narrow pass, clear the drivers, and haul the crates into the trees before the patrols catch the scent p>
“No,” I said. “We don’t just haul the crates p>
Lucas looked at me. “What do you mean p>
“We take what we can carry,” I said, tightening my grip on the iron prybar until the metal dug into my calluses.” The rest we burn p>
“Burn it? Alexander, that’s three months of good diesel for us. Why waste it p>
“We hit them now,” I said, stepping over the ridge. “Leave the drivers alive. I want them running back to the pack with their boots soaked in fuel p>
The ambush was fast. I hit the lead lorry’s cab before the escort driver could unholster his firearm, ripping open the driver’s door and dragging the man out by his collar. I slammed him into the mud, my wolf surging forward enough to flash gold in the dark.
“Run,” I rasped in his ear.
The guard didn’t need to be told twice. He scrambled up the muddy bank, shouting an alarm into his shoulder radio. Across the dirt road, Lucas and the others had already subdued the remaining escorts, forcing them back into the woods at gunpoint.
“All right, boss!” Lucas yelled over the rumble of the engines, wiping grease from his forehead. “We’ve got the back doors popped! Start grabbing the grain sacks p>
“Get the fuel cans,” I commanded, walking past the open doors toward the second truck.
“Alex, come on p>
“Get the fuel, Lucas!” I roared, turning on him with enough Alpha command to make him recoil and snap his jaw
shut.
I unhooked a thirty-gallon drum of diesel from the side rig, cracked the cap, and kicked it over. The fluid spilled across the gravel, soaking into the dirt beneath the tires. I struck a wooden match against my coat and dropped it.
1/4
ed ord eighteen
+15 Bonus
Foomph.
Pre roared into the night, lighting the pine trees. Heat whipped against my face, but I didn’t step back. I moved to the next lorry, drove my iron bar through the radiator, tore away the hoses, and let the coolant spill onto the burning road.
“Alex!” Lucas sprinted toward me and grabbed my shoulder. “The alarm went out! Sirens at the three-mile marker! We got what we can carry on our backs. We have to cut into the treeline now p>
“Not yet,” I said, staring at the flames.
“Are you insane?” Lucas yelled, his voice cracking. “There are full squads of guards coming down that road! We’re outnumbered four to one if we stay here p>
I didn’t move. I tossed the prybar onto the gravel and it clattered beside the burning tires.
“Alexander, please!” Lucas pleaded, tugging at my leather sleeve. “This wasn’t the plan! You said a quick strike!
“Go back to camp, Lucas,” I said. “Take the men and the rations. Tell Cherry I’ll be fine p>
“I’m not leaving you to get slaughtered p>
“I said go!” I slammed my hand into Lucas’s chest, throwing him back toward the woods. “That’s an order p>
Lucas stared at me, caught between his instinct to fight beside me and the weight of my command. He waved at the four rogues waiting at the treeline.
“Fall back! Move, move, move p>
They vanished into the dark just as the sirens echoed down the valley.
Within minutes, four armored SUVs screeched to a halt, blocking both ends of the burning road. Spotlights snapped on, their beams cutting through the smoke and trapping me in a circle of light.
Dozens of armed guards spilled out, assault rifles raised.
“Don’t move! Hands where we can see them p>
I stood in the center of the road, the heat of the burning trucks at my back, my arms hanging at my sides.
A few of the older guards in the front line stepped forward, their rifles dipping as the spotlight caught my face. Recognition passed through them. I recognized two of them, men who’d worn my father’s crest when I was a teenager learning to ride in the upper pastures. Men who remembered my voice when I was the crown heir.
Nobody pulled the trigger.
“Stand down!” A sharp voice cut through the crackling fire.
The guards parted, forming a path.
An SUV pulled up to the edge of the flames. The driver’s door opened, and Zachary stepped into the muddy road.
He wore a dark blue coat and looked every bit the high-society ruler he and his mother had snatched from me.
He stopped ten feet away and took in the burning lorries, the spilled diesel, and finally, me.
“Look at you,” Zachary said, his voice dripping with disgust and pity. “Living in the dirt like a wild dog. You’ve gone too far this time, Alexander p>
2/4
four huge and eighteen
ཁ་དང
+15 Bonus
“I sent you seven letters this month, you bastard,” I said, my voice carrying over the fire. “You burned them all. So figured I’d bring the fire to you p>
Zachary took a step forward. “You think destroying supply trucks makes you a lord? You think burning grain meant for border families forces my hand? You are a criminal, Alexander. I am the Alpha now p>
“You are sitting in my chair,” I corrected, stepping toward him. The guards raised their rifles, but Zachary held up a hand to stop them. “A chair you stole while our father’s blood was still wet on the floor p>
Zachary looked down his nose at me, a smile touching his lips. “You can scream about legacy all you want. But you’ll never have my father’s throne while I’m alive p>
I stared into his eyes, searching for any trace of the little brother who used to follow me around the training grounds. There was nothing left. Just an empty shell wrapped in an Alpha title.
“Why wasn’t I killed fifteen years ago?” I said.
Zachary chuckled.
“You’ve spent fifteen years paying for what you did,” he said. “Living as an exile, hunted, stripped of your name, eating scraps in the woods. I wasn’t going to stain Father’s memory by becoming a murderer too p>
A laugh rose in my throat, but I forced it down. A murderer. He said it with such confidence, as if he believed his own lies.
“Take him,” Zachary said, stepping back toward his vehicle without looking at me. “The Council has been asking for proof of his lawlessness. Hand him over to the wardens and lock him in the sub-level cell p>
Seven warriors slammed into me from all sides. I could’ve fought. I could’ve shifted and tried to fight, but I didn’t resist. I let them shove my head toward the ground and drag me toward the transport van.
The doors slammed shut, plunging me into darkness. A smile touched my lips.
I was inside his walls now. And Zachary had no idea what he’d just let into his house.
The heavy iron door of the transport van swung open, exposing me to the glare of floodlights and the biting chill of the night air.
Four guards dragged me out, my boots scraping against the cold cobblestones of the high-security prison yard. Every breath burned in my chest.
They hadn’t just put me in irons. They’d made sure to break me first.
My left eye was swollen half-shut from a rifle butt to the cheekbone, and blood leaked from the corner of my split lip onto my collar. A broken rib throbbed with every step, a reminder of the beating the guards had given me on the roadside after Zachary’s polished SUV drove away.
Before tossing me into the transport, a guard had slammed a syringe into the side of my neck. The wolf- suppressant compound, a silver-tinted chemical used only on violent criminals, hit my system.
But the physical pain was nothing compared to the coldness crawling through my veins. Inside my chest, my wolf roared in panic as the drug forced him into the dark, severing my connection to him. Without my wolf’s body heat, the wind tore through my coat, making my jaw chatter.
“Move it, murderer,” a guard spat, shoving the barrel of his rifle between my shoulder blades.
3/4
four bed and eighteen
+15 Bonus
I stumbled into the processing wing.
is wasn’t a standard holding house for petty border thieves. This was the Iron Well, a fortress built into the bedrock beneath the Alpha’s estate. Even at full strength, a turned wolf couldn’t bite or claw through the walls. Stripped of my wolf, I was as helpless as a human trapped in a tomb.
“Clear his pockets. Strip the belt and boots,” the warder commanded from behind a window.
Two guards stepped in, cutting away my coat, pulling off my boots, and searching every seam for weapons. The floor beneath my bare feet felt like ice.
Once they were satisfied, a collar lined with runes was clamped around my neck. Its weight pulled my chin down, forcing a gasp from my lungs as the last remnants of my wolf’s power were smothered.
“Cell 4B,” the head guard ordered. “Keep the warding lights at full intensity. No visitors without the Alpha’s personal seal p>
They dragged me down a corridor lined with steel doors and deadbolts. The guard unlocked Cell/4B, shoved me inside, and slammed the door behind me.
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Cedella
Cedella is a passionate storyteller known for her bold romantic and spicy novels that keep readers hooked from the very first chapter. With a flair for crafting emotionally intense plots and unforgettable characters, she blends love, desire, and drama into every story she writes. Cedella’s storytelling style is immersive and addictive—perfect for fans of heated romances and heart-pounding twists.