Alpha Queen (Claimed by Wolves #4) - Callie Rose Page 0,73

think of was revenge. I became a lone wolf, floundering in my solitude and my grief like I could atone for their deaths by depriving myself of life. But I’ve learned something. You’ve all taught me something,” I add, pointing out at them, at the united packs. “We’ll never defeat the coven alone. It’s only when we come together, fight together, work together, that we’ll be strong enough to win. United, we can do anything.”

As I finish speaking, the crowd cheers again. Then Sable’s at my side, her arm sliding around my waist, and the other alphas are surrounding me to clap me on the shoulder and howl with everyone else.

I laugh and add my howl to the din once more.

Our voices fill the air, and something settles inside me. One more piece of my old wound healing that much more, maybe. I’ll never erase my scars entirely, but I don’t have to get rid of them to live a full life.

My mate taught me that.

As we step down from the small platform, anticipation ratchets up until it almost feels like a real, tangible thing. Goodbyes are spoken, and we discuss last minute plans with the elders who will be remaining behind. I see Gwen and Sable exchange words, and I bite back a smile when the witch stiffens a little as Sable hugs her.

Everyone who’ll be heading out shifts to wolf form and dons their packs with the help of those still in human form. The packs are loaded with weapons, clothes, first aid, supplies, anything we might need if the battle rages longer than a day. We have no intention of returning to pack lands until the coven is decimated.

Then we’re on the move.

In such a huge group, we can’t exactly be subtle about our approach. So the decision was to screw subtlety and go for speed. Make it to the coven’s stronghold so quickly that we can surround them before they even realize we’re there.

Speed is relative, however. We travel for two days, all of us going full tilt and crashing out for a few hours each night. It’s hard to keep morale up, to help everyone cling to the breathless anticipation we departed the village with, but we do our best.

Even my own morale wanes the longer we travel, because I know Sable’s life is going to be in danger.

I stay near her when we’re traveling, and I hold her close at night with the other men, wanting to be with her for every second I have left. I do my best not to think about the fact that she could die—or, shit, that I could die—but the knowledge is never far from my mind. I’ve been there, done that, lost everyone I loved and had to live with the agony. I know intimately, deep in my bones, how devastating that shit can be.

I won’t fucking let it happen again.

I won’t lose any of them.

As the sun nears the mountaintops on the second day, Wolfsbane Mountain comes into view. We know from Patrice’s recon mission that the stronghold is on the back side of the wolf’s head, so instead of crossing the Two-Tone River where we did when we traveled to meet Gwen for the first time, we race farther west until we pass the mountain completely and enter a small wooded area near the river.

We have a little more cover here than we’ll have once we cross the water and draw up to the base of the mountain, so we pause to go over the plan of attack one more time, as if we haven’t hashed it out over and over for days on end now.

But this is it. This is the end game.

No more planning left. No more discussing and debating.

Only action.

Patrice shifts to human form, and the other alphas and I follow suit. She holds up her hand toward the visible peak of Wolfsbane Mountain and beckons us closer. Setting her fingers in an L-shape, she says, “Line my forefinger up to the peak. The stronghold is where my thumb juts out.”

I crouch behind her and do as she says, while the other alphas do the same. The coven’s hideout isn’t visible from our vantage point, but there’s something sparse about the area that makes it obvious it isn’t wilderness. Many of the trees have been removed from that place, leaving a bald spot on the back of the wolf’s neck. A narrow ridge juts out over the empty space, and the slope