The Heart of a Beast: A Phoenix Pack Urban Paranormal (Saved By a Beast Book 4)

by Jade Royal

  The sun was about 4 hours from rising. Everything seemed to have happened so quickly. Thankfully Gemma had been found completely faster than Rita was. Of course, because Bryce was trying to sabotage the pack he made it easier to find Gemma, but that sealed his fate.

  In front of the lounge; the town was even more deserted than when the pack had initially left. Zander and Niles were out front waiting for them.

  “Some humans came along. They looked to be part of whatever Bryce had going on here, but we dispatched them and tossed them around back. Being a hunter is a big deal now it seems,” Zander reported. Kellan took in the information. He couldn’t do much about humans being hunters unless they were attacking him or his pack. That was going to be a problem for as long as humans existed.

  “We have to be vigilant when it comes to humans. That’s all,” Kellan said as he pulled on his jeans. The rest of the pack dressed quickly. Kellan looked at Bliss who was talking to Gemma quietly. He noticed that Gemma was saying the alpha, beta, omega mantra, but in a singsong type voice. He went over to his mate and put his arm around her.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  “Nervous. Angry.” He made her look him in the eye.

  “Revenge is always bittersweet Bliss. If that revenge is going to cost us our pup then it’s not worth it. Nothing would ever be worth me losing you and my baby over. Nothing. If you feel like you’re going to lose control you have to pull back.” Bliss nodded and took several deep breaths.

  “I won’t lose control,” she said fiercely.

  “That’s my alpha,” he smiled at her. He kissed her softly.

  “Y’all stay kissing,” Jaxson spoke up, sucking his teeth.

  “Y’all kiss first, then Rita and Jayce gonna start that kissing shit, then Tristan and Gemma gonna start hugging and calling each other cute names and swooning over each other and-”

  “And then you’re gonna get some syrup and-” Jaxson flew over to Kellan and clamped a hand over his mouth. He in no way shape or form wanted Kyra to know he’d accidentally projected the image of him licking and sucking chocolate syrup off her body to their alpha of all people.

  “Why you gotta take it there?” Jaxson asked. Kellan pushed him off and laughed.

  “That’s what the hell you get. You always talking shit about us when you bout to be in the same boat.”

  “Shut up,” Jaxson scoffed.

  “You lovestruck son of a bitch.” The she-wolves watched the men banter back and forth with each other.

  “Interesting species they are…” Kyra commented.

  “They’re really good for sex, but they are very strange,” Gemma added.

  “Who do you think Jaxson wants to put syrup on?” Bliss asked.

  “Probably Mira,” Rita snickered. Mira smirked and pushed Rita playfully. Kyra snapped her head in Mira’s direction. Mira looked at her teasingly.

  “You and Jaxson are…” Kyra began.

  “Mates, yeah,” Mira said.

  “Oh. Congrats,” Kyra replied. Of course, she sounded bitter. How the fuck could she not? The man was calling her cocoa bean only an hour ago, and now he had a mate in another wolf. Kyra was fucking hurt.

  “Really?” Bliss asked. She looked Mira up and down. It was hard to believe her and Jaxson of all people were meant to be together, but the universe has done weirder things.

  “Yes really,” Mira said.

  “Believe it.” Bliss rolled her eyes and looked at Kyra.

  I don’t believe that shit, she spoke into Kyra’s mind. Kyra gasped at the words of her alpha female.

  Don’t worry yourself about it. Don’t try to fake and act like you don’t know what I’m talking about either. Kyra was very ready to fake like she didn’t know what Bliss was talking about, but now she knew she couldn’t hide anything from Bliss. She was going to say something until Kellan broke up their chat.

  “Ready to roll?” he asked. He took Bliss’s hand and led her towards the entrance of the lounge. Everyone fell in place behind them. Kyra made sure to stand between Tristan and Jaxson like she was ordered.

  “Damn it smells like piss,” Gemma spoke up as they entered the basement.

  “Literally,” Bliss gagged. They walked through the door of the basement where Hera, Bryce, and Dell were hanging from the walls chained up. Each of them had pissed themselves since they couldn’t get down to use the bathroom.

  “We’re back,” Kellan greeted them.

  “How ya hanging in there?” Everyone chuckled at his joke except for the captives of course.

  “Damn Dell,” Mira shook her head. Dell glared at Mira and Niles. He could feel their wolves were no longer allegiant to him and knew it would be no use in trying to get them to help him.

  “Don’t damn me!” he snapped.

  “Kellan, you shouldn’t trust them.”

  “Really? How come?” Kellan asked.

  “It’s no coincidence that Gemma was lured into the trap. The moment you leave the caves, the she-wolves get attacked. Both them and the other wolves are playing you and putting the blame on me. They don’t wanna die, so they kissing your ass to make me seem like the guilty one!” Kellan gasped and looked at Niles and Mira.

  “Is that true?” Kellan asked.

  “You knew about the attack?”

  “What? No!” Mira shouted.

  “Kellan you know he’s full of shit,” Niles claimed.

  “I think it’s no coincidence that both you and Mira happened to be down and out during the fight. You didn’t try to help the pack fight back! ow the fuck did they even get in? One of you must have let them in.” Dell looked on with wide eyes as his plan was actually working.

  “Tell him how you lured Gemma into the trap,” Dell ordered Niles.

  “You’re a fucking psycho,” Niles gasped realizing what Dell was doing.

  “Jayce let Dell loose,” Kellan ordered. Jayce couldn’t help but look at his alpha curiously. He knew that it wasn’t his place to question Kellan in front of enemies, so he did as he was ordered. He unlocked the chains and let Dell fall to a heap.

  “Come over here,” Kellan said to Dell.

  “Alpha to alpha, let’s talk.” Dell quickly stood and tripped over his own feet rushing over to Kellan.

  “They lost their allegiance to me I couldn’t control what they were doing,” Dell explained.

  “I didn’t even know they were planning to attack your wolves.”

  “So what do I do with them? You know your other wolves had to die right?” Kellan asked.

  “I think you should kill Niles and Mira too. Why should they stay alive for trying to deceive you? That’s the plan they had from jump.”

  “Jaxson, snap their necks,” Kellan ordered.

  “WHAT?!” Both Niles and Mira shrieked in fear.

  “That’s what you fucking deserve muthafuckeas! Fuck you for betraying-” Kellan whipped his arm out, claws drawn and snatched the larynx and throat from Dell’s neck. Blood gushed and squirted from his neck as he fell to the ground gargling. The she-wolves; including Hera screamed at the gruesomeness of what just happened.

  “You think I’m a fucking idiot?” Kellan asked, kicking Dell in the stomach.

  “You think I’m the alpha to play ya fucking games with?” Niles and Mira visibly relaxed seeing that Kellan had only been faking. Dell held his hand up trying to ward off the kicks, and he tried to speak, but he had no voice box anymore.

  “I know you were the one that shot the dart at Bliss and tried to make her lose our pup. If you for one second think I don’t know that you were the ones that sent your wolves to attack then you’re a dumb muthafuckea.” He stepped on Dell’s hand.

  “You been playing me from the jump and I’m not the fucking alpha for that bullshit.” He kicked Dell in the face.

  “Give me that fucking arrow,” Kellan ordered. It was Tristan who put a silver coated arrow in his hands.

  “You piece of shit!” Kellan growled before stabbing Dell directly in the eye
with the arrow. He pulled it out and stabbed him again in the other eye before pulling it out again and stabbing him repeatedly through the center of his chest. Dell’s body contorted and split down the center of his chest at the power of the silver and the force to which Kellan rammed the arrow into his body. He yanked the bloody arrow from Dell’s limp body and turned to Bryce.

  “You’re turn,” he said pointing the arrow at Bryce. Bryce and Hera were both visibly shook at the decimation of Dell in front of them.

  “Bliss come here,” Kellan said to his mate. Bliss stood next to him and looked her father in the eyes.

  “You didn’t tell me I was going to be a grandfather,” he spoke.

  “You didn’t tell me you were an evil son of a bitch,” she replied.

  “Touché,” he laughed.

  “I hope you realize that wolf or not, my blood runs thick through your veins. Which means my blood will run through the veins of that bastard kid of yours. Which means he has a chance of being an evil son of a bitch. Just like me.” His words put fear in Bliss’s heart because she didn’t want her son to be exposed to anything dealing with Bryce.

  “Yeah, take that in you bitch,” he grunted.

  “What’d I ever do to you?” Bliss asked.

  “How could you allow Maverick to kill me in the first place? How could you be here still plotting to kill me?”

  “Because why should you be so lucky to have a mate and a family and the powers of a shifter? Why should I be the one down and out when you’re enjoying life to the fullest? I used to be happy you know. Then you fucking showed up.”

  “You make it sound as if I was a lost puppy that you took in one night,” she gasped.

  “I would rather a fucking dog than you.” Bliss felt sadness and anger creeping inside her, but she kept herself together.

  “I didn’t want you, Bliss. Your mother did. She proclaimed how children were the gift of fucking life. Then what happens? You come into this world and take her life. So much for being a fucking gift. You killed the only woman I could ever love. Then you wanna turn around and call me daddy? I had to feed and change you and bring you to school. Watch you with a fake smile on my face all because my dead wife talked to me in my dreams and told me I had to. I had fucking enough Bliss.

  I saw Maverick, and he was giving me the key to something I could use to be happy again. Something that would allow me to come out of your fucking shadow, and be the man I once was. And what happens? Again, you ruin something for me. You were being so fucking stuck up and trying to run out on him, he wanted to take my chance away at getting powers. So I did what I had to do. It still all went to hell. And you thought you killed me. But of course, because you ruin every fucking thing; instead of becoming a shifter from your claw marks I became this sickening of a creature. So yeah, I want you dead Bliss. I want you to suffer just like I fucking suffered!”

  Bliss couldn’t help but see the pathetic man that was her father. Blaming her for killing her mother, holding a grudge against her like that. How could someone do such a thing?

  “You’re pathetic,” Bliss whispered.

  “As are you, you whoring bitch!” He hocked and spat a disgusting amount of phlegm at Bliss. Kellan pulled her out of the way of his DNA quickly while at the same time punching him in the face, sending teeth flying from his mouth.

  “Wrong fucking one,” Kellan grunted. He yanked the shackles from the ceiling and freed Bryce. Of course, Bryce immediately tried to punch at Bliss’s stomach, but Kellan kicked him square in the face. When Bryce tried to get up again, Kellan smacked him across the face with the silver laced arrow. He gave the arrow to Bliss, but she shook her head.

  “My wolf might get excited. He’s not worth it. I’ll be satisfied at just watching. Gemma deserves a piece of him since he got her kidnapped.”

  “He had the nerve to fucking touch her,” Tristan growled. Kellan turned and held the arrow out to Gemma. She gazed at it before walking towards Kellan and taking the arrow. She bent down and shoved it through Bryce’s throat, pinning him to the ground. She turned the arrow to further decimate his throat and neck. His eyes turned into slits as his snake tried to emerge, but the pain bested the creature.

  Tristan walked over to Bryce and bent down next to him. Casually, he broke each of Bryce’s fingers as a representation of him touching Gemma. While his fingers were being broken, Gemma kicked him repeatedly in the balls until his nut sack erupted in a gooey mess. Bryce screamed and bawled; the pain consuming his body. He began to shake and tremble as tears leaked from the corner of his eyes. Tristan stood and backed away, pulling Gemma with him. They looked at Kellan and nodded. The kill belonged to the alpha.

  Bliss handed Kellan a silver coated bat. The handle was wrapped in leather making it safe for Kellan to hold it. Bryce looked at the way Kellan hovered over him with the bat.

  “See…you…in…hell,” he choked out, gargling on his own blood as he looked directly at Bliss. Kellan roared and swung the bat over his head before bringing it down onto Bryce’s skull. The power from the blow shattered Bryce’s skull to pieces and crushed his face into the ground. Bliss was visibly frightened by his words, that only made Kellan continue to hit Bryce over and over even though he was dead.

  It’s okay to stop, Bliss spoke softly into his mind. He gave Bryce one last blow; his face a distorted and mangled mess on the floor. Blood splattered all over Kellan as he breathed hard. He turned and looked at Hera. He pointed the bloody bat at her.

  “Your turn,” he growled. Her eyes were wide in her head as she looked at the carnage in front of her. She immediately began to shake her head.

  “No Kellan, please,” she begged.

  “Please?” Kellan was baffled at her.

  “You’ve been part of the bullshit since day one Hera. You allowed Maverick to attack Kyra for the sake of power. You allowed Maverick to kidnap Rita and brutalize her for the sake of power. You allowed him to try and lure us into a fucking trap. Hell, you tried to kill me with a fucking arrow. Now you wanna talk about please?” Kellan questioned.

  “You ain’t fucking serious. So I’ma cut you loose and kill your bitch ass,” Kellan huffed out.

  “I’m an omega Kellan! You know omegas do whatever it takes to survive! Yes, I did all those things, but when it comes to being an omega you know, that’s what I had to do to make it out. A lone wolf is a dead wolf. I didn’t want to die.”

  “Oh please, you were a bitch before you were an omega,” Jaxson spoke up.

  “You decided to lay up with Maverick instead of helping me, Jayce and Tristan keep the pack safe when Kellan left.”

  “So it’s my fault Kellan turned his back and left the pack when Kameron died? He was responsible for keeping the pack safe! Not me! So yes, I slept with Maverick because it was either that or be forced. I’m not the only bitch in here that fucked Maverick for their own protection.” She nodded at Rita. Rita growled and stepped forward, but Jayce held her back.

  “You’re pregnant,” he whispered in her ear, reminding her she couldn’t fight.

  “At least I sacrificed myself for others. You only did it for your own fucking gratification,” Rita snapped.

  “Don’t you dare compare Rita or any of us to you,” Kyra spoke up.

  “Wait, didn’t you fuck Maverick too?” Hera said.

  “You couldn’t carry his pups. That’s why he tore out your fucking stomach.” Kyra didn’t have the chance to lunge at Hera. Jaxson was doing it for her. He was ready to bitch slap her, but Kellan held him back.

  “What Maverick did to me Hera is called rape. If you can push that in my face; or in the face of any fucking female then you deserve to fucking die,” Kyra whispered. Hera shook her head and looked at Kellan.

  “If you say I deserve to die then fine. But I say I should at least be able to defend myself. If I’m bested in a challenge, then I’ll die anyway. If not, I can go on to my lone wolf life.” Kellan looked her up and down.

  “Alright fine. You’ll get you
r challenge.” The rest of the pack audibly gasped, but no one spoke aloud.

  What the fuck Kellan? Kill this bitch. Especially, since she got the nerve to talk about Kyra like that, Jaxson snapped.

  Yeah, she gotta fucking go, Jayce added.

  I know what I’m doing, Kellan told them calmly.

  “So which wolf is it?” Hera asked. She was smiling on the inside because she knew she’d gotten herself out of a death sentence. She smelled the pregnancy on Rita and saw the pregnancy on Bliss. So those two were out of the question. The rest of the Phoenix Pack she-wolves could not beat her in a fight. She smelled the submission in their wolves.

  Without hesitation, Kyra stepped forward. Hera looked at her and laughed seeing Kyra unthreatening. Jaxson took Kyra’s hand.

  “Are you sure?” he asked her. Without looking at him, Kyra just nodded. Every other female in the pack meant something for the pack. If Kyra died in the challenge then it wouldn’t cost the pack anything.

  Selena was the healer, Rita and Bliss were both pregnant. Mira was to be mated to Jax, and Gemma had Tristan as her mate. If either of them died then, the pack would surely lose the males as well. So it was Kyra that had to do it. If she won, she could surely prove to her pack that she wasn’t just an extra pack member who could contribute nothing.

  Jayce, contact every pack you can get ahold of. Tell them there will be a challenge at sunrise and give them coordinates of a secure location, Kellan told Jayce. Then he spoke to the rest of the pack.

  Kyra will defend the honor of our pack by challenging Hera in front of the shifter community. I want to make this an event. Because our pack is going to make a statement, it dawned on them in that moment why Kellan had even agreed to let Hera live for a challenge. He wanted all of this to be publicized. He wanted the pack to make a statement.