AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sloane peered at me through worried eyes. “Everything all right? I haven’t talked to you.”
I cleared my throat and forced a smile, not wanting to worry her. “My dad has kept me busy. It’s hard enough to find a few minutes for myself during the day. I’ve been here late at night.”
Her brows pinched as she frowned. “I wish you would wake me. I want to see you. I’ve missed you, Sawyer.”
I skimmed my thumb over her cheek again. “You look so peaceful.”
She bent down and caught my lips briefly. “Promise me you’ll wake me in the future. I want to see and talk to you. My mom and Willa are great, but they aren’t you. I know they are mated to my dad and Jacob, but I don’t feel like they understand what I’m feeling. Not like you do. And I just miss you.”
My chest tightened. As if it wasn’t bad enough that I’d failed Lincoln, I was neglecting my mate. I was letting Sloane down, too.
She must have sensed my thoughts because she pressed her forehead to mine and curled her fingers into my shirt. “Hey, you have to stop blaming yourself for everything. There are just some things that are out of your control. You can’t carry all that weight on your shoulders.”
She closed her eyes and let her head fall to my shoulder as she sighed. “We both need to remember that.”
I skimmed my fingers through her hair. “Easier said than done.”
Sloane rubbed my chest. “Talk to me, Sawyer. You don’t have to bear this all on your own.”
I shut my eyes for a moment and set my jaw. She was right, and she probably did need to know what was happening. It was her and her pack my dad was coming for.
I drew in a shaky breath and let it out. “More men arrive tomorrow. I’m not even sure where they’re coming from. The names on the list are ones I’m not familiar with. He’s got men from all over.”
Sloane mashed her lips together but nodded at me to continue.
My chest tightened further. “He’s bringing in about a hundred men.”
Her eyes widened, and she gasped. “A hundred?”
My mouth went dry. Her pack wasn’t going to be prepared for that many men. “Yeah, and he’s trying to get more. His reach is farther than I thought, and there are some packs that are so frightened that they’ve pledged their allegiance to him without him even having to ask.”
Sloane tucked her bottom lip between her teeth and fell back to look up at the ceiling again. “That’s concerning. We’ve had a few people leave, thinking it’s better to run and hide.”
Cowards!
I shifted my legs on the bed and bit the inside of my cheek. “Running isn’t going to solve anything. If my dad is allowed to win, he’s going to come after them, and they’ll regret it.”
Sloane turned so she was looking at me, her eyes wide and full of worry. “You can’t blame them for being scared, Sawyer. They’re just trying to protect the people they love.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “I suppose you’re right. It doesn’t solve the problem. The more people who are fighting, the better. If everyone runs scared, and no one stands up to my dad, he’ll win. Then, there is no chance for those who have run.”
Sloane reached across me and grabbed my hand, curling her fingers around mine. “I know.”
I turned so I looked into her eyes. I could see the worry as well as the small, faint hint of hope there too. There was an appeal to running away with her and Lincoln. Someplace far away where my dad would never find us.
But that wasn’t how I wanted to live.
I wanted to have a family. I didn’t want to have to look over my shoulder, constantly worrying that my dad would catch up with us.
I exhaled loudly, but it did nothing to help the tightness in my chest. “We have to believe that we’re going to make things better.”
If we believed that the war was already lost, then everything that I’d done, that I’d been an accomplice to, was for nothing. I’d sat aside and watched helpless people be beaten and killed. That was the problem with being a double agent. You had to pretend to be okay with it, even when it made your stomach turn. I swore I was losing more of my soul each day.
Sloane twisted so that she was looking at me again, propping her head up with her hand. “My mom told me after Darrin died and Alpha Dane asked for me to come to your pack that the only thing stronger than fear is hope. The saying stuck with me, but it’s not that easy.”
“If it were easy, we’d all do it. Someone would’ve stood up to my dad long ago.”
Her eyes widened, and her face paled. “Do you really think that we have a chance at winning?”
