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“Spare me the lecture, baby, I know I can’t take this too far, but I have to try and save him. He’s pack. His whole life is ahead of him,” he argued.
“You’re doing everything you can. Just remember that for me, okay?” I pleaded. As someone who already lived with guilt every day, I couldn’t see him go through it. Was my sister’s death… no, abduction, my fault? Of course not. But that didn’t stop the heart-gnawing guilt that settled into my chest cavity as a reminder that I’d failed her.
“I will,” he promised. His eyes landed back on the page, and I gave him a bit longer to read before he stood abruptly, ripping his hand from mine and nearly launching me into the floor. “I think I have something.”
He didn’t give more details before he dashed into the next room. The next thirty minutes were yet another hectic, chaotic time, but when he stopped, the shadows were gone and he looked downright confident.
“We’ll know if it worked by tomorrow,” he said. Nora startled us both by bolting out of her chair and tackling him in a hug. Normally I’d be growling at anyone hugging my men but this was an act of desperation and relief.
“Thank you for trying to save him. He’s all I have,” she sobbed before letting go of him and collapsing back on her chair. She was shaking and exhausted at this point.
“Always,” Nyx said simply. And I knew that he meant it. One of the reasons I fell so easily in love with him was his compassion. He hid it well behind his humor, but the moment he kissed my scars was the moment I knew there was so much more to this man than met the eye. Our pack was lucky to have him, but I was even luckier.
ChapterNine
Vanya
“Again!” Leven barked out. His drill instructor voice was top notch, and I was about ready to sacrifice myself to the tracker to avoid another fucking run through this awful obstacle course.
By nature wolves were impeccable at fitness. We could run long distances and had incredible endurance, even in our human forms, but this was hell.
“If I offer him my famous apple pie, do you think he’d let me pass out in the grass?” Emma whispered to me. Leven was close enough that he glared over at us and then promptly blew into his whistle. “Guess not. No dessert for you, Leven.” She launched herself at the climbing wall and scaled it to the top before disappearing over the other side. When I didn’t follow, he let out another shrill whistle.
“You too, princess!”
“Fuck you, Leven,” I growled. The fact he was sounding like the old Leven only fueled my fire. Even as I protested I followed my friend over the wall, under the barbed wire, over the balancing logs they’d set up, and finally swung the ropes across. When I dropped down next to Emma again it was my turn for sarcasm. “Do you think the tracker will be putting us through this kind of workout?”
She snorted out a laugh. “No, he’s much more direct.” Our laughter died off quickly though. Even joking about him felt wrong, this was far too serious to not give it our all. But we’d be useless if we didn’t get a break.
“Leven, the purpose of this is to strengthen, not weaken. If they’re all too exhausted to fight at a moment’s notice, then it’s the opposite of what we need.” Callum, the voice of reason, had arrived.
“Thank fuck,” Emma groaned before shouting out at the crowd. “I’m making lemonade and snacks at the pavilion. Follow me if you’re just as thirsty.”
The entire group followed her despite Leven’s attempted protests. Callum clapped him on the shoulder and laughed.
“Let them rest. Another round before dinner,” he told his friend.
“They’re fine,” Leven argued. “Right Vanya?”
“Oh no, big guy. I’m on Callum’s side. My entire body is in protest, and it hurts to walk. We’ll heal fast, but if he attacked right now, I couldn’t run to the mansion to save myself,” I countered. Leven’s face dropped at my words and he cursed.
“Fuck.”
“We’re not soldiers, Leven,” I reassured him gently. “You can teach us how to use the endurance we have. How to save ourselves. This is great to build more muscle, but we need to know how to get away fast enough to not get our chests blasted open like Lance.”
He winced at the reminder. Even though Lance had made a shaky recovery that was still ongoing, the imagery I gave him was necessary. The men in my pack took their jobs as protectors seriously, but there’s a fine line between being dedicated and taking things a bit too far. All three of my mates had shown they had little control when it came to that. Nyx with his healing, Callum’s overbearing plans at safety and now Leven pushing us past our limits. But at least their hearts were in the right place.
“I’ve asked the network for allies to come help defend our pack so we can hit the archives,” Callum said. It was the least subtle subject change of all time but it did the trick.
“What?” I gasped. It was a visit we’d pushed off because we couldn’t just leave the pack vulnerable. “Did anyone agree? Do we trust them?”
“I’m vetting the people through Zoey,” he admitted. A pang of jealousy struck me that he was talking to the female alpha so openly, but I bit it down to keep from starting a petty fight and for the sake of wanting to hear more. I trusted Callum but my possessive side wasn’t about trust, it was about being territorial.
“Who would agree to that?” Leven asked incredulously. “We’re obviously being targeted. So they just show up and possibly give themselves over to the tracker?”
“With luck, he’ll follow us,” Callum said. Yet another possibility I hadn’t considered. Now the excitement of the trip was completely ripped away and replaced by paranoia. That feeling of being watched had been so bad here lately, I felt psychotic, and that was a whole new level. “And I made the post very clear. We are asking for volunteers and somehow already have ten.”
“That’s incredible,” I admitted. “I’m impressed at their willingness.”
