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Abel nodded. “A girl. A really good friend, but, well, now that I know the mate I was originally paired with wasn’t really my mate, I thought I could find her. We’d always had this really intense connection. It’s why were such good friends. I’ll be honest, I did the blood test hoping I’d get paired with her. Maybe, uh, maybe I can still have that happy ending. What if she’s the one I’m meant to be with?”
I hated being the voice of reason and raining on his hope. “I don’t know if you’ll get to go back anytime soon, Abel. You’re from the Fourth Pack, and the upper packs are seeing more fighting and skirmishes than the lower packs. It’s probably too dangerous. But I promise if things calm down, we’ll be sure to get you home as soon as we can.”
“I get it,” Abel said. “No reason to rush home to get killed on the way. But I really am happy for you both. You guys deserve to be happy. So, since I’m feeling a lot better and will be here for a while, you tell me where you need help and I’ll be there.”
“I don’t expect any of you to help,” I said, holding my hands up. “You all went through enough on Bloodstone. This fight with the Ninth Pack doesn’t have to be your fight.”
“I know, but we want to,” Abel said. “You could have left us to rot in that lab, but you risked your lives to get me and Leif out.That’s a debt I have no idea how to repay, but helping with this fight might be a good start.”
A lump formed in my throat as he spoke. By some miracle, I managed to keep my emotions under control. “You all worry about getting healed up and healthy. If we need assistance, you’ll be the first we call. Deal?”
Abel gave me a weak smile. “Deal.”
“We’re in, too,” J.D. said.
Leif cleared his throat. “I’m not sure I can be trusted on a battlefield, but you’ll have me there in spirit, I guess.”
After leaving the clinic, Wyatt and I headed straight for the border patrol camps. In the few hours we’d been gone, activity there had escalated exponentially. People were hauling gear, relaying messages, calling over radios to the other camps, and moving supplies.
“What’s the word?” I asked Eli as she jogged over to meet us. “Something happening?”
Eli nodded grimly. “Our forward scouts sent word about fifteen minutes ago. Ninth Pack is amassing about a thousand yards from the border. The Haven survivors volunteered for the vanguard. They headed out about five minutes ago.”
She must have seen the surprise in my eyes. “They volunteered to be the first to go in?” I asked incredulously.
She winked at me. “Our folks are brave. They also realize that you all took a hell of a risk letting us camp within your lands. They want to repay that kindness the only way they know how.”
First Abel, now this. It filled me with wonder and hope. If all these people from multiple packs and species were willing to fight for what was right, then maybe we did stand a chance.
“I assume you want to be out on the front lines with them?” Eli said. “The vanguard is a third Haveners, a third Eleventh Pack, and a third Wyatt’s pack. I’m sure they’d take heart seeing you out there.”
“You couldn’t keep us away,” Wyatt said.
I nodded my agreement. “Let’s go.”
Eli led us the three miles to the border. Our teams were gathered, hidden behind trees, foliage, rocks, and any other natural camouflage they could find. We took our position behind a stone outcropping with a thick overhang of willow branches. The Ninth Pack had decided not to hide. Hundreds of them milled about, waiting. But on what?
“Why haven’t they attacked yet? They’ve got us outnumbered,” I said.
“No clue. Like I said, they approached and took up this spot, then stopped,” Eli explained.
“Maybe there’s trouble,” Wyatt offered. “Could be Jayson is losing control of his pack. It might be splintering. You saw how that meeting ended yesterday.” He sighed wearily. “MaybeGavin wasn’t worthless after all. He could be working behind the scenes to, I don’t know, get the rest of the pack to see that Jayson’s plan to attack us is as dumb as he is?”
“Possibly,” I said. “But I’m not sure Gavin’s info would sway them. The Ninth Pack has lusted after our lands for decades. I can’t see them changing their mind if they’ve already amassed their forces here. Why back down now?”
“Shit! I guess not,” Eli hissed, pointing.
In the distance, a group of Ninth Pack fighters charged toward the border.
Eli cupped her hands around her mouth. “Incoming! Prepare yourselves!”
“We’re not too late, are we?” an out-of-breath voice asked from behind me.
I jerked around in surprise and saw my parents hurrying toward us.
“Dad? Why are you here? The fight is literally starting.”
“This is my land, my pack, my family. If we don’t fight for it, who will?”
