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“Count me in for this crazy mission, I guess,” Mika said, then looked at Zoe. “What do you think about it?”
“Oh, I’m going,” Zoe said. “No way in hell am I getting left out of this.”
“No,” Kira said. “Zoe almost died on Bloodstone. I don’t want her in danger again.”
“Am I standing here?” Zoe asked sarcastically. “I feel like I’m standing here, yet you’re talking about me like I’m not. Sorry, Kira, I’m going. End of story.”
“It’s not that you’re incapable of defending yourself,” Kira said. “But you ended up on Bloodstone Island because of me and almost died. If you went and something happened to you, I’d have even more guilt than I already do. Stay here, where I know you’ll be safe.”
“No can do, amigo.”
I could see this had the potential to end up in a fight and decided to approach it a different way.
“The Ninth Pack still has some members who are loyal to Jayson. We watched them run off at the end of the battle. If we leave, we’ll need someone here to help out if they decide to attack again.” I turned to Zoe. “Why don’t you help, Zoe? The Haveners know and trust you, and Kira’s packmates know you as well. It would be a huge help to know we’ve got people we trust here.”
Zoe’s jaw clenched as I spoke. I could see she wanted to argue, but she must have heard the desperation in my voice. I did not want my mate to deal with the heartache of losing her friend if something went wrong.
At last, Zoe rolled her eyes and huffed a sigh. “Fine. I can take a hint, I guess. But, only if I get to keep my sexy bodyguard around.” She tugged Mika close.
I looked at Mika, the two of us having an unspoken conversation as we stared into each other’s eyes. Finally, henodded, and smiled down at Zoe. “You got it. We’ll hold the fort down while you guys are gone.”
The four of us made our way back to Kira’s house. Eli and two Haven wiccans joined us, returning to get more supplies for the patrol camps. As we stepped out of the forest, the familiarthump-thumpof helicopter rotors cut through the air.
In the distance, the military chopper appeared, staying low to the ground. August had flown Crew and Chelsey out to the Twelfth Pack’s lands early that morning. As the aircraft landed, I wondered if it was just August, or if the other two had returned as well.
The answer came five minutes later as all three of them strolled down the back hatch.
“’Sup, boss!” August called out as he walked across the field toward us. “Good to be home.”
Chelsey and Crew followed behind, hands clasped together. As the three drew nearer, Chelsey’s eyes grew wide when she spotted the mating bites on my and Kira’s necks. Rushing forward, she smiled so wide, I thought her face would break. “I’m really happy for you guys. Seriously, I am. This is wonderful.”
Crew shook my hand. “Congratulations,” he said, but cut his one good eye over toward Chelsey.
I realized once again how terrible Crew had felt for rejecting Chelsey. He’d spent years pining for a woman who thought he hated her. Now that they’d made up, you’d have to blind not to see how much they loved each other. That meant noteveryfated matching had been messed up. These two belonged together, and I wondered why they were waiting to claim each other.
“How’s everything with your pack?” Kira asked.
“They’re okay,” Chelsey said. “They haven’t had any big attacks, just a few skirmishes here and there. It’s the one good thing about having isolated pack lands. Easy to defendand tough to get to. The biggest problem is that they’ve lost electricity. A bunch of powerlines leading to the pack lands were destroyed in the fighting between the Sixth and Seventh Packs. Other than that, they’re faring well.”
Kira gave them all a run-down of the battle against the Ninth pack. She ended her story with our plan to head to Fangmore City.
I looked at August. “You up for another flight?”
“Shit,” August scoffed. “I’m not only flying you; I’m going in there with you. Penetrate that city like I penetrate…uh…” August glanced at Chelsey and Kira before clearing his throat. “Well, you know what I mean.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” I said. “This isn’t your fight, August.”
“Bullshit. You got to see all the excitement on Bloodstone, so it’s time for me to get in on the action. Besides, I’ll be there, anyway, if I’m flying you. Might as well watch your back while I’m there. This is gonna be exciting.”
“Your idea of excitement is the same as Von Thornton’s,” I said grudgingly.
“Speaking of,” August said. “What happened to that guy? He sort of vanished as soon as the show was canceled. He was a funny guy. Over the top, and all fake fancy and shit.”
“There’s nothing funny about Von,” Kira growled. “He tucked tail and ran as soon as things went bad. He left at least twenty staff members of the show to die to save his own undead skin.”
“I’m going as well,” Crew said, changing the subject. “I’ve got a bit of a grudge against Simon. I lost a lot of people to his experiments and the assaults.”
Chelsey pulled Crew close, looping her arm in his. “Me too, especially if you’re gonna go after the showrunners. Those bastards almost got my brother killed.”
