Chapter 92

My heart pounded in my chest. Grace. Grace. Grace. I had left her there. I tried to reach out to her through our connection, but all I could feel was fear pulsing through our bond. How could I have missed that during our run?

The girl was cowering in front of me, but I didn’t care. She had wasted my time. She was a part of the problem, and she stood in my way.

I barred my teeth at her, and my wolf took over, jumping over her as if she was nothing. She was standing between Grace and me. I heard her scream, and Sawyer howled, but I didn’t look back over my shoulder as I sprinted through the forest and back toward my mate. My mate, who I couldn’t protect.

I frantically mindlinked all of the guards I had left behind, but nobody responded as I forced myself to go even faster.

Another Lycan fell from a tree, hindering my progress, but I just threw it off of me like it was a bug. I heard the sound of another set of paws pounding behind me, but a quick glance back told me it was just Leon trying to keep up with me. He couldn’t, of course, but I appreciated his effort nonetheless. Kate could be trusted, she would keep the girl.

“YOUR LUNA IS UNDER ATTACK!” I shouted through the mindlink. “PROTECT HER AT ALL COSTS.”

There was confusion from the pack at first. They hadn’t been under attack. No one had tried to hurt any of them. But then the Lycan’s began to jump out of trees. They weren’t trying to fight from what I could tell, not really, just corral us, but I would not be stopped so easily. They were weak. Every single one I passed were smaller than Ethan and the other one we had killed.

“Alpha!” Someone called out through the mindlink. “I think they are all kids!”

“FUCK!” I roared. “Don’t kill them if you can help it.”

I shut off the link and forced myself to keep running. I wished I could mindlink Grace or even Ethan to tell them to hide, find a weapon, anything, but nobody who was supposed to be there was answering and they were Lycan. They couldn’t mindlink even if they wanted to. I just hoped I wasn’t going to be too late.

I reached out in the bond again toward Grace, but all I felt was her undeniable furry. Emotions were running through her like water. Why was she angry? Was she angry at me? Was she mad that I had left her behind? Did she think I set her up? She had to know that I would never do that.

Suddenly, another wolf tackled me to the ground, taking me by surprise. We both went rolling, and I heard him cry out in pain. I forced my way on top to go for the kill shot when the familiar scent filled my nose.

It was enough to give me pause as my brother shifted into his human form right before my eyes.

“Calm down brother,” He hissed as Leon growled from somewhere near.

I shifted too. What the fuck was he doing here? He was supposed to be banished.

“Calm down?!” I demanded. “Calm down?! Get out of my way before I kill you from keeping me from my mate.”

“Look, I know.” Caleb said slightly desperately. “I know, but if you barge in right now, you’re going to get yourself killed. And that would not help Grace at all.”

“What are you talking about?” I growled.

“It’s a part of their plan.” Caleb bit out.

“Who’s plan?”

“Adrian’s. He wants you to go after Grace, so he can kill you.”

“I don’t care. I’ll win.”

“Just wait a moment, please,” Caleb pleaded, helplessly since I had him pinned.

“Why?”

“Because we have to have a plan. We can’t just barge in, tell everyone to remain calm and vigilant, but stop making a scene. It’ll be too easy for them to escape that way. Now send your warriors to your weakest guard points but do it casually. We don’t want to tip them off that we know their plan.” Caleb whispered.

“How do you know their plan?” Leon demanded.

“It’s a long story...”

“You went there for refuge, didn’t you?”

Caleb looked slightly ashamed even in the darkness but nodded anyway. Of course, the Red Blood pack wouldn’t have cared if he was a traitor.

“I know I haven’t done much to earn your trust. You both have no real reason to trust me, but I need you to trust me now. Come on.”

I could feel his earnestness through our twin bond. I had never felt him feel that way in all our lives that I almost didn’t even believe that he was my brother.

“Grace...”

“I know... I know how to get to her, but we have to move.”

Slowly, I got off of him, and then we were moving again through the forest at top speed. As soon as we broke out of the tree line and I could see the pack house, I felt like I was going to die. We raced forward, but stuck low to the ground so we wouldn’t be seen, but my heart nearly stopped when I saw at least two figures on the roof fighting. Grace’s blonde hair stood out in the night, and Caleb pointed at the helicopter off in the distance. Fuck, we had to move. And we had to move now. We had a plan for this, but no one was in a spot to execute it.

A scream suddenly echoed through the air, so full of rage, and then I saw it. We were less than 100 feet from the house as a body fell from the roof. I had to force my wolf not to stop. Don’t be Grace. Don’t be Grace. I pleaded in my head over and over again. Please, not my Grace.

I didn’t approach the body. Leon seemed to know that I couldn’t yet, not till I knew and did it for me.

“Ethan.” Leon confirmed, as he turned Ethan’s head toward me.

“Crap. Come on.”

And I raced into the house, Grace was still in danger, and her brother was dead...