Chapter 96

The poor poor girl. My heart hurt for her. She would never understand the full weight of what that meant. How heavy it would be to carry for the rest of her life. She didn’t know yet, but she would. She might not now, but that would change, and it would destroy her, just as it had destroyed everyone before her.

“Stop that.” Rhys growled from his spot next to me.

“What?” I asked in surprise.

“That line of thinking is not helpful to you or anyone else, so it needs to cease.”

I frowned. I knew he could feel things through our bond, but I didn’t realize how exact he could be at times. I hated that he seemed to know me even better than I knew myself. I was nothing short of a mess.

I rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes. I knew that when sleep finally took over, I would be forced to face what I have done, but that was a later problem. Rhys needed me to be productive, not him having to carry me through the situation as he had so often done since I had arrived here. I needed to table my feelings for later and focus.

“So what now?” I asked with a sigh.

“Now, we go and handle the kids. We make sure the area is secure, but also that needs are met. I assume that Adrian is expecting that they are all dead?” Rhys asked his brother.

“He expected them to die. He didn’t expect you to catch on that they weren’t trained soldiers. They were there to just pose as a distraction. He was using them as collateral.”

“Why would anyone use kids as collateral? They’re kids.”

“Right,” Caleb nodded, his face somber. “But they can’t fight in the end, at least not as well as adults. They kept some of the older teens back, but anyone whose parents had given them issues or who they deemed as weak got sent off. The youngest on the list was 6.”

“6?” I gasped. “Did the child even know what they were supposed to be doing?”

“They were told to be shifted in the trees, and once one dropped out, they all were supposed to.” Caleb grimaced at his own words.

6 years old? That was crazy. I knew that Adrian and Kinsley didn’t care about anyone but themselves, but even that seemed cruel for them.

“That’s horrible.” I said finally.

Caleb nodded, and I could feel the tension growing in Rhys the more we talked.

“Go rest in your old quarters, Caleb. You and Sammy can stay until we figure things out.”

Caleb looked surprised, but nodded, and lifted Sammy into his arms. She immediately nuzzled into his neck, and I knew that the day that had had was horrific, but they had managed to get out mostly unscathed. I had never imagined any of the guys in my life with kids, even though I knew Leon had some, but seeing Caleb with a daughter, really threw me off.

“What are we going to do?” I asked Rhys and Leon when the door shut behind Caleb. Leon had been unusually quiet throughout the whole exchange.

“About which part?” Rhys asked.

“Well, we need to start somewhere, so I guess what are we going to do about the kids.”

“I already answered that question, Grace.” Rhys said firmly, but his voice patient as he could manage.

“No, I mean, are they going to stay indefinitely? Who will take care of them? Are they safe to keep? Is this another way to infiltrate our home?”

Rhys ran and tired hand over his face, and Leon stiffened from his spot at the door.

“I don’t know the answer to any of those, but I think it would be cruel no matter what their intentions are to turn kids out to die.” Rhys said after a long moment.

“Are you worried that they are Lycan?” I asked, my voice small.

“The only thing I am truly worried about is that your skin is still ice cold, and your thoughts have turned awfully negative.” Rhys responded.

“Leon?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yes, Luna?” He responded as he took a step closer to us.

“Is your family okay?”

A hint of a smile crossed his face at my question, and he nodded. “My wife is downstairs helping with the kids, and my kids are with another packmate. Thank you for asking.”

I nodded and leaned into Rhys, feeling exhausted already, but our work was just getting started. I looked around for the first time realizing someone was missing from our little group.

“Where’s Sawyer?” I asked.

“He was hurt in the attack.” Rhys answered uneasily. “He’s at clinic currently being taken care of. I know he’s in good hands, but I do want to see him as soon as we attend to all other matters and check in with everything else. Especially because I don’t want the news of his brother being back to come from anyone but me.”

“How did you even run into him?” I asked, realizing I didn’t know, or if I had been told, I had been too out of it to realize.

“He saved my life. He tipped me off that it was Adrian, and then once we realized they were here for you, he helped me get to you.”

“How many other injuries were there?”

“16 dead, 23 injured.” Leon answered. Clearly, he had been mindlinking with people this whole time.

My heart hurt at the news. I was the reason Sawyer was hurt. I was the one who had caused all of these injuries and deaths. It was me.

“Leon, go check things over for us, we won’t be long behind, we just need to have a little chat.”

The way he said chat made my heart flutter. I looked up at him, but his face was as unreadable as ever. And how he could want to be alone with a monster like me, I didn’t understand at all. For all he knew, he could be next.