CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Kyle
I woke up with a start. The room was dark. The first thing I did was reach beside me but the empty space I found there made me sit up. The sheet was still warm. I stood up and flipped on the bedroom light.
She was gone. I frowned, not allowing the fear that she would leave me again to seep into my thoughts. I rushed into the bathroom but it was empty.
Where was she?
With every moment my heart began to pound, and it was impossible to fight the rising fear. I put my hand to my chest to calm myself down, needing a calm head to figure out what was going on and where my mate was.
Crystal? I asked through our mind-link, hoping she would answer, but there was no response. That set my fear up a notch and I could feel the panic starting to set in. She wouldn't, I told myself. She had promised she wouldn't run again.
But she wasn't here.
This couldn't be happening again. I began to think, feeling like I was spiraling out of control back into the nightmare I had been living before I found her. I couldn't go through that again. My sanity wouldn't allow it.
Think, I insisted, trying to keep a hold on myself. Where could she have gone? She couldn't have disappeared into thin air, so she had to be somewhere. I inhaled a deep breath and released it, hoping it would help my spiraling emotions.
I put a hand to my head as I began to contemplate where she could have gone. I thought back to what we had talked about before. I had made my decision to kill Flynn to keep her safe.
Flynn. In that moment I knew there was something horribly wrong. My mind couldn't contemplate the thought that struck me. She wouldn't have; I refused to believe it. She wouldn't betray me like this.
I got dressed in a rush before I dashed from the room. I could have called to the guards to find out but fear stopped me. There were only minutes before I made it down into the basement of the house, still buttoning up my shirt.
Momentarily I stopped when I saw the guard lying sprawled in the passageway.
No, no, my mind yelled as I rushed to the guard and put my hand to his neck. I felt for a pulse. There was one but he was still out cold. The cell door was open and when I stepped inside, it confirmed my worst fear.
Flynn was gone.
James, I yelled through the mind-link.
What's wrong? he answered, sounding like I had just woken him up.
Flynn's gone, I admitted with a heavy heart, knowing that it had been Crystal.
In minutes everyone was on full alert, trying to track down the missing prisoner, but I knew it was a waste of time. Outside the house I watched the flurry of activity as my pack began to search the property in the hope that we would find Crystal and the Keeper.
How? James asked when he arrived a few minutes later.
Crystal. I didn't know how but I knew she was behind it. She had been against my decision to end the Keeper's life to ensure her safety.
There was no way she could have done what she had on her own, though. She had been with me only a few hours before and I'd had no idea. I felt the betrayal that she had done this but it was soon overridden by the fear for her safety.
I couldn't lose her. It wasn't a possibility.
She couldn't have done it alone, he said, voicing what I had already figured out.
Where's Bay? I asked him, knowing that she had been a part of this. Her connection with the Keeper would have made her the best person to help Crystal.
You think she helped? he asked. I nodded my head, struggling to keep a lid on my anger.
Why would Crystal do this? James asked.
I shrugged, not wanting to think about that.
"What's going on?" Cade asked when he joined us.
"The Keeper is gone."
"But that's not possible. How did he get out?" he asked, not believing that someone from the pack would have helped him escape.
"Crystal."
Cade frowned. "Why?"
I let out a heavy sigh as I rubbed my forehead.
"She didn't agree with my decision to get rid of the Keeper." I looked at Cade. "She believed that it would only secure the war that has been threatening us since their arrival."
"I don't understand why her actions will change any of this," James said.
They didn't know Crystal like I did.
"If Flynn is returned to the Keepers with the information he knows about Crystal, they will not stop until they have her."
They still looked at me with confusion, not understanding.
"The only thing that will stop them is if she gives herself to them." Saying the words out loud made my chest ache like a knife was embedded in my heart.
The understanding sank in and a look of horror passed over James' features.
"We need to find her before she gets to the Keepers," Cade said, already in alpha mode, trying to come up with solutions.
But I was realistic.
"It's too late." I felt like something inside me was dying and there was nothing I could do to save it.
"But they could still be on the compound," Cade offered, but I shook my head.
"They're gone." Despite everyone still searching, I knew that they wouldn't be found here.
There was no room for anger or feelings of betrayal. There was only one last thing for me to do. Loving her made my next decision an easy one. I looked at James.
"I need you to stay and manage the pack with Uncle Nate," I instructed. But he shook his head.
"I'm going with you." The determination in his eyes made me nod. He would follow me to certain death. We had been close my whole life and he would not allow me to walk the last part of my life alone.
"I'll come too," Cade said, but I shook my head.
"No. You can't. I need you to get Uncle Nate up to date on what's happened. Other than James and I, you are the only other person who knows what's been going on," I told him, feeling the responsibility of his life on my shoulders. Thinking of my sister, Scarlett, I couldn't do that to her. Without me, she would need Cade. She couldn't lose both of us. "I can't let something happen to you. Where we are going, we aren't coming back."
It was a suicide mission.
"I want to argue with you but if it was Scar I would be doing the same." He understood my actions, and I appreciated it.
Any rational thought would have kept me where I was but there was nothing rational about my connection with my mate. I would follow her to hell and back, even if there was a good chance I wouldn't survive.
"We need to go," I told James. He nodded.
I gave one last quick nod to the friends who had become so close I considered them family. Then I turned and walked to the closest car I could find. I got into the driver's side and James got into the passenger side.
Then, unexpectedly, the back door opened. The sight of Bay getting into the back of the car made my blood boil.
"I'm coming with you," she said, closing the door.
"No," I said.
"We don't have time for this," James told her, angry that his sister had helped the enemy escape.
"I didn't know," she said. I knew what she was referring to but I didn't care.
"What did you think was going to happen?" I asked, feeling my temper rise. "Did you think she was going to drop him off and come home?"
The word 'home' stuck in my throat. Crystal had no intention of returning. She was going through with the only plan that would ensure the Keepers didn't attack us. The sight of Bay in the back seat of the car was enough to make me see red. She had helped Crystal so she was partly to blame for the situation I was in. Even the voice in my head that reminded me that Crystal would have done it with or without her help did nothing to minimize my anger.
Crystal
The closer we got to the Keepers, the more nervous I felt, and by the time we neared the familiar building it had morphed into full-blown fear. I stopped at the large metal front gates and it only took a few minutes before they slowly opened.
There is no backing out now, I thought as I steered the car to the house and parked it. Resigned, I turned the car off and waited, trying to smother the urge to flee and get as far away as I could.
The sound of Flynn opening the back door kept me where I was. The door slammed shut and I closed my eyes briefly as the sound vibrated through me.
My door opened and I looked at Flynn.
"Get out," he said.
I followed his command, trying to keep my hands from shaking as two Keepers appeared in front of the car.
"What's she doing here?" one of them asked, confused by my presence.
It only took moments before realization dawned in their faces and hatred filtered into their eyes. They knew what I was.
"I need to speak to Harrison," Flynn instructed them.
One left to go find him.
"Are you okay?" the other Keeper asked him.
"Yes," he answered. The wolfsbane was still in his system and he was still weak.
The Keeper stepped aside as Flynn passed him to enter the house. Flynn looked back to see if I followed behind him. The other Keeper waited until I walked past him before he followed me.
Flynn led me to the study. He switched the lights on. Once I entered, the other Keeper closed the door behind us. My heart leaped at the thought that I was confined to the room.
I took a deep breath and released it to calm my growing fear. I linked my hands as Flynn stood by the windows and looked out on the garden outside. It was still dark but the moonlight outlined the silhouette of the trees.
Flynn rolled his shoulders. His back was tense as we waited.
The nervousness and fear was what I had imagined a prisoner who was about to go on trial would feel, although they still had the hope of a not-guilty verdict. That wasn't the case for me. Soon Harrison would arrive.
But when the door to the study finally opened, it was Travis who stepped inside, not Harrison. The dark evil look he gave me sent a shiver down my spine.
"Look what we have here," he said as he strolled into the room.
His unexpected arrival did nothing to ease the fear that made my heart hammer in my chest. I looked at Flynn.
Flynn turned and pinned Travis with a look.
"I wanted to talk to Harrison first," he said.
"As soon as I heard the human girl had returned, I knew something was up," he said while he watched me with fascination.
To my surprise, Flynn didn't immediately correct him.
"I always suspected you weren't being honest," he revealed with a confidence I had the urge to smack out of him. "Freeing a rogue is not something I would expect an innocent human girl to do, especially when she'd been attacked by one."
I pressed my lips closed, refusing to say anything. The heat of Flynn's eyes on me felt like the sun burning against my skin but I refused to meet his gaze. I didn't want to help any of this along.
"Tell me who you really are." He directed the demand to me but I ignored him as I studied a spot on the carpet.
I felt the pain like a whip across my face before I realized what had happened. The force of it made me take a step backward as my hand covered my stinging cheek.
Flynn stepped between us and glared at Travis. "Don't touch her," he warned.
Why would he care? Shock intermingled with realization as Travis' eyes held mine. He knew.
"It's not possible," he murmured in horror.
The door opened and Harrison walked in. He frowned as he took in the scene and my hand still protecting my aching cheek. It had been a hard strike.
"What's going on?" Harrison asked, looking between Travis and Flynn.
"Travis was just leaving," Flynn said, pinning Travis with a hard look that dared him to disagree.
"I'll be back," Travis promised, giving me a look that left me with no doubt that he would enjoy ending my life.
I felt relief when he left, my hand still covering my sore cheek.
"You're back," Harrison said. When I didn't say anything, he looked to Flynn for answers.
"Tell him what you are," Flynn instructed with the sweep of his one hand.
Looking at Harrison, I refused to feel ashamed of who I was.
"I'm a werewolf..." I began to say.
"And?" Flynn prompted.
"A Keeper."
Harrison didn't look shocked. I glanced at Flynn and he looked confused to say the least. He clearly hadn't gotten the reaction he had expected.
"You knew," Flynn said to him accusingly.
"Yes." He nodded.
Harrison indicated for me to sit down in the seat across from him. I sank down in it.
Flynn looked just as perplexed. He refused to sit. Instead, he remained standing beside me, folding his arms as he waited for an explanation.
"How did you know?" Flynn questioned.
Harrison remained silent, watching me as he sat down behind a wooden desk.
"Why?" I asked. He knew I was referring to when he had helped me escape.
He let out a deep sigh.
"When I first met you, there was something about you that seemed so familiar, but it wasn't possible. You were human. But when I discovered you weren't, I knew."
Knew what? I was on the edge of my seat.
"You're my daughter."
His daughter? I recoiled and stood up, needing to put space between us.
"How's that possible?" Flynn asked, looking between Harrison and me like he was looking for physical traits that would tie us together.
"I met her mother out on a patrol once. I knew the dangers but there was something about her I couldn't resist."
I stopped. "But you're supposed to be dead." I remembered the story that both my parents had died and that was why I had been adopted. Had it been a story that Claire had concocted to shield me from the truth?
His eyes softened. "It was a story that was meant to protect you."
"You gave me up," I murmured, feeling hurt.
If he'd lied about his death, could the rest be a lie as well?
"My mother?" I asked, unable to keep the hope out of my voice.
The sadness in his eyes answered my question before he shook his head. I had never met her but I felt a renewed sense of loss. Feeling shocked and struggling to process what I had been told, I sat down.
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," he said gently.
"Were you ever planning on telling me?" The thought was ludicrous.
"I had hoped that one day it would happen."
It was hard to comprehend this Keeper, who was still practically a stranger, was the father I had believed was murdered along with my mother after I had been born.
"What happened?" I asked, ignoring the other silent Keeper in the room.
Now that I had the chance, I needed to know what had happened to my mother.
"We were young and careless, not believing that something so beautiful could be seen as anything other than that. We were naive." I leaned closer. "She got pregnant. I knew that a child born from us would only find death, it was only a matter of time. A secret like that could not be held forever. I tried to get her to terminate the pregnancy but she refused. Even before you were born she loved you...so much."
The thought that she had fought so hard for my existence filled my heart with love for a mother I had never known.
Movement beside me pulled my gaze to the restless Keeper who was looking at my father like he was a traitor.
"After she had you, she realized the severity of our situation. If the Keepers found out you existed, they would kill you without a second thought. If I left the order, it would have raised suspicions."
I understood his reasons but it didn't fill the hollow feeling inside my chest that had craved the love of my birth parents.