CHAPTER ELEVEN
Keri
I was so angry, I wanted to hit someone. I took a deep breath and released it, hoping to dispel some of the anger swirling around inside of me, but nothing was easing the fury building up.
I stalked over to the gate and indicated for the guards to open it. A need to run overtook me. My emotions took over and I needed to get out of the property before anyone saw me lose control, and it was going to happen at any second.
Blake admitting that he’d come here with an ulterior motive had just solidified my distrust for him and I didn’t think I would ever be able to move past that to trust him again. I’d suspected that he’d had a hidden agenda but it had still hurt when he’d admitted the reason he was here was to keep his loved ones safe, and that hadn’t included me.
As soon as the gates swung open, I ran into the forest as fast as my legs could carry me.
Breathing hard, I ran until I couldn’t anymore. By the time I stopped, my chest was burning and sweat dripped down my face. I leaned against a tree as I tried to catch my breath. The run had done nothing to stop the pain inside of me. After a few minutes, my breathing returned to normal and I brushed the moisture from my forehead.
The usual comfort I found from the forest evaded me. This time the sight and scent of the surrounding trees did nothing to ease the turmoil inside of me.
I hated that Blake had tried to deceive me and I was angry with him, even though part of what he said had been right. To an alpha wanting to take over a pack, I was an easy target. Logically, I knew the best way to keep my pack safe was to mate with Blake, but my emotions stopped me. How could I allow myself to mate with someone who could deceive me?
A nagging voice somewhere in my mind reminded me that I’d also deceived him and that I wasn’t an innocent in this even though I had my reason for doing so. He also had reasons for his deception, the voice argued.
I sat down. I looked up to the branches as I leaned against the trunk of the tree.
So the question was, should I mate with him to protect my pack and myself, and to indirectly protect Blake and his pack? I dropped my head into my hands as I tried to wrestle with my decision.
“I knew it was just a matter of time before you made a mistake,” a voice said.
I shot to my feet and faced an evil-grinning Richard, my ex-beta.
“What do you want, Richard?” I asked with disdain clear in my voice as I kept my eyes on him.
On the outside I was calm and in control, but inside I was scared. He’d caught me off guard and alone.
Curtis, I’m in trouble, I pushed the thought through my mind-link to my beta.
I knew without a doubt that Richard wasn’t just here to talk. He was going to kill me. And by doing that he would become the alpha of my pack and he would run the pack just like my father had. Everything Blake and his friends feared would happen. As evil as my father had been, I feared that Richard had the potential to be even worse.
“You can call for help but I’ll end your life before anyone can get here,” he said with sureness that made my blood run cold. It was one-on-one, but he could shift into his wolf and I couldn’t. That was my death sentence.
There would be no winning this fight, but it wasn’t in me to give up without one. I was no coward even if death were inevitable. I’d made a big mistake but I didn’t allow him to see the fear that I felt inside.
Where are you? Curtis asked frantically through the mind-link.
In the forest, I answered.
Goddammit! You stay alive until I get to you, he shouted at me.
I tensed my jaw to stop the emotion from filtering through onto my features. I wouldn’t give Richard the satisfaction. Victor had always drilled into me that emotions caused mistakes, and he was right. My emotions and lack of thought had put me into this deadly situation.
Look after my mom. I sent the last thought through to Curtis before I blocked further communication. There was no point. He wouldn’t be able get to me in time. I’d expected Richard to shift into his wolf and tear me to pieces but instead he remained in human form, watching me with a villainous smile.
“I don’t need to shift into my wolf to kill you,” he said smugly as a cold smile spread across his face. “I’m strong enough to pull you to pieces with my bare hands.”
Not only was I going to die, he would make sure it was painful. I didn’t want to feel the fear that crept through me but there was no stopping it.
“This might just be a fair fight, then,” I couldn’t help throwing back at him. Just because I was about to die a very painful death didn’t mean I was going to let him see how scared I was, and it wasn’t in me to back down or beg for my life.
If I was going out, it would be fighting.
With a determined push of my chin, I held his stare as he stepped forward. All the werewolves in my pack had been trained to fight. Woman alongside men; there was no discrimination.
Richard might be the stronger one but I still hung on to the fraction of hope that my speed might hold him off for the time needed for Curtis to get to me. He leaped forward and his fist flew toward my face but was slightly fast so I managed to pull my head out of its way.
He laughed as I took a step backward. I’d escaped the first punch but I was far from safe. He had me exactly where he wanted me. Most people would try and run but I knew there was no point. If I ran he would shift and then I would be an easy kill.
I was going to fight him but I had to be clever about it. If by some miracle I could hold him off, I thought I just might be able to survive this. He sized me up for a moment as I took a fighting stance and raised my fists. All my training ran subconsciously through my mind as I took in the way he stood and where his hands were.
He balled them against his sides while he continued to smile, like he’d won this battle already.
This time when he stepped forward he was much quicker and I didn’t make it out of his way. His fist connected with my face and I felt the momentum of the hit lift me off the ground and I flew backward. I hit the ground hard, temporarily winding me as I rolled onto my side, holding my aching face.
There was something wet on my face where my cheek throbbed. I looked down at my hands to see it smeared with my own blood. My cheek had split open from the force of the hit.
Richard stalked forward and I pushed myself back up on my feet, wiping the blood with my hand. The evil in his eyes grew at the evidence of what he’d done to me. He was reveling in my pain.
“You had enough yet?” he mocked as he stepped forward menacingly.
“As if,” I spat at him. “It’ll take more than that to kill me.”
I saw the rise in anger at my dig at his ego. The next hit was definitely going to be harder. I watched his eyes carefully, trying to predict his next move. The slightest flicker to the left gave me enough time to avoid the next hit.
His victorious smile waned slightly as his eyes glinted with determination. I could only hold him off for so long, and I was quickly running out of time.
Without revealing his next move, he yelled as he ran for me and tackled me to the ground. I landed hard, expelling the breath out of my lungs, and the pain shot through me. The impact bruised my side as he rolled off me and got back to his feet.
It hurt to breathe and I rolled onto my stomach, trying to get back up again.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” he said with determination. The small hope that I’d held on to began to evaporate.
“Fuck you,” I spat at him as I managed to get back up to my feet. My face and body throbbed with pain. My legs were unsteady beneath me but they held me up.
“I’m going to watch the life leave your body and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it,” he promised in a deadly tone as his hand wrapped around my neck.
Oh. My. God. He was going to strangle me.
He pushed me up against a nearby tree and I tried to loosen his hold with my hands. I scratched and fought but he was too strong. No matter how hard I hit him or struggled against his hold, his gripped never weakened.
My lungs burned with the need for oxygen as his hand closed more tightly around my neck, cutting off my air supply.
He watched with a smile as I began to suffocate. The darkness came for me, giving me relief from my fear and pain.
Blake
I sat down on the bed. The sound of the door slamming still echoed in my ears. She was rightfully upset and I couldn’t argue with that. Letting out a heavy sigh, I tried to figure out what my next move should be. We’d both been less than honest from the time we’d met and somehow we needed to untangle the mess so we could move on, whether that was together or not.
I bunched my hair in my hands as I thought about the best way to approach this.
I wanted to give her the space to work her anger and hurt off but the reality was we were running out of time. She was vulnerable and she needed to mate with me. It was the only way she would be able to survive. After everything I’d just found out about her, I felt awful. I had no idea how bad her life had actually been and to sit calmly beside her and listen to it had taken more self-control than I thought I ever possessed.
Knowing the truth had pushed the feelings of hate and betrayal from me. I was still trying to figure out exactly where that left me. There was no doubt about the fact that I cared for her and I didn’t want anything to happen to her. Did I feel more? I wasn’t sure.
I wrestled with leaving to cool off or trying to get her to let me explain further. Deciding we couldn’t just leave it like we had, I made the choice to follow her. Just as I made it out of the room, I caught a glimpse of Keri stalking out the gates.
I hung back, giving her a little bit of time before I confronted her again. The guard by the gate watched me closely while I watched Keri disappear into the forest.
Most werewolves enjoyed nature but I think for Keri it was more than just that. Maybe it was her place to cool off. But irrespective of how she felt, mating with me wasn't something she could run from. It was hard to be around her and have to stop myself from touching her. It was hard to believe that in all the time I'd known her, I'd never touched her.
After a few minutes I left the property and walked into the forest, deciding that I’d given Keri enough time. I followed her tracks and the faint remains of her scent. She’d run farther than I’d expected.
The forest was peaceful and there was no forewarning that something was wrong until I heard sounds of a fight.
My heart began to pump harder and I felt a fear like I’d never felt before spread through me with every heartbeat.
Keri.
I began to run, hoping that I wasn’t going to be too late. My anger began to build at the thought that someone would hurt her.
On the outside she portrayed herself as a heartless person who was just like her father, but when she’d opened up to me I’d gotten a glimpse of the little girl who had just wanted her father to love her.
The scene that came into view when I found the source of the noise nearly brought me to my knees. Richard was holding Keri by the neck against a tree.
Alarm filled me when I saw her eyes were closed and she wasn’t fighting back. Fear gripped my heart like an iron fist and squeezed. I swear it stopped beating for the few seconds it took me to take in what was happening.
I saw red and I lost it. I charged for him and took him by surprise, knocking him to the ground with all my strength as Keri crumpled to the ground. I got to my feet just as Richard stood up. I'd briefly met him a couple of times and knew he was just as cruel and ruthless as Victor. I made sure I stood protectively between him and Keri’s unmoving body.
If he wanted her, he would have to get through me and I would die before I’d let that happen.
"You think you can take me?" Richard taunted me. I wanted to tear him apart bit by bit and hear him howl in pain.
"By the time you’re finished with me she’ll be dead," he informed me. He knew that I wouldn't risk her life to end his.
He was right. As much as I wanted to kill him, Keri needed medical attention, fast. Richard laughed as he shifted into his wolf and disappeared into the forest.
I swore that I would watch him die one day for what he'd done. I hurried straight to Keri and dropped to my knees. There was blood smeared from an open wound on her face. I touched my fingers to her neck to check her pulse and I felt an array of emotions sweep over me as I touched my mate for the first time, confirming what we already knew: she was mine.
As much as I wanted to revel in my joy at the touch, I pulled myself back to the task at hand—keeping her alive.
I began to panic when I couldn’t find a pulse so I began to give her mouth-to-mouth. I positioned her on the ground so I could cover her mouth with mine and blew air into her lungs as I began to pump her chest.
Don’t you dare die on me!
Every moment that I waited to see her respond felt like a lifetime.
“Please, baby, don’t die,” I pleaded with her as I continued with the CPR.
I was in such a panic that I didn’t notice I had company until Curtis shoved me to the side and took over the CPR. I didn’t like the fact that he’d taken over, but I had to admit he was better trained at it than I was.
“What happened?” he shouted at me.
“It was Richard,” was all I could mumble as I kept my eyes fixed on Keri’s beautiful face, watching for any slight movement that would tell me that she was going to be okay.
She had to be okay, there was no other option.
“Goddammit!” Curtis said, the longer it took without a response from her.
“Don’t you dare give up,” I barked at him. I wasn’t ready to give up on her. I wasn’t sure I ever would be.
“It isn’t looking good,” he whispered and I saw for the first time how much he cared for her.
Curtis was different. I could tell that he only cared for her in a platonic way so it didn’t set me off with jealousy. Kyle was a different story.
Finally when I began to feel like we were actually going to lose her, Curtis pressed his fingers to her throat.
“She has a pulse,” he whispered through the emotion that glistened in his eyes.
“Let’s get her back to the medical center,” he insisted, and he was about to pick her up.
“No,” I said to him. She was my mate and her welfare was my responsibility. I picked her up in my arms like she was the most precious cargo on the earth, and to me she was. There would never be someone as important as she was to me.
It was only when we got back to the medical center and Curtis and the nurses took over that I got a chance to breathe. The emotions that I’d managed to keep control over when I’d come so close to losing her overwhelmed me like a tidal wave, making it difficult to breathe.
When the nurse asked me to leave so they could see to her, I glared at the poor girl and refused.
“It’s okay,” Curtis assured the nurse.
They worked on her and got her linked up to everything she needed. Once the nurses left, Curtis stopped in front of me.
“Thank you for saving her,” he said, and I gave him a brief nod. “She should wake up in a couple of hours.”
I got a chair and put it beside the bed. I rubbed my hands over my face. It was hard seeing her hurt. She was so strong, and seeing her in the fragile state was enough to make my heart ache.
My hand found hers and I held it.
I had no idea how she would respond when she’d found out I’d touched her, but there was no going back now.
I don’t know what I’d been thinking but now that we’d touched and formed a connection, there was no way I would ever leave her. Whether she wanted me or not, I was hers forever.