CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Keri
It was hard not thinking about him after he left. I felt like I was missing something important and nothing helped that annoying feeling. But there wasn’t time to mope around; I had things I needed to do. On my way to meet up with Curtis, I bumped into Kyle.
“Hey, you,” he greeted with a knowing smile, and I glared at him.
“What?” he asked innocently.
“I’m not talking about it,” I stated as I walked past him. I knew he wanted to talk to me about Blake but anything Blake and I shared wasn’t something I was willing to talk about with anyone else, even if I was starting to consider him a friend. He’d weaseled his way into my heart somehow when I wasn’t looking.
“Eww,” he said as he followed behind me, looking disgusted. “Who said I wanted those details?”
I just shook my head and continued my way to the medical center. Just outside the door, Kyle stopped me with a hand on my wrist.
“I just wanted to tell you that you deserve all the happiness you’re getting,” he said in a more serious tone.
“Thanks,” I said, feeling awkward.
“He’d better make you happy or else I’ll make him sorry,” he told me, and I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips.
“He will make me happy,” I assured him. Despite everything we’d gone through, we’d managed to put it all behind us and get to the point where we were. We were mated and we were happy.
“So where is he?” he asked.
“He had to go back to his pack,” I informed him.
“He shouldn’t be leaving you on your own with the whole crazy ex-beta guy still stalking around and trying to get his hands on you,” he said with a frown.
“He needed to go back,” I insisted and I pulled my wrist free.
“Why?” he asked, sounding a little angry now.
“Because he needed to tell Cade that he’s leaving and joining my pack,” I explained, feeling annoyed that Kyle had automatically assumed Blake had done something wrong.
“Really?” he asked, sounding a little shocked.
I nodded my head.
“He really is stepping up, isn’t he?” he murmured thoughtfully.
“Yes, he is,” I replied, feeling uncomfortable at sharing this information with him.
“I’m glad he’s making you happy. You deserve it,” he said, throwing an arm around my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go see what Curtis is up to,” he added as we walked into the medical center.
Despite how hard I’d tried to keep Kyle at a distance, I now considered him a friend and it would be hard when he left. I would miss him.
“Have you decided when you’re going back?” I asked.
“Are you trying to get rid of me already?” he asked, faking offense.
“No,” I replied.
“Good,” he stated with a smile. “At some point I have to go back. My pack isn’t going to be able to run itself forever. But there is no way I’m leaving until Blake gets back.”
I nodded. I appreciated it.
“I have to come up with a new nickname for you,” he told me as we came to a stop outside Curtis’ office.
“Really? What’s wrong with Cinderella?” I asked. I hated the nickname, of course, but I played along.
“I think we should call you princess,” he stated, and I rolled my eyes.
“Come on, think about it. You were a Cinderella but now that you’re going to get your happy-ever-after, you should be called princess,” he stated with such a serious face that I began to giggle.
“It’s not funny,” he stated, pretending to be hurt.
“If you start calling me princess I will start calling you Prince Charming,” I warned him with a smile. Two could play at this game.
“You wouldn’t!” he gasped, indignantly horrified.
“I would,” I stated in a serious tone, although the smile on my face was a dead giveaway.
“Fine,” he relented.
“Just think of how many girls you’ll land if I call you Prince Charming,” I teased as I opened the door to the office.
“None,” he quipped back, shaking his head, and I laughed.
“You’ll make your mate really happy one day,” I said while walking into the office that…was empty. I was surprised Curtis wasn’t already waiting for me, but I brushed it off. I’d give him a few more minutes before I went looking for him.
“That’s if I ever find her,” he said, sounding a little sad. I turned to face him.
“You will,” I assured him even though we tended to find our mates when we were younger and he was older than us.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”
For once I got a glimpse into the more serious side of Kyle and it made me sad that he felt he was never going to find his mate. I wasn’t the affectionate type, but I reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze.
“You’ll find her and when you do you’ll be so happy,” I stated to him like I could see into a crystal ball.
“Thanks…princess,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze back. And with that one word we went from having a serious conversation to laughing.
“You’re welcome, Prince Charming,” I shot back, giggling at the thought of him dressed like Prince Charming from a fairy tale.
He pressed his lips together and gave me a playful glare. I’d never felt so lighthearted before and it was nice not to have to be serious all the time. My thoughts went to Blake and how much I was missing him already and it hadn’t even been that long yet.
Kyle and I were still smiling when Curtis walked into his office a few minutes later.
One look at his expression told me something serious was up.
“What is it?” I asked, feeling the lightness of the moment disappear and I felt the weight of worry settle inside of me.
He looked at me and then looked to Kyle, who had stopped smiling as well.
“We have a problem,” he stated, sounding stressed.
“What?” I asked. It came out more sharply than I intended because I was starting to feel panicky. Clearly whatever he was going to tell me wasn’t going to be good.
“Remember the plans we put into place to catch the traitor?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “Did it work?”
“Yes.”
So we knew who the traitor was. Wasn’t that supposed to be a good thing?
“Shouldn’t that be good news that we finally know the identity of the werewolf that has been feeding Richard inside information?” I asked, feeling a little confused at Curtis’ visible agitation.
“Yes, it should be good news,” he mumbled as he sat down in his chair.
“What is the problem?” I asked, starting to get a little angry that he hadn’t told me why he was so stressed.
“We thought it was just one,” he said.
Then my mind caught up.
“How many?” I asked, feeling my heart harden at the thought that more than one member of my pack wanted me dead and Richard in charge as the new alpha.
“At least two,” he answered, watching me for my reaction.
It was a lot to take in.
“How did you find this out?” I asked. We’d fed four locations to four different people and the fact that, according to Curtis, two had been compromised made me wonder how Curtis knew it was more than one. Richard couldn’t breach two different places.
“Richard has breached one location and a group of rogues have breached another,” he stated as if reading my thoughts.
“Rogues,” Kyle murmured, deep in thought beside me.
“The same rogues that had helped my father,” I stated, reeling from the shock that so many werewolves were set on taking me down for the power of running one of the biggest packs in the country.
“Where are they?” I asked, feeling my happiness fade away as I realized the danger we were in.
“They are on their way,” he informed me. “Maybe half an hour, if even that.”
Thoughts of Blake and everything else faded away as I tried to keep my thoughts focused on how we were going to handle them.
I wanted to hold on to the hope that there weren't any more traitors in my pack, but I couldn't. The fact that two locations had been breached meant that there were at least two traitors, which shocked me.
"How many rogues are there?" Kyle asked.
"A lot," Curtis answered. "Around thirty.”
That was a lot of rogues. Is that what Richard had been doing since the last time he'd attacked me? Building an army to be able to take control of my pack?
I rubbed my temple as I tried to think through every scenario. While thirty rogues wouldn't be enough to take my pack, I feared that if there were more traitors in my pack, then I could be in serious trouble.
The worried look on Curtis' face told me he'd already considered that thought. I shared a look with Curtis before I turned to Kyle.
“You need to leave,” I instructed in full alpha mode. He arched an eyebrow at me.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he stated with a determined look.
“I’m responsible for the members of my pack,” I began to argue.
“I’m not leaving,” he stated fiercely, crossing his arms.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead as I tried to think of another way to approach him.
“I can’t guarantee something bad isn’t about to happen.”
“I’ll take the risk because there is no way I’m leaving you,” he said with finality in his voice that told me there was no point in arguing.
“What if I lose more members to Richard? I don’t know how many are going to swap sides, and if I don’t have enough pack members it’s going to be a slaughter,” I explained, trying to keep my emotions in check.
“I don’t care. You’re my friend and I won’t leave you. We’re in this together,” he said and he turned to face Curtis. There was a look of respect that passed from Curtis to Kyle.
I felt the added weight to my shoulders. I cared about Kyle and I didn’t want anything to happen to him but, as he’d stated, he was going to stay even if it meant certain death.
“You’re wasting time. I won’t change my mind,” Kyle told me, and I let out a frustrated sigh. I turned to face Curtis. We didn’t have a lot of time to try and figure out a way to keep everyone safe.
“Any suggestions?” I asked Curtis, trying to rack my brain for a solution.
He seemed to be deep in thought as he rubbed his chin.
“Start getting the fighters together,” Kyle instructed, revealing his leadership skills.
Get the fighters prepared, I informed my lead fighter, David, through the mind-link.
“Goddammit!” Curtis swore as he stood up and began to pace. I stood back, trying not to lose my cool even though with every second that passed my stress level increased.
I was the leader and it was my responsibility to keep my pack safe, and here I was just standing there, contemplating how on earth I was going to be able to do that.
“There’s no way to know how many traitors we have. We run the risk of not having enough members to fight off the attack by Richard and the rogues,” he said, and I heard some exasperation start to creep into his voice.
I began to pace, trying to figure out a way to find out who was going to stand by me and who was going to cross over to join Richard. Somewhere in the back of my mind I couldn’t help thinking of Blake and I was glad that he wasn’t here. I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep my cool if he were stuck in this mess with us. I pushed the thought from my mind. Thinking about him would distract me.
Kyle watched as Curtis and I paced. Then it struck me. I couldn’t guarantee it would work, but I was out of options.
“I know what I need to do,” I said, turning to face Kyle.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m going to talk to my pack.”
“And what are you going to say?” Curtis asked, looking at me with a questioning look.
“I’m not sure,” I said while I began to formulate the words in my head that I was going to say.
“Get everyone together in front of the gates,” I instructed Curtis as I walked out of the office with Kyle following closely behind.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Kyle offered while he tried to keep up with me, and I shook my head.
It was up to me to pull my pack together. I’d always been trained in the strategic and tactical part of being an alpha but I’d never fully embraced the fact that I had to be the leader that the members of my pack needed me to be.
Being an alpha wasn’t just a title and a job that I needed to do. It was engrained in my DNA, in the blood that ran through my veins. From the time I’d taken over the pack, I’d been so distracted with everything else going on that Richard had managed to weasel his way into the minds of some of my pack members. I needed to let my pack know that I was their alpha and I was up to the job.
By the time I got to the main gates, a crowd had formed and I waited patiently while more of them gathered. Curtis joined us and stood beside Kyle. I could see them looking at each other nervously, wondering what the hell I was doing.
We didn’t have a lot of time and if this didn’t work we were going to be in big trouble. That was a slight understatement because if I failed, we would be facing certain death. A hum of excitement and nervousness settled over the crowd as I watched them, trying to keep my nervousness under wraps.
Once the crowd settled and silence descended, I looked to my pack. I tried to look each and every one of them in the eye. I couldn’t help wondering which ones would betray me.
“There has been a lot going on lately. Since I took over the pack, I haven’t been concentrating on my alpha role as much as I should have.”
There were a few blank looks from a few of the members and some looks of sympathy from others. It was hard to decipher what that meant.
“But I’m determined to be the alpha that you need me to be.” I had their undivided attention. “But, having said that, I’ll not continue to run the pack the way my father did.”
A few eyebrows rose with interest at that piece of information.
“I’ve begun to put into place the changes. Firstly, all children will start integrating into the nearby public schools.” A few of my pack members looked at each other and nodded their heads. They seemed to approve. “There’ll be more changes to come. I need you to know that I want to give you more freedom than my father ever did. You’re not just a soldier expected to fight, you are part of a pack, a family who will protect and care for each other.”
Some of them looked surprised. Maybe they’d expected me to run the pack the same way my father had. I didn’t have the stomach for that. I didn’t want to inflict pain and fear. I’d seen the way Blake and Cade had run their packs and I wanted to my pack members to look at me with the same respect and not the fear.
“Richard is on his way here,” I revealed. It was time to lay it all out. It was going to be the only way to save my pack. I would tell them the truth, and the fate of our pack was in their hands, not mine.
I saw a few surprised and alarmed looks but a few looked at me with no emotion. Those were the pack members that made me nervous.
“He wants this pack,” I stated, telling them exactly what Richard was after.
“You know him and you know how he will run this pack,” I told them. “I know there are people here that want him to be the alpha.”
There was a hushed silence as some pack members looked around at the others.
“When he gets here, you will have to make the choice of who you’ll stand with,” I instructed. I kept my voice firm and calm, keeping hidden the nervous mess I was inside. This could backfire on me so badly.
My life depended on the choices they were going to make.