CHAPTER TWO
Keri
As I waited for Cade I thought about my deceit. It had been easier than I’d first anticipated. They’d no idea Victor had a daughter. He’d made sure to keep my existence a secret. I’d started going to their school a few months before Scarlett had arrived. I’d kept to myself but I’d kept my ears open. Any information that concerned Cade’s and Blake’s packs had been relayed back to my father as I’d played the obedient role of a spy.
There was no way I was able to integrate myself into their packs because werewolves didn’t associate with humans; they stuck to their own kind. It had only been when Scarlett had found out Cade was her mate and she’d started to hang out with the werewolves that they had allowed me into their group, not knowing who I really was. To them I was the human friend of Scarlett and nothing more.
I’d hated being deceitful but my father had given me no choice. He was the alpha and I couldn’t disobey an order no matter how against it I was. He also had a hold on me that ensured I did everything he asked. I hated him. Even in death he’d left me in a mess I was going to struggle to get out of. And I’d lost my mate because of him.
My heart hurt every time I thought about Blake. The easygoing memory I’d always had of him was replaced by the memory of when he had looked at me with revulsion before he’d turned around and left me. There was no point in hoping he was going to be able to forgive me because I doubted he ever would. Somehow I had to forget about him and move on.
Being a female alpha who wasn’t mated left me at a disadvantage. I didn’t want to think about the fact that if Blake refused to mate with me, I would be unable to shift. It would leave me as a weak target to outside attacks that tried to take over my pack.
Only werewolves with alpha blood could run a pack. A beta could step in for a short amount of time but they couldn’t run a pack indefinitely. If I was killed by another alpha they would take over my pack because I didn’t have an heir. I didn’t want to think about that now. First I had to figure a way out of here and back to my pack.
Half an hour I waited before Cade strode back into the room. He stood with legs slightly apart and his arms crossed over his chest. Most werewolves would be intimidated by him, but I was an alpha too, so I wasn’t.
I remained sitting on the bed as I held his gaze.
“You wanted to talk to me?” he said tightly. He was a good alpha. He had a powerfulness that seemed to come effortlessly and he also had a good poker face. I had no way of knowing what he was thinking.
“Yes, I want you to release us,” I told him. I was quick and to the point although I knew it wasn’t going to be that simple.
“And why would I do that?” he asked flippantly as he arched an eyebrow.
I got off the bed and walked over to him. My father had taught me never to show weakness in front of other people, including alphas of other packs. If Cade thought for one moment I wasn’t strong enough to stand up against him, my pack would be in trouble.
“Don’t play games with me, Cade,” I said as I started to get annoyed that he was treating me like I didn’t know what I was doing. My father had trained me well.
“Do I have to remind you I’m the one with the upper hand at the moment?” he said with steeliness as he glared at me.
He was right. I was locked up and he wasn’t. But the truth was my pack was bigger than his and I could make his life difficult if I wanted to.
“The fact that you also upset Scarlett doesn’t sit well with me either,” he added, his eyes hard.
I felt a pang of guilt at the fact that I’d hurt her even though it was for her own good. He was very protective of Scarlett. It was to be expected since they were mates. Seeing what I was missing hurt so I pushed the emotion away. When I got out of this mess and back to my territory I would mourn the loss of my mate in private.
“Scarlett has a hard time understanding that forming a connection with all of you was necessary to fulfil my job as a spy,” I said, trying to explain. “Any connection that was made wasn’t real.”
“Even the connection you made with Blake?” he asked softly as he cocked his head to the side, his eyes trying to see deeper.
That had been a low blow.
“Yes.”
I lied outright. I wouldn’t gain anything from being truthful. In fact it would put me at a disadvantage because then he might try to use Blake to manipulate me and I couldn’t allow that to happen.
Talking about my deceit wasn’t going to help us to a point where we would be able to reach an understanding. I had to steer the conversation back to the problem at hand. I had to explain to him that I wasn’t a threat and I wasn’t interested in fighting with other packs. I just wanted to go back to my pack. The only time I would fight was when I needed to defend my pack.
“Look, my father was the one that made a decision to attack you. It wasn’t right,” I began to negotiate. “My pack was in the wrong.”
He remained silent.
“But he’s dead and I’m the alpha now. I don’t want a war, I just want to get back to my pack.”
A pack had to follow the orders from an alpha, whereas they could ignore orders from a beta. It was a recipe for disaster.
He pressed his lips together as he watched me intently.
“It would be detrimental for both of us for me to remain a prisoner. If my pack became unstable, then your pack, as well as the surrounding packs, would be at risk.”
He remained silent. He knew I was right.
“You also run the risk of my pack attacking yours to save me from imprisonment. After everything that has happened, do you really want more bloodshed?”
He studied me for a few moments. I knew he didn’t want to chance losing any more of his pack members.
“Your only option is to negotiate with me. It’s in your best interests to trust me,” I added, hoping that my argument had swayed him. If it hadn’t, there would be a lot more bloodshed on the way.
He laughed at me.
“Trust you. The werewolf who was planted into my territory to spy on us and you are asking me to trust you,” he said and scoffed. “You played all of us and you expect me to forget about that and put the lives of the people I love into your hands?”
He looked at me like I was crazy. Although he had every right not to trust me, I needed him to if I was ever going to get back to my pack.
“I can’t be held responsible for my father’s decisions,” I said. I wasn’t sure I was making any headway with him.
“His blood runs in your veins so I have no way of knowing that you won’t do the exact same things he did.”
He was right. He had no way to know for sure that I wasn’t going to lead my pack exactly the way my father had.
Silence followed.
“I’ll be meeting with the other alphas and we will decide on what terms we’ll release you,” he informed me coldly. He gave me one more glare before he turned and left me alone in my cell. The door banged closed behind him. Whatever the terms they came up with were, I would have to agree to them and that made me feel helpless. It was a feeling I hated.
Blake
I was numb. I couldn’t believe that Keri had betrayed us, betrayed me. I sat down and let my head fall into my hands.
When I’d initially found out that Keri had helped Curtis kidnap Scar, I’d been shocked. To me she had just been an innocent human I’d formed a connection with. I’d cared about her, too damn much. Even though I’d thought she was human, she had meant something to me. With everything that had been happening I’d been worried about her welfare so I’d ordered one of my pack members to watch over her.
I stood up and began pacing as I processed my thoughts.
It was only when I saw her for the first time after Cade had brought Scarlett safely back that I’d realized the extent of her betrayal. Her distinctive werewolf scent had been unmistakable and then the realization set in that not only had she somehow been able to mask her werewolf traits from us, she was also a member of Victor’s pack. That knowledge had made me sick.
When her guilty blue eyes had held mine, I’d tried to hide my devastation from the watchful eyes around us. My mind raced through all the thoughts that began to form in my mind. It was the vague comment made by someone that had told me that sometimes you would gravitate to your mate without knowing they were your destined other half. It meant that you could feel something for them before you actually touched.
The dread had risen up in me.
"Lift your shirt," I’d ordered her softly. Everyone around us had ceased to exist as I’d waited for her to follow my command.
Either way it would have hurt. But if she hadn’t been my mate it might have been easier to cope with.
Her gaze had fallen to the floor as her fingers had reached for the hem of her shirt and she had lifted the material slowly. The breath in my lungs had felt trapped as I’d taken in the small birthmark shaped like a half moon on her hip. I knew the shape well, it was the exact same as mine. She was my mate and I felt my heart crumble.
My jaw had tightened as I tried to hold my emotions in check. It had hurt so damn much but I didn’t want anyone to see how devastated I was, including her.
I had raised my eyes to hers. The hopeful look she’d had seconds before had vanished.
When werewolves discovered their mates it was supposed to be the happiest event in their lives. Meeting your mate was like two halves coming together for a complete unit. But standing there, facing her for the first time knowing who she was to me was the worst moment I’d ever lived through.
I would never be complete.
She hadn’t just deceived me, she’d betrayed the people I loved as well. I gave her one last look of disgust and revulsion before I turned around and walked away. It had been the hardest thing I’d ever done.
I had walked back into the house and I just kept walking until I had faced the large gates at the end of Cade’s property. I had needed to get away.
Open the gates, I ordered the guards through the mind-link.
They had opened the gates without questioning me. I had shifted into my wolf and ran into the forest. I kept running with the trees blurred as I ran as fast as I could. It was like I was trying to outrun the heartache and loss that I’d felt at Keri’s betrayal.
Eventually I ran until my lungs burned and my legs ached. I stopped and shifted back into my human form. I had stumbled forward. Exhausted, I had sat down on the grass and leaned against a tree. There was no way to outrun the emotions that were flooding me from the inside and I had no idea how to deal with it.
We need to talk, I heard Cade say to me through the mind-link, pulling me back to the present.
I wanted to ignore him. I still hadn’t managed to wrap my head around everything I’d just found out.
It’s important.
I’m on my way, I informed him as I stood up. I took a deep breath and released it as I ran a hand through my hair.
There wasn’t a choice. I shifted back into my wolf and started the journey back. The journey back was longer. Maybe it was because I felt the dread of possibly facing Keri again. As I got to the gates, they opened up and I ran inside. Cade was waiting for me in the study.
“How are you coping?” he asked me as I took a seat on the other side of the table, across from him.
“How the fuck do you think I’m feeling?” I snapped back. I rubbed my hands over my face, hating my loss of control over my emotions. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you,” I said, apologizing quickly. Cade was my best friend and I knew he was worried about me. Hell, I was worried about myself too.
“I want to say I get it but the truth is I don’t,” he said.
I lifted my gaze to his and saw the sympathy he felt for me and the situation I was in. He was right. He had no idea what I was going through. He’d found his mate. But Scarlett hadn’t lied and betrayed us—she’d saved us. She was strong and loyal. I doubted Keri knew what loyal meant.
“What do you need to talk to me about?” I asked, sitting back in the chair. Dread and apprehension had settled into my stomach. I didn’t want to talk about Keri and everything else that went with that. Ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away but I would deal with it later.
Although I wasn’t sure I would ever get rid of the ache in my chest. Thank God I hadn’t touched her yet because whatever I was feeling would be amplified and it would have been nearly impossible to walk away from her.
“Keri.”
That one word made me stand up and start pacing.
“What about her?” I asked, not really wanting to know. The less I knew, the better. I stopped pacing and held on to the back of the chair as I waited for Cade to talk.
“I know you’re all tied in knots over the mate thing, but I have more to tell you and it isn’t going to be good,” he said, carefully wording his answer.
I cocked my head to the side. What could be worse than the fact that she’d betrayed us and that she belonged to Victor’s pack?
I held my breath.
“She is Victor’s daughter.”
It punched right through me. The ache now felt like someone had stabbed me straight in the heart. How could that be possible? Victor didn’t have any children.
“That’s not possible. He doesn’t have any kids,” I argued, not wanting to believe him.
“He hid her existence from everyone.”
I sank down in the chair, feeling shell-shocked. Not only had she betrayed us and lied, she was the daughter of a monster that had brought pain to all of us in some way. I thought about Scarlett and what she must be going through. Keri had been her friend and it had to be hard to hear that she was the daughter of the man who had murdered her parents. Even if by some small miracle I’d been able to forgive her for the fact that she’d lied to us, I wasn’t sure I could forgive her for being the daughter of a man we all hated with good reason.
There was that saying that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. It meant Keri would be the same as her father. His blood ran in her veins. I dropped my head into my hands. The news was crushing.
A few moments later I felt Cade’s hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him.
“And it gets worse,” he added.
I didn’t know if I had the strength for any more.
“She’s the alpha of his pack.”
My mind spun with the realization that she was in charge of the most powerful pack in the area.
“So what’s the problem?” I asked, trying to hide the fact that my emotions were drowning me from the inside.
“She wants me to release her and her pack members.”
I didn’t know how I felt about that. I didn’t know how I felt about anything at the moment.
“So let her go,” I replied with a shrug. I wasn’t thinking like a leader or even someone who was second in charge. I was thinking like a guy who’d had his heart ripped out and shoved back into his chest.
At least if she wasn’t here I wouldn’t have to keep worrying about seeing her. Just thinking about her hurt, and I knew it would be worse when I saw her again. It was hard to think that she was the person that had been chosen to complete me. Destiny sucked.