CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Keri
That evening we had a quick meeting to tell the others about our solution. I wasn’t the only one with concerns about putting a female spy into a pack of rogues.
“I know we don’t have any other options, but I don’t like the sound of this,” said Kyle, and I nodded my head.
“I don’t want to do it either but she has agreed to it and, like you said, we don’t have any other options either,” I said.
“When are we going to send her in?” Cade questioned.
“Tomorrow,” I replied. “We’re just waiting for one of my trackers to pinpoint the rogues and we will send her in.”
It wasn’t going to be easy to pinpoint the location of the pack, and to get her in successfully before they moved was going to be tricky. I was already on edge but the whole plan was stressing me out because I was worried it wasn’t going to work.
Blake helped me back to my room after the meeting ended and tucked me into bed.
“I just want to check on a couple of things,” he said before he gave me a quick kiss on the forehead and switched off the lights.
“I’ll be back soon,” he said just before he closed the door and left me alone. He was my beta and, with me unable to perform my duties, he needed to keep an eye on things for me.
He’d been an alpha of his own pack and I trusted him to run mine. If it had been anyone else I would have struggled to sit back and let them take control. I yawned as I rubbed my forehead, trying to calm my thoughts. I was so tired but the constant thoughts flitting through my mind kept me staring at the ceiling until Blake came back.
“I thought you’d still be sleeping,” he whispered as he kicked off his shoes and got into bed beside me.
“I’m just worried,” I told him honestly as I looked at him in the darkness.
“It’ll be okay,” he tried to soothe, but there was no way to know that. They were empty words that gave me no comfort.
I didn’t sleep much that night. I spent most of it tossing and turning, trying to come up with another plan that didn’t involve the safety of a member of my pack, but there were no other options.
The next morning we stood outside the gates as we waited for the information from my tracker.
Scarlett and Cade stood beside Blake and me. Curtis stood beside a nervous-looking Crystal. I kept my eyes on her, still wondering who her mate was. I’d never seen her with anyone before so I had no idea if her mate even knew she was taking on this risky mission.
“Glad to see you guys are waiting for me,” Kyle said as he came to stand beside me. He gave me his usual charming smile.
“We’re not waiting for you,” Blake retorted.
Kyle smile at Blake before his eyes drifted to the nervous girl standing beside Curtis. His expression changed as his eyes narrowed on Crystal, who kept her gaze on the floor.
He took a step closer and I watched with interest.
“Crys?” he questioned, looking at the girl. He hadn’t called her by her full name. He’d used a nickname, which meant he knew her.
She looked up nervously at him and when I saw how she looked at him I knew that Kyle was her mate. I knew that look. The emotion in the depths of her heart was visible in her eyes. It was how I looked at Blake and how Scarlett looked at Cade.
“Yes,” she whispered, looking like she’d been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to.
“I don’t understand,” Kyle said. His eyes went from Crystal to me before settling back on her.
“You went missing…we all thought you were…dead,” he said. The disbelief was clear in his voice and it was like he was looking at a ghost.
She bit her lip as her alarmed eyes went to me. Pieces of the puzzle began to connect together and I began to figure out what she’d been hiding from us. The rest of the group was watching with interest like I was.
She knew that Kyle was her mate, but even though Kyle clearly knew her and was concerned about her, he wasn’t acting like a mate. It was obvious to me that he didn’t know she was his mate.
Why would she keep it from him? What kept her from telling him? Kyle was a good guy and I knew him well enough to know that he would love and treasure her. I was definitely missing something.
“What are you doing here?” he asked Crystal.
“She’s the female spy we are going to plant in the rogue pack,” Curtis informed Kyle.
“No way,” he said with a determination that I’d never heard from him before. He stood in front of her and faced us. “Not going to happen.”
“I need a moment alone with Kyle and Crystal,” I told the rest of the group. Blake gave me a questioning look, and I gave him a nod.
I need to talk to them alone, I told him through the mind-link. Curtis followed behind Blake. Scarlett seemed hesitant to leave her brother but Cade pulled her gently by the arm. Once they left, I turned to face Kyle and Crystal. For the first time since I’d met Kyle, he looked at me with anger.
“I had no idea she was from your pack,” I assured him and his anger disappeared. He turned to face Crystal. He took a step closer to her, but she took a step backward.
“Why did you leave?” he asked softly, searching her face for the answer.
Instead of answering his question, her gaze dropped to the floor.
“Your family thought you were dead. They’ve been grieving for you for the last year,” he told her.
Crystal pressed her lips together before she lifted her gaze to meet Kyle’s. I felt like an intruder, watching their interaction, but I needed know what was going on. Before I knew Kyle was her mate, I would have sent her out; but now that I knew the truth, there was no way I would jeopardize her life.
“I wanted a new life and I knew no one would let me go,” Crystal answered firmly.
“Weren’t you happy?” he asked, trying to understand what would drive her to leave her pack and family without telling them.
“I have my reasons,” was the only answer he got.
He looked at her like he didn’t know who she was, and my heart went out to him.
“Let me talk to her,” I said to him as I took a step closer to them.
Kyle glanced back to me, surprised to see me. He’d been so caught up he hadn’t noticed me. He looked at me with such a somber look that it made me more determined to get to the root of the problem. He gave me a nod and looked back to Crystal. She watched as he turned and walked away.
When Kyle was out of hearing distance, I turned to face Crystal.
“Why haven’t you told him you’re mates?” I said. Her alarmed eyes shot to mine. She hadn’t expected me to figure it out. For a moment it looked like she wanted to lie about it before she let out a sigh.
“I have my reasons,” she said. I wasn’t sure I was going to get any more answers than Kyle had gotten.
“Why would you keep it from him?”
“Like I said, I have my reasons.”
I studied her for a moment. I couldn’t make her tell me the truth, but there was no way I was going to send her into danger now that I knew she was Kyle’s mate. If anything happened to her, I wouldn’t forgive myself, and I doubted that Kyle would either.
“I can’t send you out,” I stated firmly, back in my alpha role.
“But—“
“No,” I commanded. “We’ll find another way.”
There was no other way, but it didn’t matter. We would have to figure out something else. There was no other choice.
“People will die if I don’t do this. Kyle might die,” she argued with desperation in her voice.
“If you care about him so much, why won’t you tell him you’re mates?”
“It’s because I care about him that I can’t,” she said cryptically.
"Look, I don't know you but I know Kyle. He’s a good guy and he deserves to know the truth," I told her, but she shook her head.
"Please don't tell him," she pleaded softly with me, and my heart went out to her.
I didn't know her well, but for what I had seen she seemed to be a nice girl. It was the tone of her voice that really got to me. There was panic and sadness mixed deeply together.
"I don't understand why you would keep this from him," I said, still not understanding why she was so intent on keeping it a secret.
She held my gaze and I felt worse when I saw her expression. She looked so sad.
"I want to tell you I won't tell him, but I can't promise that. He’s my friend and there is no way I could keep this from him."
Tears glistened in her eyes and a tear broke free and slid down her face. I felt terrible but I knew telling him was the right thing to do, irrespective of what she said. She brushed the tear away from her face.
"If you knew the truth, you wouldn't tell him," she said as she wiped another tear from her cheek.
It was hard to believe her. How could he be better off without knowing about his mate? No matter what her reason was, there was no way I was keeping this from the only person who’d seen the good in me when no one else had. I owed him.
"I doubt that," I told her.
She looked visibly upset.
“Talk to him,” I suggested softly, trying to be understanding even though Kyle was the one I was more concerned about.
“I don’t want to talk to him,” she said in a clipped tone. She pressed her lips together and I saw defiance in her eyes.
I gave her one last look before I turned around to go and look for him. The mission was off. There was no way I was going to send her out knowing who she was. I was just thankful I’d figured out who she was before I’d sent her off into a dangerous situation.
I’d never felt comfortable sending a member of my pack out on a mission when I couldn’t guarantee their safety; if I could have, I would have done it myself even though Blake and my friends would have stopped me.
Kyle was waiting just outside the meeting room. Blake, Scarlett and Cade were with him. When Kyle saw me, he walked to me.
“Where is she?” he asked, looking at me nervously. I reached out and held his wrist.
“Calm down,” I told him. “I won’t send her out.”
He looked visibly relieved at that and he let out a heavy sigh as he ran his hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “It’s just I thought she was dead…and finding her again like this has been a shock.”
Blake came to stand beside me. He reached for my hand and held it in his. Our connection calmed me. I turned to see Scarlett and Cade join us.
"What did she say?" Kyle asked, still sounding anxious. I'd never seen him this worked up before. He always seemed so calm and sure of himself, so seeing him like this was looking at another side of him that he kept hidden. His eyes implored mine.
“She won’t tell me anything,” I answered, hating that I couldn’t tell him why she’d left his pack the way she had.
“I don’t understand why she just left like she did,” he began to tell me. “She just disappeared one day and we searched for days. We never found a trace of her.”
I saw the emotion in his eyes when he said the word dead. He cared about her, but it was more than just the responsibility an alpha would feel toward a member of their pack. His feelings went deeper than that.
“Her parents had no idea why she would just leave suddenly. We always thought she’d been taken against her will,” he said, shaking his head.
It was a lot for him to take in and my heart went out to him.
“Does she have any siblings?” I asked. I wasn’t sure why I asked that question.
He shook his head.
Crystal didn’t seem to be the type of person to just up and leave without there being a good reason.
“I need to talk to her,” Kyle said.
“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” I told him and I hated to see the hurt in his face. “Give her some time and I’m sure she will come around.”
It seemed like the best way forward. I wanted to tell him that she was his mate, but he was so upset I thought it would be best to leave it for the moment and tell him in the morning after everything had calmed down.
“I agree with Keri,” Scarlett said as she put a hand on his shoulder. “Leave it alone for the moment and once everyone has had a chance to get over the shock of it, she may be more open to the idea of talking to you.”
He looked at his sister and then gave me a brief nod.
“I need to go and see Curtis,” I said to Blake. Although I was still healing, I felt exhausted and just wanted to lie down for a little bit but I needed to tell Curtis that the mission was off. We would have to come up with another way of dealing with the dangerous rogues.
“I’m coming with you,” he stated. He wrapped an arm around my waist and walked me to the medical center where Curtis was busy talking to a nurse.
“What happened?” he asked as soon as his eyes settled on me.
“The mission is off,” I told him.
“Why?” he asked with a frown. “It was the only solution we had to deal with a coming attack from the rogues.”
I had my reasons but I couldn’t reveal them until I’d told Kyle.
“It doesn’t matter. We have to come up with another way,” I told him firmly, hoping he’d accept that.
He studied me for a moment.
“There might not be another way,” he said firmly.
I couldn’t believe that. There had to be another way to keep us safe.
“Come on,” Blake said as he took in my paleness. “It’s time for you to rest.”
“But—” I wanted to argue with him but he cut me off.
“You can rest and I will handle whatever needs to be dealt with,” he assured me as he led me out of the medical center.
There were times when I got annoyed when he bossed me around, but then there were times it was nice to just give in and allow him to take over. Back in my room, he helped me into my bed and my muscles eased as I lay down.
“I’m going to meet with the others to start discussing strategies on keeping the rogues from taking us over,” he told me and pressed a kiss to my forehead. I wanted to be a part of that discussion so I sat up.
“No,” he said firmly. “You need to rest.”
He was right and I knew it. I sighed as I lay back down and allowed him to leave. At some point I drifted off to sleep and awoke at the sounds of a commotion. I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus them in my brightly lit room. I saw Blake standing beside Kyle and the door to my room was open.
“She’s gone,” Kyle yelled angrily and I struggled to understand what was going on. I sat up and looked at Blake, who stood beside him trying to calm him down.
“Who’s gone?” I asked when my mind struggled to catch up with what was happening in front of me.
“Crystal is gone.”
“Give me a minute to get dressed,” I said to Kyle. He was upset but he turned and left.
Blake closed the door and I got out of bed and got dressed. My mind was running through possible places of where she could have gone, but I kept coming up empty. By the time I was dressed I walked out of my room to a waiting Kyle who was pacing up and down.
“Calm down,” I told him. “We will find her.”
I needed to reassure him even though there was a possibility we might not. If someone didn’t want to be found, there wasn’t a lot we could do about it.
“Where was the last place anyone saw her?” I asked.
Kyle looked at me.
“The gate.”
The moment the words were out of his mouth, I figured out where she’d gone.