Three days later …

Gage sat upright. His entire body hurt. Every muscle. Every fiber. Every last inch.

“Easy.” Ash laid a hand on his chest and gently pushed him back down. “You need to rest.”

Gage frowned. The last he remembered, he was running. He’d been running for a long time … days. His paws had been raw. His throat hadn’t fared much better. His flanks kept seizing with cramps, and yet he’d forced himself to carry on. “Edith,” he growled. “I have to go.” Gage jumped from the bed, crumpling to the floor as pain shot up his legs.

“You’re in no state to get up, give it a few more hours,” his brother said.

“When did I get here?”

“About three hours ago, so not long enough for you to be getting out of bed already,” Ash said. “Don’t you remember?”

“No.” He shook his head. He planted a hand on the floor to try to get himself up. Gage snarled from the pain that rushed up his arm. His hands were bandaged. His feet too. His muscles felt slow. It felt as if he was bruised all over. “I need to lead a team. Your female, the children. We have to get them back. Those fuckers ” His voice was hoarse, he was breathing heavily even though he hadn’t done anything. Why was his brother so calm?

“No, we don’t.” Ash shook his head, his eyes bright. Then he smiled. “They’re here.”

“What?” Gage frowned.

“Alice and the children. The creatures let them go.”

“What? Are you sure?” That couldn’t be right. He felt himself frown.

Ash smiled. “Very sure. They were returned yesterday.”

It didn’t appease Gage. Not in the least. “We still need to go and fight. Stop those fuckers from taking any more of our females. From harming them.”

“No one was harmed. Even Meredith was returned.”

“What? An unmated female?” Disbelief was etched into every word. “That can’t be. It doesn’t matter.” He raked a hand through his hair. “We still need to go and teach them a lesson. They forced themselves on Meredith.”

“No,” Ash disagreed, he was frowning heavily. “She wasn’t forced to do anything. At least, that is what she has maintained, and I’m inclined to believe her. She said that she was treated fairly.”

“No.” Gage shook his head. Ash had been misled somehow. “What did they want with Alice, the children? I’m not buying it. They’re evil, Ash, you have to believe me.”

“They were curious. Alice said they haven’t seen young in many years. They don’t have any fertile females left. Apparently, all of their females—”

“I know all of this. They died from clutch sickness …” His patience was growing thin. “I’m not sure what they’re playing at. I don’t trust them. They have no right abducting innocent females and children just because of what happened to them.”

Ash’s gaze hardened. “I don’t think they went about things the right way, but Alice assures me that they are not a bad bunch. They wanted to see young ones. They were completely captivated by the cubs. They asked a lot of questions about shifters and humans. They want to mate humans of their own. Not our humans though.” His voice grew steely. “They want to breed their own young. They were curious, that’s all.”

Curious his ass. What the fuck was Ash on about? “Where is Callum’s female then?” Gage demanded. “Has she been returned too?” Gage could hear the skepticism in his words. This didn’t make any sense.

“Yes.” Ash nodded. “They were all returned yesterday, unharmed. They wanted to talk to a pregnant human. Especially since she is pregnant with a shifter child. They asked her a whole bunch of questions. They want to take humans as mates. That’s all. They have promised to leave us alone.”

“I don’t get it.” Gage scrubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t understand.”

“I don’t think they will be back.” Ash poured a glass of water. He popped a straw into the glass and held it out to Gage. “If they try anything again, I will be the first to launch an attack.” His jaw tightened.

“And you just believe them? You plan to let them off the hook so easily. They took Alice, Ethan—”

“I know,” Ash growled. He quickly schooled his emotions “We need to be logical about this. Would I like to teach them a lesson? Sure. Do I think going up against a formidable foe like the griffins would be an easy task?” He shook his head. “From what Alice has told me, they are strong and there are a lot of them. It would not be a good idea to go against these Feral. It might be suicide. If they leave us be, we’ll leave them.”

“So, that’s it then, we just wait until they come back and take more of—”

Ash’s whole stance hardened. His eyes seemed to darken. “If they pull something like that again, I will amass an army. We’ll utilize human weapons if we have to. I will bring them down.” Ash moved the glass of water back towards Gage.

Despite the burning in his throat, Gage ignored the glass. “What about Edith?” His voice hitched as he said her name. His heart seemed to stop mid-beat. Everything seemed to still. He knew what Ash’s answer would be, but he had to ask anyway.

His brother looked grave. “No.” He shook his head. “We had hoped that she was with you.”

Gage squeezed his eyes shut. His worst fears were realized.

“Where is she?” Ash asked. “I know that the two of you were taken but …”

Gage shook his head. “Edith is dead.” He cleared the lump in his throat, swallowing it down. “She was wounded in a battle with one of those fuckers.” He growled, wanting to maim, to kill. Wanting to send an army to destroy them. “She got between it and me … tried to protect me or something. I should have known she wouldn’t stand by and watch me die. She thought that thing was going to kill me.” He shook his head, wishing he had acted differently. If he had known what she planned, he would’ve taken the knock.

Ash frowned heavily. “Are you sure she’s dead?”

“Yes!” Gage spat. He huffed out a breath. “I’m sorry. Yes, I’m very sure, it was a mortal wound, similar to the one I sustained on my chest. I’m not sure how she held on as long as she did.” He felt his eyes sting. “She was bleeding … dying …” It came out all choked. “And that fucker took her. There was no way she could have survived.”

“I can see you cared for the female.”

Gage clenched his teeth. He nodded once.

“I’m sorry.” Ash’s expression was grave. “I wish I could say something to make you feel better.”

“It won’t work, so don’t bother trying.”

Ash came up behind him, he put his arms around Gage and lifted him back onto the bed.

Gage bit back a moan. He was in a bad way.

“Can I bring you something to eat?”

Gage’s stomach churned. He shook his head.

“Get some rest,” Ash said, “I’ll bring something in a few hours, you should be much better by then.

Gage nodded. He turned away, allowing himself to sink into a disturbed sleep.

* * *

You got her killed.” Followed by a pause. “Wake up, you bear fuck!”

Gage opened his eyes and turned himself onto his back so that he could look into Jacob’s eyes.

“You didn’t protect the human.” The male’s gaze was hard, his hands were curled into fists. It was safe to say that he was pissed.

Gage couldn’t deny it. He wished to god that he could, but he couldn’t. Gage hadn’t done enough to protect Edith. Not nearly enough. In fact, it was safe to say that he had put her in harm’s way. Anger rose up in him nonetheless. Who did this pup think that he was? “What is it to you?” he snarled.

“I … I …”

“Spit it out.” Why was he goading him like this? What purpose did it serve?

“Not that it’s any of your fucking business, but I loved her.”

Gage burst out laughing. He had to hold his stomach he was laughing so much. It wasn’t lost on him how nuts he sounded. How little humor his fucked up laugh held. He felt a bit off his head right now.

“Stop it!” Jacob pointed at him, his face a mask of rage. “Stop that, right fucking now.”

Gage stopped but not because the pup had commanded it. “You spent one night with her months ago. How is it that you loved her?”

Jacob shrugged. "It was more than one night. I saw her after that. She came to see me a good couple of times, but I had to turn her down. Hated to do it. I haven't been able to get her off my mind. I've been with plenty human females, she's the only one I wanted to see again. I was sad when she stopped coming to the Dark Horse and was so happy to see her here last week. I planned on going straight to her on my next leave. Why am I even telling you all of this?" The male suddenly looked tired. His shoulders slumped. "It doesn't matter anymore, does it? You couldn't protect her." Jacob pointed at him. "You fucked up!"

His words hit the spot. They hit in a big bad way because they were true. They were the same words that had been running around in his own head. Over and over. Gage had let Edith down.

“You got her killed,” Jacob snarled. His eyes were glowing. “Couldn’t even protect her.”

That anger was back. Rushing through him. Burning in his veins. “Shut the fuck up!” he snarled.

“I won’t! Why don’t you make me, asshole?”

The male didn’t need to ask twice. Gage rushed him. Weak muscles be damned. Right now, he felt fuck all. That wasn’t entirely true. He felt too much. Overloaded with hurt. With pain so consuming.

When his fist connected with Jacob’s face, some of his anger subsided. None of the pain did though, that blossomed. “How dare you?” he shouted, watching as Jacob staggered back. It didn’t take the male long to get his feet back under him.

Jacob rushed him, knocking him off balance. He pounded a left to his eye and a right to his cheekbone. Pain exploded. He told himself to fight back but any fight he may have had in him left. Poof! Gone. Gage staggered back, landing on his ass.

Hurting Jacob wouldn't change things. It wouldn't bring her back; nothing would. If only he could've done things differently. He should never have had sex with her. He'd allowed his desire to cloud his judgment. To cloud his senses. To get in the way of her protection. Now she was gone.

His fault.

All on him.

Jacob was shoved off of him before another punch could hit home. It was Ward, his muscles were bunched. When he looked behind the wolf Alpha, he saw his brother standing in the doorway, chest heaving. “What the hell are you doing?” he shouted at Jacob.

“Have you lost your mind?” Ward asked the fallen wolf, his voice even.

“This bear couldn’t protect Edith. It’s his fault she died,” Jacob snarled, getting back to his feet. He wiped some blood off his cut lip.

“And you know this how?”

“He’s still breathing,” Jacob said simply. “He’s still fucking breathing, that’s how I know.”

“He’s right,” Gage agreed. Edith had asked him not to blame himself. She had known him pretty well, even after just a few days. In all the ways that counted he couldn’t help what he was feeling though. He couldn’t help that Jacob was right.

“Bull-fucking-shit!” Ash growled. “There was nothing you could have done.”

“You weren’t there.” Gage’s eyes pricked. “How would you know?”

“I know you and that’s enough. Have you eaten yet?”

Gage snorted. He shook his head. “I’m not hungry.” He felt his eye throb. It was probably going to swell some before it healed.

“Listen and listen good.” His brother got that steely look of determination. “You are going to get your sorry ass out of bed.” Ash narrowed his eyes. “You’re showering, dressing and you’re eating. It’s been two days. You still have those bandages on.” His eyes moved to his hands. “You don’t even need them anymore. Furthermore, you stink.”

Gage didn’t say anything.

Ash turned to Ward. “What are you going to do with him?” His brother tossed a dirty look at Jacob.

"You …" Ward paused, he looked like he felt sorry for the male. Gage wanted to break Jacob's nose, but at the same time, he felt sorry for him too. Ward looked down at his feet and then back at Jacob. "I think it would be best if you worked off some of this energy. A male who sits around inside his own head will get himself into trouble." He glanced at Gage before looking back at Jacob.

“Fine.” Jacob shook his head. “I’m sorry this happened.”

“I think you’re apologizing to the wrong person,” Ward said.

Jacob turned to Gage. “I’m sorry. I cared about her.” His jaw tightened. “I cared a lot.”

“I cared about her too.” Gage’s throat was thick with emotion. “That’s why I’ll accept your apology.”

Ward and Jacob filed out of the room. “You’ll do as I asked?” Ash asked him.

Gage nodded. “Yeah.”

“Ethan wants to see you. He’s been begging. He misses his uncle.”

A smidgen of light in the dark. Like a burning match in a vast underground cavern. Gage couldn't help but smile for a moment. It hurt more than just his face. "I would love to see him."

“I’ll bring him by later.”

Gage nodded. His brother was an asshole. If Ethan was coming, he would be sure to clean up. He had to. Ash knew that he wouldn't want to worry his nephew by looking like shit.

“Good.” Ash smiled. “I’ll see you later.”