CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Kyle
My eyes narrowed as I watched Claire's features closely. There was something off but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
"How about you tell me what you know about the Keepers?" I asked, hoping I was going in the right direction.
She frowned slightly, gripping her hands together. I didn't miss the telltale action.
"Why would you think I know more than you do?" she asked, obviously trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice but she failed.
She was definitely hiding something that had to do with the Keepers. It was strange because before today they had only existed in old stories.
"A hunch." I rubbed my chin slightly while trying to figure out why.
Her silence only confirmed my initial gut feeling. How would she know about the Keepers before this? And why hadn't she said something at the time she found out?
"What are you hiding?" I murmured as I tried to put the puzzle pieces together.
Her eyes dropped to her hands. It was confirmation that she was definitely hiding something more than just the whereabouts of Crystal.
Crystal. My frown deepened. So far Claire was keeping a secret about Crystal and she was hiding a secret about the Keepers. Were they connected? It didn't make any sense.
"We found Crystal," I said, deciding to reveal it to her.
Her eyes shot back up to mine. "Where? Is she okay?"
"We don't know."
"I don't understand," she said, looking at me with confusion.
"She's being held in the property where the Keepers are."
The horror in her face was undeniable.
"Oh, my gosh," she gasped, putting her hands over her mouth.
I watched her reaction with interest. There was something I was missing.
"Tell me," I prompted Claire softly, hoping this approach would finally push her to open up to me.
She looked truly frightened and I could see her wrestling with what to say.
"I want to, I really want to, but it is not my secret to tell."
I felt like I had hit a brick wall again. Frustrated, I stood up and began to pace, trying to find another way to approach her but my mind was feeling fuzzy from lack of sleep. I was finding it difficult to concentrate.
"You have to get her out of there," Claire said. I turned to face her. She stood and walked over to me. "She is as good as dead if they discover who she is."
I knew that already. If they found out she was a werewolf who wasn't linked to a pack, her life would be in danger.
"We are doing everything we can to get her out unharmed," I assured her to ease the worry lines in her face. "But the Keepers are strong and we need to come up with the best plan to rescue her."
"You have to do it now!" Her almost distraught tone took me by surprise.
"Calm down," I tried to soothe her, leading her back to her chair.
"You don't understand," she mumbled, trying to brush the glistening tears from her eyes. "You can't waste any time!"
She was getting more and more upset. Worried that it would harm her health, I sent for Curtis to bring me a sedative.
He arrived ten minutes later, looking half asleep. Claire was still trying to calm her racing heart and erratic breathing. I was worried she would end up having a heart attack.
"I need you to give her something to calm her down," I told him, sweeping my hand in Claire's direction.
"Sure," he said, looking through a black bag he'd brought with him. He gave Claire an injection. He then helped me settle her in her bed.
"What happened?" he asked softly as the sedative began to take effect, her earlier panic beginning to ease.
"I told her Crystal was being held by the Keepers."
She mumbled a few things while she began to drift into a deep, medicine-induced sleep.
"They can't find out…" For a moment her eyes focused on me and she grabbed my hand. "You have to protect her from them."
"Sleep, Claire. I will keep her safe," I murmured to her softly, hoping that would ease her stress.
"She's not like us…"
Before I could find out what she meant by that, her eyes fluttered closed and her breathing evened out. What the hell had she meant by that? Curtis and I shared a side look.
"What did she mean?" Curtis asked, looking back to her sleeping form.
I shrugged my shoulders, still deep in thought. "I have no idea."
I couldn't ignore her last comment. She's not like us.
"You need sleep," Curtis said to me, and I shook my head. He was right but too much had happened for me to feel that I could get the sleep I needed.
"If you don't sleep, you can't function."
"I know. I'll try and get some sleep soon," I assured him so he would get off my back.
A few minutes later Curtis left but I stayed watching Claire, trying to figure out what she'd meant by 'not like us.'
It made no sense. She was a werewolf and my mate. How could she not be like us? But no matter how long I tried to figure out what she had meant by that I couldn't come up with any reasonable scenario that would explain it.
Exhaustion finally pushed me out of the room and to the main house. The house was dark as I ascended the stairs. The tiredness that made my body ache wasn't enough to shut my mind down and allow me the solace of sleep, though. In the darkness of my room my mind continued to cycle through the events of the day.
The thing that stuck most in my mind was what Claire had said. Was it true or was it just muddled words she'd said in her drugged state?
Feeling more frustrated, I turned onto my side, trying to get comfortable. I had to get some sleep or I wouldn't be able to cope with what lay ahead. Even if I just managed to get a few hours' sleep it would be enough to keep my mind clear and focused.
The thoughts on my mind followed me into dreams that night.
"You have to save her!" Claire yelled to me. She stood in her nightgown, holding on to the steel bars that kept her from escaping.
"Help me," a familiar voice whimpered on the opposite side. I looked to find Crystal standing there looking scared and vulnerable.
I tried to go to her to take her in my arms and tell her she was safe but my feet were immovable. No matter how hard I struggled I couldn't move.
"I'm going to find you," I promised her. "And I will keep you safe."
Or die trying.
"Kyle." The sound of my name on her lips vibrated through me.
"She's not one of us," Claire said, pulling my attention away from Crystal briefly.
She's not one of us, echoed in my mind again and again.
When I looked back to Crystal, she was on her knees, crying into her hands. The sound was like bullets straight to my chest.
"Don't cry," I told her, trying to stop her from crying.
"You don't understand," she said as her hands dropped and her eyes met mine.
There was something different about her, and then I noticed the color of her eyes were dark, almost midnight-black.
"No one can help me."
I began to fight free of the invisible restraints that held me from her.
"When they find out who I am, they will kill me and no one will be able to stop them."
She stood up and then I noticed she began to change. Gone was the girl who was my mate. In her place stood Flynn, the Keeper.
"You can't save her," he sneered, and the anger I felt toward him flowed in me, strengthened with every beat of my heart.
"I will."
He laughed at me and that only stoked my anger.
An adrenaline rush with my anger pushed me further and I pulled free, but before I could tackle Flynn, he disappeared. His laughter echoed around me.
I awoke with a start. Breathing hard, I scanned my surroundings. It was just a dream and I was lying in my bed.
Crystal
I had no idea what to say. Both Dean and I took a step back as Harrison entered the room.
His eyes took in the way I had my arm around Dean's waist. He frowned slightly as his eyes connected with mine.
"Why?" he asked.
I bit my lip. There was no answer to that question that would get me out of this. I had been caught red-handed and it was time to face my fate.
For years I had been running, trying to keep my existence a secret, and now I was going to be killed because they were going to discover who I was.
It was depressing it had to end like this, now.
There was no point in answering his questions. He was a Keeper. Even though out of the Keepers I had met so far he was the most relatable one it didn't mean he would spare my life.
He moved closer.
"You aren't human, are you?" he asked, his eyes scanning my features.
"No," I answered, feeling disappointed I had been unable to save Dean.
I looked at him. He was still fighting to focus on what was happening but the drugs were making it difficult for him. I turned to lead him back to the bed and he sat down.
"Do what you have to," I instructed Harrison, resigned to our fate.
"What are you?" he asked. There was no anger or aggression on his part.
His response to catching me trying to save Dean and escape was peculiar, to say the least.
His eyes found the syringe I still held in my hand.
"What's that?" he asked, looking at it with curiosity.
"It's wolfsbane."
"What are you doing with it?" he asked. He wasn't surprised by the name. Did they know what we used it for?
I refused to answer. Even though my death was imminent, I couldn't tell him for fear of what that could mean for the werewolves who I still wanted to protect, including my mate.
The pain in my chest spread when I thought of how my death would affect Kyle. It would devastate him. I had tried my best to spare him but this was out of my hands.
With the wolfsbane, I wasn't strong enough to take on the Keeper who stood unmoving in front of me.
"Why are you trying to save him?" Harrison asked with a look to Dean.
"I know him. He isn't bad and he doesn't deserve what you guys are going to do to him." I crossed my arms, feeling a little more defiant than before.
"Are you one of them?" he asked, studying me with sharp eyes.
He was reading me as well as taking in what I was saying.
"Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?" I told him.
Truthfully, I would prefer Harrison killed me, not Travis. If it were Travis' responsibility to end my life, he would make me suffer.
"It makes sense," he murmured. I frowned.
"I won't tell you anything," I stated, to make sure he knew that keeping me prisoner and trying to torture me to get me to reveal secrets would be futile. I would rather die than be responsible for the deaths of the werewolves I loved. They were my family and I would protect them with my life.
He stepped closer so there was only a short space between us. He lifted his hand to my face, and I frowned, unsure of why he was doing that.
"I know who you are," he revealed, and I looked at him skeptically. Was this a ploy to get me to reveal something, because I wasn't going to fall for it.
"You don't," I assured him, but he shook his head at me.
"I know you aren't just a werewolf."
That was enough for me to take an unsteady step backward. He didn't miss the action, and I felt like an idiot for allowing him to see it.
"It doesn't matter what I am," I stated dismissively. "Just do what you need to."
I hoped it would be quick and painless.
"You are very special, Crystal." That made me truly fear that, despite not giving him any information, somehow he really did know what I was. But that was simply not possible.
I wanted to ask him how he knew, but I clamped my lips shut, unwilling to confirm what he was saying.
"Give me the wolfsbane," he instructed. I hesitated, unwilling to let go of it.
"We don't have time for this," he said when I refused to give him the syringe. He stepped forward and with reflexes I couldn't combat took the syringe from me.
"Don't try to get out by the main gate," he said while he injected the wolfsbane into his leg. He winced slightly at the pain. I stood there, wide-eyed, unable to process what I was seeing. Why on earth was he injecting himself with the liquid that would weaken him?
His words penetrated my confusion. "At the back, there is a gate that isn't as securely guarded as the main one. But be careful, there is a guard on the outside who does a sweep every hour on the hour."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, trying to figure out if he was trying to talk me into a trap. There would be no reason for a trap; he already had me at his mercy.
"You have to get out of here before they discover what you are," he said, starting to sway.
I caught him and sat him down on the floor.
"Why are you helping me?" I asked, still suspicious.
"If you don't go now, both of you will be caught."
"How?" I asked, trying to make sense of it.
"It doesn't matter. Go before you are discovered," he instructed as he lay down, too weak to sit up. "Don't take any obvious paths in the forest. Make sure you keep out of sight."
I nodded just as he closed his eyes briefly.
"Be safe," he said. Stunned, it took me a few moments before I stood up.
I didn't waste any more time questioning. I went straight to Dean and got him to his feet. As quickly as I could, I led him out of the study and through the house. At the back door of the house I collected my backpack and we slowly made our way through the back of the property, keeping close to the darkness that the walls of the property provided. Dean was out of it but he followed me without making a sound.
A couple of times, when I saw or heard a Keeper, I would press Dean up against the wall and keep as still as possible.
At the back gate, I didn't have a watch so I patiently waited until I heard the sound of footsteps on the outside, signaling the guard was busy doing a sweep. We only waited a few minutes later before I stood before the gate and held the lock in my hands. With a slight pull I managed to break it, thankful that I was strong enough.
I had no idea why Harrison had helped us but I followed his instructions. Later, when we were safe, I would be able to process what had happened but for now I needed to concentrate on escaping. Once we were outside the property, I made sure Dean and I stuck to areas off the main paths.
My muscles ached but I refused to rest. Dean's added weight was putting a strain on me but I didn't want to stop. We were so close.
Quietly we persevered and the sky was starting to lighten. We were almost at the compound where Kyle and my pack was. Home. But I shook my head. Not anymore.
I needed to get Dean close enough so he would be discovered by the guards, but I had to ensure I left before anyone saw me. I stopped for a second to wipe the perspiration from my face and catch my breath.
"I can try and walk on my own," Dean offered in a whisper, but I shook my head. He was still too weak.
We got just a few feet away from the compound. I stopped behind a few bushes and helped Dean to sit down.
"Why are we stopping?" Dean asked. His eyes were more focused now, even though his body was still weak.
"I can't go back," I told him, unwilling to explain why.
"You have to," Dean said, closing his hand around my wrist. His eyes were anxious and afraid. "There are Keepers out there hunting us."
"Just do as I say," I told him, not wanting to think about what I was going to do once he was safely inside the compound.
Through the gaps in the bush, I could see a couple of guards talking. There were no Keepers in sight. It had to be now.
"Yell for help," I told Dean as I began to back away from him.
"Where are you going?" he said.
"Just do as I say."