CHAPTER NINE
Kyle
"We found it!"
The door of my study opened with a bang and Keri stood triumphantly in the doorway.
"Where?"
I felt my heart start to hammer inside my chest. The desolate feeling of helplessness was forgotten as my blood pumped through my veins, excitement mixed with nervousness flowing through my body.
At the mention of the address, I was already formulating the quickest way to it. Keri stopped me as I tried to walk past her. Her hand on my wrist pulled me back to the present and not to my mind that was racing ahead.
"We can't just go barging in," she said.
I wanted to argue, but she was right. My emotions were already clouding my judgment.
"You have no idea what setup they may have," she added. I wanted to shrug her hold from my arm and go with my instinct to find Crystal. But Keri was right. I couldn't dispute it.
"We need to put a group together to go and check it out," she said, beginning to strategize.
"We can't waste too much time," I added, needing to emphasize the importance of doing this quickly.
"I know." Her eyes held mine.
We went to look over the map. Cade entered the room, followed by Blake.
"I'll take a team of five to go and check it out." I began to speak around my thoughts as my fingers ran over the spot on the map where Keri was pointing.
"I'm going with you," Cade said. I lifted my eyes to his. I gave him a brief nod of acceptance.
We had no idea what we were going to find there and the fact they'd been able to kill werewolves with such ease set off alarm bells.
"Where are you going?" Scarlett asked as she appeared beside Cade, just catching the end of the conversation.
He turned to face her. "I'm going with Kyle to check out the place where we think Crystal is."
There was a moment of concern in my sister's eyes. She looked at me before looking at Cade. Her hands went to his waist.
Something passed between them through their link like a struggle of wills before she closed her eyes briefly and Cade kissed her forehead gently. I was happy that my sister was so happy with someone who knew exactly how to ease her fears, but I couldn't stop the sharp feeling of jealousy that I was missing out on all of this with Crystal.
With that familiar feeling of jealously, I also felt anger that Crystal had put me through so much. The same questions niggled in my mind but I shut them out. I had no answers. The only person who knew why was Crystal.
"I'm going with as well," Blake added. We all knew the stronger our group was the more successful we were likely to be. The stronger the bloodlines, the stronger the chances of coming out of it alive.
"Sure."
Keri stood tall. I knew what she was going to say next before she even said a word. "I'm going too."
Blake shook his head. Keri got that determined look in her eyes as she turned to face him.
"I can't let you go," he said, and Keri crossed her arms. "If something goes very wrong, we will need an alpha here to continue to run things. Nate can't do it on his own."
She pressed her lips together. It was a struggle between the girl who loved him and the alpha who knew he was right.
"Promise me you'll be careful," she said.
He nodded.
It was too much, watching the connection of the people surrounding me, without feeling a sense of loss.
"Are you guys ready?" I asked, walking to the door.
It wasn't long before the three of us were walking to the bottom gates of the compound.
"Be careful," my uncle warned me as the gates opened.
Two additional werewolves joined us. They weren't alphas or betas but they were my strongest fighters.
James appeared as well.
I need you to stay, I told him through the mind-link. I could see he wasn't happy about being excluded but he nodded.
Just outside the gates we all shifted into our wolves one by one. As we ran to the property in question I tried to clear my mind of thoughts of my mate. I had to keep my head or there was a chance I would create a situation that would be difficult to overcome.
I took the lead as Cade and Blake ran just behind me with my two fighters tailing us at the back. I ran as fast as I could. I knew the forest we were running through like the back of my hand. The quickest route was via the forest in wolf form.
As we neared it, still with a fair amount of forest between us and the place where Crystal should be, I stopped. I changed and turned to face the rest of the group as they shifted back.
"You take the left side," I commanded Cade and one of my fighters in a whisper. They nodded and began navigating their way through the thick forest to the left part of the massive property.
"Blake, you take the right," I instructed. Blake began to walk in the opposite direction with the other fighter.
I turned back to face the path I was going to take. The nervousness in my stomach reminded me that despite trying to keep my emotions out of this I was worried about the outcome. There was so much on the line. So much I could lose.
I began to walk, keeping my senses open for any movement. If we were discovered, there was no telling what would happen.
The rich smell of the forest filled my nostrils as I swept my gaze with each step, on guard and ready for an attack. One step and then another. We weren't within hearing distance of the property but I was worried they would be guarding the outside perimeter.
The sudden sound of a groan and a commotion had me running before the sound of a thud.
It took a few minutes for me to break through the trees in time to see Blake tackle someone off the fighter who had accompanied him.
Blake took the hard hit to his shoulder, pushing the attacker off my fighter. I watched as an attacker threw Blake off him with minimal effort.
It was unbelievable, the sight of the human getting to his feet. His eyes were dark as night as they met mine. The air surrounding him hummed of a power I had never encountered before. Blake was still getting to his feet and my fighter was still injured on the ground. I stood rooted to the spot for a few seconds before the instinct to attack took over.
My transformation only took seconds as I leaped for him, intent on injuring him enough to keep him subdued. Concentrating on my senses, time slowed down to every second, stretching it out as the man reached for something in his belt.
He was so quick but I didn't miss the glint of metal before I could see the knife he was pulling from his belt. I angled my body slightly to the side as I cut through the space between us, my mouth opening to attack him. My teeth were as sharp as the knife he held.
There was no fear in his features, only a calculated concentration I had never seen before. No human had ever stayed to fight a werewolf. It was ludicrous. He couldn't be just a human. The way he had taken out my fighter and attacked Blake told me he was something much more powerful. Powerful enough to kill a rogue.
My jaw wrapped around his arm to stop him. He hissed in pain as I tightened my hold with my sharp teeth digging into his flesh.
We landed with a thump but I refused to let go of his wrist. In a flash, Cade was beside me in human form, holding the attacker. The super-strengthened human continued to fight but there was no escaping two alphas keeping him from getting away.
I released his wrist when Blake appeared beside me. I could still taste his metallic blood in my mouth as I shifted back.
"What the hell are you?" Cade asked, struggling to keep the injured guy down.
But he refused to answer. He gave us a look with such hatred that I knew if given the chance he would have slaughtered every one of us without hesitation.
"I just got my ass handed to me by a human," Blake muttered as he helped Cade keep the guy down.
"I think we might need Curtis," Blake added.
It was going to take a lot more than muscle to keep this guy subdued.
Crystal
There was a knock at my door a couple of hours later. But this time I knew it wasn't going to be Flynn.
I hesitated before opening it to find Hayden standing there.
"I need to check your arm," he said, walking into my room.
Oh crap! My arm. My perfectly unscarred arm.
I put my still-bandaged arm behind my back slightly before I turned to face him.
Stall him, my mind yelled at me.
"It's really okay." I gave a one-shoulder shrug.
"No, it isn't." His voice gave nothing away.
The air locked in my lungs. Did he know it was completely healed?
"It needs to be cleaned and bandaged again. Meet me downstairs in the kitchen in ten minutes."
When he left, I paced the length of the room. The urge to run, even though it meant they would discover what I truly was, was impossible to fight. I put my hand to my head for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts to stop myself from panicking. I had to stay in control.
There was no other way to stall him. A foreboding feeling began to grow in the pit of my stomach. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
With heavy legs I walked downstairs. As my foot stepped off the stairs and onto the floor, I heard hurried voices coming from the kitchen nearby.
I strained to hear what was being said. It was only when I neared the doorway that a concerned Hayden walked out with Travis.
"He shouldn't have gone out alone."
I frowned. Hayden's eyes met mine and he held them briefly before he stopped to face Travis. Who shouldn't have gone out? Were they talking about Flynn?
"He didn't know they would ambush him," he argued in a clinical voice. No emotion. "He was on a routine check."
Were werewolves responsible? That possibility set my next thoughts to Kyle.
Travis wore his true emotion in eyes. His lips pressed together as he glared at Hayden, but Hayden didn't waver under the heated glare.
"It doesn't matter now anyway," Travis added when Hayden remained silent. "We have to find him."
Hayden turned from Travis to fix his eyes on me.
"I have to go out now. I'll check your arm when I get back." He hesitated as he waited for me to respond. I felt the heat of Travis' glare on my face.
I nodded. As Hayden made a move to walk past him, I reached out, stopping him with my hand to his arm. His eyes lifted to mine. I dropped my hand.
"Is it Flynn?" I don't know why I cared.
Flynn had saved me. But if he knew what you really are, he would have killed you without a second thought, my mind argued back. I still felt concern for Flynn. It made no logical sense.
Hayden nodded but didn't give me any more information before he left with Travis following behind.
I had a reprieve. Flynn being ambushed had given me time I needed to come up with a plan to get out of here. But I knew there was no way the Keepers would allow an 'innocent human' girl to leave their property now. The door on the easiest way out of this mess had been slammed closed so hard, there was no point in trying to twist the handle.
There was a part of me that still worried about Flynn, and there was a part me that felt some relief they wouldn't discover my healing ability when they examined my arm.
It was hard to believe Flynn was attacked by a rogue, but a lot of strange things had been happening with the rogues lately. It was something that couldn't be completely ruled out.
But if it wasn't the rogues, it would be the packs. My heart quickened at the thought of Kyle going up against Flynn. I had seen firsthand what he was capable of and I feared for my mate's safety.
I didn't know how long Hayden would be gone for but I couldn't waste the opportunity with fewer eyes around to watch me that this might be one of my few chances to have a look around the property without being discovered.
And even if I did get caught, I could always pretend I got lost. I needed to know where Dean was.
Standing outside the back door, I caught sight of Hayden leaving the property through gates that led straight into the forest. A group of four Keepers followed behind him.
I bit my nail as I watched. Travis didn't leave with them. That didn't make me feel safe, especially when Travis turned around. His gaze met mine and I tried to keep my face free from emotion. I couldn't show him the fear I felt every time he looked at me.
I didn't hold his attention for very long. When Harrison appeared, Travis' attention was transferred to him. Slowly, I began to wander back into the house, trying to blend in with the background so no one would notice me.
Spending most of my life trying to go unnoticed, I was good at not attracting attention. Everyone seemed to be on high alert because of the attack on Flynn. There were no other details than that.
Inside the house, I could hear the heated talk between Travis and Harrison. I bet those two spent most of their time with the tug of war over control of the Keepers. Travis was in charge but there was an authoritative air about Harrison that gave the impression he somehow outranked him.
Trying to concentrate back on the task at hand, I wandered past the study where they were talking and I walked down the hallway. I had no idea where I was going so when anyone asked I would be telling them the truth when I told them I was lost. The house was so big, it wouldn't be easy to find Dean.
The few rooms down in that part of the house were empty, so I walked back, hoping to have a look down the opposite hallway just past the kitchen.
"Crystal."
I stopped suddenly at the unexpected attention. My eyes followed the voice into the study to see Harrison looking at me. Travis sneered in my direction.
"Yes?" I asked, not sure if I should enter or not.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked. Even though he asked, I knew I didn't really have much choice so I walked into the study. I suppressed the familiar creepy feeling I experienced when Travis was around.
"I'd like to speak to her alone," he instructed Travis. Travis gave me one last glare before he left me alone in the study with Harrison.
"Sorry about Travis," Harrison said apologetically. "He doesn't really have people skills."
I smiled. It went far deeper than that. Travis was evil through and through, and there was no disguising that.
"It's fine," I said, brushing it off. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Take a seat," he suggested when he pulled out a chair for me.
Nervously I walked over to him and sat down just as he sat down opposite me behind the big desk.
For some reason I felt nervous about what he wanted to talk to me about. From the time I had entered the property no one had questioned me about anything. It made me fear that despite my best attempts to hide my true identity they suspected something wasn't right about me.
"I know this has been a lot to take in," he began to say and frowned slightly as I tried to follow what he was saying. "Finding out werewolves are real must have been a big shock."
I nodded, trying to show a little fear as I clasped my hands together.
Remember you are a human who was attacked by a powerful supernatural beast, I told myself, hoping it would improve my performance.
"But discovering such a secret requires a responsibility to keep it a secret."
There was no threat in his features like I had expected from one of the Keepers. I bet if Travis were giving this speech he would be threatening me with a long and drawn-out painful death if I breathed a word to anyone.
"I won't say anything," I said breathlessly, my eyes large as they held his.
He studied me for a moment.
"If you tell people, they probably won't believe you anyway. At best they would believe you're mentally unstable."