CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Keri
Back in my room, I’d just had something to eat under the watchful eye of Blake. The truth was I didn’t really have much of an appetite. Thoughts of the situation we were in were foremost in my mind and that took any appetite I had away.
“You have to eat something,” Blake had ordered, giving me a determined look. I’d relented and tried to eat something even if it wasn’t much. He was right, I needed to eat to help fuel my body so it could heal itself properly.
Afterward he climbed onto my bed and held me in his arms. In a heavy silence, we clung to each other, lost in our own thoughts. I was scared. No matter which scenario I thought of or any plan I tried to put together to get us out of the mess, nothing that played out in my mind worked out the way I needed it to.
We were all facing our own mortality and I was scared that even with the best laid plan, someone was going to get hurt. After everything I’d been through I’d hoped that everything would have settled down into something that resembled boring normality, but it felt like just when I’d overcome one obstacle another one was taking its place.
“What are you thinking?” Blake asked softly, still holding me close. I loved the way he made me feel when he wrapped his strong arms around me. I felt safe and loved, things most people would have taken for granted but, for me, it was a new experience.
My life had been hard and brutal. Having Blake in my life and the love I felt for him was like a beacon of hope on a dark and stormy night. Without him I would have been a mess trying to figure out what our next move was, but with our connection, I’d managed to keep calm.
I was an alpha just like the rest of them, but they just seemed to be better at it than I was. Or it could be the fact that they’d just been doing it longer than I had and I still had a lot to learn.
“I’m trying to figure out what we do next,” I answered softly.
Blake let out a heavy sigh as his arms tightened around me.
“I’m not sure there is anything we can do,” he said, sounding very solemn.
There had to be something we could do. I couldn’t accept that a pack of rogues were going to attack us and possibly win. If they attacked one pack and took it over, the rest of the packs would fall like dominos. We couldn’t afford to lose one battle, and that meant there was no room for mistakes.
There was a knock at the door and Blake got up to answer it while I sat up in the bed, pulling the covers around me.
“Come in,” Blake said and stepped aside to let Curtis in. I was surprised to see a female follow him into my room. I recognized her. Her name was Crystal and she was about my age. She had fiery red hair that reached her shoulders and the most vibrant green eyes I’d ever seen. Nervously, she clasped her hands and looked to the floor shyly.
I looked to Curtis, trying to figure out why he’d brought her to me.
“I have a plan,” Curtis said. He sounded more confident than anyone else had about a possible plan to beat the rogues.
My eyes flickered to the timid girl standing beside him before I gave him my attention.
“Okay, let’s hear it,” I said.
“After our meeting earlier, I tried to think of a way to figure out where the pack of rogues was going to be or to find out which pack they were planning on attacking first,” he began to explain.
Blake came to stand beside the bed as we listened to Curtis.
“The key is in the people from our pack that joined the rogues,” he explained.
I gave him a confused look because I didn’t understand how that would help us at all.
“Three of the pack members that left our pack all had one person in common that stayed behind,” he revealed and my eyes shot to Crystal. I started to see where Curtis was headed.
“If we can infiltrate the rogue pack and get a spy in, then we can find out where they are and we’ll be able to formulate an attack on them before they have a chance to attack us,” he explained.
“You’re going to send her into a pack of rogues?” Blake asked with concern. He didn’t look happy with that action plan.
“I sat her down and told her everything. She believes she can infiltrate the rogues without anyone becoming suspicious.”
I studied her for a moment. She looked so shy and quiet that I was already shaking my head. The rogues would eat her up and spit her out.
“If they figure out she is there to spy on them, they’ll kill her,” I said. “And no offense, but she doesn’t look like she can defend herself. It would be like sending a sheep to slaughter.”
My eyes met Blake’s. He was thinking the same. There was no way I could send her in. If something happened to her, her death would be on my head.
“I can do it,” a soft voice said. I looked to Crystal.
“I have a question,” Blake said as he stood up and walked up to her. She lifted her gaze to his and held it. She was intimidated but she was trying her best not to show it.
“If three of your friends left to join the rogue pack, why did you stay? And how do we know we can trust you?” he asked, watching her closely.
She swallowed hard and dropped her gaze for a moment.
“They’re my friends, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with the decision that they made,” she answered softly, looking to me.
She looked like she was telling the truth, but I still found it hard to believe it.
“And I’ll do anything I can to keep this pack safe,” she stated. In that moment I knew she was telling me the truth, but I needed to understand why the safety of our pack meant more to her than the three friendships she’d developed.
“Why?” I asked, my eyes narrowed.
“My mate is in the compound,” she revealed softly. I finally understood.
“I didn’t know you had a mate,” Curtis said as he looked at her, looking a little surprised.
“I do and he’s here,” she stated confidently.
Curtis gave a shrug and Blake turned to look at me.
Do you believe her? he asked through the mind-link, making sure to keep Crystal from reading it.
I studied her for a moment.
Yes, I replied. I believe her. The love of a mate by far outweighed any friendship, so I understood how she could do what she was planning on.
“This is going to be dangerous,” I reminded her. I needed her to know what she was getting herself into before she made the decision and I sent her out.
“I know,” she replied.
“I don’t think the rogues would look at her as a threat. It would be easier to plant a female in the pack than a male,” Blake added.
He was right. The rogues would be more suspicious of a male than a female.
“I want to talk to her alone for a moment,” I said. Blake and Curtis left me alone with Crystal.
I needed to know that she was making this decision on her own without feeling obligated or intimidated by anyone else. She had to make this decision without sway from someone else.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked Crystal softly.
She nodded.
“There is a chance that something could happen to you. I need you to understand that you might not come back,” I reinforced harshly as I watched her clasp her hands while she held my hard stare.
“I understand the risks,” she told me.
“Okay,” I said.
You can come back in, I instructed Blake and Curtis.
“We’ll need to figure out a way to place her into the rogue pack without anyone becoming suspicious,” I instructed Curtis.
“We also need to find a way to be able to get information from her without blowing her cover,” Blake added.
My eyes were focused on Crystal. She still had her hands clasped and her gaze averted. There was more to this story than I knew, but the truth was we had no other options and this was the only way we could defeat the rogues. I didn’t like it but I had no choice.
Once Crystal and Curtis left, Blake closed the door and turned to face me as he leaned against the door.
"I'm not sure that sending Crystal into the lion's den is a good idea," he admitted. I bit my lip. I was thinking the same thing.
He pushed off the door and walked to the bed I was still sitting on. Despite the stress and anxiousness I was feeling, I couldn't stop myself from yawning. I was tired. I'd definitely overdone things and I was being punished for it. My stomach ached and my head was starting to pound. I rubbed my forehead as I tried to ease the slight headache.
"I don't think we have a choice," I replied, feeling disheartened that the only plan we had put one of my pack members in danger. Something about Crystal made me curious. She wasn't your typical strong and heroic female werewolf. She was shy and soft-spoken. It was like her personality didn't match up with her actions.
It just reinforced my thought that her actions were propelled by her love for her mate. I looked up at Blake. I'd do anything to keep him safe, even if it meant sacrificing myself. It was an automatic decision; I would always put his life before my own.
"So what did you talk to Cade about?" Blake asked as he stood beside the bed.
"I just wanted to clear the air between us," I explained as I leaned against the headboard.
Blake stood, watching me with a pensive look.
"It's just with everything that happened, I didn't just betray you and Scarlett, I betrayed him too. You're his best friend and Scarlett is his mate. I've fixed things with you and Scarlett and I needed to fix things with him." My eyes stayed on Blake. "I wanted to let him know that he can trust me. I needed him to understand that the most important people in his life are also the most important people in my life."
Blake knelt beside the bed and took my hands into his.
"I love you," he said softly, and I felt a swell of emotion for him.
"I love you too," I replied. I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips to his.
I wanted more from him but I wasn't ready. I hated being injured and being unable to do what I wanted when I wanted. Blake pulled away when my lips pressed harder against his.
"You need to behave," he teased, then he pressed a kiss to my nose.
I shifted over slightly and Blake kicked off his shoes and got into the bed with me.
The danger hanging over our heads made us want to hold on to each other in the time we still had together. There was no guarantee that Crystal was going to succeed and there was still a good chance that everything wasn’t going to end well.
Blake leaned against the headboard and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I leaned my head against his shoulder.
“How many kids do you want?” he asked out of the blue.
I lifted my head to look up at him while he peered down at me.
“Kids?” I asked, not sure I’d heard him correctly.
“Yeah, kids,” he confirmed.
I’d never thought about that before. I’d always lived my life in the moment. I’d never taken the time to think about what I wanted in the future. Maybe it was because I’d always been so scared that I wouldn’t have one. A mother. I thought of my own mom. She had been so loving and caring. It was how I wanted to be. I nodded my head.
“I want kids.”
“Good,” Blake said as I felt the soft brush of his lips against my head.
“I want a little girl,” he began to tell me. “I want her to look just like you.”
My heart squeezed at his words. As much as I wanted to talk about the future we were going to have, I couldn’t shake the thought that Crystal could still fail and we would be in big trouble.
“What if Crystal doesn’t succeed?” I had to ask the question. Was there any point to looking into a future we might not have?
“We have to think about the future,” he explained. “If we are going to win this fight, we need a future worth fighting for.”
I squeezed him with my arm around his waist, hugging him.
“I want that future,” I whispered softly.
“Me too.”
We lay in the bed, wrapped in each other’s arms, silently thinking about the future we both wanted.
Later that day, after I’d had some sleep and some food, Curtis returned. Blake had gone to talk to Cade and he said he’d be back soon.
“I’m not sure she’s strong enough to do what needs to be done,” Curtis said as he rubbed his chin. We all seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“Have we come up with a way to get her in?” I asked.
It was important to get her into the pack without anyone becoming suspicious. I didn’t even want to think about what they might do to her if they found out she was a spy for us. Death would be the quick and easy way out.
She was a member of my pack and I felt responsible for her. If something happened to her, it would be on my head.
“We’ve decided the best way to get her into the pack without raising suspicion is to make sure she’s injured and when they find her they will assume we tried to kill her.”
I didn’t like the idea, but Curtis was right. If she were hurt, it would add to the lie that she’d left us to join them. It would look a little suspicious if she just showed up without a scratch on her.
“Have we figured out a way to keep in contact with her?” I asked.
“Yes, if she is still a member of our pack we can keep updated through the mind-link,” he revealed.
“But that will only work if she is within a certain distance to our werewolves,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “We have to make sure that we keep some of our werewolves close enough to her to receive the messages but not close enough to blow her cover.”
It was risky because if something happened and she moved beyond the mind-link, we would have no way of keeping an eye on her.
“It’s the only way,” Curtis added when he saw the reluctance on my face.
He was right.
“Is she still prepared to go through with this, knowing all the risks?” I asked. It was my own conscience that needed the reassurance.
“Yes,” he answered.
I remained quiet for a while as I thought about Crystal.
“Does anyone know who her mate is?” I asked. I don’t know what made me ask the question, but there was something that didn’t add up and it had been nagging at me in the back of my mind.
He shook his head.
“She joined our pack about a year ago,” he told me. “I’ve asked around but no one knows who he is.”
I bit my lip as I tried to figure out who she was protecting, if her mate wasn’t in my pack. It made no sense and I was more confused than ever.
“When are we planning on sending her?” I asked.
Despite the nagging feeling, I wanted to make sure that she was still set on doing this dangerous mission. If at any time I didn’t feel that she was totally on board with this, I would pull the plug and we would have to come up with another way to save ourselves from the rogues.
“Tomorrow,” he revealed.
We were running out of time so we needed to do it soon.
“Okay,” I replied.
Blake entered the room and greeted Curtis. Curtis nodded his head before he turned on his heel and left.
“Where are you going?” Blake asked as he walked closer.
“I need update everyone on our plans,” I said, feeling the responsibility of her welfare on my shoulders already.
“How are we going to get her into the rogue pack without raising suspicion?” he asked as he sat down on the bed and faced me.
“They’re going to make it look like we tried to kill her, so she will have to be hurt.”
I still didn’t like the idea but I didn’t have a better one.
“No one knows who her mate is,” I revealed to Blake.
“Really?” he asked, looking surprised.
There was something not right about the whole thing and it gnawed at my conscience.