CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Keri
From the moment we ran in wolf form out of the compound, there was no time for fear. I let my instincts take over as a snarling rogue leaped to attack me. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I felt a surge of power. The rogue was quick but I was faster and my teeth sank into its neck. The whimper of pain did nothing to stop me from finishing it off.
There was no place for compassion or mercy. This was a fight for survival. We all spread out around the compound, fighting off the incoming attack from the rogues.
I didn’t even register the metallic taste of the enemies’ blood in my mouth before I faced my next opponent. There was a mixture of cries of pain and menacing growls as the fight intensified. As the sun rose into the sky, lighting up our battlefield, the fighting never wavered. I lost count of how many I’d killed. Blood dripped from my mouth and soaked my fur.
I growled when I saw Blake get attacked by a rogue. The large brown wolf leaped into the air with its mouth open and teeth bared, ready to attack. Ignoring the chaos around me, with a real fear, I watched as Blake leaped into the air and knocked the wolf to the ground.
Relief flooded through me.
My momentarily lapse cost me and I didn’t see the rogue that attacked me until it was too late. The pain that flared in my leg vibrated through me. I glared at the wolf that had its teeth buried in the flesh on my leg. It released my leg and it circled me. Putting any weight on my injured leg hurt, so I struggled to maintain my stance. I watched the rogue as it continued to circle me and the moment it growled at me, I knew it was about to attack me.
This time I saw the attack coming and even with my bleeding leg I got out of the way. My enemy realized that he’d missed me when he felt the pain of my bite in its side. Two more strategic bites finished him off and I surveyed the scene in front of me.
Cade was busy taking out a rogue and Scarlett was fighting another beside him. They made a good team and seemed to be in sync beside each other.
My eyes flicked to Blake who was fighting off another one. Everyone was fighting for their survival and the survival of their loved ones.
My eyes surveyed the scene, trying to find Kyle. I caught a glimpse of him ahead of me, fighting off two rogues. His actions were controlled and vicious as he took them out in a matter of minutes. The two dead rogues were replaced and he began to fight them. He was like a machine. Something other than survival pushed him forward.
Crystal.
We were all on the lookout for her, hoping she would not get caught between the rogues and us. If the rogues discovered she was a spy implanted by us, they would kill her. While I fought, I tried to keep an eye on Kyle to make sure he didn’t do something stupid, and I saw his attention lock on to Crystal and I felt relieved that she was still alive.
One of my fighters had her cornered. She was in her human form and even more vulnerable.
Stop! I instructed through my mind-link to the fighter trying to take her out. Luckily he was a member from my pack. The fighter stopped snarling in response to my command.
She’s one of us, I informed the fighter. Keep her safe.
But it wasn’t long before I saw Kyle fighting a rogue in front of her. He was protecting her.
We weren’t safe yet and until we defeated the rogues, we weren’t going to make it out of this fight alive. I’d lost track of time but we were taking strain. My muscles screamed out in pain from the fighting and with my injury it made fighting much more difficult. We were all tiring and the rogues’ attack wasn’t letting up. If Kyle’s pack didn’t show up soon, we would be in serious trouble.
Breathing hard with the sweat beading my forehead, I looked up to see Kyle’s pack begin to step out of the forest and surround the rogues. We had them surrounded. It would be the only way to finish them off and ensure they didn’t have the numbers to try and rise up again.
It was another long hour before the rogues’ numbers dwindled to a number that made me feel relief that we’d survived.
We all had one person to thank for our survival and my eyes met hers. The way she looked at me, I knew that she wasn’t going to stick around but when I tried to command her to stay I couldn’t get through. She’d left my pack and I could no longer communicate via the mind-link with her
There was sadness in her eyes as I pleaded with my eyes for her to stay.
Her eyes went to Kyle. I saw her love for him shine through the sadness as her eyes lingered on him.
He was too distracted to notice Crystal’s deep gaze. A rogue was about to attack him and his attention was fully focused on it. He had no idea what was going on just a few feet away from him as he fought off one of the last rogues.
Her eyes swung to mine. I saw a tear slide down her cheek and then she turned and ran. There was nothing I could do as I watched her run into the forest, away from us, leaving her mate behind. I was stunned as I stood watching her until she’d disappeared through the thick trees.
I’d never expected her to do that. Whatever had happened to her to keep the secret from Kyle must be really bad for her to keep her distance from him even though she knew they were mates and it was obvious that she loved him.
Any victorious emotions I had were eclipsed by the thought of what I had to do. A tired sadness came over me at the thought that it was going to be my responsibility to tell Kyle that Crystal was his mate and that she’d left. Before, I’d kept it from him to keep him safe, but now he had the right to know. He wasn’t going to take this well and there was no easy way to tell him.
He finished off the rogue. The last of the rogues were killed off and surrounding us were dead bodies of werewolves marring the green grass with the crimson blood of their death. I limped over to him as he shifted into his human form.
“You’re injured,” he said as he looked down to the bleeding gash in my leg.
“It’s fine. I’m okay,” I assured him. “I’ll get Curtis to patch me up.”
It was the first time he’d spoken to me without anger lacing his words. I took a deep breath and released it as I gathered up the courage to break the news to him.
His eyes softened for a moment.
“Crystal,” he whispered as he remembered her. He stepped past me as he began to look for her. His actions became more frantic when he couldn’t find her.
“I just saw her,” he said out loud. “Where is she?”
I put my hand on his shoulder and he turned to face me. His frantic expression took in my somber expression.
“What?” he prompted.
“I have something to tell you,” I said with heaviness in my voice. My gaze flickered to Blake, who was helping move our injured fighters to the medical center.
Curtis, with some medical staff, was seeing to the more serious cases that couldn’t be moved. So much death and destruction, it was hard to comprehend.
My gaze went back to Kyle.
There was no chance that he would forgive me for this. The coward’s way out of this would be to keep the secret, but I was no coward. It was going to break his heart but I couldn’t keep it from him anymore. He shrugged my hand off his shoulder as he faced me, anxiously waiting for me to say something.
“Have you ever touched Crystal?” I asked. His frown deepened and I watched as he finally realized what I was trying to get at.
“Crystal is my mate?” he asked, looking shocked.
I nodded my head.
As his mind worked through the shocking news, his eyes narrowed at me.
“How did you know?” he asked. His jaw tightened.
“I saw the way she looked at you. It’s the same way I look at Blake and the same way Scarlett looks at Cade.”
“Does she know?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He turned away from me and ran a hand through his hair. It was a lot to take in and he was trying to process it all in one go. It would be difficult to understand why someone who knew they were your mate would keep it from you.
I held my breath as I waited for him to say something. There was a small part of me that wanted him to be able to forgive me for keeping it from him. He stopped and turned to face me.
“When did you find out?” he asked softly. He sounded calm but I could see the anger that was boiling up inside of him and he was about to blow.
“When you saw her for the first time here,” I revealed.
“You knew she was my mate and you kept it from me?” he yelled, but I held my ground. I didn’t need to answer his question because he already knew the answer.
Blake stopped what he was doing and was watching us with interest. Kyle was making no attempt to mask his anger.
It’s okay, I reassured Blake through the mind-link when I saw him take a step in our direction.
“Who gave you the right to decide that it was something that I didn’t need to know?” he yelled at me. His anger was coming off him in waves, but I refused to let him intimidate me.
“I locked you up to keep you from doing something stupid. I was scared that if I told you that she was your mate, it would make things worse.”
His angry eyes held mine for a few moments.
“Goddammit!” he yelled as he ran a hand through his hair again and then his hand held the back of his neck. He was trying to restrain the anger coursing through him.
“If I told you that she was your mate, you would have done everything you could have to get out of the cell. And what if you’d succeeded and followed her right into a pack of rogues, putting both of your lives in danger?” I tried to explain to him. Even though he knew I was right, it didn’t dissipate his anger. “I did it to keep both of you alive.”
“You knew she was my mate and you wanted to send her on a dangerous mission to infiltrate a pack full of rogues,” he yelled and stood there. I took the anger directed at me.
“When I discovered she was your mate, I refused to send her out. That’s why she left without telling anyone. She did it to protect you.”
Hatred was what I saw in his eyes. He hated me for what I did. It didn’t matter that I’d done it to keep him safe.
“I’m sorry,” I said, even though I wouldn’t have done anything differently.
“Where is she?” he asked, barely containing his temper.
I could see Scarlett approaching with Cade.
“She is gone,” I said softly.
He dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his hands over his face.
“What’s wrong?” Scarlett asked, taking in her brother’s agitated anger.
I felt familiar fingers touch my hand and felt my connection to Blake calm me, but it couldn’t take away the guilt I was experiencing.
“Did she know?” he asked me.
I shook my head. His hate was solely for me.
“Know what?” Scarlett asked, looking from her brother to me.
“She knew Crystal was my mate and she kept it from me,” he spat, turning away from me. He couldn’t stand to look at me.
“That’s enough,” Blake said to Kyle. I was his to protect and he wouldn’t allow Kyle to speak to me the way he was.
“It’s okay,” I assured Blake. Kyle had every right to feel the way he was feeling and, in his shoes, Blake would have reacted the same way.
Scarlett looked shocked as she absorbed the news.
A look from her to me told me she understood my actions. The only person who couldn’t seem to understand was the person blinded by their feelings. Logic wasn’t behind his thoughts; they were clouded with emotions.
“Keri did the right thing.”
We all turned to look at the person who’d just spoken. Cade stood with his arms across his chest with his eyes on Kyle.
“And if I were in her place, I would have done the same.”
I didn’t think I would ever get used to the weird feeling I felt when Cade backed me up. Kyle was glaring at Cade.
“Crystal saved us. If she hadn’t done what she did, there is a very good chance we would all be dead right now,” Cade added. “We owe her our lives.”
Kyle shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as his gaze dropped to the floor. He knew that Cade was right.
“I’ll do everything I can to help you find her,” Cade offered.
“We will all help,” Blake added.
Kyle remained quiet for a few moments before he lifted his eyes.
“I don’t need your help,” he said angrily. “I’ll find her on my own.”
He gave me one last glare before he turned around and walked away.
I let out a deep sigh. That had been worse than I’d expected. Even though I knew in my mind that what I’d done had been the right thing to do, it didn’t ease the guilt or the pain of watching my angry friend walk away from us.
“Don’t worry,” Blake said as his arms wrapped around me and hugged me to him. “He’ll find her and he will forgive you.”
“It’s not going to be easy finding someone who doesn’t want to be found,” I revealed. I leaned my cheek against his chest.
“Come on, let’s get your leg checked out,” he said as he lifted me into his arms. My job was over and we were all safe. I rested my head against his chest as he carried me to the medical center.
Blake set me down in a chair in the medical center. It was so busy with injuries far worse than mine. Beside me, Blake held my hand and I leaned my head against his shoulder while I waited for someone to have a look at my leg. Despite my pain and tiredness, I couldn’t stop touching Blake, and he gave me a mischievous smile.
“You keep pawing at me and we are going to have to find a bedroom—injury or not,” he whispered to me, and a smile spread across my face. Despite everything that had happened—the injuries, the losses—in that moment, I felt happy. It was a feeling only he could give me effortlessly.
“Stop complaining. You’re lucky to have me,” I shot back in a teasing tone.
His features turned serious as his fingers lifted to my cheek.
I’m the luckiest guy, he whispered to me through the mind-link. My response was to press my lips to his.
Best you keep me happy, then, I teased him as I pulled away.
I plan to, every day I have with you.
My heart swelled and I felt the sting of tears at his beautiful words.
Overcoming what we had made us value what we had. We both knew it hadn’t been an easy road to get to where we were now.
“I think you two need to get a room,” Cade’s voice cut through our moment and I turned to see him drop in the chair beside me. He had a few cuts and scrapes but no serious injuries.
“You can’t complain,” Scarlett added as she dropped into the spare chair beside him. “I think we’re worse.”
Cade shot her a playful glare and she smiled at him. At that moment, Curtis arrived.
“You ready for your stitches?” he asked.
In that moment I realized every person I’d cared about was with me except for Kyle. He had his own journey to walk with Crystal and we would all help him as much as we could.
I found myself smiling among the people I now considered family. Blood didn’t connect us. Our experiences and our love for each other did.