Would she want to stay with me?
I kiss her deeply, holding her close to me. I need to feel her. I need this moment with her. If everything goes wrong tomorrow, this is going to be our last night, and I want to make it count.
I slide into the cave with Scarlett.
“What about them?” She motions to the boys.
“They’re on guard duty first,” I tell her.
“Are we next?”
“Not you,” I tell her. “We patrol in wolf form. Sorry, darling,” I add when I see how disappointed she looks. Her cute little pout is something I’ve grown to adore.
We slide onto the thin blankets that cover the floor of the cave and I roll us so I’m on my back and she’s on top of me. The moment is intimate, it’s perfect.
She kisses me softly and I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her even closer to me.
“I’m scared,” she whispers.
“You don’t have to be,” I tell her. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
It’s a promise I’m more than willing to keep. No matter what happens, no matter how long the battle is, no matter how hard the fight is, I will keep her safe.
**
We wake at dawn and spend the day preparing, running over our plan for the evening. We’ve done everything possible to prepare, but still, I’m all nerves as we approach the pack’s cave.
Jeffrey has the pack outside and a crowd has formed around him as he speaks at the entrance to the cave. I had hope to arrive as soon as he started speaking, but it looks like he moved a bit early tonight.
He’s standing tall in his human form and I feel Scarlett start to tense next to me. I squeeze her hand, silently offering her courage and strength. It’s all I have to give right now.
Everything is going to change in just a few minutes and I have to be strong for her.
“Thank you for gathering,” Jeffrey is saying, and I know we missed his preamble where he does a fake round of “thank-yous” to the people closest to him. Even when I was an active pack member, we all knew his acknowledgements were fake and simple. He never even tried to make them seem realistic.
What did Elise ever see in him?
Part of me hates the fact that I resent her for choosing Jeffrey. She chose a guy who was powerful and made her feel good. She didn’t choose a guy who would love or respect her. She didn’t choose someone who would cherish her. What about Ryder? What about Thorn? What about any of the guys at the Silent Canines who would do anything for her?
Why not them?
I’ll never know why Elise made the choices she did, but I can make sure Jeffrey doesn’t have the chance to hurt anyone else. Had I challenged him before tonight, he would have had me killed. One of his henchmen would have seen to it. Now, here, in a public, open gathering, I have the perfect chance to take him down.
I have the chance to beat the Alpha.
But as I step down to the crowd and make my way to the front, he stops speaking and turns to me. He spots me, picks me out of the crowd, and sneers.
“Why, hello, Nash.” His voice is venom. “So glad you decided to join us. I trust my sister is with you, as well?”
My jaw drops and I turn around to where Scarlett was standing at the forest’s edge. She’s no longer standing at a distance, safely watching. No, she’s being dragged by a shifter up to the front of the crowd. Kyle’s hands dig into her arms as she flails about silently, and I want to scream.
I can see Thorn and Ryder now, also being brought to the front.
This isn’t going to be pretty.
“How did you know we were coming?” I grit out. There’s no way, in my mind, he could have known.
“I have eyes and ears everywhere,” he waves his hand simply, as if it’s no matter to him. The pack is watching us both now, and I know this is my only chance.