“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the good news,” Darian muses, turning to Ezra.
Ezra growls at him, and his eyes flicker for a second, and I check to see if Darian notices. Still, he is too busy distracted with his own thoughts to notice Maddox growing wild within him, and I can feel him trying to break down the wall that wolfsbane has forced over Ezra.
“Did you know Kat here is expecting your mutt?” Darian chuckles, waving his gun at me.
Ezra stares blankly before his eyes dart to me. “Is this true?” Ezra asks worriedly.
“No idea,” I reply, but Darian appeared to be enjoying our little exchange.
“It’s true, I had your blood tested before I tried to feed it to my sister. I have to make sure you don’t have any diseases after sleeping with my mutt of a cousin. He got around a lot before you. It turns out your blood didn’t heal her, so I am guessing you have to actually do something specific to heal her.” I growl at him, and he walks over to Ezra, pushing the gun to the side of his head. “So tell me, you are supposed to be this mystical healing wolf now. How do you heal her? And don’t lie to me, or I’ll be more than happy to shoot your mate. He won’t survive a gunshot to the head, or should I shoot Andrei?” he suggests, moving and tapping the gun to his chin.
I hope it goes off in his face, but it doesn’t.
He walks over to Andrei, sticking his fingers in one of his wounds. He hisses but ignores the pain of the Wolfsbane burning his fingers, and Andrei moans in pain when Darian lets his claws extend, jamming them into his shoulder.
“You never told me why he is helping you,” he points out, shoving his claws deep into Andrei’s shoulder and causing him to thrash.
“He is my brother!” I scream, desperate for him to stop.
Darian’s eyes flash dangerously, a devious smile spreading on his sadistic face. “Interesting, now since you have found your voice again, how do you heal my sister?” he demands, twisting his claw around in Andrei’s shoulder. Again he thrashes on the table he is strapped to.
“I have to bite her, mark her!” I scream out in a rush, and he stops.
He cocks his head to the side, thinking. He pulls his claws from Andrei and pulls the gun on Ezra again. “You have to bite her and mark her?” he asks, but my voice never wavers as I stare back at him.
“Yes, I have to mark her. Give her the lunar mark,” I lie.
“Fine.” His eyes glaze over as he mindlinks someone. “I will take you to my sister, and you heal her, and I may think about letting your brother live,” he offers
“No, if you want me to heal her. You let them both go. I want them back on their territory with proof, or I am not helping her,” I threaten, and he growls before walking over to me and hitting me with the butt of his gun. Blood trickles down into my eye, and Ezra makes a pained noise, and his head bleeds while my wounds heal.
“You are in no position to negotiate, I have your mate and your brother.”
“I am the only one that can heal her. You either let them go, or I let her die, you are the one in no position to negotiate,” I snap back. He raises the gun, pointing it at Ezra. “Do it, go on. Do it, and I will listen to your pain while you watch her die,” I promise him, hoping I am calling his bluff and not killing my mate.
“I will let one of them go, and you reject your mate before I let him leave,” Darian offers, leaning down to glare at me.
“Fine, let Ezra go, and I want to know for sure he is okay and off-pack territory. Only then will I heal Tabitha,” I tell him, my heart sinking that I couldn’t get Andrei out. I hoped Mateo and the other Alpha packs had a plan.
“Definitely not, you are not rejecting me,” Ezra snaps, and my heart clenches, but to save him, I have no choice.
I won’t let my mates die for me, which will happen when I kill Tabitha. I know their lives are tied to mine, Darian will kill me, and they won’t be dying with me.
“Don’t you dare,” Ezra growls through the link. My eyes brim with tears, but I have already made up my mind.
“I love you both, and I will not lose either of you,” I vow.
“Ah, trouble in paradise? It’s okay, Ezra, I will take good care of your mate,” Darian taunts him, and I feel Maddox, he is so close to the surface, and the rage through the bond is scaring me.
Mateo
Alpha Nicholas and I coordinated the packs as we all close around Jackson’s pack. The hardest part was we couldn’t all communicate with each because we each had our own pack links, leaving Andrei’s pack in Nicholas’s hands as he made them all pledge to him. Of course, they weren’t happy, but it was necessary, or they would be our blind spot at the back entrance of the pack.
Ares is livid, though that nearly wasn’t a strong enough word, as we circle the pack borders.
I wasn’t leaving without my mates, but their added pain was making it hard to focus, and the run here took hours, too many hours of torment, wondering if they were going to make it. It wasn’t until we hit the border of Jackson’s pack that I felt them come back from unconsciousness for the second time. Though Ezra, I could tell, was badly injured and in pure agony. His anger burned me like a hot poker.
Picking up another pack warrior’s scent I growl, and Nicholas echoes it from behind me, letting me know he got a whiff of something too, before I spot a flash of fur darting between the trees. We have every road and the tunnels blocked off. No one is getting in or out without us knowing.
Ares gives chase to their scout, Nicholas joins in, chasing after him as we block him off before Ares lunges, teeth going for his throat when he shifts back. He’s just a kid, and could only be about sixteen. Ares pulls back, his canines only tearing through his shoulder since he was so young, Nicholas pins him.
I shift back, walking over to him, and he wets himself, having Nicholas’s gray and white wolf towering over him. His wolf jumps back in disgust before growling at him, and I watch the boy shuffle back on his hands and feet before hitting his back against a tree, his hands going out to shield his face as I approach him.