The door pops open, and I hear footsteps pounding down the stairs, my head like a slab of concrete when I force it to turn in his direction.
“You called, my sweet?”
“She needs help! She’s sick. Look at her. Oh, Jesus, please do something. You can’t just leave her down here—”
She doesn’t get to finish because the next minute the cage door is unlocked and ripped open and Blain is beside me, his hand shaking when he touches my face.
It feels so blessedly cool when his skin touches mine that I moan, trying to burrow closer to his touch.
“Kepner.”
“’Sokay. Just feeling a little under the weather, chief.”
He chuckles, my reference to him as the council leader making his eyes twinkle before he rises and walks out, his back tense through his t-shirt.
“Where are you—?”
He ignores Julia, cutting her off with a snarl and takes the stairs fast only to come back in minutes carrying food and water. Julia’s he leaves near her cell while mine he places beside my cot before raising my head to place the water bottle to my mouth.
I drink greedily, even when my stomach tries to clench and revolt, and he won’t let me stop until it’s all finished. When it is, he gently lowers my head back to the pillow, watching me closely for a long time as I breathe through it and eventually feel myself relax, the pain melting away.
My body temperature lowers, going from a fiery burn to a slow mellow cool that has me sighing. When my head stops pounding hard enough to feel like my brain is dancing against my skull I groan in thanks and manage a smile.
“Better, Kepner?”
“Thank you,” I whisper, smiling when his face goes tight and he looks away.
See? Here’s the great bad man; the villain everyone is trying to make me see, on his knees beside me, watching me as if his very life depends on me getting better.
A killer? I don’t think so.
“You’re welcome, Kepner. Can’t have you dying before I want it to happen,” he says staunchly, making me gasp out a laugh.
“I don’t believe you, Blain.”
“You should. You really must, Kepner. I’m the bad guy, the—”
“You’re my friend, and I love you, and I don’t care what you’ve done, only that you’re not bad,” I cut in, stopping his desperate flow of words.
“You should be realistic.”
“I am. I see you. Don’t be what you think is strong and powerful, Blain. Be what is powerful for you. I know you’re angry. I get it. I’d be angry if people kicked me all my life, too.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You’d make them cookies and clean their homes and feed their demented mothers.”
I grin, acknowledging this awful character flaw, and try not to cry when he looks down and shakes his head.
“I can’t stop this. It’s already in motion. Once the scentless take orders, they are mindless until their mission is completed. Even if I wanted to stop this, I couldn’t. They’d kill anything in their path.”
“But the others, the Clayton pack aren’t like that.”
He shakes his head on a wince, and I want to reach out to him and comfort him, but I know I can’t push too hard, too fast. You tame a wild horse with patience, that’s what the woman on the documentary said. With Blain, I’ll have to be sloooow.
“The other Alphas had Bartley add a few interesting extras to what those males got shot up with. They are not normal anymore.”
I swallow and try not to let my mouth tremble. I really do not want to get killed by one of those men. They’re big, scary, and they didn’t seem to care that we cried and struggled.
They have no soul. No, that’s not right and not fair!
They have souls, they just lost them somewhere.
“You can fix this, Blain.”
“I can’t! I can’t do anything,” he argues, shoving to his feet with a sigh. “You should rest.”
The words are mumbled before he stalks out of the cell, relocks the door, and stops on the stairs. When he turns back to look at us both, his face is hard once again and devoid of all emotion. I shiver this time and my lips tremble because I don’t know if I can get out of this, no matter how I spin this in my head.
“Eat. You’ll need your strength.”
He leaves, and I stay still for a while before I slide from the cot and knee crawl to the food he left me. I don’t feel like I’m running any races and winning the gold or silver, or bronze even, but I do feel better, so I pick up the sandwich that I recognize as pre-packaged by the grocery store.
“That was some fucked up shit, sister,” Julia mumbles.
I look up at her and tilt my head, my expression questioning. She sighs and comes closer to the connecting bars, going down to her knees to reach out and touch my face.
“You look better. If we get out of here, we should tell Althea you can’t dehydrate.”
Mouth twitching, I take her hand and try to be as gentle as I can when I say what I need to, to her, for her. For me. For Blain. Mostly, I just have to say this because she needs to hear it, even if it hurts.
“You are so blinded by what you want to see and think of people you miss everything that’s right in front of you. He lost someone he loved, someone he cared a great deal for. He cares for you, and yet you still look at him and see nothing but bad—”
“Cass, the male is—”
“Helping me. Can’t you see it? Look at me. Just moments ago, I was sure I was dying and now look,” I tell her.
Standing shakily, I hold out my arms and turn, letting her see all of me. I can lift my arms, stand, walk, function in important ways that I wasn’t capable of before.
I could die in this cell; he could have let me die in this cell and no one could blame him because this is my thing. And now suddenly some water just miraculously made me feel better? I don’t think so.
“He put something in that water, just like his mom put something in the tea I drank yesterday that made me feel better. I met that doctor he spoke about. Blain Seers had that quack develop something to help me.”
“He wouldn’t—”
“He would and he did because I’m his friend and he cares about me.”
“So what!” she yells, shoving to her feet. “What difference does it make, if he’s going to just let them kill us? Wake up and smell reality, Cass. We’re not getting out of here. This place is howl proof. The locks can’t be broken and—”
“He’ll help us. Stop pacing. It won’t get you anywhere fast,” I say, laughing when she stops and her mouth twitches.
“You are one strange little female.”
I guess I am, but I have hope that I’m right. Otherwise I’m definitely dying in this cell, and I don’t want to. I want to tell Banner I love him and I want his babies. That I now know Blain has something that can at least help me.
That I can wait for a cure because being with him is all I want.
Something inside me feels like it stretches and wakes up, and I feel strength pulse through me as if it’s in agreement.
Mate.
Yes, mate.
Chapter Twenty-four
Cass
I hear a scuffle in the corner and roll over to look, hoping it’s not a rat when I see a dark shape emerge and lunge at the cages. I would scream but the sound stays trapped inside me when I see Blain, sweating, filthy, and shaking as he shoves keys into the lock of Julia’s cage and pulls it open.
“Get up! Now!” he yells, his body whipping around to run for my own cell.
Noise upstairs has my head shooting up when Blain unlocks my cage and grabs me, the strength in his grip making me cry out when he grabs my injured wrist. It’s been numb up till this point, the swelling having long since overridden the pain, and with his grasp, it flares back to life almost dropping me to my knees.
“Oh God.”
“We don’t have time! You need to go. Use the tunnel I came in with and keep crawling. Do you hear me?” he barks not waiting f
or an answer as he shoves me toward the corner where Julia already crouches.
Blain is panicked, sweating, shaking, as he looks up at the ceiling and growls, the blue intensity in his eyes shining with desperation and a strength I haven’t ever seen in him.
Grabbing my face, he holds me gently and looks down at me with a sad smile.
“You’re the most naïve person I have ever met, and I am a fool for doing this. I shouldn’t care about any of you.”
“Come with us!” I say, trying to hold on when I hear the door open and hear growls.
“No. Go. I can fight them off long enough to delay them. Go!” he snarls, shoving me into the hole as a shape lunges at him and he falls on his back. I scream when he goes down and scream again when more arrive.
I should leave, but I’m frozen in place when I see one dive for Julia. I’m about to scream when I hear a howl and Blain shifts, lunging for the wolf.
He lands on him with a snarl, and I gag when I see blood fly and a body drop. The same happens four more times, and I want to whoop for joy when the last guy suddenly shifts and lunges at Blain.
I hear a growl, see him bite at Blain’s throat, and then a gurgle reaches my ears.
“No!”
Julia, up till now crouched in front of me, lunges and lands on the guy’s back, her black pelt gleaming in this strange way as she bites into him, tears him back, and shakes her head.
He snarls and tries to break free, but Julia is mad with rage now and sinks her teeth into his throat, shaking her head so violently his yelp is cut off and she drops his dead body to the floor.
I scream when I turn my head and my eyes fall on Blain, my body shaking when I crawl forward and touch him. He shifts when I reach him, and I gag and muffle a sob when I see the damage he’s taken. He’s covered in blood, his breaths wheezing and gurgling, but he manages a smile that breaks my heart.
Julia joins me, her naked body hunching over him, and I see her shudder as tears fall down her face.
“You idiot! How could you be so foolish! I—”
“I finally did it right,” he cuts in, his eyes going dimmer. “Should have…”
“Don’t! Oh God, why did you do it?” she sobs, her tears falling on him as she grabs his throat and tries to staunch the flow of blood.
“Needed to do one right thing…prove Cass right,” he gasps.
I’m sobbing now, quietly as I take his hand and look at Julia, despair punching into me like a knife to the gut.
“He—”
“No!” she screams, her teeth changing right before she savages her own wrist and presses it to his mouth.
Blood pours from her arm, streams leaking from his mouth, but she doesn’t stop, doesn’t so much as blink as she screams at him to drink and cries in great heart-wrenching sobs.
I cry too, my heart breaking and hardly hear the pounding of steps before I am yanked up and crushed to a chest. It’s all a blur from there. Voices, yelling. I see Althea rush by me and assume she’s here for Blain, but I can’t see anything more when Banner is yelling at me and kissing me and grasping me so tightly I feel and see only him.
“Oh Jesus. Oh God! Oh thank God! I thought we were too late when I heard the snarls. I love you! I love you, you foolish female. Don’t you ever try to leave me again.”
I laugh, crying as I kiss him, and take in his heat and the absolute joy I feel that he’s here, he loves me, and I am never, ever leaving him. I need him, like air. Like my own pulse inside me.
“I love you, too. I love you so much I thought I could leave you to make it easier, but I wasn’t going to go. I couldn’t. I can’t go!” I cry, laughing when he grips me and shudders against me.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s—”
“Blain! Oh God, is he alive? He saved me and Julia! He got hurt saving her from those wolves. Please help him!” I beg, looking around at everyone in the room.
They all look somber, Nick snarling and cradling Julia, who is almost insensible with tears and wearing a blanket while he keeps her away from Blain.
Everything else happens fast. Blain is taken out and rushed to the clinic, the enforcers all follow, me and Banner included. I’m in a daze, as we wait for news, my arm sporting a needle and blood bag that Lync is giving me because, apparently, I am going to be cured.
I understood maybe half of what Banner said, but I’m willing to try anything if I can be with him. Another twenty minutes passes while we wait, for news and for the blood Banner gave me to set in.
I feel the healing almost immediately and drop onto his chest with a sigh, my euphoria only so sweet because while I feel better, Julia is near catatonic and we still have no new about Blain.
“How did you know where we were?” I mumble, kissing him when he leans down, as if he can’t help but need me.
Banner kisses me again, a deep melding of mouths before pulling back with a smile.
“Mrs. Seers called us when Blain told her to.”
“God, this is all so messed up. He’s not a bad guy, Banner. He saved us both and—”
“And he took you in the first place, and he’s involved in things that are considered crimes to the pack, baby. I know you like him, but you cannot get involved. I am grateful that he was there, and he had a moment of conscience. I will do whatever I can just for the fact that he saved my mate, but this is on him. It’s his chance to face the heat.”
I nod, swallowing my grief, and lean back into him when he hugs me tight and settles into the seat more comfortably.
“You feeling better?”
“Like a rock star,” I admit, my eyes blinking when I hear someone whisper and turn to see who it was.
Banner smiles, his eyes twinkling, and bites his lip when I gasp, another whisper reaching me. I can almost…smells hit me then. I smell him so intensely that if not for the other people in the room I think I would lose my mind.
It’s the blood, I think, sighing when I get a shot of energy that slams through me with a force. I feel…everything!
“Oh my God. What is that?”
Everyone laughs when I lift my head and start looking around, my body vibrating with the need to move and explore and taste and smell and heeeear.
“I think the blood just hit her.” Nick chuckles, frowning when he looks at Julia, who is huddled into a chair and staring sightlessly at nothing. Her face is pale, drawn, her eyes glassy with pain, and I know all of this because I can feel it like a physical touch against my skin.
Biting my lip, I keep that to myself, wondering if it’s normal and somehow knowing it isn’t.
He’ll be okay. He has to be. This can’t be the end of Blain Seers. He’s too big and full of life to ever fall this easily.
“He isn’t worth your sorrow, Jules. He kidnapped you both, would have hurt you and was involved in crimes—”
“Against a pack who never once considered him and his rights!” she screams, bursting from her stupor to glare at her father and snarl, the sound filled with utter rage and disgust. “You knew! All this time you knew who he was to me, and you kept it a secret because you didn’t think he was good enough! You should have told me when I turned eighteen. You had no right to lie to me every day and deny me what is rightfully mine. I will never forgive you!”
“He isn’t worth your time! The male is a criminal and a murderer!”
“Then so are you, Daddy, because the way I see it, you did no different. You make decisions every single day that you justify by saying it’s for the good of the pack. Blain sees change as the only way to save the pack, and so he did things to get it done. They weren’t good, but they are no different from what you do every day! Lock away a feral, let the elite rip each other apart! You murder those females every day by not standing in front of them and protecting them from harm. You’re no fucking better!” she screams, rising to tower over him where he sits.
“Julia—”
“And yet I still love you because I know that at heart you mean only well. Just as I now know that h
e is the same. He has good intentions; he just doesn’t know how to show them without being ruthless. I’ll teach him. I will show him how to change things in a good way, as an honorable male, and I’ll show him that he is worthy.”
“Julia—”
She snarls, cutting Nick off and looks back at me with a sad, grateful smile that I return.
Nowhere in sight, I think, that spoiled little girl who looks at things with an innocent face value kind of determination is nowhere. Now I see a woman who is harder, stronger and not willing to ignore the good because of the bad that may have occurred first.
I see her change, even as I snuggle into Banner and promise myself that so will I. I won’t be afraid anymore. I won’t be that woman who hides. I have Banner, and he has me, and those twelve babies are now a possibility.
“I love you, Ban.”
“Love you, too,” he sighs, as Julia tightens the blanket, stiffens her spine and changes everything I thought would happen next.
“I claim the life debt that Blainton Edge Seers earned by rescuing me, and as his Fated mate, I declare that the only way I will repay it is by living each day to prove that my life is not in vain.”
A shock rips through the room, even Hannah who is only just arriving stops, turns and gapes at Julia.
“Julia—”
“I claim my Fated.”
Oh hell, I think, watching Nick go white and huff out a curse. I wonder what the hell happens now.
BOOK FIVE
Chapter One
Jules
My body aches, as I shift in the seat beside the bed and watch over the male who is my Fated, the one male meant for me, my soul, the one my wolf yearns for.
He is supposed to be the darkness to my light and complete me in ways that no other male could ever hope to compete with. I was meant to love him, submit to him, mate him, and carry his young within my body.
And yet, I know nothing about him because I do not know Blain Seers. I have seen him around Greyriver all through my formative years, known him to be an elite asshole, who cares about money, blood, and power, and I always assumed that he would be as far from my ideal as I could get.
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