As she sang she silently begged what ever god might be listening for help. The G man had three days to find them and save them. She no longer believed he could do as he promised. She didn’t doubt he would try, but they lived in Mexico and he lived in Alaska. Even if he drove all day and all night he would never make it in time. As she drifted off to sleep she saw the poor little slave boy again and again in her head. She couldn’t let that happen to her brother. To be so destroyed, so abused for only a few years and then killed without ever having enjoyed life, she couldn’t let that happen. She would find a way to send him to the other side to be with their parents before the auction. Somehow she would save her brother if saving him meant taking his life. She deserved to live with all the guilt and all the pain forever after what had happened. Her last thought was of her brother’s laughter on his last birthday when their dad bought him a lego set.
Chapter Sixteen
Trina eyed the door when she heard the knock. She was fed up with everyone at the moment and she didn’t want to talk to anyone but the knocking continued. Jaden had left earlier after their latest argument and she hadn’t seen him or heard from him since he stormed out. She knew he would not knock on his own door so curiosity pulled at her, but not enough for her to put the book down and open the door. She turned her attention back to the book. Or rather, she amended her thoughts, she looked at the book again. She had read the same page at least a dozen times and would end up reading it a dozen more without taking anything in. Her hands still trembled in anger and frustration. When she heard the knob turning she jerked her attention back to the door.
“I locked that door.” Trina snarled at the trespasser.
Krystal snorted, “I am mated to the Alpha and you pledged your loyalty to him, me, and this pack. We have keys to every building in the village.”
“Are you freaking kidding me? Why would you have keys to everyone’s house? What if they are having a moment and you just walk in?” Trina looked at her in disbelief.
Krys laughed, “I don’t have keys to everyone’s house. But we do have keys to this house, Marcus and Jaden are brothers remember. And either you can’t smell a lie, or you are not paying attention.”
Eyes narrowed Trina grimaced. She knew some wolves could smell a lie but she couldn’t and it infuriated her to find out she was one of the few who couldn’t. She didn’t think Gabby could smell a lie either but she reminded herself to ask.
“Oh, I see. You are handicapped aren’t you? No, don’t growl at me. For one thing, I outrank you in the hierarchy of the pack and growling at me isn’t politically correct as far as the pack is concerned. Another reason, I came to help you, I think. But helping you will depend on what you have to tell me when I ask you questions.”
“What kind of questions? Help me how?”
“You know, Marcus and I don’t have the bond you and Jaden have because we are not true-mates. But I love him, He is, if not the other half of my soul, he is my happiness. Lately he hasn’t been very happy and you are one of the reasons.” Trina opened her mouth but Krys held her hand up, “Not yet. Let me talk. I noticed you do an awful lot of talking but not much listening. Just listen. Whether you want to admit it or not, whether you even realize it or not, you are a thorn in his side and because you are causing him some problems Jaden winds up in the middle of everything. Which means that ultimately your problems are his problems and that in turn stresses Marcus out even more. You see, Jaden is the Beta of this pack and brother to the Alpha. So when you cause problems with my mate it reverberates through the pack and everything winds up on your mate’s shoulders in the end. The job of the Beta is to take care of the problems before they are big enough for the Alpha to have to step in. The Alpha’s first line of defense in this case is the mate to the one causing the problems. You are an unusual female. You have to understand, many of the males you will come into contact with are older males. They come from a different time. I have heard your arguments and I have tried to stay out of them. But the two of you are both so hardheaded and stubborn and both of you are wrong and both of you are right. If you were older maybe you would know diplomacy, but you have zero diplomacy.”
Trina snorted, “It is hard to be diplomatic when the men want to put you on a pedestal and worship at your feet because you are a female.”
Krys growled, “I did say do not interrupt me. Just listen. Now you have been going so hard at Jaden and Marcus about going on missions you never stopped to ask any questions, not really. And I don’t think Jaden has realized all the implications of you being a true seeker. I don’t think even you realize it because you haven’t stopped long enough to meet with the others and find out what you should expect in your life. You see, Marcus is fighting so hard against you going because he has to, or at least he feels he has to fight it. In the end it won’t matter what any of the males want or feel about the situation.”
“Why?”
This time it was Krys who snorted. “You absolutely can’t stay quiet long enough to find out what you need to know can you? Another of the reasons Marcus is fighting so hard against you going. He fears, and rightly so I think, you will not listen to instructions and someone will end up losing their life and the team will have to live with that death for the rest of their very long lives.”
Trina looked away for a moment before standing up and crossing the room to stare out of the window. She crossed her arms and leaned her forehead against the window. “I’m sorry. But every time I try to get information the men just change the subject or avoid me and Marcus and Jaden are the worst of them. I have reached my breaking point. The ache inside me calls for me to do something, protect someone, save someone, I don’t know.” With a hiccup sob she turned her tear streaked face toward Krys. “My wolf claws at me, my mate yells at me, my Alpha bitches at me, the other males avoid me, the females look at me in fear or with wariness in their eyes or they stare at me like I am some new animal at the zoo. No matter what I do someone gets upset at me.”
“You are an unusual female. Females are rare and treasured, but a female who is also a Seeker? Trina, no one knows what to do with you. They can’t leave you behind on missions, or at least not permanently, You see, the teams they have are composed of single men for the most part. When one finds a true-mate they rarely go on dangerous missions after that. Craig and Jaden both became reserve members of the teams when they mated. The missions don’t always go in our favor and sometimes our people come home in body bags. But for a true-mate to lose their life is to lose the lives of two members of the pack. The female doesn’t always die, neither does the male, but to live past the life of your true-mate is rare. Now they have a mated true Seeker, not trained but Seeker by birth, and a female to boot. The men have fought to protect the females for so long that they fear taking you will cause the others to forsake the mission to save the females they do not know in favor of the one who is already part of them. Everyone in the pack would feel the loss of another member, it is the pack way. But knowing taking you could cause them to falter in their mission, could cause them to fail, could cost your life and Jaden’s life. You ask the impossible.”
“They what do I do? I will go slowly crazy if I can’t do something.” Trina wailed.
“You will have to train with Jaden. You will not go on this mission. Marcus had determined at this stage in the game going on a mission, when you haven’t trained with any of the team would be fatal. And he is not willing to lose even one member of the team. So you will stay behind, with Jaden and you will train to go on missions. You see, you can’t just jump in without knowing how the teams work. Without knowing how they operate and what they do in certain situations. Sure you can’t plan for everything but they have seen so much they can plan for a crap ton of possibilities.”
“But Fido is going on the mission with the others.” Trina narrowed her eyes and stared at Krys.
“Ah, no, he isn’t. He is helping plan for the mission but unless something happens that gives the team an edge he is
not going. Craig is going only because he is needed to fly one of the birds. Kate, as much as the team could use her magic, almost got four of our people killed last mission so she isn’t going either. Trina, look at me, whether you realize it or not, you are the second highest female in the pack in terms of hierarchy. You are mated to the Beta, second only to the Alpha. To lose you would be to destroy Jaden, and this pack, well this pack would be a long time recovering from such a loss. Your mate comes before your pack and your pack comes before everything else. Do you understand? You have to put the needs of the pack before everything and right now, the pack needs you to train. How many true Seekers do you think we have?”
“I don’t know, a lot I guess. I mean this is a Seeker pack and the pack has three different teams of Seekers.”
“Trina, dear, we have, with you, exactly nine Seekers. The rest of the teams are trained to seek. A trained seeker can only go by clues and actions. By the tiniest of scent differences in a rogue. But they have to get close enough to smell that difference and most of the time that would be too late. You can see a rogue as soon as they are in sight, but the others, your own mate, they have to watch and observe and deduce. And they live with the fear they will be wrong and an innocent will be killed every time they go out. If you were a male Seeker they would have thrown a party that lasted a week. But a female Seeker, you are tearing them apart. And by them I mean the eight males who know in the end you will have to seek or your wolf will destroy you. They are agonizing over it and between shit storms they are trying to out drink each other even knowing they can’t drink fast enough to outrun the wolf tearing at them to protect you.”
“I didn’t know.” Trina left the window and headed back to the chair she had abandoned. She stared at nothing as she processed what Krys said.
“No, and like idiots the men aren’t telling you as yet another way to protect you. Trina, the question at this point isn’t will you be allowed to go on missions, it is how soon can they get you trained. And no one wants to be the one to start the training that may one day cost you your life. Not one man wants to be the one to put a female in danger after all they go though and all they have lost to save every female they find. Jaden will have to train you and your training will not be like his was. He had to train to learn to seek along with training to fight, and training to be a part of a team. You have been training for years when it comes to fighting and you don’t have to be trained on how to recognize clues. You only need to be trained on how to be part of the team. So please, for the sake of the pack and the sanity of your Alpha, talk to Kate and get details from her on how many things she did wrong and why tearing off after the teams is a terrible idea at this point. Then you, I am not going to say grow up because that isn’t the word I want, but it is close to what I am trying to say. Learn patience and timing and diplomacy because it will not be this mission, but you will be going on missions.”
Trina jumped up from the chair and rushed over to Krys, tears in her eyes she hugged her, “You are the best. I thought the men were just being assholes and treating me like a child trying to play grownup. Sometimes, when the wolf tears at you it is hard to hear the reasoning behind others’ actions. The poor pitiful female who must be put on a pedestal and protected was all I could hear. I kinda expected someone to start showing up with a duster to dust me and my pedestal once a day. And Fido wasn’t making it any easier. Thank you for coming over, and I am a tiny bit sorry I yelled at you for just walking in. You should have knocked.”
Krys, startled, turned toward her, “I should have knocked? You mean more than I did or do you mean harder or do you possibly mean on other doors?”
A red flush washed across Trina’s face as she remembered, Krys did knock and she ignored it. She smiled, “Oops?”
“Jaden will have his hands full with you. But he is happy and if I have never thanked you for that, I want you to know, I may get angry at you, I may say things sometimes to hurt you, but never doubt that I love you for who you are and what you brought to Jaden’s life by becoming his mate.” She looked at her watch, “Oh crap, I gotta go. I am suppose to be helping clean up from the mini witch war. Would you like to help?”
Trina smiled then laughed, “Let me see, do I want to get filthy, soot covered, dirty and stink by the end of the day? Well, no, but yes I would love to help. This is my pack after all. And I hear I am second only to the Alpha’s mate so I better learn to lead by example don’t you think? Come on, let’s go get our territory cleaned up.” She linked her arm with Krys and spun her toward the door. “No time like the present to show a united front to the others.” The two were laughing as they walked outside.
Chapter Seventeen
Jaden and Marcus sat and stared at the phone waiting for the call that could change the entire mission. Hoping they were right about their guess concerning Trey’s brother.
“Trey said his brother has boots on the ground, he didn’t say his boots were on the ground. Maybe he just knows someone there. Is Samson the youngest or the oldest? Oldest right? That would explain him leaving his pack, it would be hard to have your younger brother as your Alpha, no offense.” Marcus picked up the phone and stared at it willing it to ring.
Jaden shrugged, “The youngest. I have only heard his name mentioned once and that was by David. I don’t even remember what he said, I just remember anytime I tried to ask about him after that first time everyone clammed up tighter than a drum and looked at me like I had two heads. After a few times I quit asking. Thought maybe he went rogue and the family was ashamed or something. Kinda young to go rogue if he is younger than Trey but—”
The ringing of the phone cut him off and Marcus barely glanced at the screen before swiping to answer the call.
“Marcus here, talk to me.”
You headed down south?
“Yes.”
How many?
“Twenty-nine.”
True Seekers?
“Seven.”
I can’t talk long so listen close. I am going to text you the latitude and longitude of where you need to land. I will arrange for the refueling. How long before you arrive and we can get the party started?
“Day after tomorrow. Early.”
Tomorrow!
“Sorry, got people coming from Alaska for this party. Gonna be kicking with fireworks and cold brews. No one wanted to miss out on the party of the year.”
Oh shit. Text ETA.
Marcus looked at Jaden and then they both stared at the silent phone. “He didn’t sound happy about that. I guess if his mate is in that compound he is fighting with all he has to keep the wolf contained. I wonder how close he is to the place? You realize we still don’t know anymore than we did before he called? What the hell did he even call for if not to help us plan? Shit, that was a wasted call. Unless he can get us refueled. At least he is sending us a landing zone and the offer of fuel. Now if he can just keep his wolf from running off and trying to save his mate we might have a chance. What did his brother say, we could double our odds if the mate is in the compound? Do we keep this to ourselves?”
At that moment the phone vibrated and Marcus looked backed down at the phone. He read the message then turned the phone where Jaden could read it.
Silence is golden followed by the coordinates they were to land the birds.
Jaden snorted, “Well that answers your question of whether we keep this to ourselves. I am going to vote we just study the map and, I dunno man, pretend we spotted the perfect place to land. Then you put your foot down on the landing zone and we make it happen. Gonna have to trust the man is doing everything he can to keep his mate alive and get her out safely. He needs us for that so, make it so.”
Marcus glared at him before turning and striding out of the room muttering, “I swear true-mating should be outlawed. Or better yet, true-mates not be allowed to help rescue their females or some shit. This is not going to end well for us, I just know it. True-mates always fuck up the missions.”
“Now that
isn’t fair. We don’t fuck up the mission, we usually are the ones getting fucked up somehow” Jaden followed behind his brother protesting the entire way.
“You almost started a pack war, tried to kill another Alpha, had to be caged and earned the name Fido from your mate. Craig almost got killed, got the name box man from his mate and then together they almost got us all killed. Sibeal and Conall had to fake their own death, got the race cursed and almost got us all killed. Does our territory have a fucking sign on it saying crazy true-mate territory or something? I never hear about any of the others going through the shit we get pulled into.”
The two walked in the war room and headed for the maps. It didn’t take long for them to find the coordinates and pinpoint them as the new landing zone over the protest of Kent.
“I have a feeling that will be our best place. Make it happen.” Marcus remembered he hadn’t called Trey so he walked back outside. They could use some good news and he hoped Trey had some.
Chapter Eighteen
“Bloody Hell!” Samson stared at the phone in his hand before looking at Jeffery. “Well, that’s torn it.”
“What exactly has you upset now? They aren’t sending help?” Jeffery narrowed his eyes when Samson turned to him with a faint look of horror on his face.
Nicole Page 7
