Page 52 of The Renegade Mate

“Michael, I have a request.”

“What do you need?”

“Can you lock Derek down? Sofia’s been taken hostage. We’ve received an ultimatum from Brock and Hayley. We hand over Mai, or Sofia will be killed.”

“Dammit!”

“Can you do it? Derek will go nuts at the news. I know him; he’ll charge over here without thinking and get himself killed.”

“He’s not going to like being locked down, Ryan.”

“I don’t give a fuck what he likes, Michael. I won’t lose my brother. We are fighting fires on multiple fronts right now, and I don’t need another complication. Can you help out or not?”

I heard Michael sigh. “I have some enforcers who will help me. We’ll keep him locked down until he’s calm.”

“Thank you. Tell him I won’t let anything happen to Sofia. I’ll find a way to free her.”

“Will do. Good luck.”

Ryan ended the call and looked at me.

“We’ll handle this,” he said. “We’ll find a way.”

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust in his confidence. But the doubts were there, nagging at the edges of my mind.

Ryan’s hand reached out, slipping round the back of my neck, his touch grounding and reassuring. “We’re doing what we have to do. We’re protecting our Pack, our family. We can’t let Derek charge into a situation where he’ll get himself killed.”

I nodded. I knew he was right about Derek. Derek would lose his mind when he heard Sofia had been taken by Brock and Hayley. It felt wrong, though. Asking another Pack to lock him down. He should be here with us. He should be involved in whatever we decided to do. I looked around at the faces of my friends, our little renegade Pack. Jase, Thomas, Wally—all eyes were on Ryan and me, waiting for a decision, a plan.

“We’ve got ten hours,” I said, my voice breaking through the silence, the words tasting bitter in my mouth. “That gives us maybe five hours to come up with a plan.”

“We’re not handing you over, Mai.” Ryan’s voice was strong, but I felt the ripples of fear coming from him through our bond.

“And what about Sofia?” Jase’s voice was tinged with desperation. “We can’t just abandon her.”

“We won’t,” Ryan assured him. “But we can’t play into Brock and Hayley’s hands, either. No way will they release Sofia, even if we handed Mai over.”

“The fuckers will want a public execution,” Wally spat, anger and frustration evident in his tone. “They’ll want to make an example out of Mai and Sofia at the Pack meeting.”

I nodded. “Agreed. If I do hand myself over, I doubt they’ll just let Sofia go, but I don’t think they’ll kill us right away. They’ll want to talk first, and then, you’re right, they’ll want something public to send a message. The Pack Meet will be perfect for that.”

“You can’t know that they’ll wait,” Ryan replied harshly.

“You don’t honestly believe that Brock is Hayley’s mate, do you?”

Ryan stared at me for a moment, and I knew he wasn’t sure where I was going with this. Then he shook his head.

“Jem was her true mate. Of that, I have no doubt. She killed him. Even as hard-hearted as that bitch is, there is no way she is not feeling the effects of having murdered her true mate. I’m Jem’s sister, she’ll want to talk to me. To absolve herself. To convince herself that she did the right thing. She’ll keep me alive. Brock will want me dead at the Meet. If I hand myself over, it gives you time to come up with a plan. We don’t have ten hours, we have twenty-four.”

“I don't give a fuck if you kick me in the head. The answer is no, Mai. Absolutely no fucking way. We’ll find another option.”

“Okay, then. We could storm the compound. You went out this morning; how many people can we count on? We need them now. We’ll need to go in the next few hours.”

Ryan grimaced. “Not enough to take the compound. We need more time to gather our people. Maybe if we put out an alert, hope that enough people show up?”

“And trust Sofia’s life to that? It would be suicide for us all. One last grand stand against Brock and Hayley. It’s what they’re hoping for, so they can kill all the rebels in one go. They’ll have planned for it, Ryan. And as soon as we attack, they’ll kill Sofia.”

“You’re not fucking doing it. End of discussion,” Ryan growled, then he turned and walked out.

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