Page 45 of Make Me

Mylo nodded as he munched on some berries, the juice staining his lips red. Bethany tore her gaze from them before she did something stupid. Like kiss him.

“I think they might be going after a Fortis plant patch.”

Bethany, Cody, and Zack exchanged glances. Crap. They had seen what Fortis could do to a person when they watched Claire face off against their old professor, Henry Storm. If the prisoners got ahold of it, they could do some serious damage. If they combined it with any other magical spells, they make their skin or fur impenetrable.

“Is there one nearby?” Zack asked.

Mylo nodded. “Fortis plants that grow in the Forest are hard to find. They would have to know where they are going, but I don’t think their direction is accidental. Someone told them where it would be.”

“Then we should get going,” Bethany said, her lips in a tight line. They couldn’t let the prisoners get to the Fortis.

Cody and Zack exchanged glances as they packed up. Cody’s eyes were direct, and Zack’s eyes looked amused. As they started out again, Zack touched Bethany’s arm, letting the others get a few paces ahead of them.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “How are you feeling after this morning?”

“I’m fine,” Bethany said shortly. She really didn’t want to get into this now. “We should be focusing on the prisoners.”

“This is equally important.” Zack gestured between them.

Bethany pinched her lips together, holding in a sigh of frustration. It wasn’t. Not really. Even if her lioness yowled at her thoughts. They couldn’t do anything about being mates right now. All their obstacles lay outside the forest. But inside the forest, they had to focus on the prisoners.

That’s a nice excuse. You’re running away, a little voice whispered in her head. Bethany shoved it away. Maybe she was, but they had bigger things to focus on.

“Let’s just focus on the prisoners.” Bethany took a deep breath. She understood why they wanted to talk about it, but she just needed some space.

Zack looked like he wanted to say more, but she willed him to drop it. Thankfully, he did, and the next twenty minutes were peaceful. Then Cody dropped back to walk next to her. His shoulders brushed against Zack’s.

“Did you talk?” he asked, looking between Zack and Bethany.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Bethany gritted out.

Why wouldn’t they drop this? Didn’t they realize they had bigger problems at hand? They could talk after they caught the prisoners. And caught the other group. And delivered them back to the Capital. Or never.

Bethany sped up to walk next to Mylo.

Cody caught her elbow and swung her around to face him. “You can’t keep avoiding this!”

Bethany exploded. “I am not avoiding anything! You all are the ones with your priorities out of order. We need to focus on reaching the prisoners before they get to the Fortis!”

“Fuck the prisoners!” Cody yelled back. Bethany’s eyebrows shot up. He couldn’t mean that. “When are you going to realize that you’re important to me? To us? You are the only thing that matters. We are mates, and you don’t even want to talk about how you feel about it.”

“Why should we? It doesn’t matter what I’m feeling about it. Nothing’s changed! After this is all over, you’re still Heir to the pack and I’m still Heir to the pride. We both have responsibilities, and we can’t just abandon them because we’re mates. You know our parents will never allow it or give their blessing. Look at everything they did to keep us apart!” Bethany bared her teeth, breathing heavily as her lioness rose inside her. She wasn’t sure if the cat was angry at her or Cody, but her hackles were raised.

“So that’s it?” Cody threw his arms out in the air. “You’re just going to roll over. You’re my mate! You’re Zack’s mate, Mylo’s mate! You’re just going to give up?”

Bethany pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to shove her lioness down and answer Cody at the same time. “I’m not giving up! I’m being realistic. And besides, do I need to remind you where we are and what we are doing? We’re in the fucking woods tracking prisoners who are on their way to ingest Fortis and become unstoppable. We need to be focusing on that! We can have our conversation later.”

“But will we?” Cody got in her face. “Because I think even after all this is over, you’ll still keep running away.”

“I am not running!” Bethany shot back, waving her arms wildly. “I am being logical. We have a job to do. Claire needs us to focus on this.”

“Claire wouldn’t want you to use this as an excuse, and you know it.” Zack flattened his lips, his grey eyes steely. “Claire would change the law in a heartbeat.”

“Of course I know that!” Bethany shouted, the tips of her fingers slicing into claws as her anger rose. “But that doesn’t mean we should ask it of her! Or did you forget that she nearly died saving us all only a few weeks ago? The Realm is too unstable right now for another fight like this.”

“You are the only one who thinks it’s a fight!” Cody yelled.

“Are you delusional? Did you get dropped on your head as a child?” Bethany stared at him in confusion. “Of course it’s a fight. It’s the law.”

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