Page 117 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

I passed the radio back to Burt. “Don’t leave this building unless your scheduled relief shows up or you receive a direct order from me or Andrei. Can I borrow your cell?”

He put the phone in my outstretched palm, and I turned back to Leigh, giving her a smile I didn’t feel. She looked calm, but she’d been through hell, and I didn’t take that lightly. My instincts were raging to hide her away until the bond was complete, but I had to be careful, or I could walk her into more danger trying to get her back into the castle.

I dialed the number for the phone I knew was inside the bunker. It rang twice, and then Shay’s voice was on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Shay, it’s Gael. I have Leigh, and we’re safe. What’s the status there?”

“Thank the Goddess you found her. We’re fine down here. The castle is locked down tight, but it’s ugly on the security cameras. We’re completely surrounded, and people are pelting the castle with Goddess knows what,” Shay said, then hesitated. “They don’t seem to be fizzling out any time soon, and some of them are carrying weapons.”

It sounded grim.

“Understood. Is Kane available?”

“Sure, hang on.” I heard her call him over and then a scratchy sound as he took the phone.

“Gael?”

“Yes, Alpha. Leigh is safe, and the perimeter is secure except guardhouse G, but Andrei has people on it. What do you want to do? Stay bunkered and ride it out, or pull the rip cord?”

There was a long pause. I didn’t envy him making this decision.

“Running to the airport and back to Pack Blackwater grounds isn’t an option, but it’s making me itch to have the women in danger. Any ideas that don’t look like we’re turning tail and running away guiltily?”

No, not a damn one. Except… “We could make a visit to my sister. It’s a day’s drive, but they’d offer us sanctuary. Plus, a royal visit isn’t running scared or an admission of guilt.”

Kane sounded surprised when he responded. “Are you sure about that?”

The more the idea sat with me, the surer I was. “If they want to pry us out of the Maiden’s Enclave, they’re more than welcome to try. But once they realize they’ve failed to get to us, they should dissipate or get rounded up by Sergei’s and Andrei’s cleanup crews. Speaking of which, I need a cleanup of six dead shifters over by the big bend in the river to the southwest of the castle. Leigh had pursuers.” Just the memory of them had my anger rising again like the tide. I tried to stifle it so I could stay clear-headed, but it was difficult.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.

“I’m glad you took care of them. I’ll make sure they’re picked up in the clean-up sweep. How do you want to handle the visit to your sister?” he asked.

I mentally ran through the options, then rattled off the safest plan. There were several SUVs in the bunker, so he could load up the rest of our packmates in one, leave two for Cristian to evacuate the castle staff, and still leave one behind for me and Leigh to pick up to meet them at the enclave.

He agreed, and within five minutes, we had a game plan. I hung up the phone and tossed it back to Burt.

“Thanks for letting me borrow that. The heat should die down after we’re gone, but contact Andrei if you see anything suspicious. He’ll be in charge until the high alpha and I return.”

He nodded, face pale but determined.

I clapped him on the shoulder and turned to Leigh. “You ready to get out of here?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said with determination as she got to her feet.

I took her hand, and we stepped back into the forest.

FIFTY-EIGHT

Leigh

The walk back to the castle felt a million miles long, even though Gael carried me for most of it. We skirted a few groups of angry shifters, but Gael had no trouble keeping us out of sight. He took us to a hidden entrance that led directly into the tunnel system, and I felt a small wave of relief as the solid stone door sealed behind us. At least I wasn’t going to get attacked by anyone else, even if we weren’t completely out of the woods yet. The walk to the bunker and the attached garage was short, and the rest of the pack had already cleared out by the time we made it.

Gael said it was safe enough for me to quickly shower and get a better-fitting pair of sweats and a pair of spare tennis shoes from the dorms so I wasn’t still covered in sticks and dirt.

And while I didn’t exactly linger in the shower, it did give me a brief window of time in which to process. I had a mate, with marks. They decorated every square inch of his broad back, hugging the muscles and making him look even fiercer than he already did. It was overwhelming to think about being bonded tomorrow. But also right. I didn’t want to wait anothersecond, now that I knew I’d been wrong before about the Goddess keeping us apart.

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