Page 80 of Forever Mine

"Death is the only way they leave," Jacob told them. It made the hairs on my neck stand up. How could the loving man I knew have anything to do with this? "I can arrange it," he confessed.

Kyle growled and jumped from his seat.

Jacob held his hands up in peace. "I can give her a sedative that will lower her heart rate enough to declare her dead. It will be a short window of opportunity, but I can toss her into the crematory and eject her before igniting it. In theory no one would ever know, but she'd be a ghost on the run from there."

"Or she can come here, permanently. We can protect her, Kyle," Patrick assured him.

"Why would you do this?" Kyle asked Jacob.

"Despite what you may think of me, this is not the ways of the Verndari. I have been undercover with them since nearly the beginning. I've done things I'm not proud of." He looked at me with tears in his eyes. "But the thought of them ever getting their hands on Janie and Oscar makes me sick. I will do anything to protect them. This has gone on long enough. The Order will not intervene. The Coven, which is what this small segment of the Order is calling itself, has found enough value in their research both for humanity and the protection of shifters to be overlooked. As long as they are keeping a low profile, many see no harm from it. They are wrong. This is not the job we were given. This is not protecting your people. Maybe I could go along with it for a while. I'm sorry to say many of those research developments came at my hands, but I always cared for those shifters. I never used any practices that I would not use on my own mother. Still, wrong is wrong. Every time I think of them getting their hands on Janie or Oscar—” He shivered at the thought, unable to finish the sentence. “I can't do it any longer."

I was numb and shocked by his words and what he was confessing. Liam rubbed my tight shoulders. "With the packs at war, it leaves us all vulnerable, Kyle. We need to take what we know to the Grand Council and start restoring the peace between the packs," Liam said.

"You cannot tell them of the Order of the Verndari," Annie said adamantly. "To do so could mean the deaths of hundreds. If the Venrdari learned the shifters were aware of their presence it would change everything. The Coven would kill off everyone in their labs and start over, or I fear they'd become more vocal about it and start rounding up shifters in larger quantities. Plus, we don't know how the others of your kind would take to the news. It's too much at risk. The packs are already at war, you can't afford to be at war with the Order as well."

“No one is talking war here," Patrick said.

“What I absolutely know is we want Raina out of there. I'm trying to keep it to myself, but Kelsey is going to freak when she finds out about this,” Kyle said.

“So don't tell her,” Dave said, like it was the simplest solution in the world.

“They're fully bonded, that's kind of impossible,” Patrick told Dave as the rest of us all glared at him. It was quite obvious they may have been watching us for thousands of years, but they didn't know everything.

“What does that mean?” Dave asked.

“It's a shifter thing, you couldn't possibly understand,” Patrick said, trying to play it off.

“It's true then? Of course I've heard the rumors, but you're talking about telepathy, aren't you?” Jacob asked, and we all awkwardly stared at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with him.

“Jacob,” I finally said. “What you've done has already put us in a really bad position.” I saw the pain in his eyes at my accusation. “I don't say that to hurt you. I love you, and Annie, and am so grateful for all you've done for me and Oscar, but there are things about our kind that we just can't talk about or share, and you're going to have to respect that.”

He nodded slowly.

“Kelsey is very”—I fought for the right word to explain—“strong,” I finally decided on. “She is Pack Mother to the Westin wolves and she is not someone you want to piss off. I need you to get Raina out safely. She belongs here, with us, not locked in a cage in your research lab.”

He nodded. “Like I said earlier, it won't be easy and there will be only a brief window of opportunity. And Janie, we're going to need you.”

Liam

Chapter 25

“Like hell,” I growled at Jacob. “She will not go near that place. It isn't safe.” I was so fired up I knew I was starting to sprout fur, and I didn't even care. They were not going to put my mate in jeopardy, I didn't care who they were.

“Shit,” I heard Kyle say through the roaring in my ears.

I vaguely felt the pressure of Kyle and Patrick trying to hold me back. The fear in the human’s eyes only encouraged my wolf as he surged forward to take control and protect our mate.

“Madelyn!” Kyle yelled. “Calm him down, now!”

I felt the Alpha power pour off Kyle as he barked his orders at Maddie, but instead of submitting, my wolf pressed on, even more irritated than before. Never in my life had I lost control of my wolf, but I was on the verge of doing just that when I felt her soft hands on my cheeks.

“Hey, look at me. Liam, look at me,” she spoke softly. “I'm okay. They aren't going to hurt me. I'm right here. Look at me. Focus on just me, and breathe. In and out. Just like you always tell me. Just breathe.”

My whole body shook as I started to regain control. I reached out and crushed her to me, kissing her forehead. “Mine,” I growled.

As the shock wore off and my wolf started to calm at her touch, the reality of what had just happened started to set in. I got up and left without a word. Outside, I gulped in deep breaths of fresh air and tried to calm my nerves.

“That was a mating cry, Maddie,” Kyle told her. “I don't know what you two are waiting on, but if you don't complete the bond soon, he's going to lose it. The possession will only continue to worsen. Trust me, I fought mine for a long time, but I was used to battling my wolf. Liam has never shown any Alpha signs, until now. He's not used to fighting for control like that.”

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