Page 83 of Forever Mine

“Can we still stop by the house? Or do you think Mommy will be worried by now?” he asked.

“Mommy will be fine,” I assured him, and we headed to the home site.

I knew, before I even saw my SUV in the drive, that Maddie was there. I pulled up next to her. She and Lily were standing in the middle of the field in obvious discussion. I could only assume it was wedding plans, knowing Maddie would never discuss her mission and the Verndari with my sister.

As Oscar jumped out of the car, it drew Maddie's attention. I could feel the confusion and frustration rolling off her.

“Tell me you did not run out and buythat,” she emphasized, pointing to the Corvette, “just because we argued.”

“You and Mommy are fighting?” Oscar questioned and I saw the immediate regret on her face.

“No, just a little disagreement. Mommy and I are fine,” I assured him.

Lily snorted. “About time you disagreed on something. It's not normal for two people to be so, so agreeable all the time. There's joy in makeup sex,” she whispered low enough that I hoped the kid didn't hear, but his questioning eyes told me he did. I shook my head, telling him not to ask, and was happy he didn't.

“I did not just run out and buy that because I was upset. I picked Oscar up and we went for ice cream. That's it,” I told her, not really feeling like I needed to justify myself.

“If you've had that all along, why have I been waking up before the crack of dawn to take you to work and feeling guilty about monopolizing your vehicle?”

Oscar said matter-of-factly, throwing my words back in my face, “?Cause he likes the extra alone time with you. He has plenty of vehicles, you don't need to feel guilty. If you want something different, I'm sure he'd let you pick. I got to pick which one to ride in today.” He had a momentary look of panic. “Liam made me wear a helmet, and football pads, and buckle up. I was perfectly safe.” Then he ran away, finding Troy as they headed into the house for a tour.

Lily was laughing. “You made him wear a helmet and pads to ride in the Vette?”

I shrugged. “I didn't want Maddie to freak out over him being in the front seat and riding without a booster.”

“But he wasn't in them when you got here,” my sister challenged, and I wanted to smack her.

I sighed. “Yeah, I'm sorry about that,” I said, speaking only to Maddie. “We ran into Jessica and a few of his friends at the Cold Shack, and it just wasn't cool to do that in front of his boys. I was careful driving, though.”

I tried to give her an innocent smile. There was still tension between us and I knew it had nothing to do with me taking Oscar for a ride without a booster seat. Lily must have sensed it too, because she excused herself to join Oscar on his tour inside.

“Are we okay?” Maddie asked sadly, and sounding a little unsure.

I nodded and hugged her close to me, stroking her hair and inhaling her scent. “I understand why you feel you have to do this. I don't have to like it to respect that. And I really don't need the details. Just promise me you'll be careful. Don't take any unnecessary risks and come home safe and sound with all of this behind us.”

She nodded against my chest. “It's not happening for a . . .”

I cut her off. “Maddie, I really can't handle the details. I was barely keeping control of my wolf today, and poorly at that. I've never lost control like that before. The more I know, the worse it'll get. I know mates aren't supposed to have secrets, but for all of our sakes, please keep this to yourself.”

She wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me tightly. “If you're sure that's what you really want.”

“It's not, but it's what I need,” I told her honestly.

Already in my thoughts was the one place I dreaded most. I knew I would know when the day of her mission came. I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle it, or control my wolf from stopping her without serious intervention. I knew she was going to hate what it did to me, but I didn't see much choice. I started calculating a plan. I couldn't risk her or blowing her cover and endangering her further because I wasn't strong enough to control the beast.

Thinking through the details, I planned to talk to Kyle, make him swear that, when the day came, he'd lock me up in the place we feared the most, because it was the right thing to do.

Maddie

Chapter 26

I didn't like keeping things from Liam, but I tried to do as he wished. It was making things a little awkward between us and I constantly second-guessed if what I was doing was right. I couldn't sleep at night thinking of all those shifters stuck in cages. The mission was to get Raina out safely, but could I really leave the rest behind?

I had secretly spoken to Patrick about the possibility of rescuing others. His friend Dave worked in the clinic where they were holding them, alongside Jacob. Patrick and Dave had another human friend named Larry who was the third Verndari assigned to the region along with Martin, whom I had already met. Larry was apparently a bit of a computer whiz, and we were able to coordinate Raina's escape with their system's patching window, though Jacob wasn't aware of that. The servers running the camera system in the building would only be down for three minutes and it took another two minutes to get the system fully back online. A five-minute window wasn't much, but it was hopefully enough for what I was planning.

There was absolutely no room for error if we were to pull it off. I had to be in Jacob's office when the computers went down and back before they came back online. He would be busy taking care of Raina's supposed remains and as far as he was concerned, my only role in the day would be to park next to the trash compactor with Patrick safely hidden inside. Patrick would retrieve Raina and hide her with him in the trunk of my car while the cameras were down, and I'd simply drive home afterwards.

The plan was simple, it just wasn't enough. For my enhanced plans to work, everything had to go perfectly.

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