Page 63 of The Last Ultimatum: Part 1

“Enough,” Michael said. “Look, we know you're pissed about what happened. It wasn't personal.”

“Not personal? Are you kidding me right now? I told you I'd found my true mate, and you tranquilized me like a wild beast.” I knew I was shouting, but I didn't care.

“You may not realize it, but you were starting to shift, Lachlan. You were growling, and we could all feel your aggression levels rising. I'm sorry, but we had to do something,” Michael explained.

“What you should have done was support me like I've supported every single one of you during your matings. You all know what it's like.”

The pain I felt was as real, as if they'd cut off my leg.

“Did you ever stop to think that we did it because we know exactly how it feels and how crazy the bond makes you?” Walker said. “We were in another Alpha's territory. We couldn't risk having you running around half-cocked and if you were able to think rationally, you'd know exactly why.”

“Walker may have pulled the trigger, but it was on my order,” Michael said. “If you need to be mad at someone, be mad at me.”

“I'm not just mad, Michael. I'm pissed at all of you. I'm hurt and I'm not sure I can trust any of you to have my back.”

“But we fixed it,” Colin said.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“We met Tilly and put it all together,” Linc explained.

“You were already contained by then, but we knew we had to make it right,” Tucker added.

“We still didn't know for absolute certain, but we were pretty sure she was your mate based on your horrible description. I had to call it in. Kyle and Patrick would have had my ass in a sling if I hadn't. So I told them what we knew for fact, that you had met your mate and we'd had to sedate you for fear you could cause problems in Campbell territory. I did not tell them my suspicions about her being a King and about to be mated to the Campbell heir because that would have really caused a nightmare.”

“You knew she was a King? Or at least suspected as much?”

“Why do you think I asked to switch with Bravo? They were handling King territory. Though I honestly hadn't expected her to go home. I did think, or maybe just hoped, that her scent would be enough to calm you and not send you entirely over the edge. The last thing we expected was for her to be there,” Michael said.

“How'd you convince her father to let you take her?” Colin asked.

I shrugged. “I told him the truth, minus the part of being mated to his daughter. He was a logical man and understood the importance of keeping her safe.”

“Smart,” Linc praised.

“I know you're still upset with us, but we honestly tried to make it better,” Tucker insisted.

“It was a shitty situation all around,” Walker said.

“I need to know if we can still trust you on this mission,” Michael said.

I snorted. “You trust me? Do you really believe for one second that I trust any one of you?”

We were at a standstill. The logical side of me understood where they were coming from, but the irrational mating animal side of me was still pissed.

“What can we do to overcome this?” Michael asked. “Because if we can't trust each other on a mission of this magnitude, we're all as good as dead.”

“He's right, so what would Lachlan do?” Linc asked.

“Lachlan would make us go around and confess our feelings,” Tucker said.

“Dig deep and be honest with yourself, is what he'd say,” Colin added.

“He'd tell us this is a safe space to talk about how we feel about this situation,” Walker said.

“No, he's say shut the hell up and stop throwing my words back in my face at a time like this,” I replied. “Trust isn't something freely given and every one of you broke that trust with me.”

“We know that,” Michael said. “And we know that no matter how innocent our motives may seem to us, we do understand how betrayed you feel.”

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