Page 52 of Feral

He had a mate.

And she was lost to him.

CHAPTER 23

LILLIAN

It took more than four weeks for Jerome and Beau—actual name Liam Beaumont—to gather up their team… or what was left of it. Two of their brothers in arms turned up MIA, one without a trace and the other dead. With their captain dead as well, that left five alphas making camp in the wilderness surrounding Jerome’s cabin after a month had passed.

Five ex-SEALs in total, all big and gruff and insisting on sniffing my neck when they first met me. But that’s all they did. Not a single one so much as touched me, except for Jerome when he changed my bandages, which I suspected was mainly to ensure I hadn’t harmed myself further.

But I was too absorbed to get lost in the sweeping waves of agony from my bond and try and claw it out now. It still hurt, still knocked the breath from my lungs—but I clung to the single ray of hope Zach’s SEAL brothers had stirred in me. It was the only thing I thought about when I lay awake at night, the only thing I focused on when the barbed wire sliced through me during his waking hours.

There was a chance, however small, that they would succeed. That he would be free.

And if that failed… if the six alphas couldn’t break into the heavily guarded compound…

Well, then I knew I would die while trying to rescue the man who’d risked everything to save me.

“I’d feel better if you stayed behind, girl.” Jerome looked over the hand-drawn map of the area that housed the compound, circles drawn in from where I remembered guard towers being stationed. “I’ve got a duty to keep you safe. You know that.”

“And you know I can’t,” I said. “It’s a maze underground. You’ll need my bond to locate him.”

“I know,” he sighed. “But if we manage to break him free, but lose you in the process…”

“We won’t.” Beau walked up to the wood block that served as our strategy table, casually slicing an apple with his hunting knife. “Give the girl some credit, Willis. She escaped a federally secured facility and made it all the way to Georgia on her own. We’ve had much more difficult assignments.”

“And with a lot less at stake,” Eric murmured as he trailed up behind him. He nodded in the direction of the nearest tent where Jarl and Larry were packing their few belongings up. “We’re all set.”

Larry had only arrived yesterday, and Eric the week before, but these guys were used to moving out with little warning.

“All right.” Jerome shot me another unhappy look. “Then it’s time to go.”

* * *

The floodlightsfrom the four towers surrounding the compound lit up, slicing through the darkness as we crept close to the perimeter.

During the trip here, my bond had been throbbing with increasing intensity, but the closer we got, the less it hurt. It was as if it knew I was here to save my mate.

I rubbed at my chest as I stared at the fence I’d scaled what seemed like a lifetime ago. The sick memory of staring through the chain link as Zach took a bullet, knowing I’d lose him and that there was nothing I could do, assaulted my mind. It took all the focus I had not to start hyperventilating. My bond might have been calmer this close to the compound, but every other part of me was balancing on a razor’s edge, panic and despair waiting for a weak moment to swallow me up.

I’d never thought I’d voluntarily walk back into this hell… but I hadn’t known that being separated from the man who claimed me would be so much worse.

By my side, Jerome pointed toward the single guard patrolling the fence a good thirty feet from our hiding spot. Beau and Jarl nodded, sliding out and toward him like two silent shadows.

“Stay here. Stay hidden. We’ll get you when it’s done,” Jerome murmured before he, Eric, and Larry headed toward the nearest guard tower.

I didn’t hear any disturbances in the night, but I saw the patrolling guard fall to the ground. There was no sound of alarms being raised, no shots fired as I waited for the SEALs to dispatch the perimeter guards.

Some twenty minutes later, movement caught my eye, and my heart slammed into my throat when I spotted a soldier’s uniform on the man rapidly approaching my hiding spot. But when he got closer, I recognized Beau’s clean-cut face. He waved me over, touching his lips with a finger when I stumbled out of the bushes toward him.

He led me through the gates to where the others were waiting for us by an unlit section inside the chainlink, not fifty yards from the glass doors leading into the reception area. They’d cleaned up and replaced the windows since our escape attempt, I noted. It was as if it’d never happened.

“You hang back while we gain entry,” Jerome said. He, like the rest of them, was dressed in the same uniform the soldiers here wore. A few of them had blood splatters staining the dark gray camouflage fabric.

I nodded, aware I wasn’t here for the violent aspect of the rescue mission. It wasn’t until we descended into the bowels of the compound that I’d be useful.

The five alphas made their way toward the entry area, one of them waving a greeting to what I assumed were the guards inside. The glass door opened and Jerome stepped inside, followed by the other alphas.

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