Page 15 of Betrayed Mate

I flinched, unsure of his intent, but then he held it out to me. “Here, take it. You’ve got to be freezing.”

Even though the shirt wasn’t thick, it would cover me. I didn’t hesitate to slip it over my body. Mud clung to the fabric, but the material alone left me not quite as vulnerable. “Thanks,” I croaked and cleared my throat.

“Gage, she’ll be fine.” Ryker sighed from the other side of the tree. “That’s why I brought food and water. She was already doing better. We need to head into town.”

A third person appeared behind the blond, fair-skinned guy, a scowl on his dark-skinned brow. He closed his milk-chocolate-brown eyes in what had to be disgust. He ran a hand through his dark locks, pulling them away from his face. “Are you okay? Did Ryker do this to you?”

“Really, guys?” Ryker scoffed, appearing on the other side of the man with tan skin. “You think I would do that?”

“I don’t know.” The fair-skinned guy shrugged. “You’ve done some shit I never thought possible.”

“Fuck you, Gage,” Ryker spat.

The dark-skinned man with locs squatted beside me. His eyes were kind, and some of the tension I’d been carrying floated away. He touched my shoulder, making sure to keep his hand only on the shirt. “What happened to you? You’re a wolf shifter—why are you out here without a pack?”

His gentle words cracked a dam I hadn’t even realized I had. The numbness disappeared, and tears streamed down my face once more. I tried blinking to hold them back, but it only made them come faster and harder.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe here.” He squeezed gently. “We won’t let anything happen to you.”

The irony of the Grimstone pack proclaiming they would protect me wasn’t lost on me. The last people they’d vowed to protect had been slaughtered. Still, this was a kindness I’d never expected to receive after what Reid had done to me, and that counted for something.

“Kendric, come on. Don’t make her promises we can’t keep.” Ryker glanced from me to Gage’s shirtless body and wrinkled his nose. “Guys, we don’t have time to protect someone else. We need to stay focused on finding out who killed the royal family and our pack.”

The tan-skinned man shook his head. “I don’t know what happened to you, but you’re not even close to the Ryker you were two months ago. We can’t leave her like this. Clearly she’s gone through something traumatic.”

Learning the four of them were at odds was surprising, especially since alpha power emanated from Ryker.

“I’m with Xander and Kendric.” Gage waved a hand in front of me. “We can’t just leave her like this.”

Enough talking about me like I wasn’t here.

“Shewill be fine.” I pointed to myself. I wiped the tears away, streaking the mud on my hands. Lovely. I must look like a complete train wreck, but that was the least of my problems. “I need to be on my way.” I’d have to use my pack link to track down Briar, which would probably take a while. I doubted she’d return home. “Besides, I have to locate my sister.”

Wanting to get away from the four of them and all the attention, I braced one arm against the tree trunk and hid my other hand, which clutched the rock I’d kept behind my back, as I stood. My knees threatened to give out, but I managed to stand.

“Your sister?” Gage smiled. “Tell me more.”

Xander reached over and punched him in the arm. “Don’t start your shit right now. It’s not the time.”

“What happened to her?” Kendric didn’t acknowledge the other two.

That was an excellent question. “I…I don’t know. She hit her head on a rock and fell into the river, so I shifted back to human form to help her. She was unconscious, and we were floating down the river together. I managed to push her onto a bigbranch, but then I came close to drowning. I woke up on the side of the embankment here with Ryker standing over me.”

Terror and pain gripped my heart until I thought it would splinter. The agony was so intense that I wasn’t sure I could go on, but I didn’t have a choice.

“We can help you find your sister.” Kendric pressed his lips together. “I take it she’s not close enough to pack-link?”

I shook my head. “She feels faint, but she’s alive.”

Ryker grumbled. “I pulled her from the river, and now she’s fine. We don’t need to do anything else. Besides, even if we help her find her sister, it won’t change their situation.” Ryker lifted a brow my way. “Tell them you were forced to leave your pack.”

Gage tilted her head. “Why would they kick her out?”

Ryker chuckled darkly. “Because she was the one that prick alpha rejected.”

Rage slammed through my body. “My packdidn’tkick me out. Briar and I were running for help when we were herded into the river.”

“What do you mean, help?” Ryker’s demeanor changed, and he focused on me like I was suddenly the center of his world.

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