Page 21 of Betrayed Mate

This time, the bile surged up my throat, and there wasn’t going to be any way to hold back the contents. I jerked forward, angling between the two middle-row chairs.

Kendric hurried to open the door and jumped out of the vehicle just as I started gagging. I barely made it out of the car before I began heaving by the back tire. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the death and destruction of my pack in front of me.

Rosa’s throat had been ripped out, making the image of Reid lunging at her that night pop into my head again. None of this made sense. Why would he do that? Our packs had been amicable for centuries. Yet, he was the only one near her who could have done that to her.

My chest knotted, making it hard to breathe, which made vomiting that much worse.

The front passenger seat door opened, and Gage grumbled, “We need to get her out of here.”

“I’m well aware, but it’s going to be a minute,” Kendric replied tersely.

I didn’t want them to argue because of me, but I hadn’t expected to see my dead packmates. I didn’t know why, but I’dassumed Reid would have taken the time to bury them. We at least deserved that. We were wolf shifters after all.

Eventually, my entire stomach emptied. Everything I’d eaten was pretty much at my feet.

More doors opened. Footsteps grew louder toward me, indicating Xander and Ryker had joined us.

I spat, trying to get the puke out of my mouth, and straightened. I didn’t know what I expected to find, but it wasn’t the four of them standing in a line, blocking my view of my pack home. The tightness in my chest remained, but a little bit of relief flooded my system.

“One of you go with her to the river to see if you can find any signs of what might have happened to her sister while the other three handle what’s left here. She shouldn’t be alone,” Ryker gritted out, pressing his lips together.

Even though I probably should have examined the area with them, I didn’t have the courage. My chest felt frozen while my heart ached as if it could explode or shatter at any moment. None of these people deserved this. If this was because something was wrong with me, then the attackers should’ve killed only me. Not everyone else.

Each breath got harder than the last, and I became lightheaded. All of this was my fault, and worse, my fated mate had been the one to take everything from me. What had I done to offend Fate that I had to lose so much?

Gabe hurried over to me and slid his arm around my shoulders. He didn’t flinch at the vomit below us as he guided me to the back of the Suburban. He squeezed gently. “Where did you and your sister run off to?”

Briar.

Right. I needed to locate her. “We headed to the right.” I lifted my hand, gesturing toward the river.

My head began to clear, and my lungs weren’t screaming like they were before. The door of the Suburban shut, and the engine turned over, informing me that the others were driving closer to the pack neighborhood. The fact that I didn’t want to turn and look back at the chaos made me a coward, but if I did, I’d break down all over again. That wouldn’t help me find clues to where Briar might be.

Her spot in my chest remained lukewarm, indicating that she wasn’t within pack-link range. A chill ran down my spine, and I couldn’t stop the shiver. She had to be in trouble, but I wasn’t sure which kind—being held hostage or injured somewhere alone and unable to defend herself.

“Hey, we’ll find her.” Gage dropped his arm and offered a small smile. “As long as you feel her pack link, there’s hope.”

My heart thawed a little toward him, which caught me by surprise.No. I’d thought Reid was a nice person too, and look where that had gotten me. I wouldnotmake that mistake again. “That may be true, but what is she enduring in the meantime?” If the Blackstone pack had Briar on their land, her pack link would be warmer, and I’d be able to link with her if she was awake. The temperature of the link proved she wasn’t close to where we were, so who else could be involved? My eyes burned as tears threatened to fill them.

“What’s wrong?” He caught my wrist and tugged me toward him.

I blinked, not wanting to break down on him once again, and exhaled. “I really thought she’d be here.” I didn’t know why, and I hadn’t even wanted to admit it to myself, but I had hoped that Briar and I would be reunited by now. Instead, I was no closer to finding her.

A tear trickled down my cheek, and Gage winced.

“Well, at least we know where she isn’t, so that’s one less place to look. Let’s go see if we can determine anything else. Take me to where the two of you fell into the water.”

Thunder rumbled, and I looked skyward. Dark clouds had rolled in overhead. My heart dropped to my stomach. Every time I thought things couldn’t get worse, Fate proved how big of a bitch she truly was.

I yanked my wrist from Gage’s grasp and ran through the oaks along the trail that we’d taken to get to the water. I breathed in the faint smell of Briar…as well as someone else. However, the second scent was nearly gone, even compared to Briar’s, with a very faint musky hint that wasn’t definitive. “There’s a second scent, but it should be stronger than this.” I wanted to stomp and scream, but all that would accomplish was alerting the Blackwood pack that I’d returned so they could try to finish what they’d started.

“That’s how it was for us too.” He took in a big breath. “It wasn’t as faded because we arrived within thirty minutes of the attack, but there wasn’t anything distinguishable about the unknown scent other than the musk.”

I rubbed my head, trying to prevent the migraine that seemed determined to come.

Something hit me square on my shoulders. “Wait. You allknewthat I’d see my pack members like that when we got here?” I lifted my chin, ready to either hear that they’d wanted me to see them like that or smell rotten eggs. If I could choose, I’d rather he be honest since my stomach still wasn’t feeling right.

His jaw dropped. “Fate, no. That surprised us all. The attack on our…” He paused, closing his eyes briefly. “The bodies had all been gathered into a pile in the backyard of the royal mansion. We assumed it would be the same for your pack, but clearly, we were wrong.”

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