Page 57 of Betrayed Mate

“You must swear to keep what I’m about to tell you a secret.” She swallowed hard. “If you won’t, then I won’t be able to share this information with you.”

My head tilted back, and my breath caught. I never would’ve believed that a vampire and wolf shifter would confide in each other. Granted, I wouldn’t have believed that the royal pack and my own would get slaughtered either, so exceptions were pretty much the rule lately.

Because of this, I found myself nodding. “I swear.” Whatever information she had, I needed to know. Ryker had been acting irrationally, and I was banking on his pack to help me locate and save Briar.

She licked her lips, one of her canines pressing into the side. “You know how the queen mentioned there are magical wards around the area to warn us of a threat?”

“Yeah.” My knees finally succumbed to weakness and gave out, but luckily, my bottom hit the mattress.

“Well, they also tell us when someone has trace magic on them, even when they’re not a threat to our kind. Ryker didn’t trigger them when he first arrived, but that day, when he returned, one of the magical wards notified the queen.”

I placed my hands on the mattress to hold myself up. “And she didn’t confront him?”

“She’d already left the mansion to head to Garnerville, but she called me and Lucinda. That’s one reason that the guards don’t trust him. Since it isn’t threatening magic, we’re trying to not break the peace with the pack. However, Ryker hasn’t been quite the same as he used to be when he would come here with the royals for meetings.”

My gut knotted. “You have no clue what it’s like to experience what we have. The bonds between pack members are pre…cious,” I said brokenly, trying to hold back my emotions. “Losing even one is devastating, let alone almost all of them—” My visionblurred, and a tear trickled down my cheek. If I tried to continue, I would fall apart, and I’d already shown too much weakness in front of everyone.

“I’ve experienced more loss than you realize.” Raven’s expression became strained. “But it’s more than that, Ember. He’s got some sort of spell on him. And there’s a darkness to him that wasn’t there before. When he came here after theincident,he was grieving, and then he came back from his ‘errand’ as a man with revenge as his primary focus. It was like something inside him snapped.”

“I’m pushing my grief away too.” I wiped away more tears as they continued to come. “So I can’t condemn him for doing what he needed to do to get by.”

She shook her head. “You still feel it. It almost seems like hecan’tsense it, which is a huge problem.”

My heart twisted. I couldn’t imagine forcing myself not to feel anything for the cold voids in my chest. It would be an insult to my pack, and I planned to grieve for each and every one of them once I got Briar back. “Right now, I don’t have time to deal with Ryker and his problems. I have to find my sister and get her someplace safe so we can grieve and move on with our own lives.”

Placing a hand on my shoulder, she pressed her lips together. “That’s a noble goal but, Ember, whoever is doing this needs to be stopped. Who says they won’t continue to look for you? Your existence and the fact that royal blood, faint though it may be, runs through you—you have the right to challenge anyone who claims the top spot. Even your sister and your descendants will be a threat, so hiding won’t solve anything.”

Fuck. She was right. I hadn’t thought about it like that, but an alpha willing to go for the throne would want to eliminate any competition. That was the whole reason for this meeting in two days. “Finding my sister is my first priority.”

“I understand that, but this meeting will help with both of your objectives.” She dropped her hand, making me realize that the coolness of her touch had seeped through my shirt to my skin. “I just need you to help us figure out what’s going on with Ryker. Whatever it is has made him colder and more detached each time we see him. It could harm your mission if he continues down this path.”

I hated that she was right, but I could see her point. Witnessing what he’d done to Simon, who’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, turned my stomach. That could’ve been anyone—including me and my sister. Hell, he’d pulled me out of the river, but I might have died if the other three hadn’t been there to pressure him to take me to their cabin.

If Ryker decided he wanted to ascend the throne, and he had some sort of witch influence over him, there was no telling what rules he might implement on the packs. “I can try, but no promises.”

“Fill us in on anything you learn, please.” She smiled sadly. “I’m sorry to ask this of you, but we need the alliance between vampires and shifters to remain. It’s best for both species, and Queen Ambrosia cares for every supernatural and their well-being.”

For some reason, I was actually beginning to believe it.

“Get some rest. You need it. Every vampire here can smell how weak your blood is.” She went to the door and paused. “I’ll make sure one of the quadruplets cooks for you and brings the food to you here in a little bit.”

A part of me wanted to refuse, tell her that I’d shift and hunt, but I didn’t want to go back into the woods. I didn’t want to risk something else happening before the meeting. I had to be there. If I could get any hint as to who had Briar and where they were keeping her, I needed to be fully healed and alert. “Thank you. That sounds great.”

She winked and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Not bothering to switch beds—Ryker could do it if he wanted to—I plopped down where I’d slept the night before. With a full stomach and the lingering scent of Ryker on the sheets, I fell quickly to sleep.

Two nights later, I was rubbing my sweaty palms on my jeans as Ryker and I pulled into the parking lot of the bar.

The past two days had been full of rest, eating, and trying to ignore the growing strange feelings I had around Ryker. Much to my surprise, he’d continued to sleep in the same bed as me, though we’d remained fully clothed. Still, each morning, I’d had to pry my body away from him because we had closed the distance between us.

Gage, Kendric, and Xander had hung out with the vampires, but Ryker had left each day to search the woods for more threats, leaving me alone. That gave me time to focus on my connection with Briar, and I had a pretty good inkling that she was somewhere to the west of us. That also informed me which three packs could be working with Reid to hide her.

The one unexpected yet pleasant spot was that Raven visited with me for a couple of hours each day, and I’d learned that we had a lot in common. She’d even dragged me into the kitchen to make caramel brownie cheesecake from scratch, which both the vampires and the guys had devoured. The simple task had made things feel sort of normal though the flashbacks of my pack and family kept coming.

“It’s going to be okay.” Ryker pulled into a spot and turned off the SUV. “Xander, Gage, and Kendric are on their way to check out the three packs, so if we can determine which is mostlikely to have Briar, they can scout around until we can get there.”

“I know. That doesn’t mean that I don’t dread this.” I glanced at the time, noting we were exactly ten minutes late. Our plan was to let the gathered alphas get comfortable and start discussions, believing that Ryker wasn’t coming.

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