Page 62 of Betrayed Mate

My fingers dug into my chest again. I was still reacclimating to the warmth of Briar’s link after the sensation of icicles for so long. “What sort of shape do you think she’ll be in?” My heart sank.

The rigidness of his face smoothed, and he blew out a breath. “I have no clue, but I can promise that, as long as her heart is beating, we’ll get her out of there.”

My bottom lip trembled, so I bit down on it. I didn’t have time for fear or weakness, especially with my thoughts aroundhim. “I can’t lose her. Not again.” A tear rolled down my cheek, and my chest felt like it would rend in two. I shivered once again.

The Shae alpha’s truck slowed and turned right onto the road that led to the pack neighborhood.

“Good. He didn’t notice us.” Ryker let out a breath and turned left, away from their territory line, into the dirt cutoff. He drove down the bumpy road a little way, jostling me everywhere.

“Where the hell are we going?” I rasped, placing my hands on the front console, trying to remain in place.

“I’m going to park where the other three did. They gave me the coordinates.” He continued on the road. It became a little choppier, but after a few seconds, it leveled out, and we reached the three other vehicles the guys had borrowed from the vampires.

Ryker stopped the SUV and cut the engine, and the world once again fell silent. The cold vibration down my spine hadn’t vanished, and something seemed more off than ever.

He opened his door, but I couldn’t get myself to move. Something hung in the air around me like a warning, and the chill that ran through me seemed to freeze even more. Something about this situation didn’t feel right, but I had no clue why.

Nothing seemed amiss.

Was paranoia getting the best of me again?

“Are you coming?” Ryker arched a brow, and his irises glistened. My wolf wanted to respond to him.

“Yeah.” I shook my head, trying to clear it. “Sorry. I’m getting a weird feeling again.”

“The guys checked out the area. All three of them got together again before they shifted to scout things out.” His eyes glowed, linking with them. After a few seconds, he continued, “And they’re fine now. They’re still waiting for us in the same spot, and nothing has changed on their end. If I thought there was a threat, I’d tell you.”

For some reason, I trusted him, and I hated myself for it. “Okay.” I blew out a breath, trying to ignore the way my wolf shrank back a little. Something similar to humidity clung to my skin. I exhaled and got out of the vehicle, letting my feet hit the ground as softly as I could in case someone might hear me.

I glanced around the woods, noting that there wasn’t even a hint of an animal for miles. “It’s quiet out here.”

“Well, if they have a witch helping them, there’s no telling what sort of magic they have.” He walked around to his trunk and nodded in the direction of the Shae pack’s territory line. This part of the woods was public land, which was probably how they knew about this spot, assuming they’d been observing the packs while trying to figure out who’d killed the royals and their pack.

I fell into step with him, and the two of us walked quickly toward the main road that divided the public forest lands from pack territory. My eyes scanned the trees for signs of a threat.

With each step I took, the pressure on my skin seemed to intensify. I glanced over my shoulder, searching for whatever it was, and Ryker stilled.

“Fuck,” he hissed and took my hand, dragging me in the very direction my senses were screaming not to go.

“Stop,” I snarled, trying to fight him. I looked across the road. “What’s going on—” Adrenaline pumped through me. This was about to get worse than I ever could have imagined.

The Shae alpha and at least fifty of his pack members stood across the street, blocking us from entering their territory.

“Fuck, he must have noticed us.” Ryker’s grip tightened on mine. “I stayed over a hundred yards behind him the entire time, and he doesn’t know this vehicle.”

“Maybe he saw us when we almost wrecked,” I muttered, barely able to make out Ryker’s words.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Bruce rolled his eyes. “I already knew you suspected me before I left the meeting. Had I known that Ember had lived, I wouldn’t have kept Briar here at all. I don’t need any pack drama.”

A sour taste filled my mouth. “Says the person who’s keeping my sister hostage.”

“Would you have rather I’d let her die?” Bruce wrinkled his nose. “I didn’t want the death of a fellow wolf shifter on my conscience, but at the same time, I couldn’t let a strange wolf run loose so she could try to claim the throne and ruin us all.”

“It doesn’t seem like you have a problem with threatening us, with all your shifters here facing two of us down.” Ryker tensed, and the sheen covered his irises once more.

Bruce gestured to us and rasped, “You’re sneaking onto my land, and Ryker has been tied to every location where a massacre has happened. Do you think I’m going to stand here and willingly put my pack at risk?”

“We just got here, and there are only two of us,” Ryker replied, edging in front of me.

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