Page 77 of Tide Touched

I’m half-carrying Carter by the time we stumble the last twenty paces to the forest. ‘Don’t know, don’t care. We have to get out of here, quickly.’

As we leave the estate behind, Elijah all but tackles Moira. ‘Oh, thank goodness. Are you okay?’ He peppers kisses all over her, then takes her face in his hands, inspecting her closely. I hear her murmur something to him, clearly relieved to see him.

Killian meets my gaze. Instead of embracing me, he eyes Carter in my arms. ‘You brought him?’

‘Look what his uncle did.’

Killian folds his arms over his chest. ‘What am I supposed to make of this?’

Moira pauses kissing Elijah for a moment. ‘He protected me, Killian.’

Killian’s gaze slides from me to Carter, then to Ella. He inclines his head, obviously remembering her. ‘We need to go. I borrowed a few of the horses from their stables.’ He walks into the cover of the woods and emerges a few moments later with three horses. I’m sure if any of us knew how to drive, a car would have been best, but this is good, too.

‘Carter will have to ride with me,’ I say, preparing for Killian to wince.

But he doesn’t. As though he expected it. He silently hands me the reigns of a beautiful grey mare. Elijah steps forward to help me get Carter up and into the saddle, then me behind him, my arms creating a cage around him, holding the reigns so he doesn’t slide off.

The others mount up.

‘I was expecting them to give chase,’ Killian says, his gaze cool.

‘It worries me that he hasn’t,’ Ella says quietly.

‘Why don’t we worry about getting out of here first?’ Killian says.

‘Where to?’ I ask.

‘My place,’ Elijah says. He nods to the east. ‘My dad is the Second to our alpha. He’ll want to meet my mate, my friends. The alliances I’ve created.’

My heels nudge the mare’s side. ‘And the mess you’ve just helped us create?’ I nod toward the estate.

Elijah smirks. ‘We were never allied with Water.’

‘How far is it to your home?’ Moira asks.

The cool night breeze wraps around us, gathering us together, leading us to safety. In front of me, Carter groans slightly. I don’t know how he’ll feel when he’s fully conscious. About a lot of things. But I couldn’t just leave him there. I can’t believe Courtney let this happen.

‘About a week,’ Elijah says. ‘The travel will give us time to figure some stuff out.’

I glance around at the only people who have ever been there for me, ever helped me. My gaze lands on Killian. I suppose we do have a lot to sort out. ‘Will you ever go back home? To your father?’

A muscle feathers in his cheek. ‘I’ve done a lot of damage to the pack.’ Killian’s gaze slides to Carter. ‘Now I’m an accomplice in kidnapping the Water Pack’s heir.’ He stares ahead, into the endless night. ‘Katherine, we’ve just declared war.’

My gaze snaps from Killian to Elijah, who nods sadly.

‘We couldn’t leave him there,’ Moira says, her voice tight.

Elijah hugs her from behind. ‘No, I know. I understand. But this is now a political nightmare. We’ll have to deal with it.’

Moira meets my gaze, guilt darkening her usually bright, green eyes.

I shake my head. No, this isn’t your fault.

‘I’m a little confused,’ Ella says. ‘So, Katie, Carter is your mate, but so is Killian?’

That’s a whole thing. For as long as I can remember, wolves have only mated within our elemental packs. So, what’s changed? If we’re to believe the Tide Witches, then we’ve evolved, and should bring our separate packs together.

But no one has two mates. So, why me?

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