Page 66 of Her Reborn Mate

There I stood, rooted to my spot in the forest, uncertain as to where to go. Continue my hunt for Fred and potentially endanger the lives of the thousands of people gathered in the town square, or ditch my search for Fred in favor of the townsfolk?

Once upon a long time ago, when I was Edward’s prisoner, he had injected me with a paralyzing agent that didn’t stop me from breathing or looking around with my eyes but jammed my arms and limbs, making it impossible for me to move. Then he took me out of the house, tied me in chains, and made me lay down on the lawn. This was yet one of his ways to torture me. The lawn was built in a shady place, with trees providing a canopy over it. Even though it was daytime and I craved sunlight, I never so much as saw a single ray of it.

Meanwhile, Edward walked around the lawn, smoking a cigar, talking idly as if he was talking to an old friend. He was enjoying watching me in my helpless state. Then he took me back in and threw me in the cage in the basement. It didn’t help me, going out in the day and feeling the grass under my body for the first time in decades. It only made me more desperate for escape. But the bitter irony of it was I could not move.

Just like right now.

In one far corner, my mate and all my pack members were assembled in the town square-rigged with bombs. On yet another unknown corner of this county, Fred hid from me somewhere, hoping to avoid the confrontation that was long past due. I kept asking myself where I should go, but even with this constant questioning I lacked the will to move in either direction.

Having just talked to Alexis did not help. It only made me feel more worried for her that she was there with the entire pack, without me.

I made up my mind. I’d go to Alexis. Fred could live another day as a free man. Right now, my pack needed my help. I shifted into my wolf form and raced through the forest in quick strides, eager to reach Fiddler’s Green as fast as I could. At the very least, I’d be able to help them defuse the bombs.

While I ran to the town, I wondered who it could be. Was it Blair who had planted all these bombs? Was it Fred? It could be either of them. This much I knew for sure that it was one of these two. Who else would gain to benefit from blowing up the town square on election night?

If this was Fred, it was most likely vengeance for killing his son and for anointing a new mayor for the town.

As far as Blair’s motives were concerned, I drew a blank. The man had become an enigma ever since his disappearance. No one knew where he went and what his next move was. If this is what he had been cooking up all this while, then, as horrendous a plan as it was, I had to give it to him; it was meticulously crafted. By destroying the town, he’d be able to regain his stronghold here. A city gripped by terror would be ripe for the taking. Perhaps he’d make himself the new mayor after all this was over.

Alexis, I’m coming to you,I called out, using my bond, hoping she’d understand why I had chosen to do this.

What about Fred?She asked.

Fred cannot escape our punishment and judgment. He will answer for his crimes. But right now, the town needs us. All of us.

Will these bombs have timers on them. The timers haven’t gone off right now, but they’re set for half an hour. I don’t know how many bombs there are or what will happen when the timer automatically sets off. We may stop some of them, but there’s no telling which ones we didn’t detect. The ones that are undetected as of yet can cause just as much harm,Alexis said.

But they’re all controlled through a detonator, aren’t they?I asked.

Correct. But the timer is a failsafe in case the detonator does not go off,she replied.

I would like to think we wolves are more honed in our senses than bomb-sniffing dogs,I said.Why cannot the pack detect the bombs using their noses? What good are we as werewolves if we cannot use our powers in times of need?

Because the bombs aren’t giving off any particular smell, Will. They’re tied up in duct tape and have no smell whatsoever. There’s one pack member who used to be a marine. He’s the one helping us find them. So far, we’ve found around seventy small charges spread throughout the town square. Individually, their explosions aren’t all that strong, but if they’re detonated together, they can level the town square,she said.

Hang on I’m coming, I said.

But right as I said it, a wolf howled from behind me. It was a distinctive howl, one that I could recognize almost anywhere. This was Fred’s voice, beckoning me.

He howled again, allowing me to triangulate his position. The sound came from the top of the cliffs. It turned out that Vincent was right all along.

So, Fred had chosen to confront me after all. And he had chosen to meet his fate in his wolf form. So be it. If he wanted a fight, he would get it.

I had to track back the entire route I had traveled so far and head back to the cliffs.

I am afraid I won’t be coming. Fred’s calling out to me, Alexis,I said.

I understand. The pack and I are going to take care of this problem. Don’t worry about it. You go and see to Fred,she said.

I love you,I said.

I love you too,she responded.Be careful.

I began my ascent up the cliffs, keeping an eye out for any potential danger. He might not be there alone. This could be an ambush. Perhaps he and Blair were both there. Maybe Fred had assembled the vampires to get back at me for killing their leader.

When I reached the top of the cliff, I saw that he was alone and not in his wolf form. He was seated at the edge of the cliff in his wheelchair, looking at the sea with his back turned to me.

It hurt me to see him like this. My brother, the architect of my tribulations, a man capable of so much cunning and evil, sitting there in his wheelchair. I wished that he had never betrayed me, but it was too late for such trifling yearnings. I had to be more than his brother right now. I had to be the Alpha of the Grimm pack.

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