Page 31 of Her Eternal Mate

I was about to respond, but then my phone rang at that exact second. I brought it up and saw that it was Vince calling.

“Speak of the devil,” I said, pointing at my phone.

“Let me talk to him,” Will said, taking the phone from me.

“Hey, Will,” Vince said from the phone. “Hope everything went well with the Clandestine Court.”

“Surprise, surprise, they found us not guilty,” I chimed in before Will had a chance to do so.

“Big whoop, we were all rooting for you and knew that they’d find you not guilty. It’s like what Will said; they’re a bunch of bureaucrats,” Vince said. “But that’s not why I called.”

“Tell us what’s happening, Vince,” Will said.

“Okay, but it’s a doozy. So, last night, there was a whole patrol of those soldiers in the town. Except, they didn’t go into the town. None of the citizens of Fiddler’s Green were harmed or anything like that. But those soldiers tried to get near the commune. They even went into the forest and tried to ambush one of our scouting parties. But the wolves were more in number than the soldiers, so the soldiers didn’t do anything. But they didn’t leave, exactly.”

“Let me guess, and you’re tracking them down?” Will asked.

“I had to. There was no way I was letting them out of my sight. I’ve been tracking them since last night, and I’ve found one of their hotspots in the forest. Will, there are so many of them here. Around twenty of them, armed and dangerous.”

“Promise me you’re not going to engage them all by yourself,” Will said sternly.

“I promise. I’m just on the lookout. I won’t do anything before you’ve gotten here. Speaking of which, when are you—” Vince’s voice was suddenly cut off, followed by sounds of struggling.

“Vince? Vince?” Will called repeatedly on the phone but got no answer.

I looked at Will, extremely worried as to what had just happened, partly feeling guilty that I’d suggested staying in New York for a couple more hours to begin with. Will had been right all along. And now, something had happened to Vincent.

“Help!” Vince’s voice came from the phone, but it sounded very distant. Will and I pressed our ears close to the phone. After a lot of rustling and static, I heard the grunts of those soldiers.

“Fuck,” Will said, punching the steering wheel. “They’ve got him.”

“From the sound of it, it seemed as if they ambushed and attacked him,” I said. “We have to get back there as fast as we can.”

Will didn’t even respond to me. He started the Jeep and accelerated it down the street. I already knew what I had to do. I dialed the numbers of the pack members and alerted them immediately about what had just happened to Vincent.

I had known Vince since he was a child. Seeing him grow up into the strong werewolf that he was, I was confident that he’d get out of this alive. But still, my heart began clamoring yet again with anticipation as to what would happen and whether we’d be able to get there in time.

“If Blair so much as harms a hair on Vince’s body, I will kill him in the most merciless way possible,” Will growled.

“Morgan,” I said on a call with one of the pack members. “Vincent has been attacked near the commune. He’s been taken by the soldiers.”

Then I shot a look at Will. “Morgan’s asking what to do?”

“Tell them that they are not to go after the soldiers under any circumstance. They should batten down the hatches and protect the commune at all costs. No one goes in. Nobody goes out. And if a soldier so much as steps near the commune, you have my permission to kill them by any means necessary. If any of you go after Vincent, the soldiers will be alerted to our plan, and they’ll do something terrible to him.”

“Did you get that, Morgan?” I asked.

“I did. Don’t worry. We’re going to do as Will said. We’re keeping the women and children inside their homes. The men are going to set up a perimeter around the commune. We’re waiting for you guys,” Morgan said, then hung up.

“I wonder if we can get there faster if we ditch my Jeep and shift into our wolf forms,” Will said.

“That’s the only course of action,” I said. “If we traverse the countryside in our wolf forms, we’ll make it to Fiddler’s Green in under an hour. If we’re on the road, we’re going to take two hours.”

I watched as Will parked the Jeep in front of a gas station. We quickly got out of the car, made sure it was locked, then hurried behind the gas station into the thicket of trees where no one would be able to see us.

The sun was already going down behind the trees, and the sky was darkening quickly. It was the opportune moment to shift into a werewolf.

Chapter 14

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