Page 39 of Betrayed Wolf Mate

All because of me.

Guilt and horror filled every bone in my body. I tried to think of something—anything—that might convince him to spare Brixton. I couldn’t let him do this. I couldn’t.

“Akron—”

“I know you’re very excited about the wedding, dear,” he said, cutting me off. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to deal with those shifters first. I don’t want them ruining our special day.”

“Please just leave them alone,” I begged. I could feel the tears forming, threatening to spill down my cheeks at any moment.

But I might as well not have said anything, for all the good it did. “In the meantime, I think it’s best if you stay here. I want to make sure you’re safe.” He began to close the door.

“I’ll do anything,” I plead, a hysterical edge in my voice. “I’ll marry you. I’ll be an obedient wife. I won’t try to run or doanything that will make you angry. I’ll do everything you say. Just please don’t kill them.”

He studied me, hand still on the door. “Everything?” he repeated.

I nodded. “Everything.”

He sighed and crouched next to me. His eyes were fully black as he reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “My dear,” he said, an almost pitying tone in his voice. “You can’t promise me something that was already going to happen.”

Then he stood and walked out, closing the door behind him and leaving me in total darkness.

Chapter 18 - Sam

“So she just ran off?” Alek asked as I paced back and forth in the mansion’s living room.

“Yep,” I growled. “And we’re wasting time just standing here talking about it instead of going after her.”

“You’re going to wear a path in that carpet if you keep that up, Sam,” Klyte said.

I snarled, and he held up a conciliatory hand. “Just saying,” he said. “And, don’t get me wrong, but I saw the note. It doesn’t sound like she wants any of us going after her.”

“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped. It was something I’d been agonizing over since I saw that note. I wanted to respect her wishes. If she wanted to leave, then I didn’t want to stop her. But at the same time, Akron and Farrow were still out there, and I didn’t want her out there alone.

So, respect her wishes or make sure she was safe? Right now, I couldn’t do both, and the thought was galling. I knew what she had asked me to do. But she’d deliberately put herself in danger, and I couldn’t just sit by while she did that, either.

My wolf was just as furious and concerned as I was. He wanted to be out there fighting right now, not cooped up here and indecisive.

I growled, running my fingers through my hair. I couldn’t just sit by. Not this time. She might be furious with me, but I couldn’t let her go into danger like this. She might have covered her scent, but I was certain I would be able to find her. I wasn’t sure how, but some part of me knew that if I wanted to, if I searched hard enough, I would find her.

I’d no sooner come to this decision when Luke walked into the living room. The grim expression on his face stopped me in my tracks.

“What happened?” I asked.

“We’ve got bad news,” Luke said. He was holding a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. It looked as though he’d gripped it too hard after reading it. There was legitimate fury in his eyes, and that alone made my skin grow cold with unease as my wolf snarled and paced restlessly inside.

“What is it?” Malcolm asked. I could see our old leader in him, sensing danger and calculating the best ways of solving whatever it might be.

Luke looked at me steadily, and as he spoke, I noticed he was talking to me and not the group at large. The fact made my stomach churn as I realized the implication.

“An underling came to town,” he said, holding up the piece of paper. “It was under a white flag to deliver the message. I was on patrol, so the townspeople grabbed me. He put the piece of paper in my hand and then booked it the hell out of there before I had the chance to read it. Which, considering what’s on it, I don’t blame him.”

“What’s on it?” I asked. It felt like a blanket of silence had descended on the rest of the world as I waited to hear what Luke was going to say.

“It says they have Stella,” he said. “That she’s marrying Akron in two days, and if we interfere in any way or try to stop it, he’ll kill her and everyone in our pack.”

If I had thought the silence before was loud, this was thunderous. All I could hear was a furious buzzing in my ears as I processed what Luke had just said.

They had Stella, and they were threatening her life if we tried to get her back.

---