Page 41 of Healer’s Reckoning (The Healer’s #3)

Chap ter 41

Ava

I push on Bryce’s back, and he reluctantly moves. I move to take my seat, but a strong arm wraps around my waist and pulls me into a hard chest. I stiffen for a moment before I relax against him. He holds my weight easily, and I find comfort in his strength at my back.

Garrett leans back in his seat. I watch as Emma reaches over and takes his hand. “We have to find those girls,” she says quietly, but we all hear her.

“We will.” His words hold conviction. He turns to Raechel and me. “This girl you ran into at the rest stop. Anything else you can tell us?”

“She had a bus ticket,” I tell them. “I glanced at it, but I don’t remember what it said.” I wish I could remember.

“We’ll look into it,” Bryce says. “I’ll have Leo get on it. We need to remember which stop it was and find the girl. If we can do that, Leo can maybe zoom in on the ticket and find out at least where she was headed. It’s a long shot, but it’s all we’ve got.”

Garrett nods. “Let me know what you find out. Meanwhile, we will start looking for the other girls as well. If we can get something off them, Liam might be able to track them.” I knew Liam was the best tracker in the Northwoods pack.

“Hunter can as well,” Bryce offers next.

Garrett turns to me. “Ava, I don’t know if you will want to be here for this next part of the conversation as we have to talk about the vampires.” Bryce’s arm tightens around my middle.

“ I appreciate that, but I’m staying.” Bryce moves us forward and pulls a seat out for me before taking the one next to me.

Liam and Maverick come back into the room and take their seats. “I regret having to talk about this today on the heels of yesterday, but we need to discuss what we’re going to do about the vampires growing in both numbers and power. We know about at least two new facilities now. The one two hours from here and the one that Ava was held in. For those of you who were not there for the extraction of Ava, they are doing experiments. They are giving vampire serum to wolves, creating a sort of super-charged wolf.”

“They’re shifters with vampire speed and strength,” Bryce adds. “And they’re not to be underestimated.” I don’t bother telling them that my brother isn’t a shifter. In the whole scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter. I’m pretty sure he’s one of the few humans that survived.

“If we go after them, it will be an all-out war once again,” one of the guys I don’t know says.

“We’ve already lost one of our own.”

“Yes, and if we don’t go after them, we will lose more.”

“We have to protect our packs.”

The voices go round and round; I just sit back and listen. I get both sides of the argument. The vampires need to be stopped, but they’re incredibly dangerous, especially now with these supercharged wolves. We already lost Cade, and we could lose more. It’s a lose-lose situation either way. I find myself zoning in and out, while they discuss plans. I’m kind of regretting my decision to stay now, but I need to follow through on my decision.

“Ava,” Garrett says, drawing me back into the conversation. “Do you think it’s possible they could be healed, like Rose healed Jackson and the other rogue wolves?”

Maverick does not look happy about that suggestion, and I look away from his intense gaze. Bryce growls low in his chest, but I ignore it. “I don’t really know,” I tell him honestly. The thought of trying to heal one of them is terrifying, but I don’t say that out loud. If anything, I could practice on my brother and see what happens. But I keep that thought to myself as well. I can tell Bryce is irritated, but I don’t think anybody else would be able to tell. I take his hand under the table, trying to support him the best way I know how. I can feel him relax slightly, and it makes me feel good that I’m able to help him somehow. Garrett finally tells everybody to take a break.

“We don’t have all the answers today, but it’s a start. I know everybody’s going their separate ways today. Love on your families and take care of your packs.”

With that, everybody stands up. Bryce doesn’t move, so I don’t either. “Garrett, can we have a few minutes of your time?” he asks.

Garrett’s already standing, but he nods and sits back down. Raechel turns to me. “You good?” I nod. “Okay, I have got to pee! I’ll catch you later. Do not leave without saying goodbye to me.”

I crack a smile. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

She gives Max a kiss and then takes off. Everybody clears out except for Garrett, Max, Liam, and Hunter, Bryce, and me. Garrett levels a look at Bryce. “What can I do for you?”

I look at Bryce too because I’m not really sure what this is about. “We still have Sherese with us.” Nobody is surprised by his words. “When the time comes, she could be a huge asset for us. But we will have to get the others on board.”

Garrett doesn’t say anything at first. “It may be better if some don’t know,” he says after a bit.

Bryce nods. “I think so too, but there will have to be a handful that know and a way to protect her, so that our people don’t go after her.”

Garrett leans back in his chair, and I don’t miss the way his eyes flick to Hunter a moment. The alpha noticed whatever interaction went down between Hunter and Sherese. I glance at Hunter out of the corner of my eye, but he remains motionless. “You think she will stay loyal to our side.”

“Yes.” The word is out of my mouth before I think about it. I can tell I’m going to have to convince the guys from the Northwoods Pack. “She was nice to me when nobody else was, and she risked everything to help us get the baby out and then again to get my brother out. She has no reason to defect back to their side. They’d kill her on sight.” I shake my head. “That’s not just an assumption. They will. I have an inside track to how the vampires work and think. They don’t take betrayal lightly.” I pause a moment.

Garrett studies me a moment. “What else can you tell us?”

“Rizo is the head vampire at that site. He’s cold and heartless; I don’t know what his deal is. I don’t know if he fought in the war or not, but he’s obviously calling the shots. Ajax reports to him.” Emma visibly startles at the name, and I pause. I can feel Garrett’s power seeping through the room. I give her an apologetic look. I should have given her a heads-up. She must say something to Garrett, because it becomes easier to breathe.

I continue a little unnerved. “Everybody else reports to Ajax.” I pause a moment. “They really are creating supercharged super naturals in there. They somehow lost control of one of these...shifter/vampire creations. I was in there when it happened.” I shake my head as I remember. “He was completely unstoppable. He just tore through anything in front of him. The vampires couldn't contain him. He came straight for me. I don’t know why.” I’m completely lost in the memory now. “I thought I was going to die.” I pause as I relive the terror.

“How did you escape?” I think it’s Liam that asks softly.

A small smile escapes. “My brother. Somehow, he came out of his comatose state. He went after the guy. It was...intense. They eventually sedated each of them with a shot of something.” I look around the room at each of the men seated there and look at Bryce last. I can feel the anger coming off him, but he meets my gaze. “I know each of you are powerful shifters, the best of the best. I respect each of you so much, but please understand me when I say that you cannot go up against these creature without a plan. They will destroy you.” My voice is so soft I would worry about them hearing me if I didn’t know they had superior hearing.

“And what would that plan be?” Garrett asks in a very low, dangerous voice.

Bryce moves closer to my side. “I don’t know. We could talk to Sherese and figure out their weaknesses for starters.”

“You think we should consult the vampire on how to take down the vampires?” Garrett’s voice is downright scary.

“Back off Garrett,” Bryce orders from next to me. “It’s not on my mate to figure out how to take them down; it’s on all of us.”

I lean forward in my chair and meet Garrett’s gaze head-on. “Ajax wants revenge, and he’s not going to stop until he gets it. Ajax is holding your pack responsible for the annihilation of his pack. That’s one of his reasons for doing all this. He wants revenge, and I feel like I need to warn you that he’s gunning for your pack. I think he’s just happy about anybody he can take down along the way. He is so filled with hatred.” I’m reminded of the conversation he had with me. “He’s so twisted; he thinks all shifters need to die.” I think back to his words to me.

“I don’t understand how he even survived,” Max growls.

“He said he had healer energy somehow. My thought is they were already doing what they were doing to me—extracting healer energy. From whom, I don’t know?” My heart feels heavy remembering all this. I think back to Ajax’s words.

You may think you’re better than us, Healer; but you are no better. Your heart is just as black and unforgiving as the vampires, as me. We are one and the same. You want to destroy all vampires; I want to destroy all shifters, excluding myself of course. And then like a thunderbolt, I remember suddenly the last part of that conversation. A nd one self-righteous girl who didn’t bat an eye when her brother was killed. I suck in a strangled breath. How could I have forgotten? “He’s going after Emma.” The word is a gasp as I turn to her. She stares at me with wide eyes.

Garrett goes still in his chair. “What did you just say?”

I force the words out. “He wants to go after Emma; he blames her for the death of her brother, Alec.”

Garrett’s eyes lighten, and I feel the wave of danger and power coming off him. One minute I’m sitting at the table; the next I’m in Bryce’s arms and out the door. He doesn’t stop until we’re back in our room. He sets me down gently. “You okay?” His voice is low and gruff, and his own eyes are lighter than normal. His wolf is very present.

“Why did you just run me out of there?”

“Because you represent a threat to the mate of a very dangerous alpha.”

My eyes widen. “I’m not a threat to Emma.”

“I know. But in that moment, when Garrett heard those words, his wolf was looking to tear something or someone apart, and I wasn’t going to allow it to be you.”

I drop down on the side of the bed and sigh. “I wasn’t trying to cause a problem.”

“I know.”

“Bryce, I want you to promise me something.” He turns and locks eyes with me. “I want you to promise that when it’s time to take them down, you will let me be there.”I can see the rebuttal in his eyes, but I put a hand up. “I know I can’t fight, but let me be there to heal. Let me be part of it. I need to.”

He stares at me for the longest time before finally agreeing. “Okay.”

I sigh and lay back on the bed, relieved he didn’t fight me on this. “I’m tired. Can we go home now?”

He takes a deep breath. “Yeah, Baby. Let’s go home.”

We make quick work of packing our bags. Somebody knocks on the door. “It’s just Hunter,” Bryce says as he grabs our bags.

I let Hunter in, eyeing the bag on his shoulder. “That was fast packing.”

He shrugs. Cody and Leo appear soon after that, and I turn to Bryce. “I guess we’re all ready to get home.”

“Yep,” Cody says.