Page 28

“How long are they going to make us wait?” Frank asked as he stood a few feet away from us, tapping his foot with his arms crossed.

“Maybe take a seat,” Jay said as he leaned back, wrapping his arm around Sam’s chair. Sam leaned into him, looking tired still.

“How can you be so patient? What happened to you? You would have been the first person to storm in there.” Frank asked, waving a hand at Jay.

“I got married and have a child,” Jay said. “And you are acting way more childish than our daughter is.”

Jones snorted in his chair, and Frank snapped his head at him. Aaron waved a hand. “Alright, let’s not argue. Frank, you’re crabby because you didn’t get enough sleep. Let’s not take it out on everyone.”

“I’m crabby because I have an entire pack to worry about and instead, I’m stuck here.”

“We all have packs to worry about,” Maddox said back. “You aren’t the only one.”

Frank crossed his arms. “Correction, I have the largest pack, and my drive is the farthest.”

“You have a beta that is watching over it.”

Frank snorted. “My beta is a dumbass.”

I was confused by this. Didn’t Frank trust his people the way that Jay and Henrik trusted his? “Wait, didn’t you pick him?”

Everyone froze for a moment before Frank shook his head and looked at me. “Not entirely.”

“It’s his brother,” Henrik said softly. “And they don’t agree on a lot.”

I glanced at Henrik. “I don’t understand.”

“Frank and his brother were both raised to be Alphas but they knew only one would get the position. Their father handed it down.”

Before I could say anything, the doors in front of us opened and we could see that the Council was waiting inside. Everyone started in and I looked at Henrik. He gave me a gentle squeeze, placing a kiss on my forehead. We had no idea what was coming, but at least I knew Henrik was on my side.

We each took a seat in a chair, as the Council waited. I could see they looked uncomfortable as we settled. Tensions were high, and everyone wanted answers. Some questions were going to remain unanswered.

“They looked unhappy,” I whispered to Henrik.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen them happy,” Henrik whispered back. He squeezed my hand, not letting go.

“Who would like to continue to conversation we had yesterday?” Jenissa asked, tapping her fingers on the table. Her eyes landed on me and I knew they wanted me to speak.

“I made my phone calls and hurried over to find Henrik surrounded by the darkness.”

“And yet he is unscathed. How is it he is fine, yet we have dead bodies from others it touched.”

Logically, I didn’t have an answer to that. Henrik should be dead. If it killed others, I didn’t see why he was okay. But I couldn’t think logically about this.

“Because it’s controlled by a person, and I don’t think the person even knows what they want. The darkness changes its weight and volume constantly. When it attacked me, it made me feel sick, but it left physical marks on Henrik.”

Ralph’s lips pressed together. “That gives more questions than answers.”

“You’re just joining where we are all sitting,” Frank grumbled.

I looked at Henrik and wondered if we should bring up the memory we saw. I could still see it. It would forever be ingrained in my mind, including the body in front of the man.

“Did you see the man?” I asked Henrik, keeping my voice in a whisper.

Henrik looked at me, his eyes were soft as he nodded his head. His fingers tightened around mine. “Yes.”

I swallowed. “And the child?”

His lips tightened.

“Where do we even go from here?” Jones asked, waving a hand. “We can’t keep sitting here twiddling our thumbs around. We all have people getting injured, people dying. What are we doing?”

We knew that a man was doing this, but we had no idea why. But that anger, the anger and the vision.

“I think it’s a man grieving.”

Everyone looked at Henrik and me. I chewed on my cheek when Derrick gave me a head nod.

“We all know that someone is doing this, and we know it’s a man from Sam’s visions. She said she heard him.”

Sam nodded in agreement.

“Why do you think he’s grieving?” Steve asked, tapping his fingers. He glanced at Derrick, who seemed relaxed. Had Henrik told him?

“We saw a vision of a man leaning over a small person about the size of a child. The child wasn’t moving.”

“Wow, look, you know even more than we do,” Frank snapped, throwing his hands up. “Why does it not surprise me that you guys held that information to yourselves?”

“Enough,” Ralph snapped, his voice echoing around the room. “We are all on the same team here.”

“We are? Because it sure doesn’t feel like it.”

Henrik sighed. “Frank, we aren’t keeping information from you. We are sharing it all now. We didn’t keep information from anyone.”

“You didn’t bring that up yesterday.”

“Because it was late, and everyone was yelling!” Henrik growled at him. “And if you don’t lower your damn tone I’m going to reach over Aaron and smack it out of you.”

“You wanna go?” Frank asked, pulling himself out of his chair. “I will gladly go right now.”

“Would you two knock it off? This is a serious issue.” Aaron snapped. “Frank, sit the fuck back down.”

“Oh, I’m taking this seriously. It’s these guys that can’t seem to get how serious this is.”

“Are you kidding me!?” Jay snapped, fury filling his face. “We are all fucking aware of how serious this is! You’re the one getting all hot-headed because you didn’t know something you were prudent to.”

“Of course you would say that because you probably already knew! Your wife fucking sees everything.”

Jay swung up now. “Say that again, Frank. I’ll beat the shit out of you right now.”

“Enough!” I yelled, which caused all of them to tense up. “That’s enough! Jesus Christ! You are all acting like fucking children! You’re Alpha’s. Act like it.”

They all fell silent and I got up. “I was under oath not to tell anyone about my lab. Just as you are all under oath for the Council. Not everyone is going to know everything, which is why you guys have meetings.” I glanced at Frank.

“This is not an attack. None of the others is keeping information. So, please. Can we stop yelling and try to figure out what we are going to do?”

Frank grabbed his chair and sat back down. He huffed as he did this, but he at least stopped yelling. Jay sat down next, Sam reaching out and placing a hand on his chest. I turned to the Council. “As I was saying, it’s a man and we are sure he lost a child.”

“There are a lot of people who have lost children,” Ralph said. “Not everyone takes up arms because of it.”

“Was there something in the past, something that happened that seemed unfair? Because I felt anger. And not just a little, but unbelievable anger like they had been ripped off. Someone had done something, and I’m guessing it’s to do with the child.”

“And with how calculated everything is, he’s been planning this for a while. So, god knows how long ago this happened.”

The Council looked at each other and I wasn’t sure what they were thinking.

“We will need to look into this.”

“And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Maddox asked.

“Continue what you were doing. Keep patrolling and notify us of any changes.”

That didn’t seem to be the answer that anyone wanted.

Frank swung out of his chair and stormed out.

A line of curse words followed him. Maddox and Aaron followed with.

Jones got out of his chair, slowly shaking his head.

“Aren’t you supposed to be guiding us? Why do I feel you are the ones not giving us all the information we need now? ”

I looked at the Council, which didn’t answer him. A shiver ran down my spine. I knew that the Council knew more than we did. They were all Alphas before, so they understood that secrets had to remain secret, but even in a crisis? If there is something they know, shouldn’t they be telling us?

Jones stormed out, and the Council looked at the rest of us. “Katie, you will continue your research. Sam, you will inform us of any more visions you get.”

I looked at Sam, who glanced at me. The air suddenly felt different and the hairs on my arms raised. Did they know who was doing all of this?

“Come on,” Henrik pulled me out of my chair, and we all slipped into the hall. The rest of the guys were waiting when Maddox spoke up first.

“Does anyone have a feeling they are hiding something from us?”

Aaron nodded. “Did they say anything to you guys?”

Sam and I shook our heads. “No, but something seems off.”

If they knew, why weren’t they telling? Or did they suspect? But even so, they should say something unless they were trying to cover something up.

“We have a meeting in two days,” Henrik said. “We can talk then.” He pulled me close and turned us down the hallway. As we left, I felt off.

“Do you think the Council knows more than what they are letting on?”

Henrik tightened his hold on me. “I’m hoping not, but you never know.” He kissed the top of my head. “But let’s not worry about that right now. I just want to enjoy this time together instead of worrying. Who knows what the future holds.”

I leaned against him, understanding his point. We should enjoy happiness when we get it. With everything going on, we should take a moment and enjoy our time together. We had overcome a huge milestone to get where we were. I almost lost Henrik several times. We needed a moment that was just for us.

As we got home, I was weary of what the future held. I was happy that I had Henrik. I was happy that we had talked about our problems and were in a good place. But not knowing was putting me on edge. How could I feel okay when I was pregnant and it was biological to want to protect my child.

“So, what do we want to do now?” I asked as Henrik shut the door. He walked closer to me, hooking my arm, and yanked me back. He pressed his forehead against mine. “I just want to be with you.”

My eyes widened slightly as his hands slipped up underneath my shirt. “Oh?”

“Let’s put everything aside for now,” he said, his breath brushing against my skin. “Because I very much need to be naked with you.”

I couldn’t help but smile, feeling the same. Henrik hoisted me up and turned us down to his bedroom. Really, at this point, it was ours. I didn’t go to my room anyway.

In his room, he took us straight to the bed. I felt my head hit a pillow, and Henrik’s lips pressed against mine. I tugged at his shirt, hearing it rip. Henrik pulled at my clothes and tossed them aside.

I raked my hand down his chest, feeling his heartbeat quicken. I stared at him, wanting to remember every inch of his body. His eyes stared into mine, and I realized he was doing the same to me.

“I love you,” he said softly, his thumb tracing my lip. “And I have loved you for so long.”

I felt tears well up at his honesty. “I love you too.”

Henrik kissed me softly and we both yanked at my pants. I needed them off, and I needed him in me. He flipped us, pulling me on top. His hands rested on my hips as he slowly slid up into me. I braced myself on his shoulders, taking every inch of him.

We were both panting as I stared into his eyes. His gold, loving eyes.

I felt his hand reach down, sliding a finger over my clit. I inhaled sharply as he bucked up, filling me. The motion was exactly what I wanted. I slowly shifted my hips, grinding with each thrust Henrik gave.

I rode him and Henrik’s fingers were tight on my hips. I came hard, moaning his name as he filled me. I fumbled forward, resting on his chest. Henrik’s arms wrapped around me as he kissed my forehead.

“Can you promise me something?”

“If it’s something I can give,” he said, stroking my hair.

I thought of the man and the anger that hit me. “Don’t ever let an emotion consume you like that.”

Henrik’s hand paused on my hair, and I looked at him. I could see worry fill his eyes as he stared at me. I sat up and frowned. “If anything were to ever happen to me or the baby, don’t become empty. Don’t turn into someone else.” I placed his hand on my stomach. “Please.”

His hand was soft on my stomach, his thumb grazing my belly button.

“Will you promise the same?” he asked softly. “If I were to die and you lost our child?”

I knew it would be hard, but it was better than this. I would never want to turn into someone who hurts other people. Someone who wasn’t me. I nodded.

“Okay, I promise.” He pulled his hand up, cupping my face. “But I never plan on losing you.”