Page 111 of Those That Are Lost

The bond between us lights up as Antares delights in making me happy. He stays nestled into my side as Jackson re-joins us. He gives me and Antares a strange look as he passes him a packet of blood.

I don’t care how it looks. We’ve become close and we’re bonded. It's purely platonic and I want my pack to be okay with being affectionate to each other in this way. I think his current pack is the only experience Jackson has of pack life. The other two look less affected, I’m guessing as Atlas grewup with Ty, he knows what a good pack looks like. Mitch I know is recently turned, but he saw us back in West Scotia.

This feels right. I squeeze Antares a little harder. Glad he’s not too injured from the fight and his wounds will soon heal with the blood he’s now devouring.

CHAPTER 43

TY

“The timeline is moving up.”

“Are they in trouble?” Henry is up and standing in front of me as I move into his room.

“No, they’re fine.” I feel for the bond with Red automatically, even though I just finished talking to her. There’s nothing there to alert me to immediate danger. “However, Adicious is planning a mating ceremony, for the dayafter tomorrow.”

“Mating Ceremony?”

I fill Henry in on everything Red told me, including how Antares is getting in fights when he’s supposed to be looking after my mate. She didn’t want to, knowing I’d be seething at the little shit but seeing as that is what disrupted our first conversation she had to.

It was only after she’d patched him up that she’d reached out again to tell me about Adicious’s bullshit ceremony.

“We’re gatecrashing that right?” Henry gets a gleam in his eye, I think he’s itching for the fight as much as I am now.

“Indeed. I’ve just left a message for the wolves too.”

“It’s all coming together, isn’t it?”

“Don’t jinx it!” I cut over him, punching his arm lightly.

“Are the wolves going to make it in time?”

“I think so, I am waiting for Ash to get back to me.”

“If not?”

“We can take them. I’m not chancing Red gettingbonded to Adicious.”

“No, I didn’t mean that. It's just, at worst odds, it's six against ten, maybe twelve?”

“Hopefully it's eight against seven, if Red is correct and Jackson and Bartie are on our side. And four are still on the continent.”

“We don’t know when they’re returning?”

“No, but even if they are travelling back and it is eight against all the rest, we have the element of surprise.”

“I don’t like it but it’s doable.” Henry’s doubt is written on his face. “We need the wolves at this point, they’d tip the scales.”

“Let's hope they got my message.”

CHAPTER 44

AURORA

The final day in the pack house is passing both painfully slowly and in a blink. I’d woken up after a fitful night sleep—nightmares plaguing me once more.

The morning had passed incredibly slow with barely any of the pack around. Adicious had been locked in his office and wasn’t entertaining any conversation with me. I’d walked away rolling my eyes and frustrated that I couldn’t ask him the details I needed.

I’d returned to my room and decided to indulge the tyrant by changing into one of the dresses he’d picked for me and freshly curling my hair. The dress wasn’t bad per se, but the neckline dipped super low between my breasts and the straps felt precariously balanced on my shoulders. The sea green colour went well with my red hair and the floaty skirt allowed me plenty of movement so I wasn’t complaining on that front. Although I was very likely to flash someone if I had to engage in anything in this dress.