Page 9

Chapter Eight

Alaric

K eep moving and don’t think about the injured, beautiful shifter in Drayton’s arms that I’m pretty sure is my fated mate.

Judging by the looks on Dray and Penn’s faces, they also have the mate bond pulling at them.

That means that Penn’s constant talk of visions of a beautiful mate that’s bonded to all five of us was true.

I’m not going to lie.

I thought he was just a hopeless romantic who had a weird poly kink.

Wes and I both assumed he was confusing dreams and visions since he always described them as being similar.

Jokes on us, I guess.

Forrester is going to be super fucking pissed because I know he was planning on bailing as soon as we got back to the packlands with Penn.

There’s no way his wolf will let him walk away now, not unless he fully rejects the mate bond which would hurt our mate, and I’ll fucking lock him up and remove his vocal cords before I let that happen.

My wolf is in a bit of a huff that I took more control over the driver’s seat than normal.

He wants to run beside our mate, to push his nose against her warm skin until she wakes up and shows us she’s okay.

I can hear her breathing and her heart beating strongly in her chest, but we both want more confirmation of her wellness than that.

The run to the vehicles takes far longer than I would like, but the minute we break through the trees, I sigh a breath of relief.

Shifting back to my human body, I swing around to bark orders at my men.

“Bronson and Harris, go scout towards the road and make sure the way is clear for us to head back home. The rest of you, shift back and get these vehicles packed and ready to be on the road in the next ten minutes. The SUV stays empty for us. The rest of you will surround the SUV in a security convoy formation.”

The men, or wolves in Bronson and Harris’ case, move quickly into their tasks.

These packmates are the only ones I trust fully outside of our circle of brothers.

They trust my instructions with no questions asked.

In a dangerous situation like the one back at the castle, we work so in sync with one another, and I never have to worry my men will fuck it up.

Turning towards Penn and Drayton, I watch as they gently place the unconscious woman down on their shirts that are spread out on the ground.

I approach them quickly, signalling to Wes and Forrester who have shifted back to human to follow me over.

We all convene behind the SUV, passing out the rest of the clothes.

No one says a word as we all get dressed and ready to move out.

My eyes continuously flick over to my mate, her scent filling the air around us and making it hard for me to stay focused on getting us to safety.

“We need to talk about this,” Wes eventually speaks, breaking the heavy silence between us.

“Penn, is this the woman from your visions?”

Penn turns to look at him, a smirk on his lips.

“You mean the woman I told you all would be our mate? The one I said would be fated for all five of us? Why yes, yes, it is.”

“If that isn’t the most I told you so answer you could have pulled out of your ass, I don’t know what is,” Dray jokes, shaking his head with a small laugh.

“Well, actually, I told you so would have been the most I told you so answer he could have said,” Forrester fires back, his tone indicating how little he thinks of his brother.

“Fuck off, Forrester,” Penn says, pushing his shoulder in a half-friendly, half-warning kind of way.

“Don’t be a pedantic asshole.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I suppress a groan at the verbal sparring that’s breaking out among my brothers.

It’s always about petty shit, and if they don’t stop, it will escalate to cut-throat arguing.

This is how it’s been since the death of the last alpha.

Constant bickering and fighting, none of them getting along.

It’s become exhausting being around most of them.

One on one, each of them is fine, yet together it’s a bloody fight waiting to happen.

“We need to get moving,” I bellow out over them, trying and failing to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

“You can beat each other’s asses when we’re all back in the security of the packlands. Our mate needs us to get her to safety, so get your asses in the SUV and let’s get on the road.”

Drayton raises an eyebrow at me, his wolf pushing forward and making his light blue eyes glow in the darkness.

Dray understands I’m not trying to order around the alpha to take his spot, but his wolf is another story.

Shrugging my head to the side in a show of submission, I breathe out a sigh of relief when the glow fades from his eyes.

The last thing we need right now is Dray’s wolf fighting for dominance.

Drayton smiles apologetically at me and nods to show his thanks.

We both know that the tediousness of his wolf is frustrating to all wolves, but it’s the reality of an alpha.

Every time I see the internal struggle or hear Dray talk about his battle of wills, I thank the goddess that I wasn’t given the alpha gene.

Could I be an alpha without it?

Yeah.

However neither me or my wolf want that level of responsibility.

“Penn, you and Forrester take the back row so you can get some rest after being through so much,” Drayton directs, taking over getting everyone on the road.

“Wes, I want you up front with Alaric. I need both of you on high alert until we’re safe. I’ll be in the middle row with —“

“Talia,” Penn murmurs lovingly, his face already showing how smitten he is with our mate.

“Right. I’ll be in the middle row with Talia,” Drayton says, his voice shaking on her name.

There’s a moment of vulnerability from our alpha as he looks at Talia, a mixture of fear, surprise, warmth, and affection.

“Let’s move. I want to get home.”

There’s a moment of hesitation from all of us, our eyes glued to the teal haired shifter that we all feel connected to.

I haven’t even had the chance to hold her in my arms or hear her voice, yet I still know that I will destroy anyone and anything that tries to hurt her.

The Croisés have held her captive, doing goddess knows what to her, for who knows how long.

When she wakes up from her injury, I’ll have her write a list of everyone that hurt her in her time here.

I’ll hunt down every last one of them, tearing them limb from limb until they’re on the cusp of death, then I’ll smile as I rip their head from their body with my bare hands.

Everyone else starts moving, Penn and Forrester, opening the back and climbing over the seats.

Bending down, I scoop my mate into my arms, breathing her scent in deeply.

Dray glares at me, his own arms already out for her.

“You got to carry her out of there and you get to hold her on the way home. You can’t hog our mate,” I admonish lightly, pulling her tighter against me.

“This way you can get in the seat and I can lay her down comfortably on the seat and you.”

“Fair enough,” Dray tosses back, fighting back a smirk.

“I’m the alpha though, that means I get to hog our mate.”

“Over my dead fucking body,” I shoot back, kicking some dirt up at him.

“I second that!” Penn whisper-yells from the backseat, his face popping out over the seat.

“Over all our dead fucking bodies.”

“Eh, you can keep my dead body out of this,” Forr mumbles in disdain.

“I don’t want any part of this.”

Penn whips his head in Forrester’s direction.

“You can’t be fucking serious.”

“Of course I’m serious,” he counters, a dry, humourless laugh following his words.

“You can’t expect me to stick around for a mate I’m supposed to share with some pack members I want nothing to do with. I have a life and it doesn’t include the pack.”

“Then why are you here?” Dray asks, zero emotion in his voice.

“I’m here for Penn and only him. He’s the only one of you fuckers I give a shit about.” Forrester throws himself against the back of the seat, shaking the SUV in the process.

“Well, he’s part of the pack and you don’t give a shit about anyone in the pack. Isn’t that what you keep telling us?” I ask, a shit-eating grin on my face.

If he wants to be an asshole, I’ll show him what a true asshole looks like.

“It’s time for you to get the fuck out of this SUV and walk back to that human life you love so fucking much. The pack doesn’t need your cowardice hanging around, so while you’re still tucking your tail between your legs and trying to pass it off as your dick, you need to get the fuck out of here.”

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Forrester growls, pushing half of his body over the middle seats to see me through the open door.

“You heard what I said.” I pull back my shoulders, glaring at him in challenge.

Forrester pauses, his wolf flashing in his eyes.

He may have some super special shifter powers that allow him to see my weaknesses in my emotions, but my demons and I are best friends, so he can’t use them against me.

Drayton steps between us, his eyes on Forrester, but his words for both of us.

“That’s enough. These petty squabbles can happen when we get the hell out of here. Right now, our only objective is to get away from this area and back to safety. We have a long drive ahead of us, so buckle up and shut the fuck up.”

Forrester shoots a venomous look my way one more time before dipping back into his seat.

He may say he’s no longer pack and won’t listen to the alpha, but we all know those are empty words.

Forrester is throwing a hissy fit because he’s confused about the grief surrounding his father’s death.

The truth is, the sooner he comes to terms with the fact that Drayton did what he did for the pack, but especially for him, the better.

Wes has been standing silently behind us this whole time, not uttering a word since we departed for the castle earlier.

To be honest, I can only imagine the types of impressions he got while there and what he feels coming from our mate.

Looking over my shoulder at the sad, haunted look on Wes’ face, I grimace.

His gaze meets mine just before he squeezes his eyes shut tightly, his signal to us that he’s processing something deep and unable to vocalise anything at the moment.

“I’ll drive.” That’s all I say to him, before giving him the space he needs right now.

None of us are going to like the conversations that come later.

The one with Wes and his impressions will be hard, but the one with our mate when she’s awake will probably destroy us.

Talia shifts in my arms, a soft, breathy sigh escaping her lips.

We all freeze, even our breaths are coming out quiet and shallow in anticipation.

She settles quickly, her eyes never opening.

The wound on her shoulder looks completely healed, thankfully.

Her healing speed is impressive, which is saying something coming from me.

I’m the best enforcer around because not only am I lethal, but other packs joke that I’m immortal.

Now that she’s settled, we collectively let out our breath.

Drayton is the first to move, jumping into the middle seat and holding his arms out for her.

Laying her across the seat ever so gently, I place her head in Dray’s lap.

This way he can keep an eye on her breathing and if she wakes up on the drive.

The other pack members are already idling in the four other vehicles, ready to move out when we are.

I nod in their direction, moving around the SUV to jump in the driver’s seat.

Adjusting the mirrors, I give everyone a quick glance over.

The feeling in the SUV is sombre and heavy, almost as if we’d failed.

When I pictured the moment I would meet my fated mate, it was always joyous and loving.

Today is anything but that.

We saved Penn, we rescued our mate, and we temporarily disbanded the Croisés.

This should be a time of celebration.

My fear is that there’s too much history behind the five of us.

Talia may be the one to heal these wounds that tear at our brotherly bonds, but is it fair to ask that of her?

From what we saw and what Wes is currently processing, she has her own wounds that need to be healed.

While as her mates, we should be the ones to help her heal, I’m not sure any of the others, outside of myself and Penn, have the capacity to do that.

Drayton is the only one I’m likely to get through to.

Penn could work on Forrester if he doesn't split the moment we get to packlands. Wes will have to fight his demons and work through his hesitations the same way he insists on doing everything, by himself.

My eyes flicker to Talia in the rearview mirror, her soft red lips parted and her teal hair scattered around her face. This pack isn’t what it should be, not yet at least, and bringing her into this mess feels wrong. I guess that means it’s time to stop pussyfooting around the issues and force everyone to face their shit.

Our mate is counting on us, and goddess damn us all, if we don’t pick ourselves up and be the mates she deserves. I will kick everyone’s ass and shove their faces into their demons’ assholes until they can be the wolf shifters I know they are.

Now that that plan is hatched, there’s only one last problem to solve; What kind of shifter is our beautiful mate? Because there’s no way in hell her scent is wolf.