Chapter 23
Gracie
It had been easy the past few days to forget about the reality of our world. Who my men were and what they were capable of. I couldn’t ignore it now, though, the midafternoon light barely breaking through the tinted windows of the armored SUV we were in, a convoy of seven cars ahead and behind us.
The lightness of last night and the slow morning was replaced by clipped questions and answers.
The car was silent as we left city limits, and I felt my stomach twist with nerves.
This trip wouldn’t be easy. I wasn’t nervous because I thought I would be hurt—I knew my mates would protect me.
I was nervous because of what they would do to protect me.
At the same time, the moment grounded me. These men were dangerous, but they were also my mates—and just as they had accepted me, I accepted them. Even if that meant the car was filled with more guns than I would have otherwise preferred.
I remembered the black armor and gear Ravik had worn the night he, Thornar, and Basir had rescued me, but seeing them in it again was something else. Weapons were strapped to their bodies, every glint of metal catching my eye.
I was dressed similarly, except my clothing seemed more focused on protection.
The pants were a stiff material with pockets, and the boots were hard, the toe completely solid.
Underneath my jacket and over my tank top was a heavy vest that I knew was bulletproof.
I was completely protected in more ways than one.
Alpha Kaliyah had already sworn she was an ally, but this morning as we prepared to leave, she didn’t shy away from showing it.
After having to ditch the jet, we were traveling light with only the tonics, some other vital supplies, and basic clothes.
Knowing that, she had made sure that we had everything we needed to make it to the southern border, which also happened to be the border line of her territory and the Grimfur Skulk territory.
“Will the vehicles come with us all the way to the border?” I asked Ravik, who was driving.
“Yes. Alpha Waylon said he would meet us with his own forces, but apparently the border has been plagued with attacks for years now, and recently they’ve escalated.”
Which was also why we couldn’t fly. The closer we got to Ivan’s reach, the more eyes were on us and for all the wrong reasons.
“It’s not that far of a drive,” Thornar said, sitting next to me while sorting through bags. “We should make it quickly, but we have to be prepared for whatever greets us.”
“I’m positive they know we’re traveling,” Basir murmured. I pulled on our bond gently, knowing he was still feeling tense. He’d explained everything to me before we left, and I understood his anxiety more than he probably realized. Both of us were going to be asked to face the monsters of our past.
“How?” I asked with a frown.
“There are always spies, even in the most secure of situations,” Thornar pointed out. I nodded in understanding.
How hard must it be to live like that, constantly wondering who would betray you? Then again, I supposed I’d felt similar in those moments at the Cold Moon Pack…but that was because everyone was trying to survive.
It was nearly two hours later, the road passing by in a blur of green hills and cliffs, that we finally began to slow. My wolf bristled as the silence in the car shifted. Out the windows I could see that the border intersected with a forested landscape.
I may not have known much about war, but on the night of the attack, Ivan’s men had hidden their trucks by driving through the forest leading up to our village. It seemed like a good place to hide.
Up ahead the cars began to stop and turn, framing the wall and gate to either side. Only our car would be going through.
Except when we finally pulled up, there was no one there to greet us. Silence permeated the air as Thornar turned on his radio, the static breaking through.
“Any signs of the usual patrol?” he asked. No one had gotten out of their cars yet.
“No,” an unfamiliar voice answered. “But there are bootprints leading up to the gate from this side.” Thornar sighed in annoyance, and I wrapped my arms around myself.
“My guess is that they already knocked out the guards on the other side,” Ravik said, the mic clearly able to pick his voice up so the other soldiers could hear him. “They’re waiting for us to get out.”
“I don’t see much other choice. You feel comfortable with this?” Thornar asked. His voice was smooth, but there was something bubbling underneath it—almost excitement.
The guy on the other side chuckled. “Yeah, we’re good.”
“Wait for us to get out. We’re going to secure Gracie.” Thornar turned off the mic.
“Alright, little flame.” Thornar turned to me while handing weapons to Ravik and Basir. “I’m going to need you to do something for me.”
“Okay.” I bit down on my lip, trying not to portray my nerves.
“They’re going to start shooting the minute we get out,” he said, adjusting his own vest. “I need you to sit in the driver’s seat but with your head down.
The car is armored, so it should be okay.
But if shit starts to get dangerous—you start seeing explosions—I want you to drive your pretty ass out of here. ”
“What…what?”
Thornar chuckled at my shocked reaction. “We’ll be back before you miss us. But I don’t want you just sitting in the back. I want you to be able to get out of here if you have to.”
“Is there another way so you don’t have to go out there?” I asked the three of them, my wolf nearly letting out a whine of distress. I had no doubt my mates were capable, but the idea of them going directly into danger was something my entire body rebelled against.
“Unfortunately not,” Basir said.
“The roads behind us are clear,” Ravik said. “I want you to reverse out before turning right—there are cliffs the opposite way about twenty miles back. Avoid those.”
Reverse. Turn right. Avoid the cliffs. Got it.
I cleared my throat before admitting, “I can’t drive.”
Ravik and Thornar didn’t seem surprised by the admission, but Basir made a thoughtful noise. “Have to teach you that.”
“Come up here.” Ravik motioned and I climbed over the center console, Ravik pulling me onto his lap in the driver’s seat. Despite the dangerous circumstances, I couldn’t deny the way my body heated under his touch.
He quickly showed me the reverse and drive gear shift, as well as the brake. I tried to memorize all of it, but our bond was already humming with something eager and it was hard to focus on anything else.
When Thornar opened the door to get out, I didn’t get to say a word before they were all moving from the car. I slid my hands around the wheel and tried to make myself as small as possible.
Unfortunately for my nerves, Thornar was right.
The second they stepped foot outside, shots rained down from the trees. I ducked down, not wanting to see how many people it took to make that many shots go off at once. When the car jerked as if it had been hit, I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to calm myself.
The sound of shots ringing out reminded me so much of the Cold Moon Pack. My skin prickled with awareness, and with each yell, each shot, I felt panic crawling up my throat. Not only because of the memories playing out in my head, but because my mates were out there.
My wolf forced a whimper through my lips, nearly driving me to shift. To go protect them.
I didn’t think they needed it though. The excitement coming through the bond, especially from Thornar, had my stomach flipping. I could smell smoke and blood. The leather under the wheel was slick with sweat. My eyes burned with restrained tears.
When I felt Thornar shift into his wolf, like an explosion going through our mate bond, I felt the bloodlust that saturated it.
My head snapped up, needing eyes on him, and by The Eight—I wished I hadn’t.
Bodies. Ours. Theirs. Over fifteen people down. In the center of it were Ravik and Basir, firing on a group of men on top of the stone wall that acted as the border between territories.
Thornar was to my left, facing off against a gigantic lion and three foxes.
He was enormous in his wolf form, bigger than I remembered, and he moved through them like they had never been a threat in the first place. Blood spurted as his teeth and claws shredded through the foxes before going after the lion, and every hit landed through our bond like a shockwave.
I could feel his wolf. Not Thornar, not the man who called me little flame—just the wolf.
Part of me wanted to look away. But I couldn’t because some primal piece of me recognized what he was doing and why. Thornar was making sure nothing and no one survived this.
A loud bang tore a scream from my throat, and I snapped my head up to find a man on the hood of the car, pointing a gun right at my head through the window. A bullet was lodged between the two of us, stuck in the glass.
I didn’t think. I just acted. I threw the car into drive and floored it.
My vision went spotty as the SUV slammed into the gate, my head thrown forward to collide with the airbag. Some sort of powder filled the air, and blood covered the window. The man’s face was pressed against it, his body trapped between the gate and the car.
I had no idea how long I sat there staring at the man’s face, feeling dazed and confused—it could have been seconds or hours—but eventually the door was pulled open so hard it rocked the vehicle.
Familiar voices called my name in panic, and warm, rough hands gently removed me from the car. My eyes closed as I murmured under my breath, trying to figure out where that soldier had come from.
I hadn’t seen him. Until he was dead. Or maybe I’d killed him. I had killed him. I’d killed someone?
“Little flame.”
My eyes slowly opened. Thornar’s gorgeous face was over me, but the sky beyond him was covered in blood. The sky was covered in blood? That wasn’t right.
“Look at her eyes,” Basir hissed. “We’ll need to check for a concussion.” His words faded as I continued to stare up at Thornar.
“Are you okay?” I whispered, my throat thick. “I saw you fighting them. I felt you fighting them.”
Thornar’s jaw tightened as he offered a nod, his hand smoothing over my cheek. “Don’t worry about me, Gracie. Let’s focus on you.”
“There was a lion,” I murmured, the fight flashing before me again. “Lion shifters don’t live over here, right?”
Ravik, who must have been standing close by, turned and said something to one of the soldiers as Thornar looked up at Basir. They exchanged a look, but my eyes were already closing so I wasn’t able to decipher it.
“Keep them open,” Thornar encouraged. “We’re moving the car from the gate. The envoy from Waylon was taken out, so we’re going to drive one of the cars to the closest station.”
Move the car.
My eyes widened as I inhaled sharply.
“I killed him. I killed a man.”