Chapter 20 #2
“You shouldn’t have done that.” Lash’s voice had turned tight. I could tell he was upset. “It’s too dangerous. If she discovered you were there?—“
“There’s no way she could know,” I tried to assure him. “I’m like a ghost when I dream walk in the real world. It isn’t until I enter someone else’s dream that they can see me.”
“I still don’t like it,” he grumbled. “These dreams are the only place you can go where I can’t protect you.”
A bolt of warmth shot through me at his concern. This was the first indication he’d given that I might mean more to him than just a warm place to stuff his dick.
“Be careful what you ask for,” I told him. “Because after hearing Nelissa was planning with Garron, I have a feeling the real world is about to become a much more dangerous place.”
“Garron?” Lash’s expression darkened. “She must have pulled him into fill the void in her inner circle after my betrayal.”
“Is he dangerous?”
“As far as you’re concerned, all alphas are dangerous.” He had a point. Even the runt of the litter would be a damn giant next to me.”What were they planning?”
“To call half the alphas away from the search for us.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Lash ruminated. “No one holds a grudge like Nelissa. Fifty years from now, she’ll still be sending men to hunt us down.”
“Garron doesn’t think she has enough men to track you down,” I explained. “He says it would take an army.”
“He’s right.” There wasn’t a single note of bluster in Lash’s voice. Just pure, unfiltered confidence. All of it completely deserved.
“So Nelissa came up with a plan. She’s sending a group of alphas to attack the outpost you raided yesterday. They are going to kill the guards, then frame you for their deaths. She’s hoping this will prompt your old pack to send out all their best warriors to track you down.”
There was no quick reply this time. Just the slight pull at Lash’s jawline as he ground his back teeth.
“It’s a good plan,” he admitted begrudgingly a few seconds later. “Did she say when she was planning the attack?”
“The next new moon,” I answered.
“Less than a week away,” he mused. “That doesn’t give us much time to leave the territory.”
I shook my head. “That won’t work.”
“It will. Trust me,” he said. “There’s a mountain range a couple of hundred miles from here.
The pack there isn’t happy with me either, but at least they’re not out for blood.
Give me three days, and I’ll get us there and set up along the fringes of their territory.
I can keep you safe there...through winter at least.”
Through winter?
That was months away. Was Lash really expecting me to stick around that long?
Sure, our relationship had drastically changed in the last few days, but going from I don’t care if you die to don’t ever leave was too big a swing for me to wrap my head around. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it….or him…or any of this, really.
There was only one thing I was certain of, and that was the need to warn Sophia of the dangers heading her way.
“No, you don’t get it.” I sat up in his lap, no longer caring how far the blankets dipped down my chest. Right now, there were more important things than modesty.
“We’re not the only ones she’s planning to go after.
Once your old pack sends their warriors after us, she’s swooping in to attack their village. ”
Lash blinked, his gaze still steady on mine. “And?”
Was he joking?
“And…we have to do something to stop her?”
His brows pulled together in sincere confusion. “Why?”
I would have thought that went without saying. “Because a lot of innocent people are about to be killed.”
But his expression stayed as stony as ever. “The only life I care about saving is yours.”
“My friend Sophia is in that village, Lash,” I reminded him. “I can’t just abandon her.”
He just shook his head. “She’s not alone,” he said. “She has Kyre. He’s her mate. Let him worry about her safety.”
Oh my God! He couldn’t be that callous. I refused to believe it.
“Okay, but how can he protect her if he doesn’t even know she’s in danger?” I shot back. “I at least have to go there and let them know.”
“You’d be wasting your breath,” he said. “They’ll never believe you. Not after they see me by your side. They’ll think it’s a trick.”
“So, I’ll go alone,” I tried. But I should have known that wasn’t going to fly.
Lash’s expression turned black before I’d even finished the sentence. I could practically see the storm clouds forming over his head.
“Absolutely not,” he declared. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until this is over. Not even for a second.”
Frustration pulsed through my veins.
“Well, then we’ll have to figure something out because I’m not going anywhere until I know Sophia’s protected.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Lash warned, the muscles along his jaw ticking with tension.
“I’m not,” I told him. “I’m being stubborn. There’s a difference.”
A low growl started in his chest, radiating out through the cave and echoing off the walls. A couple of days ago, a sound like that would have intimidated the hell out of me, but now it only made me want to dig my heels in further.
“I don’t need your approval, Felicity,” he said. “I’ll just throw you over my shoulder and carry you to the mountains if I have to.”
“Yeah, cause that worked so well for you the last time you tried.” I shot him a look that practically screamed try me. “It took you nearly all night just to go a few miles, and all I had to do was kick, bite, and drag my feet.”
“Sure—while you were fighting for your own life,” he countered. “No one fights half as hard for someone who’s not their mate.”
That’s what he thought.
“Clearly you’ve never had a friend like Sophia.”