Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Spears and halberds flashed up from behind the battlement wall as the alpha’s angry roar shook the forest. Fangs were bared. Claws flicked out. A low mix of growls, dozens of them, rose from the village—a bone-shaking sound.
Lash hadn’t been kidding. This pack really didn’t like him.
On top of the palisade, Calindra’s shoulders stiffened, pulling back into a hard line that radiated authority. Her mouth opened, ready to order her guards into action.
“Atta—“
“No!” Throwing myself in front of Lash, I spread my arms wide, shielding as much of his body as I could with my own. “Please listen to me. We’re not here to hurt anyone.”
No one seemed to care.
Behind the gate, hinges groaned and creaked as the massive doors started to open. Over a dozen guards spilled out, heavily armed and ready to attack.
Behind me, Lash’s hand cupped over my shoulder, trying to pull me behind him to safety, but I dug in my heels, harder and firmer than ever before. I’d dragged him into this plan, and I wasn’t about to let anyone touch him.
“Sophia!” I shouted. “Now would be a really good time for that help you promised.”
I glanced up to the top of the wall, hoping she’d see the desperation in my eyes.
But she wasn’t there anymore.
Shit!
Had she run away? Been pulled back from the slaughter by her mate? Dragged away by the guards just for being associated with me?
A hundred horrible scenarios tumbled through my mind, each one worse than the last.
Like all of my plans, this one had ended up a spectacular failure. I should have known I’d save the worst for last, dooming myself, Sophia, and Lash in one fell swoop.
“Get out of here, Felicity,” Lash barked behind me. “Run like hell for the Wall. I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”
Hell, no.
“You go,” I told him. “This was my fuck up. I’ll face the consequences. You can still escape.”
“Not without you.” His tone was dark, severe. Painfully honest. “I’d rather die.”
“That makes two of us,” I said, only realizing the words were true after they’d come out of my mouth.
I caught a spark of tenderness in his eyes before turning to face our executioners. They hadn’t wasted any time lining up in formation, ready to advance.
I gulped down past the knot in my throat, muttering a little prayer that if heaven was real, God might see fit to forgive all the weird shit I’d done and let me in.
But before I could get to the amen, Sophia came tearing out of the gate. Arms pumping, she ran across the empty space toward us, only skidding to a stop when she was directly beside me.
“Sophia!” a harrowed shout echoed through the trees. “Get back here!”
My eyes followed the sound up to the top of the gate. The alpha that had shouted Lash’s name was now standing there, wide-eyed and panicked.
Kyre—it had to be.
That first night in the woods, he’d been too far away for me to get a good look at him. All I’d been able to make out was his stature and coloring. Those matched, of course, but what really gave him away now was the way he stared at Sophia like she’d gone mad.
“Not until everyone calms the hell down,” she shot back, her tone much firmer than I was used to hearing. “Calindra, tell the guards to stand down.”
“I can’t do that, Sophia,” the Lykaon’s composed voice drifted down. “You don’t know Lash the way we do. You don’t understand what he’s capable of. It’s likely he’s wormed his way into your friend’s head and is manipulating her.”
Sophia let out a bark of laughter.
“And you clearly don’t know Felicity,” she said. “Nobody can make her do anything. If she’s here with Lash, it’s because she trusts him…and I trust her.”
My heart warmed as she slipped her hand into mine.
“And I trust Sophia,” another feminine voice rang out.
One I’d never heard before.
I looked over at the gate just in time to see another kirre woman racing out. She was tall and curvy with nut-brown hair and eyes.
I didn’t know her, but Sophia’s smile grew as she joined our human chain, so I figured she must have been a friend. Besides, I wasn’t picky. I’d take all the allies I could get.
Even though we must have made a pathetic sight—three scrawny wisps standing in front of a wall of giants—the guards still shifted uncomfortably as they faced us.
I guess nobody wanted to be the one to spear defenseless women. Where was the honor in that?
“Thank you, Hannah,” Sophia whispered.
Hannah?
“Hannah Carter?”
If I sounded astonished, it’s because I was.
What the actual fuck? This woman was supposed to be dead. Lash had told me he’d killed her.
I wrenched my head over my shoulder to shoot him a questioning glance. One that quickly morphed into a glare as he shrugged and shot me a guilty grimace.
The son-of-a-bitch had lied to me.
And here I was trying to convince everyone they could trust us.
“Oh, we will talk about this later,” I snapped before turning my attention back to the death squad.
“Hannah, what in Fates’ name are you doing?” another alpha shouted.
“Trying to keep this pack from making a giant mistake, Tauren,” she said. “As usual.”
“Have you lost your damned mind?” he demanded. “You’re siding with Lash?”
“Oh, please. I don’t give a shit about Lash.” Hannah raised her chin. “I’m siding with the other omegas. Like we said, Sophia trusts Felicity, and I trust Sophia.”
While the other ferus growled in frustration, Calindra cocked her head to the side, the telltale signs of curiosity etching into her brow.
“Explain that to me,” she demanded.
“I’m not sure I can,” Sophia started. “Not fully. There’s no way you can understand what it’s like to be a kirre in the Wilds.
Our minds, our bodies, our whole lives change.
We give up our homes. We walk away from our friends and families.
We turn our backs on the only way of life we’ve ever known—but we don’t do it blindly. ”
“What Sophia is trying to say is we’re not weak,” Hannah jumped in. “We might be guided by the Fates, but we’re not ruled by them. Our bodies, and minds, and souls are still our own.”
“Fine,” Hannah’s alpha snapped. “But what the hell does that have to do with Lash?”
Sophia sighed, shaking her head as if it were obvious. “If Felicity is here with Lash, it’s because she brought him. Not the other way around.”
Wow. She really did understand.
“It’s true,” I said. “It took me days to convince him to come back to this village.”
“You shouldn’t have bothered,” Kyre called down with a sneer. “Nobody wants him here.”
“Yeah, that’s coming through loud and clear, buddy,” I fired back. “But since we traveled all this way just to save your ass, what harm is there in shutting your mouth for a second and listening to what we came to say?”
The alpha’s face turned red, his stare hardening…but at least he stayed silent.
With a nod, Calindra prompted us to continue. “Go ahead.”
“Nelissa is coming to attack your village,” I told her.
“We know,” she said, her tone curt. “Sophia informed us.”
“And did she warn you about the raid on the outpost?”
“She did.”
Oh, thank God. “So you were able to get your sentries out of there in time.”
Calindra stiffened slightly, her chin raising an inch. “We thought it too dangerous to leave the post defenseless. So, we doubled the watch instead.”
“Dammit,” I cursed under my breath. “Were they killed in the attack?”
“No,” Calindra said. “But there were injuries. Some serious.”
“They could have been avoided if you’d just listened to us.” I confronted her with the obvious. “And did they try to frame Lash?”
“Some personal items of his were found at the scene,” she confirmed.
But seeing as the village was still standing, it looked like they hadn’t completely played into Nelissa’s hands. And if the pack had been forced to see reason once, they could be made to see it again.
“Well, I’m glad you trusted Sophia’s warning enough not to come racing after us,” I said. “Nelissa would have slaughtered anyone left inside the walls.”
“And she won’t give up,” Lash’s deep voice rumbled behind me. In a flash, all the guards straightened back up into defensive position. “She’ll try again.”
“And why should we believe you, traitor?” Kyre snarled.
“Believe me or don’t,” Lash replied without a hint of apology. “But the truth remains—I know Nelissa better than any of you. I lived in her camp for months. I rose high in her ranks. She trusted me.”
“Then she’s a bigger fool than we thought,” Hannah’s alpha barked.
Lash leaned forward.
“This is useless,” he growled against my ear, before wrapping his hand around my upper arm. “If these imbeciles want to flounder around helplessly in the dark, let them.”
But Calindra wasn’t so rash. She raised her hand for silence.
“Are you saying you came here to give us information that could help us stop her?” she said.
“Yes,” I answered quickly.
But that didn’t satisfy Calindra. “I want to hear it from him,” she said.
Lash sucked in a deep breath, anger and frustration keeping his chest tight. “Yeah,” he finally answered. “I guess so.”
“Why?” she demanded.
“I don’t know,” Lash grumbled. “Because Felicity wants me to. Because it’s the right thing to do. Because the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“What kind of bullshit logic is that?” Kyre laughed.
When Lash didn’t answer, Calindra pressed on.
“Why should we trust you? You left this pack. You turned your back on us. Now you say you want to return.”
“I never said that,” Lash answered with a dark laugh. “The only thing I want is to put Nelissa in the ground so Felicity and I can?—“
He stopped short, cutting himself off with a vicious curse.
But it was too late. Calindra was already clearly intrigued. “So you and Felicity can what?”
The glare he gave her for forcing the admission out of him was cold enough to freeze the sun. “So we can live in peace.”
“Live in peace? Together?” Calindra’s perfect brows arched high. “Are you asking us to believe Felicity is your mate?”
“I’m not asking you anything,” Lash snapped. “You asked a question. I answered it. I don’t give a shit what you do with the information.”
Well, I did. There were too many people’s lives on the line to let pride get in the way.
“It’s true. We’re mates,” I declared, stepping forward. Grabbing my tangled hair, I lifted it up high, showing off the raised and jagged scar on the back of my neck. “I’m pretty sure that’s your version of a wedding band, right?”
“Holy shit,” Sophia murmured, covering her mouth with her hand. “Felicity, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because there were more important things to deal with,” I explained.
“Nelissa and her men are out in these woods. They might be watching us right now, coming up with a new plan to kill us all. So, now the only thing you need to decide is if you want our help defeating her once and for all or if you’d rather spend the rest of your lives cowering behind these walls. ”
Dozens of silent ferus faces stared down at me from above.
One beat passed.
Then another.
Then finally, Calindra’s shoulders sagged.
“Open the gates,” she commanded. “Let them in.”