Chapter 23 #3
Samara felt sick. "How do you plan to escape?"
Grace pulled a White Mountains baseball cap out of one of the shopping bags and popped it on her head. "The protection spell will help me and Kellen while we assess the situation."
"What about Leo and Stephen? They're going first. Can't you cast the spell to protect them?"
"There's no time and we don't have the ingredients. Not to mention, it's been a century and half since I cast it the first time. Even then it took a couple of hours to get it right."
Before Samara said anything else, Leo took off his leather jacket and started to loosen his clothes and shoelaces. As he did, Stephen landed the drone and put the laptop and controls on the floor of the van before he too started to prepare to shift.
With the first light of dawn pouring over them, Kellen pulled both of them into a tight hug but said nothing.
The three of them stood there, holding each other saying nothing in words, but everything in their actions.
As much as her heart ached for Carlie, it hurt so much more watching the three brothers.
The grim reality was, they may not survive this.
Samara’s heart shattered into so many pieces she would never be able to put them together again.
Kellen has a plan, she repeated to herself.
Then Leo and Stephen were gone, jogging toward the tree line, with Kellen never taking his eyes off of them, as if he wanted to carve one last memory of his brothers into his mind.
Once they disappeared, Samara cleared her throat to get Kellen's attention. As much as the raw pain in his eyes hurt to see, time wasn't on their side. The faster they figured out how to put a stop to Josiah and his pack's ambitions, the faster they could rescue Leo and Stephen.
"You never said what my role is in this scheme of yours. How do you plan to escape once Josiah has you."
Grace walked away, giving the two of them some privacy.
Kellen placed his hands on her shoulders, looking at her for the first time in too long. She saw his wolf in his face as if his skin was pulled too tight across his cheeks as the predator pushed the human out of the way.
"Your role, Samara, is to escort George to the gym and leave with him and Car—"
"No." She pulled away from him. "I'm not running away. I will not let that son of a bitch get his hands on you and your brothers. After what he did to me? To my grandfather..."
"Listen to me!" he yanked her back, his hands gripping her arms too tight.
"You are the most powerful alpha in the world.
Like it or not, you cannot allow Josiah a single shot at incapacitating you and stealing your grandfather's wolf shadow.
Walking into that camp will put every wolf shifter in existence at risk with your uncontrolled power.
Not to mention what he'll do to Carlie and George if he finds them.
Please tell me you understand that we cannot let that happen. "
“But how are you going to escape? You must have a plan for that.”
“We’re not going to escape. At least, not right away.
My brothers and I have supplies hidden throughout the woods, just in case one of the tourists or ranchers caught a glimpse of us.
We know how to escape chains if we need to.
If we can get to just one pack of supplies, we’ll have a better chance of breaking Josiah’s hold over us. ”
“If? You know what he’s going to do and your whole plan is based on an if?
” Fear and rage clashed and somewhere inside, she felt her wolf shadows waking up.
A surge of conflicting thoughts and desires collided with her adrenaline.
It took every ounce of her inner strength to dampen her urge to run, to fight, to kill.
"Promise me you'll protect Carlie and George."
There were too many other things she wanted to say, so she kept her answer short. "I will."
Next thing she knew he pulled her close, not kissing her but hugging her as he had his brothers. In her ear he whispered. "I love you, Samara. Not my wolf, me...just me. If I survive this then I swear I will dedicate my life to you. We will seal our shadows together forever."
"I pledge the same. I love you, Kellen, until the end of time. I swear I will never ever break your heart. You will survive this. I believe in you."
Then he backed up, his powerful gaze locked on hers as he tugged off his jacket and loosened his clothes.
Only when he'd reached the edge of the parking lot where Grace waited for him, did he turn his back and jog into the woods with her.
George emerged from the trees with a slight limp and a black eye.
Kellen clapped his hand on the chef's shoulder.
The man tried to tell Kellen something, but Kellen kept going, not stopping until he disappeared into the trees.
Samara couldn't pull her gaze away from the forest. The smoke in the air, the breeze shaking the tree branches…it all pushed her to where her wolf shadow—her grandfather’s—wanted her to go.
But she couldn’t leave because George was there, calling her Maria, demanding to know where Carlie was.
With all the inner strength she had to muster, Samara pulled herself together.
"Carlie is inside the gym. Follow me. We have work to do."