Taelin-As Ryker held me, I felt this sudden need to tell him the truth. I had my doubts that he would respond the way I wanted him to, but the way he was acting right now made me wonder if I was just being silly. He was so tender and caring, that I just wanted to tell him everything that was bothering me.With the way things are now progressing, this might be the only chance I will have to tell him that he is my mate. As I debated on what to do, I welcomed his warmth and leaned into him while he gently stroked my hair. One thing I knew for sure, he was far from the jerk that I had thought him to be.“I wish I could take away your pain, but we need to figure out what is out there so we can find a way to go outside. If they are targeting human territories, we will need to load up on more supplies.” Ryker interrupted my thoughts.As much as I hated to break this moment we were having, he was right. My thoughts of telling him the truth was going to have to wait for now. Soon though, I kn
Taelin-In a split second, once Ryker was no longer in the second beast’s way, it rushed toward me. Pinned between it and the car, I had nowhere to go. I knew this was it, I was going to die.Looking around, I tried to look for my dagger, but I couldn’t see it. What had I been thinking to come out here and try to face these creatures? Just one blow to them and I injured myself. If I had used any other part of my body, I could have done worse than dislocate it.Just then the beast staggered back as it tried to claw at its own back. As the beast turned, I realized that Ryker had my dagger. He had jumped onto the back of the beast and had my dagger buried to the hilt in its back.Taking the chance I was given, I quickly fixed my leg, trying not to scream out in pain. Once I felt like I could get back on my feet, I got up and started forward to help. Only to stop as I remembered something.Returning to my car, I opened the back door and located a tranquilizer gun. Pulling it out, I checke
Ryker-Rushing to Taelin’s side, I pulled her into my arms and held her close. When she had gone off on her own, I had thought the absolute worst. It only intensified when I saw the large rogue jump off the building to run to the woods.I wanted to yell at her for behaving as she had, but I was too overwhelmed with emotions at seeing her alive. I did my best to cover her naked body from the other males from seeing, while at the same time I didn’t care. She bombarded me by saying she was my mate, then left without giving me time to process it.“I am fine.” Taelin’s soft voice filled my ears, nearly making me tear up.Without a word, I pulled my shirt off and helped her into it. Once she was covered, I lifted her into my arms. I knew she could walk, but I needed her close, as did my wolf.Neither of us believed she was our mate, but at this moment, I didn’t care. Besides, even if she were my mate, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. If I marked her she would only die.By the time
Taelin-“My brother is clear to come out of the basement today!” Sara burst into my room without knocking.There was so much joy on Sara’s face that I couldn’t even be remotely upset with her. Setting down the laptop I was using to try to locate the third beast, I smiled up at her. She rushed to sit on the foot of my bed, as I was sitting in the chair.“I am so happy to hear that.” Moving to the edge of the chair, I gave her my full attention.“Taelin, I can’t wait for you to meet him. I know you will like him. He can be a bit quiet at times, but he is such a good guy.” Sara bounced off the bed as if she couldn’t keep still.For the first time in what I felt like was forever, I felt utter happiness at seeing her like this. I barely knew her, yet I already felt a strong bond with her. It could be because she was the only female here, but I didn’t care.“I can’t wait to meet him too.” I told her as I watched her practically jumping around my room.“Come, let’s go celebrate. We still hav
Taelin-“We know very little about what we are up against now. I need everyone to be paired up and stay with their partner at all costs. This is the first time we have gone out as a large group. We need to be prepared to get attacked even in human territory.” Ryker began as soon as everyone was gathered.“Four of you will be designated shifters, while the rest stay in human form. If you need to shift, you are permitted, but there needs to be at least two that do not shift at any cost.” Ryker looked between everyone that was gathered before continuing.“Sara and Leo will team up. Being the two of you are related, you both have a greater bond with each other. The same goes for Julian and Ryan.” He said then stopped talking again as he looked between the others.Ryan Drake, Julian’s twin brother. This was the first time seeing Ryan, other than the picture of him in the folder I had on him. Seeing them stand side by side, it was hard to tell them apart, other than the noticeable scar abov
Taelin-“Reyes, duck!” The Alpha King called out my last name.Doing as I was told, I slid to my knees, using the momentum of my speed to continue to carry me forward. As curious as I was about the Alpha King being here, my objective was still to get to Ryker. While I continued to slide, I leaned my torso back as I slid between the legs of a rogue.Using my daggers, I sliced at the rogue’s tendons, behind the knees. The sound of a machine gun of some sort pierced through the air. The relief I felt that we had help, was fleeting. I still needed to assist Ryker.Once I was out of the flock of rogues, I jumped to my feet. When I saw the rogues that had cornered Ryker were all dead, I realized I underestimated my mate. Another attack came at me, causing me to need to sidestep out of the way, spinning my body around. Just as I swung an arm out to plant one of my daggers into the scalp of a rogue.When I had the chance, I checked on the other members of Ryker’s pack and saw the files on the
Ryker-“How is she doing?” The Alpha King asked the moment he walked through the door.“She hasn’t woken up yet and her wound isn’t healing.” I answered, without looking at him.I knew it was disrespectful to not stand in his presence, but I couldn’t step away from Taelin right now. When she had been attacked, I had watched it in slow motion. Fear plagued me that she was going to get infected.Luckily, that wasn’t the case, but her wound was deep. She had also lost a lot of blood. I didn’t understand why she wasn’t healing though. This wound should already be healing.“Because her weapons are laced with wolfsbane.” The Alpha King explained it as if it was the simplest explanation.“Why the hell are you giving weapons with wolfsbane to werewolves?” I demanded, not the least bit concerned with yelling at him.“It wasn’t a light decision, but it is effective against them. They might be different than you or I, but they are still werewolves. Do you think I would put anyone in danger inten
Taelin-“Nonsense. I am just glad I was able to make it in time. We need to be more careful out there. I could leave some more of my men here if it would help. I can spare one or two. With the situation now I am stretching thin.” The Alpha King said, making me feel a little better.Except for the fact I had this feeling that asking him to leave another warrior here wouldn’t be a good idea. He was right, with the way things were progressing, now wasn’t the time to relocate warriors, unless needed. I also didn’t want to admit that I might be unable to handle this.After tonight’s debacle, I wondered just how prepared I was. I could handle more than my fair share of enemies, but that had been out of my scope of expertise. I just needed to stop getting distracted and do what I came here to do.“No Sir, I think we can manage. I will do better if we face another threat.” I told him.“I do not doubt it. Just know that if you do need help, there is another pack seventy miles or so south of he