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-“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

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-“Not really. It was just a dream about the day I learned my father died.” I admitted.“There had to be more than just that. You were kicking and screaming.” The way he was looking at me made me want to throw myself in his arms.“Let’s just say I hadn’t been too happy with my mother. She had kept it from me for weeks. I might have gotten a little theatrical about it.” I shrugged nonchalantly as I rolled onto my side to face him.“Okay, if that is all it was, I will leave you to get some more sleep.” Ryker stood to leave, but I quickly grabbed his hand.“Please stay.” I pleaded.I wasn’t expecting anything from him, although it would be nice. I just didn’t want to be left alone tonight. It was more than likely the wolfsbane that had triggered the nightmare, on top of losing one of my pack members and Shawn all in one day.“I’m sorry, but I can’t. I know you say we are mates, but we can’t be more than we are. I think it is for the best that we keep things as they are. If you want

Taelin-For the rest of the night, I stayed outside by myself. I was livid at what Ryker had tried to do. Why couldn’t he understand that by killing the rogues it was also killing off our kind? If we find a cure, how will we be able to cure everyone if he means to kill them all?Each time I took down an infected, I refused to go inside. I took it to the front door and used the intercom to alert them that I dropped off another. Before anyone could come out to collect them, I took off, so I didn’t have to speak to anyone.Maybe it was a good thing I wasn’t a member of the pack. I wanted to scream at how much they infuriated me. Even my wolf wasn’t happy with the turn of events. I did alert the Alpha King about what happened, and he told me to keep doing what I was doing.At least he understood the importance of things. Now it was nearing sunrise and altogether I had taken down seven rogues on my own, without killing one. It has been quiet for the last hour, and I wasn’t sure if any more