“Why did you cover for me? Why didn’t you say anything?”
Sarah shrugged. “What difference did it make? At first I thought we were going to run away anyway. And if you tried to do anything bad to us, I’d just stab you in your sleep. You see what my family’s like, so how could you possibly be any worse?”
Dakota took a deep breath, then nodded, hot tears welling in her eyes. It was ending. Her wonderful, beautiful life up here was over now. She really felt like she was the kid’s aunt – she loved them like family. She loved her friends, and she loved Miles. And that was why she had to leave them – because there was one last chance that she could save them. And it meant leaving Granite Flats forever.
“You need to go stay with Naomi and Baldwin right now. They’ll take care of you.”
Sarah started to argue, but Dakota shook her head.
“You have to stay safe for your family’s sake. They’ve got nobody else, you said it yourself. I am one wolf. I can’t keep you safe against an entire pack.”
Sarah nodded, eyes filling with tears, and hugged Dakota hard.
“Wait, why can’t she come with us?” John wailed. “I hate her least of anyone, except Naomi and Baldwin! I don’t care if she’s not really Jamie, she’s ours!”
“I love you all.” Dakota choked on a sob. “Be good for Naomi and Baldwin, don’t fight with each other, and do your homework. I mean it.”
Bursting into tears, she ran out the back door and dashed over to the general store.
She needed to leave before Miles said anything to her that would make her change her mind.
This time, instead of calling Tina’s cell phone, she called her father directly. She got his voicemail.
She swallowed hard and wiped at the tears that streamed down her face.
“Father, I am in the Greenlands territory, in the town of Granite Flats. A pack war is going to happen tomorrow morning, and I need your help. I need you to join forces with the Fenris Pack and fight by their side. If you do that, I will marry anybody you want. I will even marry Roy. And I will be the best mate I can possibly be, and I will not complain about anything he does to me, ever. I give you my word as a Sheffield. I have been mated to the Alpha Prime of the Fenris Pack up here, but I will leave him and accept a new mate. And if you decide that my punishment for disrespecting your pack must be death, then I will respect that too – if you join with the Fenris Pack in the war. I will be at the meeting house tomorrow morning at six a.m.”
She hung up the phone and walked out, then ran out of the town square and into the woods.
Would it work? It had to work. She’d just played her last card.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dakota had no idea where to go or where to stay, so she spent the night curled up under a tree in the woods near the town center. She had no idea what Miles would do if he saw her. Would he curse at her and reject her, or would he beg her to stay? Either would break her heart.
She had one chance to save him, and the territory – and that was her father. Miles and his allies, up against everyone from the east…it was too close to call. Ludwik was powerful – he’d almost knocked Miles down – and there was no telling if Miles would go feral again.
As the sun rose, she walked towards the town center. She was exhausted. She had barely slept, and her clothes were rumpled and dirty. She glanced at her watch. It was 5:30 a.m.
A car that was driving by slowed down, and a familiar voice called out to her. “Dakota! Wait!” It was Tina.
She hurried over to the car. Bizarrely, Tina’s mother Maureen was there too, sitting in the front passenger seat, so Dakota climbed in the back. “Tina? What are you guys doing here?” she asked, shutting the door.
“I came to save you from yourself,” Tina said, sounding exasperated. “What part of ‘your dad is crazy’ did you not understand? Your father and most of your pack are here. He chartered a plane and flew us all to the nearest airport after you left him that message. We got here like an hour ago, and I came looking for you.” Tina shook her head as she headed down the road. “He will rip your throat out with his teeth, Dakota.”
“Your only hope is to kill him first,” Maureen added, twisting around to look at her. “We brought a silver-coated knife. Get in first and stab him.” Dakota couldn’t help but notice that even in a crisis, Maureen was perfectly made up like a 1980s soap opera star, and her silky blond hair was permed, every wave in place.
“I can’t kill my own father,” Dakota protested. Her stomach lurched at the thought. “I’m going to beg for his help. I will stand there and look him in the eye, and if he can still kill me…well, I have no other way out.”