“Some people take longer to adjust. Don’t forget, most of us have our first encounters with werewolf aggression as children. How do we really remember how many times we blanked out? Maybe we did it as babies. You’re a bit of a unique case. Even your sister hasn’t faced the same kind of endless battering since her shift that you have.”
Betsy let Lake’s words sink in. “Then I was in another fight.”
“It would seem that way. A few hours ago. We got left behind. Cyrus didn’t want to bring everyone with him in case something like this happened.” Lake nodded.
“The true believers, they somehow knew we were here and got to us?” She was going to string Nathan up by his toenails, assuming he was still alive after being left in Alexei’s gentle care for over twenty-four hours.
“We don’t think it was the true believers.” John stepped forward, holding out his phone. He handed it to her, and it took her a minute to realize what she was looking at. She and Cyrus were not yet communicating using cell phones. But it seemed that her mate had sent him a message.
It read: under attack by wolf pack with a set of directions. “We darted out to the car.”
“And all you found was me.” It wasn’t a question. If Cyrus had been around, he would have popped up by then.
“Betsy.” Lake leveled her eyes to hers. “Mated couples can sometimes tell. Not always. Jensen didn’t know Kyra was dead until he saw, but sometimes a mated couple can tell if one half of the pair is dead. Are you feeling anything?”
“What?” She didn’t mean to shout, but that was what she did. “No, nothing like that. Cyrus isn’t dead.” She would know deep inside of her where her heart beat if he was. Wouldn’t she?
“Okay. So then I’m going to suggest that we return to the house, hole up there, and wait for Cyrus to contact us. I trust my brother to get himself out of this situation.”
“No.” She spoke the word almost the second she thought it, instead of considering what she wanted to say, a usual occurrence for her, especially in this kind of uncertainty. “I have a different idea. I know exactly how we’re going to help him. Cyrus is in trouble. And I’m not going to leave him that way. Tell me, can you get Alexei on the phone?”
She hoped she wasn’t about to make a terrible mistake.
****
Nothing much had changed in Destiny, Montana, since she had left. She hadn’t expected it to be different. But it hadn’t been until they had driven through what amounted to the downtown with its one stop sign and white aluminum siding everywhere she looked that she realized how addicted she had become to New York City.
Some people might crave the solitude that living in Destiny provided. Betsy never would again. Her mind worked better with the constant noise of Manhattan instead of the oppressive buzzing silence of her small hometown.
They pulled up to the compound in silence. It really didn’t look like much of a compound but Betsy knew looks could be deceiving. The red brick building had one gate in front of it with a doorbell she was going to have to ring before she gained access to the people inside.
Behind the red house would be other buildings. She’d heard her father discuss this place. Although she couldn’t see the rest of it, she knew it was there.
“You sure you want to do this?” Lake chewed on her bottom lip. Cyrus’ sister was worried. Betsy could smell it in the way the other woman’s scent kept twisting in strength. One second it was light, the next almost overwhelming.
“Yes.” No. She hoped her own aroma didn’t betray how unsure she actually felt about this endeavor. She knew what Cyrus would want. He’d be ordering her back to the house and out of sight. But if her mate and the thirteen others had been taken by a wolf pack, then there was only one group she knew to ask for information.
The true believers.
And she had the one thing they wanted. Nathan.
“All right.” Betsy tried to open the door, and John stopped her, reaching around her to put his hand over hers.
“You can’t do this, Betsy. Not alone. The Alpha will kill me.”
She had finally gotten John to stop calling her ma’am. If the five of them were going to survive this, it was going to have to be on equal footing or not at all. When Cyrus returned, they could all scamper to be polite. For now, they could treat her like a woman about to step off a cliff with only them to keep her from plunging to her death. .
“Okay.” John made a good point. Cyrus would freak out if he found out the others had let her go into the compound alone. But she wouldn’t be responsible for getting any of them killed. “Then you come along. The rest of you, stay here with the car running.”