“We need to find out who her mate is,” Joella stated.
“Why?”
“Because she might not last much longer, and his blood could help her. She should at least meet him,” she said sadly, rubbing her thumb over Verona’s pale cheek.
“We need to get the clothing scraps.” I stood up and paced the floor.
“The scraps?” Pilar yelped softly. I nodded, looking over at her in pity. “We have them.”
Joella’s head snapped to her. “What?”
“We have them,” she said again, leaning over to reach something from her back pocket. She pulled a piece of black fabric out, bringing it to her nose before she held it out for me to take.
I took it, smelled it, and handed it to Theo. He inhaled the scent and looked at me, I nodded.
“This is my brother Gabriel’s scent,” Theo told Pilar. Pilar looked confused and then whispered Gabriel’s name, smiling. Her tan skin filled with color for the first time since we met. “Where are the others?”
Olympia pulled a white piece of fabric from her pocket, handing it to us.
“Reese,” Theo confirmed.
Joella reached into Verona’s pocket’s, finding a blue scrap.
“Eli.”
Stuck Together
Theo lifted both of his arms and pulled on the roots of his hair.
“Why the hell did she gather all of my brother’s mates and lead them into an ambush?” he fumed. “How the hell could she even know who all of you were mated to before they did?”
“Mates can sense each other through smell,” Joella said.
“But they visited Gabriel’s pack, how did my brothers not recognize their scents?”
“We waited outside pack lines,” Olympia told us. “Saskia told us it was safer this way.”
“So, she drags you on a hunt for your mates, brings you to them, but then doesn’t allow you to meet them.”
“Verona wasn’t with us yet,” Pilar said softly, glancing over at the younger girl. “Maybe that’s why we couldn’t go in. Maybe she needed all three of us for something.”
I could tell Theo’s mind was reeling, moving too fast to put the pieces together.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be focusing so much on the mate thing, but what about the ambush? If she was going to hold you for ransom or something, there would be no reason to do that.” I continued to pace the room as I talked.
“Do you know who took you?” Theo asked Olympia. She snorted.
“No.” She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t recognize them, but they knew Saskia, they called her by her name.”
“Listen, this is great and dandy,” Joella cut in. “But we need to get Verona to Eli if she wants to have a chance at surviving. This girl has been through a lot. She needs him right now.”
“How are we going to do that?” Pilar softly asked, her eyebrows curling up in worry. She would be a good Luna. “Will she be okay on the drive?”
Felix came into the room, a hand covering the voice-piece of the phone in his hand. “I just got off the phone with Alpha Horik, he said you’re more than welcome to use his plane. They live only twenty minutes west of us. You’ll be there in about an hour. It’s the safest way.”
“I’m going with you,” Joella announced, packing up the things in her medical kit. Felix grabbed her hand to stop her.
“Jo,” he said softly.
“Felix, this girl needs me.” Felix didn’t let her hand go.
“Jo, our baby needs you. You need to stay here.”
“You’re pregnant?” I asked her. She looked over at me and, after a few moments, nodded. Her shirt pressed up against a small bump of her belly that I hadn’t noticed in the
“It’s not safe for you to fly.” Felix pushed her back into her seat.
“Felix, I’m fine to fly. It’s not close to my due date,” She grabbed his hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I could never forgive myself if this girl didn’t make it to her mate safely before she even met him.”
“I can’t come with you, I can’t leave the pack,” Felix said sadly. She nodded and pulled him closer to her.
“I love you,” she said lovingly in his ear.
We waited for them to part, looking down to give them a moment alone. As they let each other go, Joella looked at us expectantly.
“What are you doing? Get the cars ready,” she snapped. We moved quickly into action. Theo and Joella lifted Verona carefully into one of the cars. Felix and I helped Pilar and Olympia into another vehicle.
Felix stood at Joella’s door, whispering something to her. She blushed and kissed him once before he closed her door.
Theo led us to Alpha Horik’s pack, where we were greeted at the border by Drax Horik himself. He led us to an airstrip with a sizeable plane, prepped, and waiting for us to board.
“Thank you,” Theo said as they clasped arms.
“Mates are a gift,” he said happily. “Plus, I hate crazy she-wolves.”
“You and me both,” Theo said, chuckling darkly. I stood on the steps of the plane, waiting for Theo. He jogged up behind me, and we found two seats.
I had never been on a plane before, which was evident to Theo as I gripped the armrest so tightly my hands turned white.
“Nervous?” he teased. I ignored him, trying to take deep breaths as the plane jolted into motion. “You’re going to be fine.”
“Hold my hand?” I asked him, my eyes still closed. His warm hand came under mine and squeezed back just as tightly.
I didn’t let go of Theo’s hand the entire flight, even when he tried to pull away. Olympia and Pilar sat next to each other, speaking quietly about their future mates. Joella was next to Verona, who was strapped down to a gurney, with the rest of Caddy’s warriors.
We landed on a flat strip of the road south of the packhouse. Gabriel, Reese, Eli, Sloane, along with multiple warriors and medics stood waiting
