I jumped from my seat and ran toward the back door, ready to race to wherever he was. I’d only made it a halfway across the patio when someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me to a stop. I turned to find Beatrice, her face stony.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to find Wyatt.”
She shook her head. “He’s busy, Callie. You need to stay here.”
I yanked on my arm, but she had it in her freakishly strong hold. “I don’t care, Bea. I need to get to him. I need to be with him.”
“No. You need to stay here and do your part. We all have jobs to do, including you. Wyatt doesn’t need you distracting him right now. He’s on his way to Abraham and Ellie anyway.”
I finally pulled my arm free and turned to face her fully. “Where’s that?” I knew they were on their honeymoon and that they’d opted to stay close to pack lands, but I didn’t know exactly where.
“You don’t need to know that right now. All you need to know is he’s busy and so are you. I need you, Del, and Evey to go down to the pack houses and get all of them up here and into the basement. Once they’re down there, you three need to guard the lodge. I’ll have some enforcers out there with you too, but there won’t be many because I need the rest of them meeting the Charlotte pack head on. You’re the last line of defense we have.”
I brushed her off and walked past her. “They’re werewolves. They can fend for themselves. I need to find my mate.”
“What about Nora?” she called from behind me.
I froze at the top of the stairs, my mind whirling.
“Nora can’t defend herself and Wes and Wyatt aren’t here to do it. She needs you, Callie. More than Wyatt does right now. Do this for him if nothing else.”
Dang it.
She was right.
Nora was just as important to me as any of my family and she needed protecting more than anyone else did. I growled softly and took off down the stairs. “Fine,” I called. “You go tell the others to meet me at the pack houses.”
I took off across the field, my mind on getting Nora to safety, but my heart with Wyatt. I had to believe he’d be okay. I had to believe he’d keep his promise and come home to me. There was just no other acceptable option.
Chapter 38
Callie
“Have you heard from anyone?” Evey asked for the fifth time in the past half hour.
I huffed out an annoyed breath and shook my head. “You’ll know when I do.”
We’d had complete radio silence from all the enforcers for the past hour except for the few that were stationed around the lodge. I’d been running routes alongside my sisters for that long, dying to hear anything from anyone, but there was nothing.
I reached out to Wyatt again, even though I figured it would be in vain like all the other times. “Wyatt, just let me know you’re okay, please. Just a single word and I’ll leave you alone.”
I waited and waited, but predictably, there was no answer. Digging my claws into the soft grass beneath me, I picked up the pace and made another lap around the lodge.
We’d successfully gotten everyone into the basement and had them barricade themselves, just in case of the worst possible outcome. We didn’t say it out loud, but we all knew a couch shoved in front of a wooden door wouldn’t stop a determined werewolf for long. We just had to hope it didn’t come to that.
It’d been quiet on our end, which was a good sign, I guess. That meant no one had broken through our ranks. But that also meant the conflict was still going on and we had no way of knowing how it was going. Or who was winning.
“I’m sure everyone’s okay,” Evey said, but it sounded she didn’t even believe herself anymore.
This was torture.
Knowing my mate was in danger and not being able to do anything about it. Being forced to hang back when all I wanted to do was find him and make sure he was okay. It was enough to drive a wolf mad, and as the minutes ticked by, it felt like I came closer and closer to flirting with that line.
I made another lap around the lodge and passed Will for the dozenth time. He’d opted to not join the fight, but he’d been outside with us and the enforcers since we’d locked down the rest of the pack. I didn’t know if that meant he’d defend the lodge against the Charlotte pack, and I hoped I didn’t have to find out.
I reached out mentally to one of the enforcers stationed with us, Austin. He was newer to the force and that was probably the reason he was stuck back here with us and not with the others in battle.
“Any news?”
“Nothing yet, Callie,” he responded right away, and I worked to not growl at his answer just because it wasn’t the one I wanted. It wasn’t his fault. He was as much in the dark as the rest of us.
I’d just made another lap around the lodge, pushing myself to run faster than ever when a sharp pain shot through my abdomen, stealing my breath and knocking me off my feet. I tumbled to the ground, my face skidding across the grass as I gasped in pain.
“Callie!”
“Callie!”
“Callie!”
My sisters called out to me, but I ignored them, focusing instead on the last voice I’d heard.
“Wyatt?!”
It had been his voice I’d just heard in my head,
