57. Gael

FIFTY-SEVEN

Gael

I tried to get away, Gael. I tried so hard. I’m so sorry I let you both down. Forgive me.

Leigh’s broken voice hit my mind with all the force of a freight train, and I broke stride from my flat-out sprint for a second before I recovered from the shock. Because along with the words, had come an image.

It was Leigh, sopping wet and stranded on the side of a river, naked and surrounded by six men.

I’m coming. I know that spot, I tried to send back, but I had no idea if it worked or how she’d managed to project it to me in the first place. I turned right, pushing my wolf to his limit as we tore through the terrain so fast, chunks of undergrowth and wet dirt flew out behind us.

I couldn’t say how long I ran, only that it was too long. Every second felt like an eternity, like they were hurting her while I was helpless. But this wasn’t a curse I couldn’t cure or centuries of hate and prejudice I couldn’t overturn.

These were flesh-and-blood shifters, and I was going to rip every one of their throats out. The ground beneath me shifted to small stones, and then, a second later, I spotted them .

I had eyes only for my mate, and I was relieved to see that she was blue lipped and swaying on her feet, but she was still upright and fighting back. One of the men had a hand around her throat, but she had her fingernails dug into his meaty forearm, and I saw the rivulets of red running down before I scented the tang of his blood. But a second drag of scent also found the tang of Leigh’s blood, and a red haze fell over my wolf’s vision.

The fight was a blur of red blood and hunks of gore. They realized too late that I was on them, so focused were they on my helpless female. I showed no mercy and tore into them with a savagery that most would have called feral.

I pulled on every bit of my training from the enclave, and within minutes, five bodies lay cold on the ground. The only one remaining had his hand locked tight around Leigh’s throat.

Gael . She mouthed my name, but she couldn’t speak with that monster choking her. A tear rolled down her cheek as I shifted.

“Let her go, and I’ll spare your life.”

“No. She’s mine. I chased her, and I found her. I’m going to bite her, and you can’t stop me.”

To my horror, I realized his fangs were indeed dropped, his words garbled as his wolf tried to come to the fore.

“If you don’t step back and let her go right now, I’ll feed your entrails to the birds tomorrow morning while you’re still alive to watch them feast .” I stalked closer, worry over Leigh being unable to breathe driving me to be aggressive. “If you don’t let her breathe, she’ll be too dead for anyone to claim.”

Her fingertips scrabbled against his wrist, but she was getting too weak to budge him, and I knew I had to move. This man was out of his mind for some reason, and I knew then that nothing I said was going to change that.

I darted to the side, calling on my wolf’s speed and strength to augment mine as I aimed for his throat. My nails shifted to claws as I reached them, and one vicious swipe was all it took. He didn’t even try to dodge as he leaned toward her shoulder with his fangs extended for a mating bite. But his teeth never met her flesh.

His carotid pumped freely, and his grip went limp around Leigh’s throat as he tried to stanch the bleeding from his own.

Leigh stumbled forward, but I was there to catch her. She was soaked to the bone and gasping in strained breaths as she landed against my chest. I cupped my hand behind her head, holding her gently despite the thick gore coating me.

She tried to turn, tried to face her last standing attacker, but I kept her tucked against me, shielding her from the sight of more death as he spasmed on the ground.

“You-u found me,” she said through chattering teeth. “How did you find me?”

“You called me,” I murmured, chafing her arms, trying to warm her and cursing my bad luck that I had nothing warm to offer her except my own body heat.

“Can you shift?” I asked, going into emergency triage mode. “Your wolf’s fur can keep you warmer.”

“Can’t. Too tired. She ran from them as far as she could before the water got too rough and we almost drowned,” she whispered against my neck, her exhaustion clear.

Even with nothing but my own heat to offer her, the shivers were starting to slow. I wouldn’t breathe easy, though, until she was dry and warm and in the bunker. I scooped her off her feet, stepping over the strewn limbs of her attackers as I headed for the nearest cache of clothing.

Thankfully, it wasn’t far, and I popped open the watertight black chest a few minutes later. I set her on her feet, not letting go of her hand as I dug through the clothing. There was a pair of sweats in there that was only a little too big, so I helped her step into those first. My next round of digging found a way too big sweatshirt, but it was better than nothing .

“Arms up,” I ordered, and she complied without hesitation. With trust. It was enough to clog my throat, but I was in damage control mode. I turned back to the chest, finally releasing her hand so I could find myself a pair of pants, when she gasped behind me.

“Gael?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, and I spun, looking for the threat.

“What is it? I don’t sense anyone?”

“It’s your back, there’s—” She grabbed my shoulders, spinning me around. “Would you hold still for a damn minute?”

“I’m sure I’ve got some cuts, but it’s okay. They’ll heal in a few minutes. Right now, we need to get you to the nearest guardhouse, where you can warm up and we can lock a door.” I tried to turn back to the chest, but she didn’t let me go.

“No, Gael, stop .” She used an alpha bark on me, and while it didn’t really work—your own mate couldn’t use an alpha command on you effectively—it did give me pause. Her chilled fingertips traced along my skin, leaving a shivery feeling in their wake. “Your back. It’s covered in mate marks.” Leigh used my shoulders to turn me yet again, this time to meet my eyes. “They’ve come in. Your marks have come in .” She said it slowly, as if she could tell I wasn’t hearing her.

Her words weren’t processing. She couldn’t be right. She’d said it herself—we were doomed. Our destiny was to never progress, to stay separate so I could protect our daughter. It wasn’t possible.

“BD?”

She must have seen the lack of belief in my eyes, because when I didn’t answer her, she held that eye contact as she reached down and lifted the hem of her oversized sweatshirt and lifted it back off. My wolf growled, knowing there was no way she was warmed all the way back up yet—and I had to work not to get distracted by both her chest and bump now back on display—but she spun as she pulled it off, and I lost my breath.

Stunning, perfect mate marks. They covered her entire back, from the nape of her neck, broadly spanning across both shoulders and twirling down in graceful arcs to the base of her spine in striking red ink.

All the breath in my body left me, and I sank back to my knees.

We aren’t doomed .

“You have mate marks.” I breathed the words reverently, letting myself reach up and trace them. I wanted to kiss every delicate line, every sweeping curve. I’d never seen marks in such a stunning, bold red before, but they fit the firecracker of a woman who wore them. They almost resembled a phoenix, broad wings tapering down into the smaller lines framing the bottom of her spine. I pressed a reverent kiss to a curl of ink on her shoulder blade.

“So do you, prince. They’re on your back. That’s what I was trying to tell you.” She held her blonde hair to the side, peeking back at me over her shoulder as if to watch my reaction.

I let my eyes fall closed, sucking in great gulps of air through my nose. My hands were shaking, and we weren’t out of danger yet. I wanted to enjoy this moment to the fullest, but it was hard when her safety was still at risk. But the marks were everything.

I get to keep her. Even my father can’t dispute this.

Her hands on my cheeks had my eyelids snapping back open a moment later.

“You said before that I called you. What did you mean by that?” Leigh asked, studying me carefully from where she knelt in front of me.

“I heard…” My eyes widened in realization as I played it back. Mental bond . “I heard your voice inside my head. And then I got a snapshot of the clearing. All the men surrounding your wolf.”

She nodded, biting her lip as my hands came up to cup her shoulders. “Do you think I was wrong?” The question was a pained whisper, with none of her usual fire. “About everything, about us, completing our bond—just everything?”

That was when it hit me, finally sinking in.

We don’t have to stay apart. The Goddess has spoken.

I threaded my fingers into her hair, pulling her to me for a searing kiss. She squeaked at the sudden change in direction, but melted into me all the same, wrapping her arms around me and pressing her bare chest against my own.

By the time I pulled back, her lips were pink and puffy from my kiss. “Bond with me,” I demanded, watching with a grin as her eyes went wide.

“What? Gael! We can’t just… It’s not even the full moon!” She tried to pull away, to stand and pace away from me, no doubt, but I didn’t let her. I kept her anchored to me like my life—like her answer —depended on it.

“The full moon is tomorrow. I know where we’re heading, and I can make it happen. All you have to do is say yes. Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me, Leigh? If all the rest were gone. If there were no outside trouble, no curse, no family expectations. If it was only you and me, a man and a woman, would you say yes?” I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her face as she considered it. Everything hung in the balance. I could feel it in my bones, surer than I’d ever been about anything before in my life.

“Of course I would,” Leigh said softly, pushing back a lock of her bedraggled hair. I quickly took the discarded sweatshirt from her hands and pulled it back over her head. There was no way she was warm yet. “Of course, I would say yes, but?—”

“No buts. We’ll figure this out together. Me and you, as mates. We have a soul bond. We’re literally inside each other’s heads. It doesn’t get closer or more intimate than that. And I can’t believe the Goddess would have given us that if we weren’t meant to embrace it. So, will you say yes? Will you bond with me tomorrow, under the moon and the Goddess herself?”

She rubbed her belly, and I knew she was torturing herself over Petal’s future. Imagining orphaning our child. But somehow, deep down, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I placed my hand over hers, and she looked back up at me with a worried frown.

“Petal is going to be okay. I know it. And I think if you stepped past the fear, you’d know it too. Reed said something to me the other day, and I brushed it off at the time. He said it felt a lot like the Goddess was bringing us all together for a reason we just hadn’t figured out yet. And you know what? He’s right. There’s no other explanation. And I refuse to believe there’s no hope for us, for our family. There has to be hope, or what’s the point of all this crazy shit happening?”

I stroked her chin with my thumb. The decision had to be hers. Even if it killed me, I’d wait. I’d ask her again every full moon until she either said yes or there was no breath left in my body, but the decision was hers.

She straightened her shoulders, and it was like watching her put on armor. Goddess, but she was magnificent. Leigh was all alpha, and I loved her so fiercely for it that I couldn’t breathe sometimes. Because that was exactly what I wanted our daughter to grow up to be. If she had half of Leigh’s fire, she’d be just fine, no matter what the future held.

“Yes. Prince Gael Starling, I will bond with you under the full moon tomorrow, and we will protect our daughter together . Yes,” she said again, and my heart nearly exploded with joy.

I kissed her again then, not caring that I was coated in blood or she was damp and covered in dirt. She was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen, but even if she weren’t, I wouldn’t have cared. Because the person she was on the inside was my perfect other half.

When I got to my feet, I pulled her with me. “As much as I’d love to admire all this for the next hour or three,” I said, rubbing over her beautiful bump, “we still need to get to somewhere safer and meet back up with the rest of the pack. Are you ready?”

Leigh nodded, and I scooped her back up off her feet.

She clung to me as I walked, not saying a word about me carrying her, which told me how truly spent she really was underneath her alpha bravado. I kept an eye out for more threats, but thankfully, we didn’t run into anyone else before we reached the nearest guardhouse. The door was locked, which was a good sign. Before I could free a hand to knock, it popped open.

Our youngest perimeter guard, Burt, stuck his head out, looked both ways, and waved us inside. He locked the door behind us as I knelt and gently sat Leigh in the chair next to the cabinet with the spare clothes and supplies stored in it. She hesitated before unwinding her arms from around my neck.

“Are we safe in here? The guys you fought weren’t the only ones. It sounded like a lot of people out there for some reason. Do you know what’s going on?” she asked, looking between me and Burt.

“You’re safe here. I won’t let anyone get to you or Petal, and that’s a promise,” I said before turning to Burt. “What’s the status?”

He swallowed hard.

“I’m not sure, sir. It’s been pretty quiet after the initial alarm in this part of the woods.”

I nodded and gestured for him to pass me his radio. He complied without hesitation .

“This is Gael, from perimeter station C. Sound off your status,” I ordered into the radio. Within seconds, reports came in from every station except G, which remained silent.

“Andrei, send a team to G and report in once it’s secure.”

“On it,” came his succinct reply.

I passed the radio back to Burt. “Don’t leave this building unless your scheduled relief shows up or you receive a direct order from me or Andrei. Can I borrow your cell?”

He put the phone in my outstretched palm, and I turned back to Leigh, giving her a smile I didn’t feel. She looked calm, but she’d been through hell, and I didn’t take that lightly. My instincts were raging to hide her away until the bond was complete, but I had to be careful, or I could walk her into more danger trying to get her back into the castle.

I dialed the number for the phone I knew was inside the bunker. It rang twice, and then Shay’s voice was on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Shay, it’s Gael. I have Leigh, and we’re safe. What’s the status there?”

“Thank the Goddess you found her. We’re fine down here. The castle is locked down tight, but it’s ugly on the security cameras. We’re completely surrounded, and people are pelting the castle with Goddess knows what,” Shay said, then hesitated. “They don’t seem to be fizzling out any time soon, and some of them are carrying weapons.”

It sounded grim.

“Understood. Is Kane available?”

“Sure, hang on.” I heard her call him over and then a scratchy sound as he took the phone.

“Gael?”

“Yes, Alpha. Leigh is safe, and the perimeter is secure except guardhouse G, but Andrei has people on it. What do you want to do? Stay bunkered and ride it out, or pull the rip cord? ”

There was a long pause. I didn’t envy him making this decision.

“Running to the airport and back to Pack Blackwater grounds isn’t an option, but it’s making me itch to have the women in danger. Any ideas that don’t look like we’re turning tail and running away guiltily?”

No, not a damn one. Except… “We could make a visit to my sister. It’s a day’s drive, but they’d offer us sanctuary. Plus, a royal visit isn’t running scared or an admission of guilt.”

Kane sounded surprised when he responded. “Are you sure about that?”

The more the idea sat with me, the surer I was. “If they want to pry us out of the Maiden’s Enclave, they’re more than welcome to try. But once they realize they’ve failed to get to us, they should dissipate or get rounded up by Sergei’s and Andrei’s cleanup crews. Speaking of which, I need a cleanup of six dead shifters over by the big bend in the river to the southwest of the castle. Leigh had pursuers.” Just the memory of them had my anger rising again like the tide. I tried to stifle it so I could stay clear-headed, but it was difficult.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.

“I’m glad you took care of them. I’ll make sure they’re picked up in the clean-up sweep. How do you want to handle the visit to your sister?” he asked.

I mentally ran through the options, then rattled off the safest plan. There were several SUVs in the bunker, so he could load up the rest of our packmates in one, leave two for Cristian to evacuate the castle staff, and still leave one behind for me and Leigh to pick up to meet them at the enclave.

He agreed, and within five minutes, we had a game plan. I hung up the phone and tossed it back to Burt.

“Thanks for letting me borrow that. The heat should die down after we’re gone, but contact Andrei if you see anything suspicious. He’ll be in charge until the high alpha and I return. ”

He nodded, face pale but determined.

I clapped him on the shoulder and turned to Leigh. “You ready to get out of here?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said with determination as she got to her feet.

I took her hand, and we stepped back into the forest.