Chapter 70

The guards kepttheir hold so that I did not have the opportunity to rush to my mate.

After the fifth lash, Sage no longer cried out. She appeared to be unconscious.

As I watched the guard strike my mate, I tried to make plans.

She would need the healer and sleep.

I gripped Sig's arm to capture his attention. "I need a sheet to cover her."

He pulled out his phone and began typing.

Sage would not like for others to see her partially nude body, and my wolf agreed. He did not like that she was on display and so vulnerable.

One of our staff handed Sig a white sheet on lash number seventeen.

"You must wait until Anton gives his benediction," my friend reminded me.

"Nineteen. Twenty," I softly counted. I felt like my body had gone hyper-aware. My wolf was fighting to be freed.

"Sire." The guard dropped to his knee, facing Anton.

My half-brother looked on proudly. His cheeks were pink, and his eyes bright. His hands were rubbing along his hips under his suit coat as he stood. "I, Anton Redd, Leader of the esteemed Redd Pack, state that Sage Isaacs, Mate to Second of the Redd Pack, Bredon Redd, was found guilty, and now…justice has been rendered." He stepped back, attempted a sharp heel turn, and had to be stabilized by one of his men before he exited.

As soon as Anton left the riser, the guards dropped their hold, and I ran to Sage. She did not stir at my approach.

I paused to view the damage done to my mate. Her body had crisscrossing cuts, covering her from throat to calf. Her back was splayed open in several places. "Oh, Sage." I approached with caution.

"Allow me, Second." One of my men had found a riser comprised of three wooden steps, which he climbed and used a vicious-looking knife to cut down the hook from which Sage had been suspended.

In the meantime, I had somehow retrieved the sheet from Sig and shook it out. I caught my mate's body and gently wrapped the sheet around her. Lifting her into my arms, I whispered, "He will pay for this, I promise you, my love."

She did not stir.

It was then that I looked at Sig. He had been oddly quiet.

He was looking at his phone. He then met my gaze. In a harsh voice, he ordered, "Follow me."

I did. We had taken an odd turn, and I was puzzled by his choice of route to our wing, but there was so much racing through my mind that I put my trust in Sig knowing best.

I jerked to a stop when we cut through the grand foyer and headed to the little used doors that opened to the driveway. "Wha…?"

There was no time to finish my question. A large black SUV slammed on its brakes and screeched to a halt, fishtailing in front of us. The passenger's door was thrown open, and Talia leaned over the console. "Come on," she yelled.

I glanced at Sig.

"This is the only way." He gripped my arm and pulled me down the steps.

Talia remained in the driver's seat, and Sig opened the back door for me to slide in.

He opened the passenger side door and leaned in. "Nattie…"

"We need to get the fuck out of here. Get in, or I swear, I will leave you." Her eyes flashed, and I believed every word she said.

Sig climbed in, and she had gunned the engine before he closed his door.

Talia was covering the miles as if the true hounds of hell were chasing us. After about fifteen minutes, she spoke. "You navigate while I drive."

Sig did not argue.

"Tell me what you know," I demanded, believing that I had waited long enough to learn the meaning of this.

Talia answered, "Anton plans to accuse you next, and your sentence would be death."

I was not surprised.

"By that, I mean he was going to have you killed before a public hearing. He probably meant the same for Sig, Sage, and me." She glanced in the rearview mirror at me. "I grabbed what I could and texted Sig."

"Your timing was impeccable," Sig told her dryly.

"The guard, Andrei, told me everything." She rechecked her mirrors.

I closed my eyes, exhausted by all that had happened and what was coming.

"I packed some clothes for each of us," Talia continued, "opened the safe and emptied the contents into the duffle in the back. I grabbed the large bag with the weapons. That was all I had time for."

"There is no going back, Bredon," Sig stated.

"I know that. I knew this day would come." I glanced at Sage. "We will need to get her help."

Talia nodded and then glanced in her mirror. "Tell me where to go."

"I know of a place," Sig volunteered. "They will not ask questions and can help her."

Sage had suffered so much since meeting me.

I did not want her to endure more.

"Then where?" Talia asked in a more subdued tone. "After we get Sage help, where will we go?'

"We have options," Sig responded. "We don't have to decide this moment."

"We are outcasts at best, outlaws at worst," she muttered, sounding afraid.

Sig and I had discussed our options many times over the years. However, the Lycan Council's mandate that the Redd Pack was non-compliant in cooperating in the hunt for Charles Burke and that the Redds had provided sanctuary to a known criminal had significantly diminished our options.

I trusted my gut. "After Sage gets treatment, we head to Nebraska."

Sig turned in his seat to look at me. "To Novus?"

"They are our only hope."

"Wolfsbane, Nebraska, it is." Talia pressed the accelerator as he headed to our only chance at survival.

The saga continues in Try Me (Book 6 in the Novus Pack Series) in the summer of 2024. Me, You the Lie (Book 2 in the Novus Justice Series), coming in the winter of 2024.