Chapter Sixteen

“Are you kidding me?”  Embry growled out with her fists hanging at her sides. She looked like she was about to pounce on someone.

Keiran knew that Embry didn’t get angry very often. But as he looked at her now, he knew she was definitely angry. She glared at him and Blaez. 

“I’m sorry, Em, but that’s what we’ve decided on.” He looked over at the rest of the two packs. Luna was talking to her members and telling them the plan. “Blaez, Rafe, and Seth are going to go out and do this. You’re going to be in enough danger on the actual night. I don’t want to put you in any more risk than you already are.”

She rolled her eyes and reached out to jab her pointer finger against his chest. “You listen here; Keiran…just because I’m a female doesn’t mean I’m not capable of going out and doing the things you send the males out to do.”

He let out a breath and took Em’s hand in his own. “That’s not the reason you’re not going out there with them, okay? Do you honestly think I would keep you from doing things because you’re a female? I make the decisions I do to keep the members of my pack safe, especially all of the females.”

She raised her eyebrow at him and placed her hands on her hips, eyeing him for a moment. “I understand,” she gave in to his orders and directions.

As the room started to clear out, he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Look, Em…I understand why you want to have a part in everything that happens. I know you want vengeance for what happened to your parents. I promise I will help you find it, okay? But please trust me in the decisions I make as your alpha, alright?”

She took a breath and the sides of her lips lifted in a small smile. “I trust you.”

“Good, thank you.” He dropped his arm around her in a hug and held her there for a moment until he felt someone watching them. Looking around, he let go of her when he saw Blaez staring at them. Giving Em another reassuring pat on the shoulder, he walked over to his beta. “You all good?”

Blaez jerked out of whatever daze he was in and narrowed his eyes as he looked over at him. He took a breath and nodded his head, straightening his shoulders as he stood tall. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Keiran studied him for a minute. He could tell that the male hadn’t liked him hugging Em. But he pushed the thought to the side and gripped his shoulder. “Watch over Seth. Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Blaez nodded again. “I got it, boss.” He shrugged his shoulder from beneath Keiran’s grip and ran outside to meet up with Seth and Rafe. The rest of the packs stood at the front of the cabin and watched them go.

Walking over to Luna’s side, Keiran wanted to wrap his arm around her. All of their planning was being put into action. It was all starting now. He could tell she was afraid, but they had Larentia’s blessing and reassurances that everything would work out. He’d never thought he’d say it, but he believed it would be okay. He had to. Who would if not him?

When the males had disappeared in the groupings of trees, he reached down and quietly took Luna’s hand. They hadn’t really talked about what Larentia had said to them about the pack’s joining, other than agreeing on not telling the others just yet. They were already dealing with enough with the situation of hunting Robert. Once all of this was settled, then they would bring it up.

He could hear Em and Tala whispering to Jaclyn behind him, but he didn’t pay attention to what they were saying. He was too busy taking comfort in the feeling of Luna’s hand in his own.

~

Running past the trees with Seth and Rafe, Blaez allowed his wolf to have the control over his body. He could feel as every muscle in his body contorted so that it could change. With every running step he took, more and more of his body shifted, and pretty soon he was running on four paws instead of two feet.

He kept his eye on Seth, knowing that if the young male got the chance, he would kill anything on sight. Not that he blamed him. If he was in Seth’s spot, he’d feel the same way.

Running faster to catch up with the other two, he looked at them both. He and Rafe took the lead as the two betas and Seth followed behind. They had discussed where to go so that some of Robert’s men would be able to easily track them down.

At times, he wondered if this plan that he’d been the one to initiate would be too easy. Of course, if he had been the one wanting to kill Robert, he’d most likely just waltz right in the f****r’s front door. But he couldn’t exactly do that. Keiran wouldn’t let him.

Keiran…he thought of his alpha and the hug he’d given Em before he’d left. Sure, it had been an innocent one, he knew that. But every second his alpha had his arms around Em, he wanted to just rip them off into tiny pieces.

He grunted and shook his head, letting a breath out through his muzzle. He had to focus. He couldn’t…no, he wouldn’t think of Em right now. She wasn’t even his concern. Anger at himself, at the situation he kept putting himself in where Em was concerned ran through him like ice cold water.

Lowering his head, he ran faster and headed north, deeper into the forest. Rafe and Seth followed suit. They ran for miles until they came up onto the spot they had discussed. As he came to a stop, he dug his claws into the dirt and listened hard. His breaths came out in hard pants; his heart was beating hard behind his chest.

There wasn’t a sound. But he didn’t let that discourage him. He looked over his shoulder at Seth who was starting to pace with impatience. Letting out a growl of a warning to make the male calm down, he turned and looked back, eyeing each shadow the trees created as they stood beneath the sun’s rays.

A branch cracked a good distance away and his ears perked to the sound. Without even hesitating, he ran toward the sound, trying to avoid anything that would make any noise. He could smell the humans as they got closer, and just before they came up on them, he stopped once again and shifted back. Here came the fun part.

He stood tall and moved behind a large tree, listening in on the hunters’ conversation.

“Man, we haven’t seen f*****g s**t for hours. Let’s just go back, man.”

“You know we can’t go back. If Robert finds us back before we’re supposed to be, he’ll skin us alive, and you know it, Mack.”

“So, what, you’re scared of Robert?”

The second male snorted. “Hell, no, I would just like to keep my skin for another day. But you’re free to go if you want. I’m staying right here until it is all clear.”

Blaez looked over at Seth and Rafe who were hiding behind other trees. He had spoken to Rafe earlier, and they had both come to the realization that there was really only one way to do this, despite the fact that it made them both uncomfortable. He nodded at the males and took a steadying breath…before stepping out from behind the tree.

“Gentleman,” he held his hands out in front of him as he moved closer to the hunters.

They both whipped around and pulled out their guns, aiming them at his head.

“Relax; I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help.”

The first guy, who he was assuming named Mack, cocked his eyebrow in confusion at him. “The f**k…help us with what?”

“You want the wolf shifters, right?” Blaez answered with a smirk.

“You’re one of them, I can tell. So what the hell are you doing?”

“Hey, I know this looks crazy, but you can believe me when I say…I hate every single one of those shifters. I didn’t want to be this way. They turned me.” Part of that was true. He had never asked to be this way…

“How the hell can you help us?” Mack tightened his hand on the butt of his gun and stood taller. His hand was shaking slightly.

“I know that two of the packs are going for a run in a week, and it will be the perfect opportunity for Robert to come and wipe them out.”

“In a week? But the full moon was the other night. Why the f**k would they go for a run this soon?”

S**t, he hadn’t thought of the answer to that one. He furrowed his brows and tried to come up with something quick. “One of you killed a young female of one of the packs. It’s kind of like a funeral-type thing.” He shrugged his shoulders, trying to seem unattached.

The hunters studied him; he could tell they were trying to get a read on him, trying to see if he was just screwing with them or if he was being real. “What do you want in return?” Mack cocked his head slightly.

“Just my own life spared. That’s all I care about.”

At that, they seemed to relax like they understood the idea of living for themselves. They even slightly lowered their guns.

“Tell Robert that the packs will be going for their run in exactly six days now. They’ll be emotional from the loss of the female, so they’ll be easy to take out. He wipes them out, and I go free. That’s it.”

Mack looked at the other hunter and in that moment, Blaez knew he had them by the balls. He had offered them the one thing they needed.

Lifting his gun, Mack pointed it back at Blaez and he lifted his hands again. “If you f**k us over, I will put a bullet between your eyes, feel me?”

The sides of Blaez’s mouth turned up in a grin. “I feel you. See you in six nights.”