Chapter 202: One Single Man
I paused before shaking my head. Like hell was I going to tell Damon and Blaise what she said― what would be the point? They would simply worry and wonder over who was the one that would die in the end. That wasn’t something anyone wished to think about their twin brother, especially not when they weren’t even in their late twenties.
No, I had better keep my mouth shut about this. It was bad enough that I was the only one saddled with such heavy knowledge about the possible future.
"Never mind, it’s just something I was wondering about," I said with a shrug. "Let’s go back now before Dahlia decides she still can’t get over you and wants to see the last of you."
Damon and Blaise both frowned at my non forthcoming response, but they accepted the fact that I didn’t want to speak, and soon we were off, the potential of Dahlia’s retaliation was too strong a threat to take lightly.
So we were off. I sunk myself into the car seat and sighed, idly touching my necklace.
What a mess these few days have been! As I recalled all that happened so far, my eyelids grew heavier. The drive home was nearly as uneventful as the drive to Thunderstrike. We were soon approaching the mountain pass.
But just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a commotion happening at the back.
"What on earth?" Blaise cursed as he craned his head to look out of the window.
He cursed loud enough to wake me, and I quickly rolled down one of the windows, wondering what was going on. There was a lot of yelling from the Fangborne wolves that came with us, and it sounded like someone or something had flung itself straight at one of the cars’ tailing our vehicle.
I immediately jolted back to wakefulness.
"Is it Dahlia?" I asked worriedly, half-expecting her wolf-form to leap through the sky and crush our vehicle.
"No clue, but it could be Thunderstrike launching a sneak attack," Damon said grimly.
"I’ll handle it," Blaise volunteered, half-ready to leap out of the car window.
My heart leapt to my throat at the possible danger, Luna Cassidy’s words ringing in my ears.
"I want to go with you," I blurted out, but Blaise shook his head indulgently.
"I’ll be fine, trust me," Blaise said and without a moment’s pause, flung open the car door and shifted into his wolf form, bounding to the back of our column.
I peered out the window to stare at his retreating back, and I could sense Damon’s reluctance to remain in the car― he definitely wanted to follow Blaise so that he could ascertain the newest threat to his pack, but he was the driver, and we couldn’t have him distracted when going up the mountain.
Of course, I couldn’t drive at all.
"He’ll be fine," Damon repeated, surety in his every word.
Confidence filled my body, overtaking the paranoia in my heart.
"The men say that they’ve only seen one male wolf, and he seems heavily injured to begin with. The other scents are further away, even though they are hot in pursuit. Blaise should have no problem subduing such a mild threat."
"One man?" I frowned.
That didn’t sound like Thunderstrike’s modus operandi at all. Knowing Dahlia and Alpha Thorton’s strong pride, they would have launched an entire battalion to corner us, just so they could flaunt their superiority.
From the way Damon described the current situation, it seemed more likely that said man was desperately trying to escape from Thunderstrike than to attack us.
I paused as I stumbled upon a possible thought.
"Damon, I have a feeling it’s Darach that’s coming after us for help," I said, with slow growing horror. "We have to save him before Thunderstrike reaches him!"
It was no secret how little Thunderstrike thought of Darach, and Alpha Thorton and Dahlia might have decided to take their anger on the ruined ceremony out on Darach, especially once they realized who was responsible for bringing us to Hornstead.
Darach might have finally had enough and decided to flee, but there was no way his family would let him seek help from another pack, especially not one that had humiliated them so thoroughly mere hours ago.
Damon gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement. "I’ll let Blaise and the men know. Let me see if they recognize the wolf or the man he changes into."
I nodded. A tense silence enveloped the car as Damon quickly let his wolves know what was going on while carefully driving up the slope. My eyes were torn between the line of cars behind us — I could spot Blaise’s furry wolf from the distance — and the tight lines on Damon’s face. His eyes met mine from the rearview mirror, and I couldn’t help the flush that crawled up my face.
We hadn’t really talked about what went on during that wedding. My fingers instinctively went to my necklace. Damon wanted me as his fated mate, and my heart had already accepted his presence.
So. What was going to happen to us now? I turned back to stare outside, looking for Blaise’s figure. No man would be willing to share his fated mate, not even with his twin brother.
The silence in the car turned uneasy. A muscle twitched in Damon’s jaw as he looked over me, and I could tell that he wanted to talk about it.
"What did Luna Cassidy say to you at Hornstead?" Damon asked instead, causing me to blink in surprise. "It’s alright if you don’t want to tell me the specifics, but answer me this― is Fangborne going to be in trouble?"
I thought it over, mulling over Luna Cassidy’s words before nodding.
The death of an Alpha or a death of a Beta would create trouble for any pack. Damon’s eyes darkened. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white, and he let out a long, drawn out breath.
"I see. And you’re not going to say anything more? Is there any way to save Fangborne from this trouble?"
