Chapter 119

"We'll move again in five minutes. Let the soldiers know while I take care of something before we leave."

"Yes, Alpha."

Beth forced her breathing to even and slow as if she were still in deep sleep when she sensed a shadow falling over her, blocking out the scant light that had reached through her eyelids a second ago.

Was that Andrew leaning over her to check if she had regained consciousness? If only she could reach up and slash his face open, but she remained bound with strong ropes. She would never get free in time.

The shadow moved away, allowing the light to fall over her closed eyes once more. She held back a relieved sigh and let her thoughts wander again, memories piecing themselves together slowly.

Her parents... Daniel. Andrew had been lying in wait with his pack warriors and other soldiers, just waiting to pounce. That bothered her immensely. He had been so certain they would be there that he had come personally -- he could just as well have remained in the Troy pack territory. But that wasn't what had happened.

Everything had spiraled downward into disaster too fast and too easily to Andrew's benefit.

Could it be?

Was Adrian Heether a traitor after all, loyal to his student after all this time? The timing was too coincidental to write off now that she thought about it. He had been there to guide Anna after their parents disappeared, the only source of information she could possibly rely on. Annalise had been wise not to trust him, but she had still needed to absorb everything he said while waiting for Beth to arrive and vouch for him.

But not only that, Adrian had made sure to insert himself at every turn, even meeting Daniel and Beth to guide them back to camp instead of letting them proceed to Tahoe Village. He must have convinced Anna that he was the best one for the job somehow, but more critically, it was he who got to relay his chosen information the moment they met, their first contact after returning from Pandemonium City.

And it was he who had brought up the Blalock region territory, too. He had agreed with the possibility that this might be a trap, but the disclaimer alone didn't guarantee his innocence. It could have been a maneuver to outfox them either way.

Perhaps Andrew had been the one to send Adrian after all, a mole in their midst, a longtime investment that had finally paid off with grand returns for the megalomaniac.

Calm down. Think. It wasn't over, no matter how catastrophic this had become. As someone placed her on the back of a wagon while she continued to pretend unconsciousness, Beth labored to put together a plan.

***

Anna was waiting for the party to arrive long before they actually did. Her scouts had alerted her of their approach half an hour ago, and she had prepared food and cots for them all within the trading post. The distressing thing was that the scouts had counted only three people approaching, their shapes fuzzy and dark in the snowy darkness... but she was just glad that Beth and Daniel had managed to save at least one.

She tried hard not to think about whether it would be her mother or father returning. Be grateful, she told herself sternly. It was her fault for losing her parents anyway. Would Beth ever forgive her for her carelessness?

But when Anna walked toward them, closing the distance... there was something wrong. There was Daniel with his impressive stature, no mistake about that. But... where was Beth? She was taller than their mother, who dragged herself between both of her companions while they supported her. And on her other side was not Beth, but their father.

"Where is she!" Anna exclaimed after running through the thick snow to meet them. "Where's Beth!"

Her eyes widened and she stared at Daniel when Luna Dahlia burst into tears.

It couldn't be.

Daniel had gone so he could protect Beth. He had said he would bring her back safely, and both of their parents.

But when she stared at him, he looked away and resumed guiding Dahlia to the trading post with Alpha William's help.

Beth... was gone.

***

"I'm going back," said Daniel. "I came here only to get you and your mate to safety. It's what Beth would have wanted me to do, but now that it's done, I'm going back for her."

Whatever Andrew had drugged Dahlia with, it had wreaked havoc on her body. While she rested nearby in a room under heavy guard, Daniel, Annalise, and Alpha William conversed in low tones before a roaring fireplace, choosing to stay indoors in the repaired trading post rather than stay out in a tent.

Not that Daniel intended to stay for long. He was already preparing to leave, and the only reason he hadn't was because Anna had angrily demanded he stay long enough to explain himself.

"You already lost against him once," she said. "Going back is just going to get you caught again. We need a plan. One that works this time."

"I'm returning to Silver Nation to gather up the rest of the Heether pack warriors. I know I can't do it alone."

"They can't do it either! You all aren't what you used to be, nowhere near it. Starting a war with Gold Nation will just let them wipe you off the map, and then we'll never get Beth back with just Iron Nation's military power alone. I don't know if Bronze nation will dare to back us up after this."

"I'm not leaving Beth to them," he said flatly. "Andrew Troy will die for this. I'll kill him myself."

"I'll be going too," said Alpha William, and Anna turned wide eyes upon her father. Was he insane! He was still under the aftereffects of the heavy sedative he'd been administered for days, and then he had just returned from a grueling trip back after being held hostage for so long. Beth would never let him, Anna had to stop him herself since she wasn't here.

"You're not going anywhere," she snapped. "Doing this would kill you even if you weren't injured, but they didn't even give you anything but basic care while you were being held prisoner. You still need to be treated again in the morning. The medics all say the same for Mom, and she needs you here when she wakes up."

"Where's Adrian?" Daniel asked suddenly. "Does he know we've returned?"

"Not yet. He turned in to sleep since we weren't expecting you all for another two days, and I didn't think waking him up would help us right now."

There was an odd look on Daniel's face as he nodded, however, and Anna changed the subject back to the matter at hand.

"Fighting Andrew now is a bad move," she admonished. "Gold Nation's Troy pack alone can demolish any of us and more. We need to regroup, and to save Beth, we have to win first. You two understand that, right?"

Her father sighed. "That's correct. I need to stay calm." He placed a hand over his eyes and leaned his head back in the chair. "If we go and are captured ourselves, or killed, Beth will be in even more danger than she is now. We need a real plan. But that doesn't mean Im giving up." He lifted his head again to stare at Daniel. "She's my daughter. I'd move heaven and earth to save her."

But Daniel remained unmoved, and Anna twitched when she caught the frigid gleam in his eyes that refused to yield. What was that? Were the Heethers so loyal that it would surpass even a father's affection for a daughter...?

No. It wasn't that.

Thick unease rolled through Anna when she realized: the look in Daniel's eyes wasn't loyalty to an in-law. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was in love with Beth...

"Listen to me, Daniel," William was saying. "Your forces are depleted and if Silver Nation becomes leaderless, no one will be able to take on Andrew at all. we have to play by his rules for now and figure out a way to stall for time. This is to save Beth. Don't forget that. Martyring yourself will just make it impossible to help her, and then who'll be left to save her?"

The hard angles of Daniel's face softened fractionally, and he looked away with a brooding glower to stare out the frosted window. "Then I won't attack yet," he conceded. "But I'm still going. I need to make sure she's safe."