CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Taylor was shocked, seeing her mate so weak and tired.

“What happened to him? Why is he struggling to shift?” She screamed at the men surrounding them.

“Luna, he was poisoned. His wolf was trying to come rescue you despite the pain and now I think he's stuck because he doesn't have the energy to complete the shift.” Jake told her

“Well, we don't have time for me to help him heal so you are going to carry him while we run, and you, you will help him carry Damian, we need to leave immediately! Any moment from now, they are going to come at us and we are grossly outnumbered” she told them.

“Alright, but some of us stayed behind just in case this was a trap.” Terrence told her

“Tell them to head back to Blood Stone. Under no circumstances should they try coming this way. They will be taken.” She instructed while getting Dante on top of Jake's wolf form.

“Here, bite me,” she instructed her mate. He did and was able to shift back to his human form.

“Wow” her two companions from the cell she had been held in expressed in shock.

“Now, we can either leave now or risk getting caught. Why are you all still standing around?” She shouted in frustration.

“Um, Luna, who's going to carry you?” One of the wolves from Night Howlers pack asked

“Well thank you for asking, you. Shift immediately, we have no time for questions.”

Dante began growling, both from pain and irritation at the suggestion of his mate on another wolf.

“Hey you, shut it! If you hadn't gone kissing another she-wolf, none of this would have happened!” She shouted at him while climbing on the other wolf who had shifted at her command.

“Let's go! Run as if your life depends on it because it does. If I get kidnapped again, I don't think I'll be able to escape again.” She shuddered in fear of where she had just escaped from.

They took off, Dante struggling to remain atop his pack mate, his frame too heavy for him.

The moment they began running, they heard the snarls of the ferals Jethro sent after them.

Dante kept staring at his mate, she looked so thin with her hair tangled up and looking very dull. He felt very bad for not coming for her sooner.

She would definitely take a lot of convincing before she forgives him.

“Damian, if it's not too painful, can you get the birds to distract them so we can cover more ground. They are too close.” Taylor asked her new friend.

“Sure. That's a brilliant idea. They'll definitely have fun while at it” he smiled, his eyes changing as he delivered the message.

In no distant time, they heard less and less of their pursuers, obviously frustrated with the birds in their face.

When they had gone far enough, they decided to stop close to the river. Taylor knew Jethro wouldn't give up so easily so they needed to be as far away as possible before he could devise a means to get to them.

They all shifted back to their human forms, refreshing in the water.

“Damian, there's a herb I need. It'll hide our scents completely for a day or so. We need to move undetected” she went to him and expressed.

“I think I know the one”

Dante watched his mate's interaction with the strange man with a tight knot forming in his chest. What if he has lost her to this weird looking man? He wondered, confusion and anger lacing his features.

Taylor noticed his expression and walked to him, scared her blood may have caused a negative effect instead of healing him as usual.

“Are you alright? Is Black feeling pain? What's wrong?” She asked, panicking.

He was shocked at her concern.

“No, I'm fine. Black's ready to go now. You can ride on us, I don't think I can survive you being that close to anyone else” he said and Taylor finally understood what was happening.

“Wait, are you jealous?”

“Of course not!” He replied too fast, causing Taylor to laugh and walk away from him, trying to hide the pain in her heart.

She was forcing herself to be strong and not feel any emotion till she was safe. The past two weeks had been the worst experience of her life and she wasn't going to forgive him so easily. He allowed Jethro to use him, succeeding in kidnapping her.

Dante watched her walk away from him helplessly, his heart ablaze at what this might mean.

He watched as the annoying bird whisperer went to her, getting too close for his comfort. He couldn't help the growl that leapt out of his throat causing everyone to jerk in response.

Taylor gave him a look that had him reeling in his wolf. They had fucked up and she had all the rights to be angry.

Taylor was trying her best not to bring their relationship troubles out in the open but Dante was not acting accordingly. What was that growl about? She wasn't even doing anything wrong, she thought to herself.

Damian handed over the herbs to her and she crushed it and shared a bit to everyone.

“We're going to all be invisible, even to ourselves. So if you wander off and can't mindlink for any reason, bear it in mind that we won't be able to sniff you out so everyone needs to stick together, alright?” She informed them.

“Yes Luna”

Dante didn't need the herbs as he had control over his scent and aura but he still collected it from her, taking any chance he could to get close to her.

When it was time to leave, Taylor still went to the wolf that had carried her before, to everyone's shock. Her mate was perfectly capable of carrying her.

“Um, Luna, I kind of still like my head attached to my neck so I don't think I can carry you. Our Alpha may have restraint but I fear his wolf doesn't understand anything he's saying right now” the wolf told her, nodding towards Dante who seemed to be in a heated argument with his wolf who just woke up after taking a nap during their escape.

“It's okay. I'll go with him. Thank you. What's your name?” She asked him.

“James, my Luna. I'm sorry for what happened to you. We all had a hand in it and I feel ashamed of myself” he confessed.

“Well, I'm sure you won't be here if my mate didn't think you were worthy of forgiveness so you have that from me alright?” She said, patting his shoulder as she walked to a snarling Dante.

“Are we going to leave any day today?” She asked, feigning ignorance.

Dante was dumbfounded. She had decided to go with the other wolf just a few minutes ago and he had been in a tussle with his wolf to avoid a not so accidental accident.

“You will ride on us?” He asked with hope.

“It's not like I want to but there doesn't seem to be much of a choice. Please shift.” She said, avoiding his face.

Dante couldn't control the smile that erupted all over his face and he quickly gave control to his wolf, his dark fur taking over.

Taylor climbed on top of her mate and their bond sang in excitement. They had been so far from each other and when they had been in the same vicinity, the two had been disconnected.

As she sat and grabbed his scruff, they both couldn't stop the sigh that escaped them, Taylor feeling warmth deep in her bones from the contact.

“Please don't run roughly, I'm still sore.” She told Black.

“I will never hurt you, unlike this idiot in my head.” Black told her, leading the rest of the wolves.

“Thank you Black. Don't give him a tough time, I think he has so many unresolved issues and he's making me suffer for it.”

“Well he should get his act together, I'm not even sure what to tell Celia when she wakes up. What happened to her? I can barely feel her”

“It's so many things Black, so many things.” Taylor told him, sadness all over her features.

“You can talk to me, love. Whatever it is, we will get through it together.” he assured her, his thick voice calming her down.

“Well, I didn't tell you earlier because of everything happening at once and I didn't want to stress you further but this whole thing made me rethink that decision. You have a right to know and I'm sorry for hiding it.” She told him, suddenly feeling guilty.

Dante perked up, confused on what could have happened to make her sound that way.

“Baby, whatever happened there wasn't your fault, just let it out okay? It's better to share than keep it all bottled up” Dante told her.

“Oh no, that's not it. Nothing like that happened, he kept threatening it but he needed my blood more than anything else. The thing is before we left Blood Stone, I started feeling some signs from my wolf. You know she has refused to shift and on the day of my kidnap, the bird Damian used to spy on my location injected me with something that forced my wolf to go into protection mode.”

“Protection mode? What else is she protecting if it's not you? What could have, oh, oh” Dante paused in realization

“I'm pregnant.” Black halted immediately, forcing two other wolves to run into him.