Chapter 30 The Patrol

Chapter 30 The Patrol


"I'm coming with you."

The words left my mouth before I could think better of them. Garrick looked up from the map spread across his study table, his expression shifting from surprise to something harder.

"No."

"It's not a request." I stepped further into the room, ignoring the way Calder straightened against the wall, his eyes narrowing. "You've had three patrols in two weeks miss Harker's scouts entirely. They're using scent blockers. Nightshade and wolfsbane, crushed and rubbed on their clothing and skin. I know what to look for. Your warriors don't."

Garrick set down the quill in his hand. Very slowly. "You're not trained for this."

"Then train me. Give me someone to watch my back. But I'm the only one who knows these plants well enough to find where they're crossing and identify the mixture they're using." I moved closer to the table, close enough to see the tension in his jaw. "Every day we don't find their routes is another day they could slip through. Another raid. Another dead warrior."

Calder made a sound low in his throat. "She has a point."

Garrick's head snapped toward his Beta. "I didn't ask for your opinion."

"You didn't have to. It's my job to give it." Calder pushed off the wall, his eyes moving between us. "She's right about the scouts. They've been ghosting through our borders for weeks. If she can actually help, we'd be stupid not to use her."

"I'm not putting her in the field."

"Why not? She's useful. She's willing. And it's not like she's irreplaceable." Calder's voice carried a chill that made my skin prickle. "Eira can train another assistant."

The air in the room changed. Garrick moved before I registered it, crossing the space between them in two strides. He didn't touch Calder, but he didn't have to. His presence alone was enough.

"Let me be clear." His voice was low, dangerous. "Anika is under my protection. She's not expendable. She's not replaceable. And if you ever suggest otherwise again, we'll have a very different conversation."

Calder held his ground, but I saw the flicker in his eyes. Surprise. Reassessment. He looked at me like he was seeing something new.

"My mistake," he said slowly. "I didn't realize her position had changed."

"It hasn't." Garrick stepped back. "She's still a debt slave. She's still bound to the pack. But she's also our only healer besides Eira, and she's just volunteered to walk into danger to help us. That deserves respect, not dismissal."

The silence stretched. Calder nodded once, a small acknowledgment.

"Fine. But if she comes, someone stays with her at all times. She doesn't get separated from the group."

"I'll stay with her myself."

Something passed between them. A message I couldn't read. Then Calder nodded again and left the room, closing the door behind him.

I stood alone with Garrick and the weight of what had just happened.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Do what?" He turned back to the map, but I saw the tension in his shoulders.

"Defend me. Threaten your Beta for me."

"I wasn't defending you." His voice was flat. "I was stating facts. You're valuable to the pack. Calder needed to understand that."

"Valuable." The word tasted strange in my mouth. "Is that what I am?"

He looked at me then. Really looked, and something shifted in his eyes. Heat. Want. The thing that sparked between us every time we were alone.

"You know what you are." His voice was rougher now. "You've known since the night you dined in my hall. Since the garden. Since every time I've touched you and felt the world stop."

I crossed the room without deciding to. Stopped inches from him, close enough to feel the heat radiating from his body.

"Then stop pretending I'm just valuable. Stop hiding behind pack politics and duty." I reached up, placing my hand on his chest. His heart hammered beneath my palm. "If I'm going to walk into danger for you, I want the truth. All of it."

He caught my wrist. Not hard, but firm. His eyes burned into mine.

"The truth is I don't want you anywhere near that forest. The truth is every instinct I have screams to lock you in your room where you're safe." His voice dropped. "The truth is I can't breathe when I think about something happening to you, and the fact that you're standing here asking me to let you walk into enemy territory is tearing me apart."

"Then don't let anything happen to me." I stepped closer, pressing against him. "Protect me. That's what Alphas do, isn't it?"

His free hand came up, cupping my face. His thumb traced my cheekbone, leaving fire in its wake.

"If you die out there—"

"I won't. Not with you watching my back."

He stared at me for a long moment. Then he kissed me. Hard and desperate and full of everything he couldn't say. I clung to him, matching his intensity, pouring every unspoken thing back into the kiss.

When we broke apart, we were both breathing hard.

"Dawn." His voice was rough. "Eastern gate. Don't be late."

"I won't."

I left his study with my heart pounding and my skin tingling, already dreading and anticipating the morning in equal measure.

Dawn came grey and bitter.

I stood at the eastern gate, wrapped in a borrowed cloak, my pockets full of sampling bags and the small knife Eira had pressed into my hands. "Just in case," she'd said. I tried not to think about what "just in case" meant.

The warriors assembled in silence. Calder watched me with new eyes, wary but no longer openly hostile. The others glanced my way with curiosity or suspicion, depending on the man.

Garrick arrived last, buckling his sword belt as he walked. His eyes found me immediately, sweeping over me in a way that had nothing to do with checking my gear.

"Stay close. Do exactly what I say. If I tell you to run, you run. No arguments." He stepped closer, lowering his voice. "I mean it, Anika. If things go wrong, you don't try to help. You don't try to fight. You run."

"And leave you?"

"And live." His jaw tightened. "That's an order."

I wanted to argue. Wanted to point out that I'd rather die than abandon him. But the look in his eyes stopped me. This wasn't about control or dominance. This was about fear. Real fear, the kind that came from losing people he loved.

"I understand."

He held my gaze for a heartbeat longer. Then he turned to the patrol.

"We move east toward the creek. Harker's scouts have been crossing near the old hunting grounds. Anika will identify any scent blockers or tracking signs the rest of you might miss. She's under my protection. Anyone who endangers her answers to me."

Calder nodded. The others murmured acknowledgment.

We walked.