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Blair
“What do you think is taking him so long?” I asked the others. It had been at least twenty minutes since Elias had left the car. To say that I was getting a little nervous would have been an understatement. I was really worried about him – so worried that it was beginning to make me feel sick.
“I don’t know, but did you hear that?” Mila asked.
I had heard it. It had sounded like a dog crying out in the distance.
“A wolf,” Camryn murmured.
“A wolf? Like a dog wolf? Or a... werewolf?” I swallowed hard.
“That was definitely a werewolf,” Bash replied as he hit the button to unlock the car doors. He reached for the handle of his own door and then pushed it open.
“What are you doing?” Mila asked him, leaning forward. “Elias said he didn’t want us to go anywhere.”
“For all we know, Elias might be in danger. I’m not just going to sit here like a bump on a log when my brother, my Alpha, is out there with other wolves,” he explained. Then, without saying another word, he climbed out of the car and closed the door behind him.
That left me, Camryn, and Mila sitting in the back seat of the car. We watched as he headed off in the same direction Elias had gone in.
“We can’t just let Bash go by himself... can we?” Camryn asked quietly.
Mila groaned. “Leave it to Bash to disobey his Alpha. It’s probably the only thing he’s actually good at it.” She paused for a moment. “No. We can’t let him go by himself. Or I can’t, at least. I think the two of you should probably stay here.”
She flung her own car door open and climbed out, huffing in annoyance. “I can’t believe he’s making me do this,” she grumbled before closing the door again.
As Camryn slid over into the other seat to put some space between us, she glanced over at me. “I guess we should probably lock the doors again.”
“Lock the doors?” I just narrowed my eyes at her. “You’re not really planning on staying here... are you? Are you out of your mind? They could all be in danger! We can’t just sit around and do nothing.”
“I want to follow after them, but I really don’t think you should leave this car, Blair,” my best friend said gently.
I just let out a snort. “Are you kidding me? I’m not about to just sit in this car when everyone else could be getting killed out there.”
“But you’re the one who’s most at risk of being killed,” Camryn told me gently. “You’re the only one who’s a human.”
I bit down hard on my lip. It took every ounce of mental strength in my body not to spill my guts out to her right then and there, but... I couldn’t. It had to stay my secret for now.
“I’ll be fine, Camryn,” I assured her. “I can take care of myself.”
She shook her head. “No. I’m sorry. I can’t allow you to get out of this car.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “I’m telling you... I’ll be fine.” I paused for a moment and then admitted, “I just... I need to make sure that nothing bad is happening to Elias. Please?” As I begged, I could feel my voice break a little.
Camryn glanced over at me then, a soft look in her gray eyes. “You really care about Elias, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“I can tell.” She paused for a moment before saying slowly, “I think he cares about you, too.”
“You do?” My eyebrows shot up questioningly.
She nodded. “Yes. I may not have known him for very long, but I’ve never seen Elias look at anyone the way he looks at you.” She paused. “What’s going on between the two of you guys now, anyway?”
I shrugged. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t just say, “We shared a moment together when he found out I was bit by a werewolf, and now I’m pretty sure that he does like me.” It just wasn’t the right time or place for that.
So, instead, I just said, “I’m not sure, honestly, but it feels like we’ve made some sort of breakthrough.” Then I paused. “Can we please, please go make sure he’s okay? Please?”
“I’m curious, too. I hate just sitting around waiting.” Camryn sighed. She seemed to consider it for a few moments before glancing over at me. “Fine, we can go after them, but only under one condition.”
“Anything,” I replied quickly. And I actually meant it. I probably would have agreed to literally any condition she was about to name, as long as it meant that I could make sure that Elias was okay.
“You stay by my side the entire time. You won’t even step out of my line of vision. If the woods are too dark, then you’ll hold my hand, even. You won’t go off on your own. Got it?” she asked.
“Yes, Mom,” I replied, giving her a military salute.
“Okay. Let’s do this.” Camryn opened the car door and climbed out. To prove that I was going to stick by her side the entire time, I climbed out on her side.
As I slammed the car door behind us, I glanced over my shoulder. I noticed that the other Sherwood wolves were still piled in the van, and Camryn’s family was still in their rental SUV.
Camryn must have noticed the same thing, too, because she was headed in the direction of the SUV. I followed after her. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the days when we used to play Sega Genesis when we were kids; I was like the Tails to her Sonic.
As we approached the SUV her family was in, Demetrius rolled down his window. “Camryn, what do you think you’re doing?”
“We’re going after the others,” she told him.
“Like hell you are,” he shot back at her, his voice a growl.
“Sweetie, I’m not sure that Camryn even knows,” Lynda told Demetrius gently.
“Knows what?” Camryn questioned with wide eyes.
Lynda glanced over at her daughter. “We’re in a very dangerous area, Camryn. It would be safer if you girls just stay in the car.”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Camryn insisted. “Elias, Bash, and Mila are all out here.”
“I don’t care. They’ve all been around for ages, and you? You’re like a baby werewolf. Your strength is nothing in comparison to theirs,” Demetrius replied, shaking his head.
Camryn was like a baby werewolf and I’d been a werewolf for like, half a second. But, whatever. What could really happen?
“But they’ll keep us safe if they need to,” Camryn insisted.
“No. You’ll only be a distraction for them. You will not go after them,” Demetrius said firmly. “You and Blair will both go back to the car. Now.” There was a dismissive tone in his voice.
Camryn glared back at him defiantly. “You can’t just boss me around like that, Dad.” She paused. “Oh, wait. Did I just call you Dad? Sorry. That was an accident. What I really meant to call you was Demetrius.”
Her father glared back at her. “Actually, I hate to break it to you, but I can ‘boss you around like that’. Have you forgotten who your Alpha is?” Leaning out the car window, Demetrius locked eyes on hers. “It isn’t Elias Sherwood.”
“But I’m marrying Jax,” Camryn pointed out. “Once we’re married, I’ll be a Sherwood.”
“That may be true, but you haven’t married Jax yet. As of right now, you are a member of my pack. And as both your father and Alpha, I am not allowing you to take one step further into this town.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Camryn both looked and sounded frustrated. In fact, if I didn’t know any better... Yep, there they were: tears that glided their way down her cheeks.
“Go sit your ass back in the car and wait for them to return.” He glanced from Camryn to me. “Both of you.”
In a huff, Camryn walked away from him and headed back over to the car. I followed after her.
So much for seeing how Elias was doing. It would be just my luck that something bad would happen. It had taken me seventeen years to finally meet the guy of my dreams and he was going to end up getting killed in this dangerous little town that his crazy sister’s vision had led us to.
I supposed that it was really no different than the last time I had nearly fallen in love—that time I had met a gorgeous guy who had turned out to be a werewolf Hunter who wanted nothing more than to kill everyone in my best friend’s world.
I clearly just had the worst luck ever when it came to guys.
As we reached the car, Camryn glanced over at me, a half-grin on her face. “So, there may be just one little problem with us getting back inside the car.”
“What’s that?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“Elias took the keys with him.” Her half-smile spread into a grin. “You know what that means, right?”
I shook my head. “No. Do you want to fill me in?”
Camryn pointed her chin at the parked SUV her family was in. The van the rest of the Sherwood siblings were sitting in was in between their SUV and Jax’s orange Infiniti – just enough to prevent her family from being able to see what we were doing.
I realized, instantly, what she was getting at. “You want us to sneak off?”
She nodded.
“Camryn Evans, this just may be the most devious plan you’ve ever come up with. I’m proud. It sounds more like something I would have come up with, not you.” I paused. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I don’t just want to do this, Blair. I need to. What if Jax is here somewhere?” She sounded like she was about to burst into tears again.
I realized then how much of a toll this whole situation was taking on her. Being away from her mate, not knowing if he was going to be okay... the whole thing was breaking her heart.
For the first time since Elias had climbed out of that car, I realized that we needed to go after him and not for me but for Camryn.
“Okay, but we have to be careful not to get caught. The last thing I want to do is make your dad angry at us.” I swallowed hard, figuring out the rest of the plan. I pointed to the woods that lined the right of us, the woods that were located furthest away from where her family was parked. “We sneak off in that direction and we move fast – like as fast as we can – okay?”
“Got it,” Camryn agreed with a nod.
It crossed my mind then that there was a chance that maybe her father was right. Maybe we should have just stayed in the car. There was obviously a reason that this super powerful Alpha was sitting in his rental vehicle instead of exploring the area with the rest of us.
What did he know about this place that scared even him?
It didn’t matter, though. No matter what dangers there were lurking in Devil’s Falls, we were about to face them if it meant there was even the slightest chance that Camryn would get to reunite with Jax.
I turned to Camryn. “Are you ready?”
She nodded eagerly.
“Okay. Run!” I hissed at her.
Together, we raced off into the woods, completely ignoring the fact that we were probably about to piss off her Alpha father and that there may have been something so deadly in the woods that it could kill us.