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to so he had to stay at his pack for a few more days. It was now about a week in and I was really beginning to miss him. My wolf was suffering incredibly and the pain of being apart was starting to weaken her. But whatever that pain was that I felt back in my room, it seemed to snap my wolf out of the depression she was in. Now, she forced her body to push on, focusing solely on making sure our mate was okay.

After a few hours of nonstop running, I finally came to the border of our two packs. I could see a pair of wolves patrolling this section of the territory, and I halted in my steps. I had reached here propelled on pure adrenaline, but my mind hadn’t exactly thought of what to do once I reached the border to his territory.

Running behind a nearby tree, I watched the patrol wolves while weighing my options carefully. Running straight into the border would get me seriously injured, but I couldn’t exactly go up to them and demand they let me in without informing their alpha beforehand, which wouldn’t work anyway since Reece was obviously injured. My wolf whined in my mind at that thought but I silenced her. I needed to think of something fast.

My ears perked up as an idea came to mind. I just hoped it worked.

I approached the border slowly, howling slightly to alert my presence. I watched as both wolves swiveled in my direction to the sound, jarring their teeth menacingly. They squinted their eyes and sniffed the air, hoping to catch a smell of the intruder. Their noses scrunched slightly, probably because they could smell my alpha ranking, before they began approaching me. I had stopped several feet before their border, allowing them to come to me.

I whined slightly when they were close, pointing my snout at my body and then at the trees. I showed them my neck as well, indicating that I meant no harm. They seemed to understand what I was saying, and one of the wolves ran off behind a group of trees. He came back out after shifting, with a pair of shorts on and some clothing in his hands.

He gave his partner a pair of shorts as well before looking at me. I grabbed my duffle bag strap and pulled it off my body, clasping it in my mouth and running behind a tree to shift. When I came back out, I saw both men staring at me, their arms crossed as if waiting for me to explain myself.

“You’re not a rogue,” one of the men said. He was young, probably a few years older than me, with a strong, masculine face that was currently set to a stoic expression.

“Uh yeah, I’m not,” I answered, obviously I said in my mind and resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

“I’m Cassandra Knight, daughter of Alpha Leo and Luna Taylor Knight of the Black Mountain Pack, and I’m here because Alpha Parker was temporarily watching over my pack while my parents were gone and he left urgently. I haven’t been able to contact him and I have a pressing matter and need to speak with him quickly. Is it alright if I cross your border?”

They both squinted their eyes before looking at each other, most likely mindlinking about me. I hoped to the goddess that they believed what I was saying and would let me through.

“What is the pressing matter?” The first man asked.

“It has to do with some breach of rogues on our pack territory. I’m not equipped to handle matters like this and my beta was given strict orders to rely on Alpha Parker for instruction.” I answered. Though this was a white lie, most of what I said about my beta was true. I just hoped they would believe me.

I saw their eyes widen before they furrowed their eyebrows in thought.

“If that is the case, why not call our alpha? Or perhaps send the beta over? Why have you come?”

I felt my palms grow moist, and I gulped, trying to quickly think of something that could explain why I, a female wolf, came running to another pack’s territory in the middle of the night without my beta or any backup.

“My beta wanted to come with” I answered, which wasn’t exactly a lie either I thought, “but I was just really nervous so I did kind of go behind his back. It’s just that this problem is urgent and we could use your alpha’s help.”

I curled my hands into fists, hoping they wouldn’t push it any further. The first guard mindlinked the other guard and he nodded, before mindlinking again, probably to someone else.

I bit my lip, watching their faces, until their eyes returned from their blank stare and focused back on me.

“We let our beta know that you were here, and he is concerned with the threat you have received about the rogues. He will see you,” the second guard stated.

Two new guards came down and gestured for me to follow them and guided us up to the main pack house. As I walked through, I was in awe of the massive size of Reece’s territory. I could understand the guards’ hesitation to let me in. The area was huge, which meant a lot of vigilant security would be needed to keep such a large number of pack members safe. Besides, the pack had probably met my parents, but since I had been gone for so long, they were unfamiliar with me. I just thank the goddess that they bought my excuse. I needed to see Reece and find out what the hell was wrong.

We finally reached an enormous pack house, about ten times the size of our own. The guards let me inside and left me in the foyer, saying that the beta would be with me soon.

As I waited, I glanced around the massive house, admiring the great detail. The delicately woven woodwork and crisp cream walls framed the split grand staircase, the glistening marble floors were so transparent I could almost see my reflection, and a beautiful glass chandelier hung overhead, lighting the foyer before me.

“Ms. Knight,” came a smooth voice to my right, and I swiveled my head to see a handsome man with bronze hair and light gray eyes. He smiled at me, before stretching a hand out, which I shook gingerly.

“I’m Beta Keith Jones. Why don’t we talk in my office,” he stated, gesturing down the hallway he came from. I followed his tall frame down the hall and to the right till we got to his office. He ushered me in and closed the door behind him, before walking over to his desk. I noticed he was dressed nicely, a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and dark slacks. He had a steel gray tie that matched well with his eyes. He was incredibly handsome, but I felt nothing for him besides acknowledgement of his attractiveness. My mind kept drifting off to a specific man I found to be even more handsome than any man I’d ever seen. I bit my lip and willed those thoughts away. This was not the time.

Beta Jones leaned against the front of his desk with his arms crossed, scanning my face intricately. I squirmed slightly under his gaze, before clearing my throat.

“So Beta Jones, I was wondering if we could discuss the issue that I’m here for?” I asked, straightening my shoulders.

He merely stared at me before looking down and smiling to himself.

“I know why you’re really here. I’ll give you credit though, coming up with an elaborate excuse to see Reece. You’re lucky it was spot on,” he chuckled.

I gaped at him, before composing myself and gathering what to say in my defense when he interrupted me.

“I know you’re his mate,” he declared, uncrossing his arms and shoving them into the pockets of his slacks. He looked so triumphant, I didn’t know whether to deny it or slap the smirk off his face. But I had bigger issues to worry about, like why Reece told him when we agreed not to tell anyone, or if he didn’t tell, how did his beta find out? I decided to address the easier question of the two.

“How did you know?”

“I’m not just Alpha Parker’s beta, but I’m also his best friend. He never told me directly, but something was different about him after he came back to the pack from yours. So when he got injured tonight and with you showing up from the very pack he left, I put two and two together.”

I stared at him, incredulous. He was smart, I had to give him that. I sighed, there was no point in denying it if he already knew.

“What happened to him?” I asked softly.

Beta Jones rubbed his face in exhaustion before glancing back up at me, the relaxed nature once presented before vanishing and a cold demeanor in its place.

“He was out on a run today, longer than his usual ones and much farther out of the territory. It was getting late and he wasn’t back yet, and I had some important things I had to discuss with him, so I decided to mindlink him to ask him to come back. I tried a few times to communicate, but I wasn’t getting through. That’s when I started to worry. He would never block me, so I went out looking for him to make sure he was okay. I traced his scent out to deep into the forest on the north side of our territory and found him collapsed on the ground, a large gash on his chest down to his stomach. We patched him up as best we could and put him in his room. He hasn’t woken up yet, so when I heard from our guards that you were looking for him, I decided to go along with your lie to get you here,” he sighed deeply, before continuing, “I was hoping you could try and get him to wake up. I’ve never seen him this weak before. Something like this wouldn’t affect him that badly, but now that I know you exist, it seems like whatever is going on between you two is leaving his wolf vulnerable.”

I felt my wolf whimper and I swallowed the lump in my throat. He was injured because of me, because of that stupid pact I made with him. How could I have been so selfish to endanger his life like this?

“So you want me to try and use our mate bond to wake him up?”

“Yeah, I think that’s the only shot we have of finding out who did this to him,” he replied.

“Okay, please take me to him,” I urged. I put my mate in this vulnerable position, so I was sure as hell I was going to get him out of it.

Beta Jones nodded to me, before walking over to the door.

“You ready?”

I nodded, and followed him.

I needed to fix my stupid mistake that managed to endanger his life like this. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.

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