Chapter 74 by Cara Anderson

Ch. 74 Forgiveness

A few hours earlier

Clay’s POV

Cary and I were buzzing with excitement. Not only were we going to be fathers but we were going to have triplets! My little wolf was carrying three little wolves.

“No wonder she’s been so sick.” Cary observed. “Growing three pups has to be a lot for her body to handle.”

“We’re going to have to make sure she takes it easy, gets plenty of rest and always has healthy food on hand.” I was already making a shopping list in my head.

“In other words, we’re going to spoil her rotten!” Cary rubbed his palms together excitedly.

“Exactly!” I grinned at the idea.

A quick tap on the door was followed by Dr. Diaz slipping back into the room. She hadn’t so much as glanced at Cary or addressed him as anything other than Mallory’s mate which I appreciated. And Mallory seemed comfortable with her. That was a good sign,

“And where is our little mama wolf?” She asked.

Immediately my hackles were up and my wolf, Gunner, was standing at attention, demanding we put eyes on our mate.

“What do you mean? You took her to the bathroom, didn’t you?” Cary was about two seconds from losing his shit so I put a steadying hand on his shoulder.

“Yes. But I told her to meet me back here. I went to my office to return a phone call and when I headed back here, the bathroom was empty. I assumed she would be here with you.”

She explained.

I nearly ripped the door from its hinges in my hurry to get to my mate. I tried telling myself that she’d just gotten turned around and was wandering in the halls trying to find her room. But deep down, I knew it couldn’t be that simple.

Her scent still lingered in the hall. I followed it to the end of the hall and down another corridor lined with offices. My skin prickled with icy fear when I spied the exit sign at the end. Cary snarled next to me, telling me he felt the same terror for our mate.

We burst through the door leading to the back of the building, only to find a concrete walkway and empty field.

“Where is she? I can smell her! Where the fuck did she go!” Cary boomed.

I sniffed the air, trying to catch the direction of her scent, but she was gone. But another smell filled my nose. Blood.

“No, no, no, no, no!” I muttered to myself. Please, Goddess! She can’t be hurt.

But then the iron smell of blood merged with a more familiar one. Realization hit me just before my brother’s wolf came into view.

“Oh fuck! Kai!” I cried, all my hatred for him momentarily forgotten.

My brother lay bleeding out in wolf form on the ground at my feet. No matter how angry I was, I never wanted him dead. What was he even doing here?

“Fuck! He’s been shot!” Cary yelled. ” Let’s get him in the car!”

I linked our driver to pull the car around. Cary and I lifted him in the backseat and I instructed the driver to take him back to Black Moon.

“Shouldn’t one of us go with him?” Cary wondered aloud.

“He’ll be fine. If I didn’t believe that, I would have had him treated here rather than sending him home.” I told him. ” I’m not leaving without Mallory.”

“Her scent is gone, Clay. There were obviously men here with guns and I can still smell the burnt rubber from their tires. Colton is probably our best chance of finding out what happened and who took her.” He reasoned.

“We know who took her!” I roared. ” And I’m going to fucking tear him apart with my bare hands.”

“And I’ll be right there helping you.” Cary affirmed. “Let’s go! I want to be there when Colton wakes up. Quade would be stupid to take her back to his territory. He’d know it would be the first place we’d look. Maybe Colt heard something that could give us a clue.”

I reluctantly agreed, hating to leave the last place I’d felt Mallory’s presence. But I knew Cary was right. She wasn’t here anymore and staying here got us no closer to finding her.

“We have to find her, Cary.” I broke down as soon as we got in the car. “If he hurts her, if he hurts our pups…”

I couldn’t finish the sentence, could’t even think the words. She was my life. And now our pups. They all were. I couldn’t live in a world without them.

“Marry him or die, remember?” Cary said.

“What?” He wasn’t making sense.

“The rogue we captured. He said Quade would only kill Mallory if she refused to marry him.” He reminded me. “He couldn’t expect her to agree to marry him right away. We have to hope he’ll keep her alive while he tries to convince her. It’s the best move for him to keep the Hazelwood wolves loyal.”

“If he so much as touches her, I’ll cut off his fingers and feed them to him one by one.” I snarled.

“Our girl is smart. She knows we’ll come for her. She’ll do what she has to do to stay alive until we find her.” Cary asserted.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” I mumbed.

The ride back to Black Moon was the longest of my life. I’d never felt so helpless. Gunner was spitting and snarling in my head, only adding to my agitation. Cary was sporadically growling next to me, so I knew he was struggling to control Roan as well.

Our driver dropped us off at the infirmary and we headed straight for the room reserved for the Alpha, assuming that’s where he would be. But when we arrived, only our mother was there waiting.

“Oh, thank Goddess!” She cried, “One of you please tell me what’s going on!”

“Mom, where’s Colton?” Cary’s panic was plain in his voice.

“He’s in surgery. They said he was shot with a silver bullet. He’d lost so much blood already and his wolf couldn’t heal. Why would someone shoot him?” She sobbed.

“Fuck! There was so much blood and we were so worried about Mallory/ I didn’t smell the silver.” Guilt threatened to overwhelm me.

I should have known. I should have gotten him help sooner. I would never forgive myself if he didn’t make it.

“Where’ Mallory?” Mom sniffled. “She should be here for him. He’ll need her to help him heal when he wakes up.”

“Mom, “Cary said gently, leading her to a chair. “Quade’s men took her. We’re almost certain they shot Colton.”

“What? No! That can’t be. She needs to be here with her Alphas. She’s pregnant!” She had her fists balled in Cary’s shirt, shaking him as she spoke.

“Where’s dad?” I asked her.

He needed to be here for her. She wasn’t coping well. None of us were.

“He went to the border to increase security. We weren’t sure what happened or if there might be a threat to the pack.” She explained.

A doctor in surgical scrubs entered the room, interrupting our conversation.

“Alphas, Luna.” He nodded his head in deference. “Alpha Colton is out of surgery. They’ll be bringing him here shortly to recover and I expect him to be awake soon.

“We were able to remove the bullet and his wolf began healing him as soon as it was out. He’ll need to take it easy for a few days until he regains his strength but he should be back to full capacity in no time.”

“Thank you so much doctor.” Mom took his hands in both of hers and squeezed them in thanks.

No sooner had he delivered the news than the team wheeled Colton’s bed into the room. He was pale and had a bag of blood infusing into a vein in his arm but he was breathing evenly and looked otherwise healthy, back in his human form.

Mom sat by the bed next to Colton while Cary and I paced the room. I was happy my brother would live and taking a bullet in defense of our mate went a long way in earning my forgiveness, but we needed him to wake up.

Goddess only knew how far away Mallory might be by now and if he knew anything that could help, we needed him to tell us. I couldn’t rest until she was back safe and sound in my arms. Her and our pups.

“Where am I?” Cotlon’s voice cracked and his eyes blinked against the harsh light when he finally came around about an hour later..

“The infirmary. You’re home in Black Moon, son.” Mom answered him.

“Mom? What happened?” He was still disoriented which was understandable under the circumstances.

“You were shot.” I told him and his eyes sought me out, surprise written in his features.

I couldn’t blame him. I was probably the last person he expected to find at his bedside. I stayed quiet, giving him time to process my statement and remember if he could. We needed him to remember and I saw the way his face morphed from confusion to panic the moment he did.

“Mallory!” He tried to sit up but the tubes and lines attached to him held me back. “Where is she?”

“We were hoping you could tell us the answer to that.” Cary’s voice shook, anxiety rolling off him in waves.

He turned his head toward the sound of his voice, shocked that we would be in the same room with him. I watched him with a mixture of curiosity and concern. I could see the astonishment on his face as he realized I was actually worried for him.

Cary stood beside me, a similar expression on his face. But underneath it all, we both radiated fury and fear.

Those were emotions I could tell was all too familiar with as his memory returned.

“Mom, can we have a few minutes alone with our brother?” My firm tone indicating it wasn’t a request.

“Of course. I’ll just go tell your father he’s awake.” She said, crossing the room to kiss his forehead before leaving us.

“What happened? Tell us everything!” I rounded on him the second the door shut behind her.

“What were you even doing there?” Cary wanted to know.

“I followed you.” He stated unapologetically.

“Why?” I demanded. “If you had anything to do with this-”

“What the fuck! Of course I didn’t!” He cut me off. “I’m the one who was shot trying to protect her, remember?”

“Right. Sorry.” I didn’t sound sorry at all.

It’s not that I didn’t belive him. I had just been so angry with him for so long, I didn’t know how to be anything else. It was going to take me some time to completely forgive him and I wasn’t completely sure yet he deserved my forgiveness.

“Look, us fighting isn’t helping Mallory.” He pointed out. “I’ve been watching her for weeks, making sure she was safe. When I saw you leaving the territory today, I followed. I couldn’t understand what was so important it would be worth risking her safety but I wanted to be there in case she needed me.”

“Why would she need you? You abandoned her!” Cary snarled at him, echoing my thoughts.

“I didn’t fucking abandon her! I love her more than my own life.” He barked back.

“Sure. Because making out with your girlfriend and inflicting crippling pain on your mate is the new love language.” I snarked.

“I hated every minute of that! But it was the only way to get Darcy to trust me again and I needed her to trust me. I suspected she was the one informing Quade of Mallory’s movements and I was right!”

“What?” Cary gasped.

“It’s a long story.” He mumbled, exhaustion taking over.

“Then you better start talking.” I glowered at him.

If he thought we were furious before, it was nothing compared to the two rabid wolves pacing his room as he laid out every detail of Darcy’s betrayal. When he told us Quade had taken her, Cary and I both growled. Not out of concern for her safety but because she wasn’t here for us to murder her ourselves.

“You should have told us!” Cary spit angrily.

“I didn’t want you to stop me and you would have.” Neither of us argued that point. “I’ll never forgive myself for hurting her the way I did and I know she might never forgive me. I don’t deserve her forgiveness. But none of that mattered if it kept her safe.”

“Well she’s not safe! So the question now is, how are we going to get her back?” I swallowed hard, forcing back tears.

“Wait! We? As in all three of us?” IHe questioned, sure we weren’t including him in our plans.

“Yes!” Cary insisted. “All three of us! And anyone else that will help us get our mate back.”

He looked to me and I nodded in agreement. Relief flooded through him and I knew he hoped that maybe we could repair our bond after all. But none of that mattered if we couldn’t get Mallory back safely. One step at a time, I told myself.

Then out of the blue, he asked the one thing we had yet to discuss.

“Is Mallory pregnant?”