Chapter Sixty-Five

ASH

He sat with Keyara clutched in his lap all through the night as she slept against him.

He kept his arms wrapped possessively around her body and all his senses focused on the woods around them, alert for any approaching threats.

He knew he needed to keep her close to him to satisfy his wolf, who was fighting to come out and protect his mate and unborn pup.

The idea of her carrying his child without the inherent safety of belonging to a pack made it difficult for Ash to maintain control.

He needed to stand guard over her and felt compelled to protect her from even the friends that had come to help them.

His animal instincts had completely taken him over and wouldn’t allow him to remain in the camp surrounded by so many other wolves they were not pack-linked with, though the rational part of his brain knew they posed no threat.

He knew she had been shocked when he had forbidden her from her mission to speak with Anne, but he was relieved she was in tune enough with him to not push the issue further in the moment.

It would have made his possessive instincts even worse if she had put up a fight.

As the hours of darkness passed by and morning began to approach, he had slowly regained control over his wolf, and the overwhelming need to protect Key faded as the rational human side of his brain took back over.

He took the time to come up with a plan of action now that he was thinking straight again.

The only reason he could not travel with Keyara to speak to Anne at the present was the necessity of a mind-link that could cross the distance from Levia back to their camp to keep the others updated or to call for help if needed.

Without a pack link between all of them, Ash and Keyara could only reach each other, but everyone else present was still linked through the Kodia Pack bond, though the general link could only reach a few miles at most.

He had planned to send Key and stay behind since theirs reached much farther as mates.

One option he pondered was that they could move their camp location closer to the castle until the normal pack link could cross the distance between them all.

Mateo could then travel with Ash and Key to communicate anything needed to those they left behind. As he thought about it, he decided this plan was risky.

Mateo had gone over the new patrol routes with him on the map, and to be close enough, they would be camping dangerously close to the outer patrols, since they then would be much farther within the Levian border.

Instead of moving the whole group, he decided it would make more sense to place a couple of men in the woods at the edge of the range of the mind-link.

Passing the messages through multiple men wasn’t ideal if there was an emergency, since it would take more time, but it was better than their whole group being discovered before they were ready to attack.

A final option, and one Ash much preferred from a tactical standpoint, would be to designate a beta and form the new pack now.

He hadn’t wanted to ask anyone to denounce the Kodia Pack so soon, in case their mission went badly, but an alpha-beta link would easily cover the distance they needed.

He felt much more comfortable having someone of authority back at the camp in case they had to defend themselves suddenly, which was the reason he had planned to stay back initially.

The warriors that had joined them were very capable but were used to responding to orders instead of acting on their own.

He hoped Mateo would be willing to step into the role of his beta earlier than they both anticipated.

As the sun broke over the horizon, he felt Keyara shift her weight on his lap and knew she had awoken with the sun.

He dropped his arms from around her body for the first time since he had carried her out of the camp the night before. She looked up at him through her lashes. The apprehension was clear on her face as she took in his mood.

He smiled at her reassuringly, and she slid out his lap, taking a seat cross-legged opposite from him in the grass.

“Thank you for indulging my wolf last night, love,” he told her, taking one of her hands in his with an apologetic smile.

She pressed her lips into a line at his words, fighting back her amusement at his uncharacteristic behavior, but her relief that his possessive mood had passed in the night was clear on her face and in her emotions.

“Don’t worry,” he told her, anticipating her question before she had a chance to ask it. “We can still stick to our former plan with some minor alterations. I need to speak with Mateo, but we can still get you to Anne.”

She nodded, pleased by his words, and rose to her feet. He laced his fingers with hers as they made their way back to the main camp, Ash carrying their blankets from the night before over his other arm.

The residents of the main camp were beginning to rise for the morning as well, and they were busy folding blankets and starting breakfast, chattering among themselves quietly.

A few gave brief nods to him and Key as they approached, but no one questioned his odd behavior from the night before.

Those who had witnessed his actions had probably been able to guess the cause, but it was understood among his people to not comment on such things.

“Get yourself some breakfast,” he told her softly, kissing her on the top of the head and dropping her hand. “Mateo is on patrol. I am going to find him to go over our options. We will return soon.”

He shed his clothes and shifted, sniffing the air to pick up Mateo’s location before taking off at a run to meet him.