Chapter 132

Nathan POV

"Rachel is alive!"

The witch skidded in the gravel of the drive, her shoes barely keeping her upright; I wondered if she'd been running before she'd used her magic to get to Wright House.

I didn't have a clue how she or Windsor zipped around from place to place as if the laws of physics didn't apply to them. I didn't care either. All I wanted to know was how certain she was about Rachel.

"How do you know she's alive?" I asked.

"Do you know where she is?" came from Tyler who looked ready to tear the witch apart for information.

Adam the Beta tossed out his own question into the mix asking, "Is she safe?"

Justice held her hands up to ward off the questions, patting the air as if it would calm any of us, "I followed her aura all the way to an iron crossing. She was there and alive not more than a few minutes before me. I put a tracer on her energy signature. I'll know if they---hurt her."

I could tell she had swallowed back the words 'kill her.'

The witch didn't need to say the words out loud for me to hear them. I could hear them in the shape of her mouth, the tone of her voice, the tap of her tongue to her teeth. Every part of her was screaming how she would know the minute my Rachel died---but I couldn't tell if she knew anything about Rachel's safety.

"Can you tell if she is safe? Adam's right to ask because it doesn't matter if she's alive now only to be in danger of dying in a few minutes."

The scariest part about the whole situation was someone could kill my Rachel in minutes. They wouldn't need to fight her too hard either. Her pregnancy would keep her strongest defense -her wolf- from coming to her aid.

"I can't. I wish I could. I'm sorry."

Justice was blind, wasn't that ironic?

I kept trying to figure out whether or not I was allowed to find something funny when the love of my life might be dying somewhere just out of reach.

By the time I had decided to laugh, the moment had passed. Nothing was funny anymore. I wanted to be the one who could will myself anywhere with only a thought.

I'd go to Rachel---even if it meant stepping into a volcano or the mouth of a dragon. I would gladly go anywhere to be with Rachel. Would Wright? Would Windsor?

Adam was angry. I could tell from the set of his jaw and the way he was grinding his teeth. Was his anger enough to drive him to Rachel's aid at the risk of himself?

I couldn't tell. I wasn't sure I was cut out to be the Alpha heir for my family. I'd never been as interested in leading as I was in following.

Following Rachel, specifically.

In my world, Rachel was the sun, the moon, and every star in the sky. I missed her every day from the moment she left me for Wright all the way up to the moment someone had taken her from the couch she was supposed to be resting on.

I loved the baby in her belly as much as if she were my own; I worried for her child, too.

My hearing faded back in as Justice finished her side of a conversation with the others.

"---trace her energy to wherever they're holding her. I think it's the best chance we have of getting her back quickly."

Windsor shook his head, "I don't know, Justice. We're still following a blind energy trail. We have no idea where we'll follow it to or who or what will be waiting when we get there."

"Take me. I won't care where you drop me. If my mate is there, that's where I want to be."

"No," I spoke up, "I'll go. Take me. If Wright goes, we have no idea whether they'll keep him alive or not. They won't kill me. I'm Alpha heir to House Lewis. Everyone knows I'm the only child of my line. Everyone knows me. Everyone."

I wished I could erase the fact people knew me on sight.

Rachel was the love of my life. I had made no secret of my intention to marry her as soon as we finished high school; she wrecked me completely when she found her fated mate and left me behind.

All of wolfen society knew I was devastated by the loss of Rachel. My shame had been so universally known---no one had even tried to date me for the first solid year after Rachel left so I was all alone.

Being universally known was going to have a good effect for a change: I was going to use my infamous status to get to save the day, bring Rachel home, and maybe prove to her I loved her enough to die for her.

Wasn't being willing to die for her enough of a reason to give me a second chance on a second chance?

"Okay, so we're all in agreement," I bluffed my way through the silence, choosing to think the others were worried about me being lost in the chase for Rachel rather than speechless out of some other emotion like pity, "I'll go with Justice and Art. We'll track Rachel. If I get there and she's in danger, I'll put myself in front of her until they can get her out."

No one would try to take me out. Death was a mercy in a lot of ways and I wasn't about to be allowed to die for one reason or another.

I kept thinking it was because the Moon Goddess wanted to see me suffer for daring to thwart her Divine Plan for my life, but I knew I could be wrong.

For all any of us knew, there was no Moon Goddess. Fate was all in our heads. Our urge to mate with one 'fated mate' was just some kind of biological response programmed into our DNA the way people came out with a cleft in their chin and some didn't.

"No."

I was surprised when Wright spoke up.

Looking at him, I let my frustration show a little as I asked, "No what? Aren't you interested in doing whatever is necessary to save your mate? To save your daughter?"

"I am willing to put my life on the line for my mate and our child. I'm not willing to be the reason House Lewis has no heir. You realize if you die, it starts a war?"

War between packs was practically unheard of outside of dusty history books. No one really went to war anymore.

"Don't be ridiculous. My parents wouldn't start a war. They're pacifists! They don't even believe in violence."

"They're wolves. You're their only son. They'd choose violence if it would save you---or avenge you."

Scoffing, I turned to Art only to find him shaking his head in agreement with Wright. What was wrong with these Alphas? Were they all losing their minds along with losing Rachel?

"There's no way my family would lose all their values if something happened to me on accident when I was trying to save Rachel. They love Rachel!"

"We can't risk you," Art stated bluntly, "If we lost you, we'd all have to answer for the decision to let you go. You couldn't overpower either of us so we couldn't say you forced your way into the rescue party. You don't have the ability to slide yourself so there'd be no way to say you followed on your own. I can keep going? Do you really need me to give you more reasons why we'd all go down if you went down?"

A spark of something lit up inside me as I realized they weren't going to let me save Rachel. They weren't going to let me be there to bring her home. They were going to keep me from her!

Rage flooded my system with enough force to blank out the rational part of my mind and all I could hear was Lyon howling. I tried to fight my wolf back and my wolf tried harder to surface.

It was my Lycan who won.

Shifting into my Lycan form, I howled my rage into the sky, daring anyone to stop me from going after my mate.