“Everything will be okay, Grant,” Britta told him, smiling comfortingly at him and rubbing his arms in a soothing motion. It was like she could tell the personal turmoil he was going through in a matter of seconds.
“This is dangerous, Brit.”
“I know, but I’ll be with Lukas! He used to be a rogue, and Hann told me that he’s going to be doing the most dangerous part of the mission. I’m just there for backup and to survey the whole situation. That’s it. It’ll be over before you even realize it.”
“When do you leave?”
“Hann wants us gone in two days . . . .”
“I don’t want you to go. But I’ll be here waiting for you when you come back.”
Britta smiled up at him, and it took Grant’s breath away. He realized that she wanted his approval, almost. She wanted him to believe in her and not argue–and he did believe in her and her skills. It was his own fear that caused his creative mind to imagine the worst. It wasn’t Britta, it was him.
“You wanna run?” Britta asked him, stepping away and pulling her shirt over her head. Seeing her with her shirt off made him want to do other things than just run, but the adrenaline of shifting into his wolf form made him smile and he began to undress as well.
In the matter of a few seconds, both of them were naked and shifting into their wolf forms, their clothes scattered on the damp forest floor.
Britta took off first, her black fur blending in with the dense forest and keeping Grant on his toes as he tried to keep up. She was fast, he’d give her that.
They ran together, leaping over all the fallen twigs and branches, ducking under the branches that jutted out of the trees in places where they could very well knock them out if they didn’t duck. They began to tease each other like they normally did, but this time it was different. This time there was no hidden message they had for each other.
This time they were honest about their love and affection.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of them running around the whole forest, running miles and miles away from where they first started, they made it back to that clearing that held their clothes. Both of them were exhausted physically, but not mentally. The adrenaline that shifting into their wolf forms brought never seemed to tire them out. In fact, it just gave them more excitement to go out and do anything. Everything. It was like going out and partying, but never wanting to leave the bars or clubs because you had so much energy from the alcohol and atmosphere.
Britta and Grant walked out into the clearing, both of them shifting into their human forms and standing before each other naked. Britta didn’t need to hide herself from him anymore, obviously.
She stood and stared at him, a glimmer in her eyes. Grant knew exactly what he was suggesting as he walked over to her, pulling her to him and kissing her as they fell to the forest floor.
Chapter 19
When the day finally arrived, Britta found that she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to go and complete this mission for her alpha, of course–but she didn’t want to leave Grant.
They had been living in complete bliss for the last two days, never really leaving Grant’s house unless they had to go teach classes at the gym or Britta had to go and talk to Hann and Michael about the mission she was on with Lukas. They ran through every scenario that could happen, and Britta felt confident that everything would be okay. Lukas also reassured her that they would be fine–and he reassured Grant, who everyone seemed to know didn’t approve of the situation.
They were standing out in the front of Grant’s house, prepared to say their goodbyes to each other. Britta hated the finality that seemed to surround them. This wasn’t their last goodbye or anything, so why did it feel like it?
“I’ll be back before you know it,” Britta told him, smiling up at him and trying to blink away the water that was forming in her eyes. She didn’t want to cry, but she was finding it harder to keep her emotions at bay with Grant. She just trusted him so much.
“I’ll be here waiting for you, Brit,” Grant said as he pulled her into a kiss. Britta didn’t want to leave his arms. Pressed up against his body, she could forget that there was evil in the world. She could pretend that she didn’t have to go on this mission, one of the deadliest things that she’d ever done in her life. When she was with Grant, everything in the world was good.
And when she left his arms and felt the cold air hit her, she knew that she had to leave. Realization and reality came flooding back, and she knew that she would always remember their two days of bliss, locked away in his house with only each other and his bed.
“Don’t forget about me while I’m away.” She chuckled as she backed out of his grasp and started walking to her car. Neither of them wanted to actually say the word “goodbye,” so they simply didn’t.
“Britta, wait,” Grant said, making her stop and turn around. He walked over to her and kissed her again. She felt like she was going to melt in his arms from the way he kissed her with such passion. She’d never been kissed like that before. “I just wanted to say . . .”
Grant looked so uncertain and unsure of himself, and Britta looked at him with confusion. What was he having such a hard time telling her?
“What is it?” she asked tentatively, smiling at him with encouragement.
“I love you.”
Britta stared at him in surprise, but she wasn’t completely shocked. She was happy.
“I love you, too.”
Grant pulled her into a kiss again, and Britta felt like she was in a dream. She never thought Grant would be able to open up with her like he just did–and she never truly thought that they would fall in love so fast and passionately like they did. But she was happy. She was happier than she had ever been in her life.
Britta stared at him, cupping his cheek in awe, when she pulled away. He had her in his arms again, and neither of them wanted to leave. But she had to. Her pack, her alpha, everyone, was relying on her and Lukas to go and get the job done. To try to finish this hell once and for all.
Britta stepped backwards and out of his embrace. They smiled softly at each other, neither of them wanting or needing to say anything else. They wouldn’t say goodbye. And Britta had to remind herself that it wasn’t a goodbye. It was just a small time where they would be apart. But Britta would come back, and they would be okay.
Everything would be okay.
Britta turned around and got in her car, refusing to let Grant see the tears that were forming in her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look at him as she drove away, but the image her mind conjured up of him standing alone in his front yard was enough to break her.
She cried the whole way to Hann’s house, which was where she and Lukas were meeting with him and the rest of the alphas for one more meeting to go over everything they had to do. When she pulled up to his house, her tears were gone and her makeup was reapplied so that no one would be able to tell the struggle she had just gone through.
She hated the fear that she now had coursing through her veins as she stepped out of her car and walked up to the front door of Hann’s house. Maybe it was nerves and the fact that she was actually going to do this, but she hated that her conscious waited until right before she was to leave to have fear course through her mind. She was afraid. It was that simple.
And she hated that it was that simple.
Britta walked through the front door, pausing slightly as she saw Annie and Lukas hugging in the entryway. She nodded at them and smiled slightly as she walked past, trying to give them their space as they said their goodbyes to each other. Britta felt a pain in her chest as she saw Annie’s watery eyes. Those two had been through a lot, and Britta almost didn’t want Lukas to go so that he could stay with her and be safe.
Britta entered the living room and said hello to Hann and Michael, who were both sitting on one of the couches together, talking. Ross was in the corner of the room making a pot of coffee for everyone. She smiled at him as she sat down on the couch opposite her alpha and Michael. She didn’
t need coffee this morning. It wouldn’t be good for her nerves.
“I just want to start by thanking you for doing this, my child,” Michael told her. Britta looked at his hidden face and smiled. She hoped that she was looking in the general direction of his eyes. It was hard to tell, though. She couldn’t see his face at all, yet the emotions that surrounded him seemed to be friendly.
She remembered the emotions that had surrounded Gabriel that fateful night in the forest with Thea. Those emotions and thoughts were nothing but evil. She found it crazy that two Elders, Michael and Gabriel, were so different from each other. Weren’t all Elders supposed to be similar?
“I’m just happy that I can help in any way,” Britta responded, smiling tentatively at the two powerful men in front of her. She still couldn’t believe that they thought she could help them out in any way. It was crazy. It was unbelievable. But it made her happy and more motivated than she’d ever been in her life.
Maybe this is what she was meant to do with her life. For as long as she’d been alive, she never knew what she wanted to do. When she became an adult and had to start working to make a living for herself, she took odd jobs here and there. Nothing seemed to interest her. Until she realized that her fighting skills and strategic thinking actually helped people.
And now she was going out on a mission for her pack. She felt like, for the first time in her life, she was finally doing something that mattered.
Lukas finally joined the group. Annie wasn’t with him, and Britta assumed she’d left after saying goodbye. Lukas seemed to have a mask over his face, as to not show the emotions that he was truly feeling. He seemed fine, but Britta knew him better than that. He loved Annie more than anything in the world, so leaving her to go on this dangerous mission probably wasn’t great for either of them.
Hann smiled at him, patted his back, and then launched into what the two had to do. They’d been over this plan multiple times, and both Britta and Lukas knew it by heart. Hell, Britta could’ve told it backwards to Hann if he asked. But Britta liked that they went over it together one last time. It helped set her at ease, and Hann’s easy-going smile that he always wore was in place, too. By the time she and Lukas got into his truck, she felt more at ease than she had been when she first got to Hann’s.
The two shifters said goodbye to Hann and Michael, and then they were off. They hadn’t decided whether they were going to go in their human or wolf form. They needed to scope out the area where these rogues were before they went in, guns blazing.
They were also staying at a small motel that was somewhat near the point where they thought all these rogues were meeting in the forest. It was on the outskirts of a very small town on the east side of Michigan, so they needed to be careful where they were seen and what they did. Small towns tended to be more on alert when they had strangers roll on through their home. Lukas and Britta needed to make sure that they didn’t get on the humans watch list. Because if the humans became interested in them, it wouldn’t be long before the rogues found out who they were.
“I’m sorry you had to leave Grant,” Lukas said as they pulled out of their little town in Maine. It was early in the morning, and the sun was nowhere in sight yet. Britta loved the moments of the day like this, when everyone was asleep and the animals had yet to wake up also. She breathed in the fresh air that came through the open windows of the car, loving the way the wind blew her black hair around her face. She loved Maine.
“I’m sorry you had to leave Annie,” Britta responded. She couldn’t think of anything else to say. It sucked that they both had to leave their loved ones, but it was only for a few days. And they would be back with them soon.
Britta knew that she and Lukas would’ve done this mission no matter what, though. Even though it meant leaving behind Grant and Annie, which sucked, this was an opportunity to help out their pack and every shifter around. And there weren’t a lot of people who could go and do this. Lukas was a former rogue, so he had connections and ways that no other shifter did. And Britta was experienced in reconnaissance ever since she started watching and protecting Thea all those weeks ago.
They both wanted to do this. Maybe they even needed to.
Britta didn’t know which one it was, but she didn’t regret going on this mission.
That didn’t stop her from missing Grant with every ounce of her being, though.
Chapter 20
Grant shouldn’t have let her go. What was he thinking?
Grant shook his head as he paced in the living room of his house. He couldn’t believe that he’d just let Britta walk away from him to go off on some dangerous mission that could very well end in her death. He hadn’t even put up a fight!
Grant almost threw himself down on his couch, his head in his hands as he went over their goodbyes. He should have said more. He should have accurately told her how much she meant to him. “I love you” wasn’t enough in this situation, though the way she looked at him after he told her it made his heart still quicken with affection.
Grant sighed as he tried to calm himself down. He needed to get his act together. Sitting here and stressing about Britta, when she’d only been gone for less than an hour, wasn’t going to make things better. It was just going to result in him freaking out over nothing.
Because Britta was good at her job–he knew that. Everyone knew that. That was why Hann wanted her to go on this mission with Lukas. She was good, and she knew what she was doing. Grant was proud of her in that sense, but he wished she was in his arms right at that moment. He wished the world wasn’t full of evil people like these rogues that were forming an uprising. He wished Gabriel would just leave the whole thing alone.
But if Britta and Lukas were successful in their mission, then there was the huge chance that this whole thing would be over and done with soon. And Grant desperately wanted it to be over. He was getting annoyed with watching his back at every turn, or distrusting every innocent shifter that came to town from another pack to learn. He hated how jaded and horrible he’d become since Kaiser first came to town. Not that he was anything great beforehand. But at least then he trusted some people. Now, he was always on the defensive.
And he hated that.
Grant stretched out on the couch, yawning. It was early morning, and the sun had yet to come up. He hadn’t gotten any sleep last night. He’d held Britta in his arms as she quietly snored, and he couldn’t fall asleep with her. He just wanted to remember the way he held her, the way she breathed, the way she trusted him. The way she loved him. He never wanted to forget that moment.
He knew he was overreacting, but he couldn’t help it. He knew what it felt like to lose someone you love. He’d lost his mom, and he still wasn’t over her death. If she would’ve died naturally, or from some disease, he would’ve been able to grieve and understand it. But she was taken from this world through murder and carnage–and that he could never understand. He would never get over seeing his mother die before him at the hands of those rogues.
And now his girlfriend, the love of his life, was walking into the den of said rogues.
He felt like he was going crazy.
He knew that he loved her more than anything else in his life. He would always love her this much. And he decided, right then and there as he lay on his couch, going in and out of sleep from utter exhaustion, that he was going to ask Britta to be his mate. There was no one else for him. She got him like no one else, and she loved him even though she knew all about his horrible past.
She was his friend before she was anything else. And she loved him. He loved her. They were meant to be. If only she was here with him. Grant could almost imagine she was, and her scent came roaring back to him as if she had been gone for years. It was like he stumbled upon something she used to wear, and he would smell it to be reminded of all those memories they used to have.
He was being dramatic. She would be back soon. Everything would be okay.
And when she came back home to him, he would ask her to
be his mate. She would say yes, and they would spend their days intertwined on his couch, in his bed, on every surface they could find. On the forest floor if they had to, like that night not that long ago.
Grant breathed out again as sleep began to pull him under. He was exhausted. He felt like he hadn’t slept in years and years. Well, from the activities that he and Britta had been up to for the last two days, he hadn’t had a lot of time to sleep. He’d been preoccupied with something else . . . .
No, everything would be fine in the end. Everything had to turn out okay. Grant wouldn’t accept anything else than Britta back home with him and in his arms. Britta would become his mate, they would be happy, and everything would be okay.
He could only hope. He could only dream. He could only wish that he was with her. He realized that he felt cold laying there on his couch without her in his arms. She made him warm all over. He only wished that she would return to him soon.
Man. He had it bad. He chuckled as he fell into sleep, beyond exhausted. He must’ve been really tired if he could sleep while his mind was so wired with fear and agony over potential things that could happen with Britta. Or to Britta.
And as he fell into that deep sleep, he only thought of her and how he wished she was in his arms.
Chapter 21
Britta and Lukas made it to Michigan in one piece. Now, the hard part began.
Britta was currently waiting at the motel where she and Lukas had a room. It was on the outskirts of the town where there’d been recent rogue activity, and both she and Lukas knew that the rogue gathering couldn’t be too far into the woods that surrounded them. The motel was a popular road stop for travelers, so they wouldn’t draw too much attention. They just had to lay low. Get in and out. Get the information and make sure no one saw them.
Britta took in her surroundings. The motel was pretty bland, and just like your average motel on the side of a main highway. The two beds that Britta and Lukas weren’t going to sleep in–because they wanted this mission over with as soon as possible–had those stereotypical; colorful and pattern-y blankets draped over them. There were two pieces of art work in the motel that depicted sceneries of beaches. They were nowhere near a beach, so Britta found their theme to be a bit odd.
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