The Alpha's Fight

Chapter 26 - Forget He Ever Existed

One week later

I paced my bedroom floor, steading my rapidly hyperventilating state. Every thud of my pulse deafened me and each breath felt searing, containing not nearly enough oxygen. The bond's pull to Taylor had driven me beyond insane and there had been more than one occasion where my feet had almost taken me to him on autopilot.

It may have all been in my head, but I was convinced my father knew. The level of his silence with me was screaming something was off. Any other time, his silence with me or his disregarding my existence would be a blessing. Under my current circumstances, it terrified me. It came down to the decision of whether my paranoia was getting the best of me, or whether it was my good senses warning me. I believed the latter.

Taylor had tried to mind-link me so many times and eventually, he simply gave up. Not hearing his voice anymore was killing me, twisting the rusty knife of guilt and self-loathing further into my side. I wanted to tell him I was going to get him out, to break him free, tell him everything had been an act to protect him. But if my father was watching him, if he knew who Taylor truly was to me and my mate just upped and vanished, not only would he be hunted down, the manner of his disappearance would lead my father to suspect my involvement with the others that had vanished. And for all I knew, he may suspect that anyway. I could deal with my father's wrath, but my friends couldn't and I wouldn't drag them into any more danger than I already had.

Scott was the sole friend I had embroiled in my plan to get my mate out. I needed help with being under watch and he was my best option. My reason was also partly out of shame. The others would soon find out what I had done, but I didn't want them to try and talk me out of it, to offer up their help that could have them killed. I couldn't take anyone else's death weighing on my shoulders, or add any more names to my already heavy conscience.

I didn't want to do any of this. But I was out of options and time.

And the time had come.

Scott, in secret, had arranged transport for Taylor; a car that, with any luck, my father couldn't trace. My Gamma had taken a huge risk for me by sneaking it out of the pack well before sunrise, which was the reason for all my pacing about my room. I was waiting for word that he had made it back over our borders undetected, but the moment he returned... I would need to make my move. I still had money stored from helping wolves escape; none of it would be needed now. It amounted to roughly eight thousand dollars and would give him a chance at a new life, one in which he was free and wouldn't have the misfortune of being bonded to me any longer.

Oh goddess, now the moment was here, a fresh wave of dread clutched at my chest.

I brought all of this on myself, stuck in a stupid delusion. Why did Taylor have to pay the price for all my mistakes?

'Hunter? I'm back,' Scott mind-linked, making my heart sink. 'It took me hours, but I'm certain I wasn't followed. I'm in that small private room you use sometimes just down from the pack dining hall.'

Taking a deep breath on unsteady legs, I left, each footstep echoing louder than the last. Scott sat in one of the wooden chairs when I entered the room, his head bowed over his lap and his knee bouncing wildly. His head lurched up at the sound of the door and I closed it behind me with a soft click, neither of us saying a word. He silently handed me the vehicle's keys and I added them to the packet tucked under my shirt.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He quietly asked when the silence stretched for too long.

I shook my head, not trusting my voice or the sick lump that was forming.