Read Online Mated to the Pack by Alanis Knight - Free Book Online

in
defeat.
    “Then we go,” he said.

Chapter
Seven

     
     
    The leaves crunched heavily under their feet
as they walked. Allison was hardly dressed for such terrain,
wearing nothing but a tank top and shorts that they’d obtained for
her the first night she stayed with the pack, and her feet were
bare. Until this moment, she’d never realized that her shoes,
inappropriate that they might have been with their spiked heels,
had been lost at some point during her abduction and rescue.
    “Are you alright?” Michael asked her,
glancing down at her tender feet.
    “I’ll be fine,” she lied, eager to find Luke
and Logan as quickly as possible.
    In truth, her feet felt as though they were
being ripped apart. Every jagged stone, every briar, every sharp
twig tore at her delicate flesh, so used to wearing fuzzy slippers
and being moisturized nightly. But she said nothing. The pack was
far more important.
    Michael was careful to slow his pace,
allowing her to keep up despite her aching feet. He knew she must
be in terrible pain. He could see her wince now and then, and he
could hear the occasional sucking of air between her lips. But he
would not belittle her by asking if he could help her.
    “Do you have any idea where we are going?”
Allison asked.
    “I go based only on pack instinct,” Michael
said. “Unfortunately, I can no longer sense their location.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’ve been disavowed. They no longer
recognize me as Alpha because of my betrayal, and as a consequence,
our pack bond has been broken,” Michael explained.
    “Oh, no,” Allison murmured. “Because of me.
Michael, I’m…”
    “Don’t,” Michael shushed her. “This is as
much my responsibility as it is yours, if nor more so. As Alpha, I
should have had the strength to resist. This is my failing.”
    Allison bit her lip and struggled against
her emotions as her eyes began to well with stinging, bitter tears. No, she told herself. Don’t you dare cry!
    Crying would do no good. Crying would weaken
her, and Michael needed her to be strong. The whole pack needed her
to be strong. They were broken, and it was all because of her. She
couldn’t let them down.
    She swallowed hard, and the lump of raw
emotion that had become lodged in her throat was pushed into the
pit of her stomach. She took a deep breath, willing herself
strength she feared she didn’t have.
    “This pack instinct… can it really help find
them?” she asked.
    “I hope so,” Michael said.
    She wanted to tell him how little confidence
his hope inspired in her, but she knew that he himself might be
lost in a quagmire of hopelessness if she did. So she did the only
thing she knew to do. She lied.
    “We’ll find them,” she said. “I know
it.”
    Michael said nothing, but she could see that
his jaw muscles were tense and twitching. Not wanting to put him
under any more stress than he was already bearing, she walked
beside him in silence.
    After several long, painful miles, Allison’s
feet felt as though they were on fire. Michael sniffed the air and
glanced down, noticing a path of blood trailing behind them.
    “Your feet!” he gasped.
    She froze and looked down, noticing the
leaves beneath her mottled red. She glanced behind her and saw the
trail. Her skin tingled, and her whole body began to shiver. She
felt herself sinking.
    Michael caught her just as she was falling.
His thick arms wrapped around her and held fast, and she struggled
to remain conscious.
    “No, no, no…” he pleaded with her. “Don’t
you faint on me!”
    He needed her. He needed her to be strong.
The pack needed her to be strong. She kept repeating it, and she
shook her head rapidly to chase away the fog that threatened to
pull her out of reality.
    Her hands gripped his forearms, and she
pushed herself back onto unsteady feet. Her head swam, and she
swayed, but she managed to stay upright.
    In the distance, thunder bellowed ominously.
Even Allison, with her human sense of smell, could detect