Forgotten Wolf

46 Betrayal

"Actually..." Mack slowly cuts the silence, drawing all eyes. "You can't."

My heart stops, and an icy shiver runs up my spine.

"Derek asked me to look into it when he first found out about you. There are very few cases of human mates recorded, but almost all of them don't survive the marking process," she continues, putting a damper on any questions.

Dead? Chris could kill me?

Chris turns me to him, desperate to reassure me. "Baby, look at me. Nothing's going to happen to you." He cups my cheek, guiding me to look at him. "I don't need to mark you to know you're mine."

"B-but isn't it important?" I stammer.

Chris caresses soothing circles on my cheek with his thumb and smiles at me. "Nowhere near as important as you are to me. We can talk more about it later. I don't want you to worry about this, okay?"

All I can do is nod, since there's already so much on his plate.

Lunch wraps up shortly after that and everyone heads back to the boardroom, though I opt to stay behind. My mind runs full speed—talks of war have my nerves up enough, but the marking possibly killing me is over the top.

All the mated pairs are marked—hell, even Cyrus nearly forcefully marked me. If it wasn't for Derek's intervention, I could be dead already. The thought sends fresh shivers down my spine.

Mack sits down next to me and gives my hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry Jess, I didn't mean for it to come out that way," she says, locking her sympathetic green eyes on mine.

"I mean, it is what it is. I just don't really know what to think about it..." I trail off.

"It doesn't change anything. Not having a claim mark on your neck won't make Chris love you less," Derek says, taking a seat. "Get out of your head. It won't do you any good," he growls.

Although I hear his words, I can't help the sense of doubt growing in me.

"What has Chris told you about Jude?" Derek asks, changing the topic

"Just that he thinks he sold us out..." I trail off. My stomach twists at the thought of Jude being behind any of this. Yet from our very first meeting, I was so sure of the goodness in him, if I was wrong about that, what else am I wrong about?

"And what do you think?" He asks.

"I don't know. I can't ignore the evidence Chris laid out..." I trail off.

"But?" Derek prompts.

"My gut says there's something more there. What reason would he have to do this? I can't come up with any motivation whatsoever. He wanted to be a part of this pack. Why would he sell them out?" Mostly, I just can't imagine my closest friend turning on me. He's become so important to me, and always been there when I needed him, until that night...

"Then where is he?" He sighs and shares a look with Mack. "You have to admit it's an awful big coincidence that he starts to spend more time here and rogues are able to strike the heart of Still Waters... I mean you guys have been joined at the hip from the start and he just happens to have an errand to run the night you're taken?"

I hang my head and shake it. "I don't know, but what if something happened to him? That's the only thing I can think of." Derek watches me with an unreadable look.

"We'll know soon enough, I suppose. The plan is nearly set and the attack will happen in two days." He pauses before speaking again, picking his words carefully. "Jess... If Chris finds him on the wrong side, he won't hesitate to kill him for his betrayal," Derek warns, sending cold shivers down my spine.