Protected Promise by Julie Trettel

Landon

Chapter 22

 

 

 

Dereck and I were talking and laughing after he readily agreed to my request of being my Beta. He even had some great suggestions for improvements throughout the territory, including discussing fixing up the old hotel along the highway to open as a recurring source of revenue.

I had explained to him that I’d been doing some small investments with the Westin Foundation since his arrival that had turned quite a profit. That money would be enough for the renovations he was proposing. Still, it was a lot to consider and I would not make a rash decision on the subject.

We were laughing and just catching up when Tobi burst through the door. Her face was pale with panic yet tinted in red at her cheeks from having ran.

“What’s wrong?” I looked past her expecting to see Kaitlyn. “Where’s my mate?”

“I’m sorry,” Tobi said as she started to cry.

I tried to remain calm, but I was freaking out. “Tobi, where is Kaitlyn?” I demanded.

“She sent me to get help. She ordered me to come find you. Landon, hurry. The she-wolves, they’re attacking her.”

“And you left her?”

Tobi sobbed. “I had to. Let’s go.”

I took off running with no idea where to go. Luckily for me, Dereck kept a much cooler head.

“Tobi, where are they?”

“The cabins.”

“Why on Earth were you guys out there?”

“I didn’t know they’d been set up so close to the Lodge. I thought it would be safe and fun to show her around.”

“What happened?” Connie yelled across the room as she and Shawn fell into step alongside us as I ran through the Lodge as fast as I could, out the front door, and into the woods in the direction of the cabins.

“Kaitlyn’s in trouble. She’s being challenged,” Tobi yelled over her shoulder.

I didn’t look back, but I could hear footsteps increasing behind me. My Pack was assembling. I said a quick prayer that Kaitlyn could hold off the she-wolves long enough for us to get there.

“They were ganging up on her, and I heard one scream. I don’t know who it was. Landon, I’m so sorry. I never should have left her. She commanded me, almost as strongly as you.”

“Well, she’s your Pack Mother, she has that power,” I admitted.

“She does?”

“Yes.” I didn’t want to explain it. I should have felt it the moment she channeled pack power, but I didn’t feel a thing. My father had explained it to me long ago. I didn’t think it would happen so soon, but perhaps her heightened anger or aggression magnified it, or Tobi was exaggerating, which was a possibility too.

I should have known she was in danger. I shouldn’t have let her out of my sight. I wanted to throw up at the mere thought of losing her. I hadn’t even told her I was falling in love with her.

I picked up the pace and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I heard two wolves fighting just up ahead. We were almost there. If they were still fighting, then she had to be alive. If she were dead, they wouldn’t need to fight.

Just as we entered the clearing, I heard the snap and everything went silent—deadly silent.

I froze and tried not to throw up as hysteria threatened to bubble out of me. Two wolves lay there on the ground in a pool of blood. I could hear one was alive but they were so still I couldn’t tell for certain which, and then Kaitlyn’s wolf slowly rose to her full height.

She sat back on her haunches, and she howled in victory.

Tears stung my eyes as I fought the urge to close the distance between us.

My Pack at my back answered her call, howling in return. It made the hair on my neck stand up as I dropped to my knees and the others took my lead.

She limped over to me; her fur caked in blood. I could smell it clearly now, the worst was someone else’s but some of it was hers. She was injured, but she was alive. My emotions of pride and protector were waging an internal war within me.

She licked my cheek and then shuddered and collapsed into my arms as she shifted back into her human form.

I could clearly see a bite mark on her upper thigh. It was purple and blue, not yet healed.

“She was attacked while still in human form,” I whispered.

Five remaining she-wolves walked towards us and dropped to their knees before me. I knew there were seven. One lay dead on the ground where Kaitlyn had ended her life. I looked around for the missing one, fearing a blindsided attack, but saw the second corpse lying in a puddle of blood closer to the cabin.

“We only wanted a chance,” Mallory said.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Maria insisted.

“River just lost it. She attacked and killed Jasmin before turning on your mate,” Abby said.

“She was amazing, Alpha. Even injured she fought hard and won,” Clover added.

“No more challenges,” Cadence insisted while the other girls nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to go back though. I would be honored to call her my Pack Mother, if you’ll allow me to stay.”

I stared at her in shock. My head was still swimming, but my number one priority was getting Kaitlyn the help she needed.

“We’ll discuss that later. I must tend to my mate.”

“Of course, Alpha,” Cadence said.

I looked down and she was so vulnerable. Seeing Kaitlyn naked and hurt tore a hole in my heart. I gathered her in my arms as she moaned in pain. I shielded her against my body as I rose to my full height.

“Alpha, I can help,” Abby said. “I’m a trained nurse.”

“I-I can help too, Alpha,” Cadence said. “If you allow it.”

“Follow me,” I told them.

I carried Kaitlyn all the way back to the Lodge. Others offered their assistance, but I declined it. A few stayed back to assist with the cleanup and burial of the two dead wolves. There would be no ceremony or farewell for either of them. They disgraced the wolf code.

Later on, I would find out that Jasmin was not at fault in the way River was, but by then it was too late.

 

*****

 

Mallory and Maria left my territory quickly, fearing the repercussions of their actions. But true to their words, Abby and Cadence stayed to assist. They took turns around the clock tending to Kaitlyn and never leaving her unattended for even a moment.

Abby was a skilled nurse who knew exactly what to do to dress her wounds.

Still, Kaitlyn had shifted out of her fur before passing out in my arms. She’d lost a good deal of blood. In her wolf form her injuries would have healed quickly, but in her skin she was no better off than an average human. That’s where Cadence came in.

Of course, I’d read about witches and heard their tales, but I had never met one in person. Cadence was a healer. She couldn’t expedite the process as fast as Kaitlyn’s wolf could have, but certainly more than we would have otherwise seen.

On the second day, she still hadn’t awakened, and I was getting worried. She had started to become restless and was burning up with a fever.

Wolves rarely ran fevers such as that, but the wound to her leg had become infected and we could only assume her wolf was struggling to heal it, having been weakened in the battle. There were deep scratches across her back as well.

Clover showed up sometime that day and brought with her a wealth of herbal knowledge.

“Are you certain you aren’t a witch as well?” I asked her on several occasions.

She just laughed and went about her business, creating salves and teas from things she’d harvested in the woods to help heal Kaitlyn’s wounds.

Between the three of them we saw great improvement by the third day. Her fever had broken and her injuries seemed much better, but she still hadn’t awakened.

“Why isn’t she waking up?” I asked for the hundredth time as I paced the floor of the master suite in my quarters.

Tobi had needed something to do without driving me insane and apologizing for the millionth time, so I had asked her to clean up my parents’ old room. She’d organized a team and they had washed and scrubbed the place clean.

The large king-sized bed had proven beneficial and there was much more space for the constant stream of people tending to her and coming by to check on her. My previous aversions to the room were long gone.

“She’ll awaken when she’s good and ready, sir,” Abby insisted. “Her vitals are strong. She’s going to be fine, just give her time to rest and heal.”

“If she’d just wake up, she could shift and heal faster,” I argued.

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but her wolf took a lot of the damage, Landon. I am sure it is healing too,” Cadence insisted.

I was so frustrated and worried that I couldn’t even see straight.

Still, I was the Alpha. Despite the fact my mate was fighting for her life, I had responsibilities. Dereck picked up a lot of my slack. Even though we hadn’t had time to officially announce his promotion in pack position, it didn’t mean he was waiting to assume the role.

I wasn’t sure how I would have gotten through any of it without him. I was so distracted with my head whirling in a million different directions, but on the exterior, I was cool, calm, and collected, just as my father had taught me to be.

Show no fear. Show no weakness.

My wolves knew I was hurting, that I was struggling, and worried, but they still looked to me for the daily ins and outs necessary for the survival of our Pack and I would not let them down.

Most of my business was conducted from within the bedroom where I could keep a watchful eye on Kaitlyn. When I had to leave, Tobi came and sat with her. Many times, I would return to find Connie there too. She’d taken a surprising protective role fussing over Kaitlyn and ensuring she was getting the best care possible.

Actually, the entire Pack had become quite defensive where my mate was concerned. She had won them all over with one victorious howl and she didn’t even know it.

As another night fell, I turned off the lights and climbed into bed next to her and held her hand.

“Hey gorgeous. I hope you can hear me. I’m starting to get a little worried over here, so if you could wake up, that would be great.” I laughed. “Who are we kidding? I’m a mess without you. I need you to wake up now. I’m not sure I can do any of this without you. I don’t want to.”

I had told her a dozen times how sorry I was for not being there for her. I had praised her and showered her with admirations for all she had done and how strong she had been. Now, I was resorting to begging her to just wake up.

I gave her hand a little squeeze before rolling over and going to sleep.

I felt a slight tug as she squeezed back.

I shot up in bed and turned the lights on. “Kaitlyn?”

She moaned and turned her face away from the light.

I quickly turned it back off. My wolf eyes were strong enough to see her in the dark anyway, it had just been a kneejerk reaction.

“Kaitlyn? Sweetheart, can you hear me?”

“Shhh,” she said. “My head is killing me.”

I nearly cried in relief. I couldn’t stop myself from pulling her into my arms despite her protest. I just sat there hugging her close to me and telling her it was all going to be okay.

“You scared me. Welcome back.”

“How long was I out?” she asked.

“Three days.”