~ Chapter Forty-Three ~

Something was rustling around next to me and driving me crazy. I was trying to get as much rest as possible before I had to face Dimitri's cheerful family again, but someone couldn't stop making the bed rock. I was tempted to kick out and see what damage I could do, but instead I forced my eyes to open.

Dimitri sat upright, his fingers curled around the edge of the bed. I couldn't see anything but his silhouette against the moonlight shining through the window, yet somehow I had the feeling something was wrong, just like I'd had the last two days. I sat up and rubbed my hand across Dimitri's shoulderblade, feeling how his muscles flexed in response to my touch. But he didn't turn around, so I shuffled closer.

"Dima," I murmured tiredly, tugging at him. "What are you doing?"

He leaned back slightly. "Listening."

"For what?" I sounded like a child.

"I'm listening to the mind-link," he clarified, pulling away from my grip. "Someone's at the border approaching us."

I perked up, though I was still incredibly tired. Dimitri tilted his head to the side for a moment in thought, and I dragged myself out of bed onto my feet. His eyes flicked to me but they were absent, lost in the words being spoken into his mind. I hated that I couldn't just tap into what he was hearing, but it looked important so I presumed he would tell me anyway.

After almost a minute of nothing, his eyes widened and he suddenly darted off through the door.

"Dimitri!" I yelled after him, rushing to catch up.

A door opened down the hall to reveal Kia, who looked like she'd just come home from a photoshoot. Her eyes flicked between her son's figure running down the stairs and me curiously, but I just shook my head. She wasn't a part of the mind-link either, she didn't know what was going on.

I ran downstairs after Dimitri and, once I got outside, I leaped into the air, shifting mid-jump into my wolf. My paws pounded into the ground as I chased my mate's scent away from the mountains into the trees. It felt incredibly unsafe but I hated the idea of him being out here alone himself - and that he hadn't told me what the threat actually was.

*Dima, where are you going?* I called out to him, snapping my head back and forth in search of anyone else.

*Go back to the house, I'll bring them to you,* he replied sternly.

*Them? Now is not time for the pronoun game! What's the threat?!*

*No threat. Go back to the house.*

I ignored him, running faster so I didn't lose his scent. The mixture of nature and moist air was starting to cloud it, and other pack warriors' scents occasionally drifted through, too. When the wind blew toward me, I noticed another scent that I recognised, but figured it would be one of the warriors.

Finally, my wolf senses picked up voices up ahead. They didn't sound angry but I sensed a hint of accusation in a male’s tone, and when I finally broke through a bush to see the scene ahead of me, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Dimitri - human and wearing only shorts now - stood among half a dozen wolves, surrounding three people who looked like they were terrified. A mother and two children, shivering from the cold; the mother was hardly even dressed, wearing only a t-shirt that seemed ragged and old. I would have felt bad for them immediately no matter who they were, but these weren't just any wolves standing in front of me.

I ducked back behind the bush and shifted, scrambling to wear a shirt I'd tied around my leg before setting off. When I stepped back out, Dimitri immediately gave me a dirty look, but I ignored him for the surprised mother instead.

"Erika," she breathed. She sounded relieved, and within an instant, her kids were, too.

"Doc!" called out the eldest.

"Valerie, you're..." I trailed off as I did a second headcount. One mother, two kids; two people were missing. "Where's Tony?" I asked first as I examined Jacob, who'd grown since the last time I'd seen him. He was almost the size of his brother.

"R-Roger had him when we left, I didn't have a choice. I had to save as many of my kids as I could..." Valerie was on the brink of tears, and out of some natural instinct I didn't understand, I moved forward to hug her.

But I had to know something first.

"Connor?"

Her eyes moved to the floor, and my heart dropped. I took a tiny step back from her, the weight of the decisions I'd made when I left my old pack crashing down on me again. I'd left the pack to rot, Nola to die, Connor and his family to suffer at the hands of someone I knew would punish them for helping me. It was the worst thing I had ever done, even if I got to spend the rest of my life with Dimitri because of it. It would have been more noble for me to go down with the pack.

Dimitri must have sensed what I was thinking because he came up behind me and pulled me into his chest. I could hardly even think about his touch after everything that had happened because he was too close to my pack that one time, but I didn't want to reject him in front of so many warriors, either.

"I h-had to do what I had to do," Valerie continued when her tears stopped. Bree and Jake were hugging her legs, their eyes wet with moisture that refused to fall. "He wasn't dead when we left but I don't think he'll be alive much longer after Roger finds out we escaped."

"Can't you mind-link him?" I whispered. It felt wrong to speak properly.

"I haven't tried... I've been so focused on getting the kids safe. I-I asked around and found that village Gina Morone runs - you know the one for rogues? But they said she wasn't there and that you were living with Dimitri. I had to convince someone - Henry - to give me your location." She smiled sadly. "He said you'd talked about me before."

I looked away. "Of course I did. Look, Val, it's freezing out here and that isn't good for any of us. Let's get you back to the house for some rest, okay? I know someone who'll be glad to look after you."

Valerie's smile was strong but broken, as she reached down to pull off her shirt and shift. Both Bree and Jake ran up to me in the meantime, hugging my legs instead, and Dimitri looked down at them in surprise. I didn't feel like explaining that the kids at Roger's pack had always liked me because I was the young doctor.

"Dima, ask Xanthe to sort out Valerie and her kids. She knows what to do."

He stared at me for a moment then nodded, pulling away. I helped Bree climb onto her mother's back, whilst Jake jumped up like a little ninja. Giving them a tough smile, we began the long walk back to the packhouse.

**Sorry for the shorter chapter, this one was kind of thrown together last minute. For more warning regarding my absences, updates, and details about my other books, go to my Facebook page: 'Mackintosh Books'.**
**Thanks,**
**Gracie.**