Page 94 of Embracing Sky
55
FLETCHER
“I don’t like this,”River said for the fifth time that night. He dropped his head into his hands and growled, but it petered into a low whine, and I knew he was fighting with himself. I could only imagine what he was going through, to have escaped a literal hellscape and found a pack and a mate, only to be asked to go back there and risk being captured again?
But this was the only way we’d ever see Sky again…
My heart was in knots as I reached out and touched River’s arm. “I know it’s hard, but imagine if you were in his shoes. Wouldn’t you want Sky to rescue you?”
River snorted. “He wouldn’t. He doesn’t have the balls.”
Adam rose to his feet and slammed both hands down on the table, towering over River. “He would, and we both know it,” he growled. “Skyidolizedyou. He loved you—yes, to an extreme, but love is love. Don’t sit there and tell me he wouldn’t do everything in his power to bring you home safe when I know damn well he would. You don’t deserve him and?—”
River’s phone went off, silencing Adam. Silencing all of us.
“Who is it?” Xan asked.
River looked at his phone. “I don’t know. I don’t recognize the number.”
“Answer it,” Gracie pressed firmly.
River nodded, swiping his finger across the screen before lifting the phone to his ear. “Hello?” He paused, but the look on his face made my heart skip a beat. “Sky? Where are you?”
Almost immediately, the wolves in the pack-house clustered around the table to listen in. River put the call on speaker. Sky’s voice came crackling over the line, thin and wispy. “River? I’m scared…”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m hurt. I… I got away, but I’m hurt and I think…” A soft sob. “I think my water broke.”
My heart lurched in my chest so violently that I thought I might vomit. He was alone out there, maybe going into labor, and he needed us. I covered my mouth with one hand to keep from making a sound. When I looked at my mate, Adam’s face was stony.
“Please, River. I’m scared,” Sky whimpered.
“Where are you?” River stood tall, suddenly in Alpha-mode. “Tell me where you are, Sky.”
“I don’t know! I’m in the forest, somewhere outside the facility. That’s all I know.”
River growled. “Goddamnit. Okay. Don’t go anywhere. Don’t move. I’m coming for you, okay, Sky? I’m coming.”
“Promise?” Sky’s voice quivered.
“Yeah, just hang tight.”
Sky started to cry, and the phone line went dead. No one said anything for a moment or two. Silent tears streamed down my face as pain and grief filled the hole in my chest. He was hurt, he was scared, and he needed us, and we couldn’t even be with him.
River stuffed his phone into his pocket and wheeled away from the table. “I gotta go. I gotta get to him,” he said, his entireattitude about the situation changing. Just five minutes ago, he was growling about going back. Now that he knew his twin was injured, he was rushing to rescue him.
“Hold on,” Kace said calmly. “We need a plan.”
River snarled. “Fuck your plan! He’s hurt and he needs me!”
“No, he’s not.” Adam’s voice was oddly quiet.
I gasped, turning to my mate. “Adam?” Hadn’t he heard the call? Hadn’t he heard the pain and fear in Sky’s voice?
“Don’t you see? It’s a trap,” Adam said.
“What are you talking about?” River growled back.
