Travis began to pace up and down in front of the four of us.
"I know," he finally said after a couple of minutes. "You will die first," he announced. His finger pointed to James.
"No," both Kyle and I said in unison.
"Take me first," my father said, stepping forward, but Travis shook his head.
"That would be too easy," he said. And I frowned. How could offering to die first be easy? Nothing about this whole situation was easy. It was ludicrous.
"You are the one who caused this with your blatant disregard for our way of life and rules," Travis said to Harrison angrily. "You will be the one to suffer the most pain from this."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Kyle
Dread entered every part of me, making it harder to keep my mind calm enough to try and find a way out. It was an inbuilt survival kicking in.
I shared a glance with James. The blond Keeper was still standing a few feet from him.
"You started this. And this will end with you." Travis' words brought my attention back to him.
It was one thing to punish someone for betrayal but this was beyond that. There had to be more than just that going on between the two elder Keepers. Was this some sort of power struggle? And now that Travis had won, he was going to destroy him before he took his life.
"First will be this one," he said, his eyes on James. "Think of this like a domino of grief and pain. When we finish his life, they will be devastated. And you will feel responsible. Then..."
His eyes drifted from James to me.
"This one will be next."
My fate was sealed. I would be killed before Crystal. She grabbed my hand and a couple of silent tears slid down her face.
Kyle. I can't.The sound of her voice was uncontrollable with emotion. Her eyes pleaded with mine.
We had all walked into this situation knowing there would be no way out. But the reality of watching the ones we loved and cared for being mercilessly murdered was too horrific to face.
It's okay,I told her through our mind-link, trying to soothe her. I held her, trying to ease the array of emotions.
Travis watched as Harrison took in his crying daughter.
"You will watch your daughter lose her mate and the grief she experiences will be your own."
Harrison remained quiet as he watched Travis. It took a sick individual to enjoy the pain of others. Travis was worse. There was a whisper of a smile on his lips as he relayed his execution plans.
"And then, when her life seeps from her, you will watch your offspring die and you will know that every second of her pain you caused."
While Travis seemed to be enjoying the whole thing, the rest of the Keepers stood watching with stone-like features.
I hugged Crystal, trying to block out the fear and sadness, forcing myself to concentrate on only the love I felt for her. The anger and betrayal I felt before was no longer relevant.
She looked up at me with a tear-streaked face and I felt a pang of guilt that despite every fiber of my being wanting to protect her, there was no way to escape our deaths. There was no way to stop it.
I had already run through every scenario possible but there was no way to fight off the Keepers surrounding us. They were simply too strong for us. Even with the bottle of wolfsbane, I would have to get close enough to spray it in their faces and somehow prevent myself from being exposed to it.
"Do you have anything to say for your actions?" Travis asked Harrison.
Two fewer Keepers and we could have had a fighting chance. It went against my DNA not to fight even if I couldn't win.
"You know that you live a life filled with lies. You know the truth," Harrison said. Travis shook his head. "Our kinds are meant to mix. You know it as well as I do."
