"You feel like shifting yet?" I asked, but she didn't reply.
I could sense I had said something to upset her. I turned her around when her silence continued. She looked sad, and it tugged at me.
"It will be fine." I cupped her face and pressed a kiss to her soft lips.
Her hands covered mine. "What if I never want to shift?"
I shrugged. "You are the first half-werewolf, half-Keeper we know of. You're strong enough as you are so you don't really need to shift."
"Maybe," she said thoughtfully. Her hands rested on my chest.
"We need to go and see Flynn again."
"I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to see me again," she admitted, dropping her hands to her sides.
"We need to try," I told her, "because our only other alternative is to kill him."
"No." She stepped away from me. "You can't kill him."
I ran a hand through my hair, not liking the fact I had upset her. "If we can't get him to keep your secret, we won't have a choice."
"He rescued me," she said, lifting her shoulders slightly before allowing them to slump downward in defeat.
"You are the most important person in my life and I can't allow him to put you in jeopardy."
She bit her lip slightly before shaking her head. "You can't kill him. I won't have his death on my conscience."
I clenched my fist to keep my temper from flaring up.
"Your loyalty to him is misguided," I said, telling her the truth as I saw it.
"It doesn't matter," she replied, looking a little agitated.
I reached out to touch her hand with mine. It eased her emotions.
"I can't lose you," I said to her. I swallowed, not liking the tightened feeling around my heart.
"You won't," she assured me. "There has to be a way for this to unfold without everything crashing down around us."
I wanted to tell her everything would be fine but I didn't believe it.
"You ready to go and see Flynn?" I asked, needing to get this over with so I could go back to Cade and Blake and say 'I told you so.'
"Yes," she said.
All the way down to see Flynn I kept running scenarios through my mind, trying to come up with one we hadn't thought of, but there were none. My experience as an alpha told me the only way out of this was going to be a fight. My top priority was to ensure we had a fighting chance and to keep Crystal safe. Flynn was expendable.
Crystal paused for a moment before I opened the door to the cell. It was quiet as we entered. I stood beside her.
Flynn was seated on the bed, watching us. When his eyes met Crystal's, he stood up and walked to us. He was so close as his eyes scanned her features. Despite the intensity of his gaze, she didn't waver or show the nervousness I knew she was feeling.
Our connection allowed me to experience her emotions, especially when they were strong. Flynn scowled and glared at me.
"You did it?" he spat at me. "You have no idea what you've done."
"You're wrong," I told him, still refusing to believe him.
"You will reap the repercussion of your weakness."
