The presence of the doctor tugged at my conscience. He reminded me of Keri and our unfinished business.
"Tell Princess I forgive her." I should have done it earlier, but better late than never. Keri had carried enough, there was no way I could allow her to carry the guilt after my death.
"Really?" Curtis asked. I nodded. I wanted to be able to give him a valid reason why but there wasn't one.
When I hadn't been able to find Crystal, Keri's actions had brought me so much pain. Her betrayal at the time had been unforgivable.
But now, things were different. I had already come to the conclusion that irrespective of Keri's actions nothing would change the path we were on. Before, it had felt relevant but now, with my fate pretty much sealed, it seemed inconsequential.
Curtis studied me. "You're not coming back, are you?"
I shook my head. There didn't seem to be any point in lying. Curtis gave me a brief nod. I closed the window and he stepped back.
I didn't want to look back as I drove away from the house and the driveway but I couldn't stop myself. Bay stood beside Curtis with her arms by her sides. The slight shake of her body told me she was crying.
I had been hard on her, hoping to drive home the fact that Flynn was our enemy and any closeness she thought they may share was a figment of her imagination. This would be a hard lesson for her to learn but it was for the best.
Rubbing my forehead, I tried to concentrate on driving to our destination, hoping I wasn't too late.
It was then I felt the first pang of fear for the situation we were in and the hopelessness of it. Just a few hours before I had felt like the luckiest man alive with my mate. Despite the threat of the Keepers, I had held on to some hope. Crystal had given that to me. I didn't want to even think about a world where she didn't exist. Just the thought was enough to steal the breath from my lungs and make my heart ache.
"How long?" James asked, breaking the tense silence.
"Half an hour," I told him, not taking my eyes off the road. I had to keep my focus on the task ahead. Allowing my emotions to cloud my mind would lead to mistakes.
I tried not to let the images of Crystal probably begging for her life enter my head but I couldn't stop them. I gritted my teeth to deal with the physical pain of that when I thought about what they could be doing to her already.
Please, I prayed.Please just let her be alive.
In the darkness of the night as we got closer to the Keepers, I thought about my life and the people I would be leaving behind.
Uncle Nate. He had been my surrogate father, who had raised me into the man I was today. He had taught me how to be a good alpha and how to get the most out of the pack members.
This would hurt him and I hated that I would cause him pain. But my hands were tied. Crystal's choice had set this in motion. There was nothing I could do to correct it, all I could was follow it and see how it ended. I wanted to have hope that somehow we would all make it out alive but that was a longshot. The most I could hope for was that it was quick and painless for us all.
Crystal
"We didn't have a lot of options."
I felt sorry for the situation they had been stuck in.
"What happened?" I asked quietly.
"She agreed to give you up. Just days later, the Keepers showed up and killed her."
I gasped, putting my hand to my mouth. There was a visible pain in his eyes as he paused.
"I didn't find out until a few days later. I wanted revenge but you were more important. I knew that one day there was a chance you would be discovered. Your Keeper traits would only stay dormant for so long and I had to make sure I was here."
It was unbelievable. I looked at Flynn to see his reaction. His features were stone-like. There wasn't understanding in his eyes; instead, I saw resistance.
"You betrayed our order," Flynn said, the disgust he felt directed at Harrison. "Everything we stand for."
"They've lied to us," Harrison told him. Flynn shook his head and took a step back, not wanting to hear it.
"You're a traitor," he countered, pointing his finger at the man who was my father. It was still too strange to think of this stranger as my parent.
Harrison stood up and faced the accusing Keeper.
