Knox didn’t say a single word as we loaded up the next day. He was even silent as he slid into the driver’s seat of the other car. Rafe wasn’t usually a talker but I found it extremely odd that he didn’t speak much on the drive back either.
Tracey curled up on the back seat with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and part of her head. I wondered if she was doing it to hide the wounds on her neck that still hadn’t healed. As we drove farther north, the temperature started to drop outside of the car. The closer we got to the Pack Lands, the colder it got until snow was falling from the sky and I was pulling a hoodie out of my bag at my feet.
“Look,” Rafe started as he pulled over on the side of the road. “You both need to know something.”
Tracey sat up immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“You have both been through so much lately that I didn’t know if I should bring it up but there was another attack.”
Tracey threw the blanket off of herself. “How long have you known?”
“Since this morning,” His words were laced with regret and guilt. It choked me.
Tracey ran her hands down her face. “You knew all this time and you let me have a pity party in the back seat for hours?”
“Sometimes that’s what can help you heal.” Rafe shrugged.
“The last thing I’ve been doing since we left the beach house was heal.” She scoffed like she couldn’t believe what Rafe was telling us.
“How bad is it?” Someone had to ask. I didn’t want to be that person but it had to be brought up. We couldn’t dance around it.
“It’s pretty bad,” he muttered. I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. He had left his people, even if they were well taken care of. He had still left and he probably blamed himself. “Axel communicated through the bond when it happened. There are no casualties but many homes are destroyed.”
“What’s the plan of action?” Tracey was all soldier now. She leaned forward to lace her boots. Her face was slack of all emotion. It reminded me of Mav when he was in the zone. For a brief moment, I wondered if they would be good together. Perhaps they needed to go on a date. It might make things awkward between her and the rest of the crew, but she had to leave Knox alone. It was starting to become toxic.
I shook my head and internally chastised myself. I couldn’t believe I was thinking of that at a time like this. “What can I do?”
Rafe shook his head. “We have a lot of clean-up to do but I want both of you safe. Don’t do anything stupid and stay with Granny and my mother.” Tracey’s face pinched. She didn’t like that idea at all. Rafe turned to look at her over his shoulder. “You are one of my best fighters, I trust my mate and family with you. When we get to the Pack Lands, Lucas will escort both of you to the safe house where the children are being kept. They’ve been moved.”
Tracey’s eyes met my own and color drained from her face. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else we can do?”
Rafe fixed her with a serious stare. “The most important thing you can do for me is to protect my mate.”
