He didn’t want to entrust Georgia to Brady. He could take her to the shelter himself, but he’d risk a run-in with one of the rogues while with her. He couldn’t take that kind of risk with her. If he sent Brady to the shelter with her, he was confident he could distract the rogues long enough for him to get her to safety.
As Kish started giving Brady directions, Georgia entered the living room with Lucy.
“Take her out the side door and head north on the path. About three quarters of a mile you’l run into a falen tree that lays over the trail.”
“Why can’t I stay here, Kish? I don’t want to leave.” Georgia’s voice wobbled.
He sighed, went to her, and puled her against him where he kissed her on top of her silky head. “It’s not safe here, sweetheart. They may be able to get to you here. The shelter is bombproof. Nothing gets in or out unless the door is opened with the code that only I know. There is no possible way they can harm you in there.”
“Who, Kish? Who can’t harm me there?”
“Rogue lycan. Look, I know you are scared, but we don’t have a lot of time. Trust me, and let me take care of you. Let me make sure you are safe.” He squeezed her to him and whispered in her ear. “I need to know you are okay. If one of them were to get to you, I’d go crazy.”
“I do trust you, Kish. But after this, you and I need to have a serious talk.”
“Sweetheart, I’l promise you anything at the moment if you’l just do what I ask.”
“Okay.”
“You have to leave Lucy here.”
“But—”
“You said you trusted me, right?”
She nodded.
“If you take her, they wil be able to track you better. They wil be able to hone in on two scents better than one. Three scents would make it even easier. I swear to you that I won’t let anything happen to her.”
Tears streamed down Georgia’s cheeks. “Go with Kish, Lucy,” she choked out.
Lucy immediately obeyed. He kissed her on the head again then turned back to Brady. “Once you reach the falen tree, backtrack exactly ten and a half feet. To your left wil be a tree with a split trunk.
Exactly thirty feet behind it there is a steep incline. At the bottom of the incline you wil find the door covered in branches. The code is four, eight, zero, two, seven. Once you get her there, don’t come out until I return, or in three days if I don’t return.”
“Kish!”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I plan on returning, but sometimes life kicks us in the ass.” He looked at Brady. “Can you remember that?”
“Yes.”
“There is a generator for the lights and enough food in there for months along with heaters, blankets, and anything else needed for survival.” He took the coat Georgia had carried out with her and helped her get it on before zipping her in. He kissed her on the forehead. “See you in a bit, sweetheart. Get going, Brady.”
Brady went to Georgia and took her by the hand, but before he got by Kish, Kish grabbed his arm and puled him close until they were nose to nose. “If you let her come to harm, you better hope you die protecting her. If not, you wil never be safe again because I wil hunt you down and gut you myself even if it takes the rest of my life to do so.”
Brady nodded again before leaving out the side door.
Kish locked Lucy in the basement. It would be difficult for the rogues to get into the basement, and they most likely wouldn’t try to anyway since Georgia’s scent wouldn’t be anywhere near it.
Kish then stepped onto the front porch and let his wolf come to the surface for a partial change. Claws burst through his fingertips and his canines slid through his gums. He knew his eyes would be glowing as wel. He sniffed at the air and within moments, had the rogues targeted. He launched off the porch and began the hunt.
Brady tugged her along at a mindless pace. She’d tripped several times, but he’d caught her before she’d falen each time. She was a little surprised that he was able to move so quickly with his injury. She wasn’t in bad shape, but she wasn’t used to running through knee-deep snow at breakneck speed in bone chiling temperature either.
“Brady! Slow down a little,” she huffed.
He slowed up some, but kept dragging her along.
“We have to keep going, Georgia.”
About ten minutes later, her inner alarm bels started ringing. Something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what. But it suddenly, hit her. She had a great sense of direction and if she wasn’t mistaken, they had been veering slightly east for the last several minutes. Maybe Brady didn’t realize it.
“Are we going the right way?”
She didn’t miss the instant hesitation in Brady’s grip on her hand or the way he tried to hide the momentary pause, which proved her suspicion that something wasn’t right. He didn’t say anything and kept tugging her along. Finaly, after a few more moments, she puled back hard, which resulted in Brady losing his grip on her hand and her tumbling to her rear.
“What did you do that for, Georgia? We have to keep going.”
Brady grabbed her hand, but before he tightened his grip on it, she puled away again. “We are going the wrong way. Kish said we were supposed to go north. We’ve been slightly veering east for a while now.”
Brady didn’t answer her and the silence became unnerving.
“Brady?”
“Goddamnit, Georgia. I’m sorry.”
Her stomach fluttered, and her throat tightened in fear. Something was terribly wrong.
“Sorry for what exactly?”
“They have my sister, and the only way to save her is, is . . .”
He trailed off and the unnerving silence was back with a vengeance. Then it dawned on her.
“You’re going to give me to them, aren’t you? You are going to trade me for your sister.”
“Don’t make me feel any worse than I already do.
I have to do this or they wil kil her.”
“What wil they do to me?”
“Son of a bitch. You have to understand, Georgia, that when they demanded this of me, I had no choice.
I didn’t even know you then. I don’t realy know you now, but I do know you enough to realize that you are a kind, generous, caring person. You have no idea how bad this is eating me up inside. I don’t want to do this, but I can’t lose her, Georgia. She’s the only family I have.”
Georgia let out a long sigh in resignation. She’d never forgive Brady for what he was about to do, but she wasn’t sure she could completely blame him.
They would kil his sister if he didn’t bring her to them. But would she be able to trade one life for another? If the situation was reversed and the rogues already had her and made a deal with Kish for a trade, she was certain Kish would find some other way to save her. She could never believe the man she fel in love with would trade one innocent life for another.
Yes, she understood—to a point—but she didn’t condone or agree with it.
“Why didn’t you ask Kish for help instead of lie to him? He could have helped you get your sister back.”
“He’d never have let me trade you for her. I’ve never claimed to be a genius, but I’m not that damned naive.”
“Of course he wouldn’t have, but he would have figured out a way to get her back nonetheless. You didn’t have to lie to us, manipulate us both. Al we did was help you, and this is how you repay us both?”
She shook her head. “Wait. Were you even realy hurt?”
“Not badly, but yes. I definitely made it look worse than it was.”
“Do you realize what Kish wil do to you once he finds out what you’ve done?”
“Yes. I don’t care. As long as my sister is safe, I wil gladly forfeit my life.”
“For someone who’s just claimed to not be naive, you sure are a stupid, stupid man.”