“If you won’t allow me to take her and hide her than we have no alternative but to face them when they find her,” Tristan explained with a defeated tone.

Maverick was steadfastly refusing what seemed to be the best option.

“It’s safer for the pack if they don’t find me here.”

He shook his head. His mind was made up and nothing anyone said was going to change his mind.

“How could you even ask me to do that?” Maverick asked with a hint of betrayal. His eyes on me.

“By staying I’m putting you in danger.” It was reality, not matter how difficult it was to stomach.

Our eyes held, in a battle of wills.

He would do anything to protect me, but he didn’t realize I would do the same.

Sebastian put a hand to Maverick’s shoulder. “No one is leaving.” He looked between Maverick and I but received no verbal agreement.

“Let’s not waste time. We have to find a way to do this without Victoria leaving.” Sebastian looked at Tristan when he said this words.

Even if it was the better plan, it was off the table now.

My eyes caught Maverick’s. He loved me too much to be able to see it was the best plan to minimize the loss of life.

“Your mother was against this union of Colt and Victoria. Are there others that shared her opinion?” Maverick asked Tristan.

“There are some but not enough to swing the outcome in your favor. You are going up against two of the biggest packs, you’re going to need numbers. Numbers you don’t have.” Tristan’s tone was stark, driving home the point that it would be a slaughter. “Going to war is not an option.”

“That doesn’t leave a lot of alternatives,” Sebastian muttered.

I studied Maverick’s stone like features to read his current state but it was impossible.

“Are there any alternatives?” I asked, softly. Even when I wasn’t sure I was prepared for the answer. I needed to believe there was another option. One that allowed us to walk away from this with no deaths and no looking over my shoulder.

“If you don’t fight, you run.” There was a stillness in the air that hung over Tristan’s statement.

Maverick pushed off the desk.

“I need time to think,” he stated and headed for the door.

I watched as he left the rest of us, slamming the door behind him.

Sebastian shrugged when Tristan gave him a questioning glance, like he could explain Maverick’s reaction.

“He’ll figure a way out.” My eyes met Sebastian’s. “He always does.”

But I bet he had never been in a situation quite this dire before.

Feeling like I needed to escape, I left Tristan and Sebastian in the study and headed to the kitchen. I felt jittery and nervous, and vastly unprepared for what lay ahead.

I wanted to believe that there was a way out of this but I had lived my whole life in the hard reality that things didn’t always end well and no matter what I tried I couldn’t shake the feelings that things wouldn’t end well this time either.

I found Lark in the kitchen. She was bent over a cup of coffee, staring quietly into the depths of it.

I pulled the chair across from her and sat down. The action startled her and she gave me a hurried smile, masking what she had been so deep in thought about.

“You okay?” I asked softly, unsure if I should bring up with her what I already suspected.

But then I argued if it was something she wanted me to know about, she would have said something.

She nodded. Her smile began to wane while I watched.

“If you need someone to talk to, I’m here.” I felt the need to let her know that she had someone she could confide in if she wanted to.

She bit her lip. “I wish things were different.”

“Yeah, I could definitely do without the promised mate and a power hungry family.” It pretty much summed up all my problems.

“That sucks,” she murmured.

Then I remembered her and Maverick hadn’t had it much easier.

“Maverick told me about your mom and dad.” I didn’t feel the need to go into detail with someone who had lived through it but I still wanted to be able to express my sympathy for what they had been through.

There was a sadness in her eyes that made me instantly regret bringing it up. Clearly my people skills needed more work.

I grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

She took a shaky breath. “No, it’s fine. You know…it happened.”

“It must have been hard.” I gave her sympathetic look.

She gave a shrug. “It is what it is.”

I remained silent as I watched the sadness deepen in her eyes.

“It makes me sad but it haunts Maverick.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He is very aware of the road that led our father into a situation he could no longer control and he took the life of my mother before taking his own. I think he didn’t want her to suffer without him, that’s why he took her as well. The only reason Maverick and I survived was because we weren’t home that night.”

My hold tightened on her hand. I didn’t like any situation that would have caused them harm.

“But Maverick is strong.” It wasn’t just a physical thing. It was how he carried himself, how he dealt with things. He never wavered. He was like an old oak that did not bend to the wind. I could never see him harming anyone he loved.

Lark nodded. “So was my father.”

I frowned. “He would never do that.”

“The thing is. Before the night my father murdered my mother. No one would have believed he could do such a thing. But he did.”

“I know people and your brother doesn’t have a murderous bone in his body.”

Lark nodded. “We know that but Maverick doesn’t trust himself.”

There was an entire aspect of Maverick that I hadn’t known before. I didn’t fear for my safety with him, not for a second. And I didn’t care what had happened with his parents. It was tragic and I didn’t feel in any way repeatable with Maverick.

He was a good man, a man I loved more than I ever thought possible. I didn’t doubt him for a moment.

“It’s why he is so careful to take a life. It’s like each time he is worried it will pull him down the same hole it did our father.”

“I’ve never felt safe growing up. I always felt out of place and I desperately sought for a place to belong.” I swallowed, baring my innermost thoughts was foreign to me. “But with Maverick I feel like I belong. I feel safe. I’ve never felt that way.”

Lark smiled. “It’s the way mates are supposed to be.”

I felt like there was a touch of sadness to what she said despite her smile.

“Thank you for helping with Kane.”

I watched as her features closed off. There was definitely something there.

“Kane is Kane.”

I stayed silent as she retracted her hand from mine.

“I’ve known him my whole life and there hasn’t been a moment he hasn’t tormented me.”

“He was set on punishing me for wandering onto his territory but somehow you stopped him.”

“My relationship with Kane is complicated. I don’t even understand it at times.” She rubbed her temple. “There are some days I hate him so much and there are days I hate him a little less.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re the only who got the brunt of Kane growing up.”

She half smiled. “Yeah, we all got a taste of his vindictiveness. I wasn’t special.”

I stopped myself from arguing the last point. I had a feeling she was very special to Kane. I couldn’t explain it exactly but if she was who I suspected she would be very special to him. I didn’t know all the details of what had happened between them growing up but I believed the bond between mates was more powerful the horrible things he might have done to her.

“He didn’t have to let us go.” His actions didn’t seem to fit in with who people believed he was.

“Let’s just say I know things that he would rather keep quiet.”

I was more curious than I had been before but knew I couldn’t push her further.