sweeter.” Lucy left while Lexia stood trembling, the warring emotions inside of her too much to comprehend. Her knees gave out as the first tear rolled down her cheek.
She didn’t see the dull grey concrete walls around her anymore. She was in a bedroom, decorated for a baby girl. She was walking through the home of her mate’s family. “Lincoln,” she sobbed. Her heart gushing pain, her mind cracking. She’d never wanted him more than she did at that moment, to feel his strong arms lift her from the floor, to hold her broken pieces together.
“Lexia,” Derrick soothed, lifting her up into his arms and carrying her back inside her room.
Lexia looked at Derrick through tear-filled eyes. “Did you hear?” she asked on a broken sob.
He nodded.
“How does one person destroy so many lives and get away with it?” she asked in disbelief.
“She’s not going to get away with it. We are going to make her pay.”
Lexia shook her head sadly, curling her feet under her when he placed her on the bed. “But how many more die before then? I could walk out there now and kill her. She’d have no chance against me. I’d snap her neck in minutes.”
“If you kill Lucy now, we’ll never find out who helps her. There is more than just Lucy running this show,” Derrick reminded her, pity in his eyes.
“I’m just so tired. I want it to end,” Lexia admitted.
“Stop complaining and get up,” Alice told her harshly.
Lexia couldn’t help laughing through her tears. Her eyes sought Alice. “Hell of a pep talk, Alice.”
“I’ve never given pep talks. We are all freaking tired but you are the only one who can end this. So stop crying, pull yourself together and go warn the wolves before more die.”
“Alice!” Derrick growled.
“It’s fine. She’s right. I need to warn them and I’ll take these papers to Grey. He can find…Lincoln. He’ll find out what this Ethan Wake knows.” She didn’t want to involve Lincoln, but she couldn’t help thinking Alice was right. Lincoln was in hell. Every day they were apart was hell. She might as well give him something to cling to.
Swiping her hand over her cheeks and clearing the tears she’d cried for the family she would never get to know, Lexia got up, ready to fight another day.
Chapter 24
Leaving the compound this time was an easy task. Clad in combat gear, a rifle holstered on her back and knifes strapped within easy reach, she walked up the road into daylight, veering off into the forest.
As soon as her feet hit rough terrain and she’d entered the cover of trees, Lexia ran. For four days, she’d been trapped under the earth, in the hell her mother had created. There had been moments when she’d felt like she was suffocating, when she’d imagined being buried under the soil and concrete. It was one of her worst nightmares; being buried alive, never leaving the compound again. She planned to die. After all, her goal was to rid the Earth of the monsters her mother had created. It didn’t matter that part of her was good, and that was the part of her in control now. Lexia had no way of knowing if she’d always be in control and the thought of having Maura walking free again was enough for Lexia to plan her death. She’d die but she’d die outside the concrete walls of the compound. She wanted her final moments in this world be in the forest, surrounded by the world her mate loved. She was closest to him here. She’d die clinging to those memories, feeling lucky for experiencing such love, if only for a short time.
Stopping to catch her breath, Lexia opened up her mind, searching for the auras of the alpha pack. Finding them, she headed in their direction, allowing herself to walk as she drained her muscles of their excess tension.
She stopped at the sound of a threatening growl. “It’s okay. I mean no harm.”
“What’s with the arsenal?” Grey asked, his voice heavy with the snarl of his wolf.
They’d surrounded her, only Grey stood in human form. Turning to face him, Lexia held her palms up, keeping her voice low and unthreatening. “I’m sorry, Grey. I had no choice but to leave like this. It took a lot of convincing for me to come out alone. I’m here to warn you.”
“She knows of your involvement?” Grey asked, still not dropping his tense stance.
Lexia glanced at the wolves around her. “How