“I told you to get out of here,” Sarah muttered.
Miles looked at her, his expression unreadable. She felt waves of anger and hurt rolling off him.
Dakota went pale. “Kids, come with me,” she said, and dragged them to the back of the restaurant, near the back door.
Ludwik smirked at Miles. “Any special inscription you want on your headstone? That’s where my pack members are going to line up to piss. I’m thinking, ‘Here lies a pussy loser’. And that fat bitch who’s pretending to be Jamie? After my pack members finish taking turns with her, we’ll bury her right next to you.”
In answer, Miles sent a wave of fury at them so intense that Ludwik staggered back a step. Ludwik responded with his own wave of fury, and the two men glared at each other as everyone else around them staggered back, grimacing in pain. Most of the other shifters ran from the restaurant. Bryant stayed put, but even he was swaying, looking as if he might crumple to the ground. Baldwin fell to his knees, doubled over and clutching at his stomach, and Naomi hurled herself on top of him, crying.
After what felt like forever, Ludwik doubled over and vomited on the ground. Miles was white-faced, staggering. Sweat poured down his face, and he looked as if he could barely stand.
“Death challenge. Right here, right now,” Miles wheezed.
“No.” Ludwik spat on the ground and staggered to his feet. “Pack war. Tomorrow morning.”
Miles smiled, lips curling up. “Because you know you’d lose.” But his voice was hoarse.
Ludwik scrambled to his feet, staggering. “Whatever. Either way, you’re going to die.” He stormed out of the restaurant to rejoin his men, who’d rushed outside. He’d just been publicly humiliated, and he knew it.
At the back of the restaurant, Dakota looked at Sarah. “How long have you known that I wasn’t Jamie?”
“I always knew,” Sarah said. “I met her once when I was little. I mean, our two packs aren’t close, but we did see each other sometimes.”
“Why did you cover for me? Why didn’t you say anything?”
Sarah shrugged. “What difference did it make? At first I thought we were going to run away anyway. And if you tried to do anything bad to us, I’d just stab you in your sleep. You see what my family’s like, so how could you possibly be any worse?”
Dakota took a deep breath, then nodded, hot tears welling in her eyes. It was ending. Her wonderful, beautiful life up here was over now. She really felt like she was the kid’s aunt – she loved them like family. She loved her friends, and she loved Miles. And that was why she had to leave them – because there was one last chance that she could save them. And it meant leaving Granite Flats forever.
“You need to go stay with Naomi and Baldwin right now. They’ll take care of you.”
Sarah started to argue, but Dakota shook her head.
“You have to stay safe for your family’s sake. They’ve got nobody else, you said it yourself. I am one wolf. I can’t keep you safe against an entire pack.”
Sarah nodded, eyes filling with tears, and hugged Dakota hard.
“Wait, why can’t she come with us?” John wailed. “I hate her least of anyone, except Naomi and Baldwin! I don’t care if she’s not really Jamie, she’sours!”
“I love you all.” Dakota choked on a sob. “Be good for Naomi and Baldwin, don’t fight with each other, and do your homework. I mean it.”
Bursting into tears, she ran out the back door and dashed over to the general store.
She needed to leave before Miles said anything to her that would make her change her mind.
This time, instead of calling Tina’s cell phone, she called her father directly. She got his voicemail.
She swallowed hard and wiped at the tears that streamed down her face.
“Father, I am in the Greenlands territory, in the town of Granite Flats. A pack war is going to happen tomorrow morning, and I need your help. I need you to join forces with the Fenris Pack and fight by their side. If you do that, I will marry anybody you want. I will even marry Roy. And I will be the best mate I can possibly be, and I will not complain about anything he does to me, ever. I give you my word as a Sheffield. I have been mated to the Alpha Prime of the Fenris Pack up here, but I will leave him and accept a new mate. And if you decide that my punishment for disrespecting your pack must be death, then I will respect that too – if you join with the Fenris Pack in the war. I will be at the meeting house tomorrow morning at six a.m.”
She hung up the phone and walked out, then ran out of the town square and into the woods.
Would it work? It had to work. She’d just played her last card.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dakota had no idea where to go or where to stay, so she spent the night curled up under a tree in the woods near the town center. She had no idea what Miles would do if he saw her. Would he curse at her and reject her, or would he beg her to stay? Either would break her heart.
