What? That was not happening. “You are going in there against Skuld with just five men. Are you mad?”
Nanshe shrugged. “I’m much stronger than them, and we only have to get into the tower.”
“I’d like to offer that I’d count for four times them by myself.” Romano smirked.
Arturo sighed. “Nanshe, I–”
Carlo didn’t hesitate to cut in on his Alpha’s argument. “I don’t care. That’s dangerous, and you made a point of coming to Encantado to get me, and now it’s perfectly fine to return?” Carlo was furious. This was madness. What sense would it make to do everything she had done just to jump into the fire again?
Taking a deep breath, Arturo spoke again. “I believe–”
“I can help,” Nanshe interrupted, the second person to completely disregard Arturo’s status.
Carlo wanted to grab her and drag her to the nearest surface. She was his, and now she wanted to leave? Something dark and rough reared its head inside him. “I said no, Nanshe.”
When she arched her brow at him, his wolf pushed forward with a growl. “I am not your property to do with what you want.”
“Carlo–”
He wasn’t listening to his Alpha, and he didn’t care. What was one more infraction? He stalked over to Nanshe, and the other wolves shifted, unsure of what was happening.
“You. Will. Not. Go.”
“You will stop thisnow!” Arturo’s Alpha call rolled out, pummeling the room.
Dominic and Pasquale struggled to remain on their feet, but Romano hit the floor. If it hadn’t been for Nanshe’s grip on him and her sudden glare at Arturo, Carlo would have been down beside him.
“I have had enough. Heath, you will take Kallan and Teague into the In Between. Dominic, you’ve got the compromise of Eiravel and Cynes remaining behind. Nanshe and Carlo will go with them so she’s protected as well. Lennox, can Kalinda spare you?”
Startled, the mage stepped forward. “I would assume so. And if Heath is going, protecting him would be paramount.”
“Then you will join. Nanshe, you can open portals. Can we have your swear that you will open one and send Heath back if he were to be in danger?”
“Yes, Alpha of the Moretti.”
They were all losing their damn minds. Nanshe didn’t need to be anywhere near that place.
“It was for our greater good that she camehere. And now you want us to goback?”
“If you recall, I said you didn’t come to me, so I had to come here. But the need for you in the In Between is still the same.”
Carlo didn’t want to risk going into another damn portal. Not with everything he’d been through. He couldn’t do it. Fuck, when he’d been so ruined, he hadn’t been able to doanything. Did none of them understand?
“I had to have your mate help me tie my shoes. Remember that?” Carlo forced out, glaring at Dominic. While outwardly he’d been unaware and bumbling, inside he’d wept. His mind couldn’t even hold on to the simplest of what he’d learned.
Zoey had been beautiful, not bringing attention to it but quietly helping him so he wouldn’t trip as she spoke about the weather. She’d even spent an hour helping him learn to do it on his own after she tied them. It was the most amazing moment with her, but one of his greatest shames.
Dominic sighed. “I know, my friend. I know. And that woman is in danger now. Her daughter could die; our packs too. We need you now.”
Nanshe stepped closer, her warm scent soothing his wary edges. “I will be with you,” she whispered. “As I’ve been before.”
A moment flashed in his memory. Soft hands on his face, heated breath on his lips, but it was hazy and shot away too quickly for him to see the entire picture.
Arturo softened his tone from earlier. “I am asking this as your Alpha and as family, Carlo. I know the terror in your heart, but we can’t lose the city. I don’t want to command you.”
But the threat to him would remain, and the ensuing change to their relationship would be irrevocable.
Carlo closed his eyes and bowed his head. It seemed fate had already decided for him; it didn’t matter what he did.
