Mine to Protect Chapter 90: ACTION PLAN

*Hazel*

“Were you at least careful? Did someone see you there?” Derek asks.

“About that…” I start.

“What have you done?” Derek deadpans.

“You can’t really blame me. A guy was going to rape Cindy, I had to do something, so I burnt the guy a little.”

“And?” he pushes, with an eyebrow raised high.

I find it incredibly sexy when he raises an eyebrow like that, this man is perfect however you look at him.

“Kitten, focus! And what else did you do?”

“I, emh…I left a message,” I reply shrugging my shoulders.

“What message?”

Now Derek’s eyes are piercing through me, like he’s trying to get the answer right out of my brain. There’s no way I’ll be able to dodge this question. Goddess, help me, because he’ll be furious when he knows what I have done.

“I’ve burnt an H on the guy’s back, to let them know that they should watch their backs, because Hazel is coming for them. Although, I hope they are smart enough to get the messag…..”

I don’t get to finish my sentence because Derek jumps up, completely forgetting that I was sitting on his lap, thus landing me unceremoniously on the floor on my bottom, while he paces back and forth, wildly running his hand through his hair.

“Are you insane? What got into your brain? Now they’ll know you are on them, they will be ready for you, for us, it will be a slaughter. And you are the thing they want the most, they will try to get you the minute you enter that place. Fuck, Hazel! Sometimes I don’t really know what passes through your brain. But one thing is sure now, you are not coming!”

“Well, that’s too bad, because I am the only one who knows where that place is, and I am going, Derek, with or without you.”

Derek seems taken aback by my words, he wasn’t expecting me to turn the cards on the table like this, but honestly, he gave me no choice.

Derek gives me a long look, then turns around and storms out of the door, slamming it shut with a bang.

Very mature of you, Alpha! Need to learn some compromising skills and some knowledge of teamwork too.

Knock, knock.

Who could it be now?

“Come in!” I yelled to whoever knocked.

Alice comes in with a grin on her face.

“Hey, Luna! Managed to piss Alpha real good today, uh?”

I can’t help grinning back.

“It’s not my fault he has a low fuse and is too overprotective, he needs to learn to let me take my risks. Here to babysit me?”

“Errm, yes,” Alice replies with resignation. “Alpha is worried that the Court has left some spies around, or something like that, so he wants you under watch 24/7.”

“Do you see what I mean? I am a white wolf, for Goodness’s sake! I am capable of protecting myself,” I say exasperatedly.

“I know, Hazzy, but you are precious too, so we are happy to look out for you. We are not doing it because we think you are weak, far from it. We just want to make sure you stand until the last one of those bastards is dead. We can’t win this battle without you.”

“You sound a lot like Lukas, you know?”

“Ah ah, then he is a wise man.”

I roll my eyes at her, but then become serious again.

“Alice, I won’t back down this time. I am going to rescue Cindy; I will not stay back waiting for others to do my job. And, really, I think everyone will be safer if I come along.”

“I agree, and I want to come too. I think we would make a great team.”

I can’t help a smile at Alice words.

“I think so too,” I reply warmly.

I tell Alice everything I have seen in and outside the facility, and together in the next couple of hours we manage to pinpoint a 10 km radius where the underground lab could be.

At this point, I am so tired that my eyelids won’t stay open a minute longer, so I drag Alice with me to the big bed, and snuggle against her, feeling happy that at least I have someone who supports me beside me.

I wake up the next morning snuggled against someone less soft than Alice, and I don’t need to open my eyes to know who it is.

“Still angry?” I venture with my eyes still closed.

“Maybe a little.”

This time I opened my eyes wide in annoyance, giving my mate a hard stare.

I am ready to start where we left off yesterday, ready to make him understand where he is wrong, when Derek kisses me passionately, silencing me with his sweetness.

When he ends the kiss, I am left speechless, whatever I wanted to say completely forgotten.

“We’ll go together. But please, this time I am literally begging you, and I hope you’ll listen. When we get there, you stay close to me, you don’t get out of my sight, and if things get too dangerous, you leave, no matter what situation I am in, if things get bad, you get the hell out of there.”

I stared at him for a long moment. He’s asking me to drop him there and leave him alone if things get dangerous, as he would do the same? He wouldn’t leave me there to fend for myself, and I won’t either.

“I am sorry, Derek, I cannot promise you this. You are my mate; how could you ask me to leave you there to die? That’s not something I can do. And I know you wouldn’t either.”

“But you are necessary, kitten, while I am not. You need to survive no matter what.”

“Stop it, Derek. You are necessary to me. We are all important, all necessary, all of us.”

He doesn’t reply for a while, my anxiety spiking up at his silence. I perch myself up on my elbow, and gaze into his blue eyes, trying to see what he’s thinking about.

“I will make sure you leave, if it gets to that,” he states firmly, while gazing hard into my eyes.

I feel my bottom leap tremble and see tears dropping one by one on Derek’s face; I hate crying, it just proves how weak I am, another proof he can use against me.

I hurriedly get to my feet and away from him, I know he’s thinking for the greater good, but it makes me no less upset. Can’t he understand how something like that would destroy me? Leaving my loved ones behind to save myself, like what happened with mom. That amount of guilt and regret is not something I can withstand, not even for the good of our species.

“Hazel, come here,” Derek calls me from the bed. But I can’t do that, I need to clear my head, I need to find a way to push past this other heartbreak.

I am changing my clothes in the walk-in when he strides in and pulls me into a tight hug, his head resting on top of mine.

I try pushing him away, not wanting to be comforted by him, the person who keeps breaking my heart over and over; but he just holds me tighter, making my struggle useless.

“I love you, kitten,” he whispers.

And I just cry harder, because I know he does love me, and maybe that’s the problem, if he loved me a little less, if I loved him less, things wouldn’t be this difficult.