Blood Bound [Book Two] ✔️

Chapter 28

"We are not going anywhere." I said.

"Chloe, we have the upper hand. This will work." Kyle was trying to reason with me.

He had officially lost his mind. How could he think that it was a good idea to go after Archer? After the last time I saw him I could feel the fear he left imprinted in me. I tried to push it all away. I couldn't be afraid, not right now.

"We need to get going before Yahir comes back." Kyle said.

"No." I shook my head. "We're staying here."

"This could be our chance to sneak up on Archer. Don't you want to make him pay for everything he's done?" Kyle asked.

"Chloe stays." Vincent stated.

"No. We aren't going anywhere and if we were, I'm going with." I said.

There was a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Everything in me was screaming not to go after Archer. I wasn't going to lie to myself and pretend that I could change Vincent's mind. I could see in his eyes how much he needed to shed blood.

"We can take him." Kyle insisted.

"Why are you doing this?" I rounded on him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm only trying to help." Kyle said.

"Well, don't." I snapped. "This isn't helping."

"Are we doing this or what?" Vincent asked.

"No." I said at the same time that Kyle said, "Yes."

I glared at Kyle but he wouldn't meet my gaze. He was up to something and I wanted to know what. He hated Vincent too much to want to be of any help to him.

"Let's go before Yahir comes." Kyle started walking and Vincent was right behind him.

"This is a really bad idea." I said walking after them.

"Chloe, you need to stay." Vincent said, but he made no move to stop me.

"She comes with unless you want her to stay with Yahir." Kyle poked at Vincent.

I really wanted to throw a rock at his head this time. He knew that Yahir was my family. Vincent growled at the comment and I knew it was the reason he didn't fight me too much on staying behind.

"We better run." Kyle said before stripping his clothes and shifting.

I looked around hoping no one was around to witness three people shifting into werewolves. For Kyle and Vincent it was easy. My body still felt achy but it wasn't as bad as before. My wounds had healed, but I had scars coating my body. They wouldn't heal quickly. Maybe in time, but it could be years before they would begin to fade.

Shifting felt like trying to stretch out your muscles after a long workout the day before. It was very uncomfortable and my shifting came slow. When it was finally over, I already felt exhausted but I chased after Kyle and Vincent when they took off in a run.

Once Yahir realized we were gone, he wouldn't be far behind us. In a way I really wished he could catch up and stop this. The other part of me, the part that hungered for Archer's blood, wanted to have him dead.

We ran like hell's fire was chasing after us. I pushed myself to stay right next to Vincent. When we finally slowed I didn't really know where we were. I couldn't even be sure if we were still in Ashburn. Where the hell was Kyle taking us?

When he finally stopped he shifted and pulled up his bottoms. Vincent didn't follow until I shifted and had the shirt slipped over me. He made sure that he was shielding me from Kyle. I wanted to roll my eyes at him.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Vincent asked.

"Where is here exactly?" I asked.

"We're on the other side of Ashburn." Vincent explained. "The pack's don't usually frequent this side if you haven't noticed just in case we have strays running by. We don't cross with them and they don't cross with us."

"We're also a few feet away from crossing into Terrace." Kyle said.

"Okay...so where is Archer?"

"I'm sure he's around here or should be here." Kyle was looking around as if half expecting him to just come walking out behind a tree.

"I thought you said you knew where he was." Vincent growled.

"I do."

None of this made any sense. I couldn't really understand how Kyle ended up all the way out here. Why would Archer keep him literally in the middle of nowhere and then just bring him to me to torture me? If Archer planned on killing the both of us, he wouldn't leave him somewhere where rogues could come across him and kill him.

Archer was very calculating I learned to realize. His main goal was to torture me and then kill me. If he wanted to hurt me by using Kyle against me, he would have done worse than what he was doing to me. It just didn't add up.

"Kyle, what exactly are we doing here?" I asked.

"I told you-"

"That we're looking for Archer, but what are we really doing here?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Kyle, what exactly happened when Archer took you?"

Kyle looked at me confused. Vincent's eyes were darting between the two of us. He was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. He didn't know the entire story of how far Archer could go.

"I told you that I was mad when I walked out and I wasn't thinking clearly. I was so wrapped up in what had happened that I didn't sense them coming up behind me. They took me and they beat me, but I really couldn't remember much. I told you I was in and out of it. I remember being here because they were all talking about this place being far enough that no one would be able to find me."

What he was saying made sense, but this still wasn't right. Then I remembered something that Kyle said when we were both locked up.

"I didn't think they would do this." He said in a whisper.

His eyes swept over every inch of me. There was something in his eyes that I couldn't quite figure out. His hands were in fists and I could see him tense all over.

"I have to do something." He said to himself. "I got us into this mess and now I have to get us out of it."

I thought he was simply trying to take the blame because he ended up missing and I wanted to find him. I thought he was thinking of something else, but I was wrong. I didn't want to be wrong but I felt it deep inside.

"Kyle, tell me the truth." I said, keeping my voice even. "What really happened?"