The Lycan King's Defiant Surrogate
Defiant Surrogate 90

Chapter 90

Maybe I should be more worried about myself. There are unfamiliar soldiers walking around the streets, and gun battles seemingly around every corner. Here, underground, where everything already echoes, it's disorienting, not knowing which way the gunbre is coming from. I move to step out of the capital building and onto the undergralind street when a hand catches my arm and yanks me back into the inside shadows.

I turn, ready to swing my knife but stop when I see Samuel's bloody face. Oh, I could still smack him for separating us from Caleb, whose life now presumably hangs in the balance in that alleyway. But I don't want to actually stab him. Yet. "Where's Leah?" I ask.

"I don't know," he says. There's something wild in his eyes, like his wolf is simmering just beneath the surface. "But now's our chance. Harper. Don't you see?"

"Chance for what? What are you talking about? Everything is in chaos"

"And that chaos is just the distraction we need to finally escape."

It takes me a moment to realize what he's talking about. With everything going on, I'd been much more focused on survival than on anything else. But now he's talking about me and him, ninning away.

He doesn't even know where Leah is. She could be dead. And so could the King.

Logically, this would be the time to make our escape. If the bears replace or kill the King, then everyone would be running round so much, they wouldn't even notice us missing. They'd probably just assume we were dead too. Samuel takes my hand. His is covered in warm slimy blood. It makes my skin crawl.

"We can finally be together," Samuel says. His smile conveys his hope, but it also is unnerving. With so much death around us, so much pain and destruction, how can he feel anything but bleak misery?

He and I just aren't built the same. I knew it while he accused me of being a whore in the Hall, and I know it now,

I can't run away from this, while so many people are hurt.

While Caleb is hurt.

"He landed somewhere around here!" a soldier yells from outside. I look but I genuinely can't tell if it's a soldier on our side

or not.

If it's the enemy, they don't know where Caleb is. But I do.

If I could get to him first...

"Harper." The hope starts to wane from Samuel's face. We might not be meant for each other, but we've known each other our whole lives. He must be able to see that something has shifted within me. "You have to come with me," he with says added desperation.

"I'm needed here," I say.

"By who? Who needs you more than I do?"

"The King

Samuel's upper lip curls into a snarl.

10:19 Fri, Nov 22

Chapter 90

84%

"The bears are all around, and they are searching for him. If they replace them, and he's too hurt to defend himself. I have to help him." I say, trying to make him understand.

"And just what could you possibly do? That little knife might defer a human but it won't do anything to a bear." He's angry now, furious that I'm choosing Calebs over him. He doesn't know he already lost me earlier in the day. He thinks everything is happening in this moment.

I don't have the time or the energy to explain where he went wrong. It has to be enough right now for him to just accept the rejection.

"I'm sorry, Samuel, Truly, I am. But I'm not going to leave Caleb out there to die.

"Now, he's just Caleb, Samuel spits.

I don't have time for this anymore. "Goodbye," I tell him, then rip my arm free of his grasp. Before he can stop me, I slip outside.

I'm not a trained soldier and I don't know much about stealth, but I keep to the shadows as best I can as I move around toward the alleyway where I saw Caleb fall into. Fortunately, as this area is underground, it's already dark. And many of the streetlights have been shot out, making it even darker. The bear soldiers have flashlights on their helmets. I freeze when a pair of them go by. Then I count to ten before I move again, moving silently around the curve of a building. I take a few wrong turns into wrong alleyways before I finally replace the one with the right body. I know it's Caleb as soon as I turn the comer. He's not in wolf form anymore, shifted back to human. That he's still mostly intact fills me with relief. He didn't shift until after the fall, thank the gods, or he might be in pieces right now. Swallowing thickly, I hold my breath as I approach him. Kneeling beside him, I reach out and slowly place two fingers pulse point in his neck.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

to the

His heartbeat is light, but present. I exhale, relieved. He's alive. Though, looking down at the broken and battered state of his naked body, I don't know how long that will continue to be the case.

But what can I do to help him? I'm no nurse or medic. I don't have any medical training. And I'm also unsure if I could move him if I tried. But don't I have to try?

"Harper." Samuel hisses from behind me.

After the initial shock, I'm overjoyed to see him. He's stronger than me. He's not as strong as Caleb but he'll be able to help me lift him. Together we can get Caleb somewhere safer, somewhere the invading bear clan can't replace him. I start to tug at Caleb's arm. "Help me. We have to move him."

Samuel shifts his gaze from me down to Caleb. He takes a step forward, but there's something stilted about it. Something

off.

"Samuel?" I say, feeling a twinge of fear at the base of my spine. How unusual. Even when I've been pissed as hell at Samuel, even when he's called me terrible names, I've never been afraid of him.

I step a little closer to Caleb, blocking off Samuel's direct line of sight, blocking it.

Samuel refocuses on me. "We could do it, Harper. No one would know it was us. We could end his tyranny."

"Are you serious?" I ask, hoping with all my heart that the answer is no. I've known since earlier today that Samuel isn't my partner, but if he's serious about this, he won't even be my friend 10:19 Fri, Nov 22