The Falcon Ridge Series Book 1 She's Not For You

ANNA

Michaels warning left me completely shaken up. River has to listen to me. My gut is telling something horrible is about to happen and Michaels caught up in it. I run into the packhorse. Shaken and breathless.

"River!" I yell as I run up the stairs.

"River!!" I yell again. He pops out of the bedroom door. I skid to a stop. My eyes are full of fear. My chest breathing so fast, it hurts.

His face is full of confusion and concern. "Anna, what's wrong?"

"It's Michael. He's in trouble." I grab his arm.

River ran his fingers through his hair. "Damn it, Anna. Did you go see him after I explicitly told you not to?"

I shook my head, swallowing, trying to calm my breathing. "No. He came to me."

"What?!" River's eyes changed to rage. "Did he hurt you? What did he do, Anna?!" He grabs my arms, looks me over.

"No! River, he didn't touch me. Will you just listen?!" I shrugged his arms off.

I told him everything Michael told me.

"He was terrified, River. I could see it. I could sense his fear. Something's really wrong." I plead.

River scrubbed a hand down his face. He placed a hand on his hip. He shook his head. "I don't trust it." He grumbles.

"River, please. I feel it in my gut. Something's wrong with Michael or the ball or both. If don't trust Michael, trust me." I study his face.

He lets out a heavy breath. "Fine. Where is he?"

"Home, I guess." I supply.

He motions to the door. "Get in the car. We're getting to the bottom of this."

"Thank you." I breathe.

Fifteen-minutes later, we're pulling in front of Michael's house. I rush out of the car and run to the door.

"Anna!" River calls out. He gets out and runs to catch up. He gets to me and pushes me behind him. "Let me handle this." He looks over his shoulder.

We knock and there's no answer.

"Maybe he's not home." River says in a low voice.

I shake my head. "His car's here."

River knocks again and the door opens like it wasn't closed properly. He pushes the door open. "Mike?" He calls into the house.

Then I see him on the floor. "Michael!" I push past River who lets out a defeated grunt. I run to Michael, sliding to him on the floor.

He groans as I roll him over. He's covered in blood. "My God. Michael. What happened?"

"Anna?" He manages. He shakenly tries to sit up and flops back down. Holding his hand to his head.

I turn to River. "Get some towels. Upstairs linen closet."

He nods and runs upstairs.

I help Michael to his feet and lead him to the couch. His face is swollen, covered in blood. He's holding his ribs. He sits, tilting his head back to stop his bleeding nose.

"Michael, who did this to you?" I try to assess if anything’s broken.

He laughs and coughs. "I did. I did this to myself."

I looked confused. River came down with a handful of towels. Michael followed him with his one good eye. The other was swollen shut. River tosses him a towel.

"Thanks." Michael mumbles. Putting the towel to his nose.

"I'm going to get something for that eye." I say and head for the kitchen. I pull a cold bottle of beer from the fridge and head back to the living room.

River's sitting on the coffee table across from Michael. I sit down next to Michael and hand him the bottle. "Thanks." He tilts it to me and places it on his eye.

"What's going on, Mike?" River says in a low tone with his arms on his knees.

"Nothing. I just fucked up. That's all. You don't need to be concerned about me." He smirks.

River shakes his head. "I'm not concerned about you. I'm concerned about why your fuck up involves my girlfriend." He shoots a glance at me and back to him. "What the fuck is going on?"

Michael pulls the towel back and checks his nose for more blood. He wipes his face and tosses the towel. "Ok." He blows out a breath. "Anna, I fucked up in the worst way possible, but you have to believe me, I don't want you or River getting hurt. I just want you safe. That's all I want." His eyes were filled with pain.

"Michael, what did you do?" I ask softly.

He looks down. "I made a deal with the devil himself."

I looked at him confused. I looked to River then it dawned on me. My skin crawled with fear. "Torrent." I whispered in a shaky breath. "Michael, what have you done?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.

He turned his head to me. Lowering the bottle. His face full of guilt. "I'm so sorry, Anna."

River's eyes went wide. He couldn't contain his anger. He grabbed Michael by the shirt. Lifting him up. Screaming in his face. "What the fuck did you do?! Did you send him after Anna?! Fucking tell me!" He was growling, shaking Michael as he questioned him. His Alpha tone was out in full force.

"River, stop!" I stand, trying to get him to let Michael go, but he wasn't listening.

Michael shook his head. "No. I had a plan." He started to tear. He glanced at me "Anna, I'm sorry." He swallows and turns back to River's infuriated face. "I paid a Dragon to stage an attack on the ball. I was gonna take Anna and run. But..."

River's eyes were crazed. "You told the Dragons where the ball was? You told them about Anna?!" He said through clenched teeth.

Michael stared into River's eyes, nodding. His chin quivering.

"You fucking piece of shit!!" River threw Michael back on the couch and started pacing.

Michael looked at me. "I tried to back out, Anna, I really did. But the guy I made a deal with threatened to hand you over to Torrent. I can't stop the attack, but please. Don't go. Please." A tear slipped out of his good eye.

River ran his hand through his hair. "We have to tell the Unit..." River barely got the words out when Michael shot up to the edge of the couch.

"You can't! You can't tell them!" He was agitated.

"Michael, you're not getting out of this one. What you did..." River stood with his hands on his hips.

Michael shakes his head. "No. It's not that. The guy I was in contact with. He told me the unit is on the Dragon's payroll. All the way up to the top. If you tell them, they'll tell Torrent and we're all as good as dead. Including Anna." He looked at me.

My eyes were huge. "There's Dragons in the Unit?" I turn to River.

"No." He shook his head. "No, I don't believe it."

"The place has been fucking infiltrated, River. How else do you think they could get Karver out? Why haven't we been able to find him? Why the fuck is it so hard to find Torrent? Because he knows what we're going to do before we do it. Think about it." Michael stared at River.

River hung his head and contemplated Michael's words. "What do we do?" He said in a low, monotone voice.

Michael turned his head between the both of us. "Don't go. Please. Just stay home. We can't stop it. It's too late."

"But, Michael. All those people. Our friends. Rez, Felix, Franco. We can't just let them fall to the Dragons." I say in a quiet voice.

River drops his hand to his side. "They won't stop at the ball. They'll take Caledon and kill everyone in it. Once they take control of Caledon's unit, the alliance is done for. We're all dead."

Michael looked at River. "Then run. Take Anna and get as far away from here as possible. Please, River. I've signed my death warrant. Don't let Anna die. Don't. I couldn't take it."

River looked to me and swallowed. "No. We're not running...."

Michael was getting mad. "River, you can't fight them. Please. Get Anna somewhere safe!"

I shook my head. "No. Michael. If I die, I die fighting. I'm not going anywhere.

He started to softly cry. "Please...Don't do this." He pleads.

"Michael. We can't leave our people to die. We have the information. We know where they're going to be. We can stop this." I put my hand on his arm that was in his lap. "Together."

Michael looked up at River. River nodded. "Together."

Michael turned back to me. His chin quivered again. "I'm sorry. So sorry..." I grabbed his head and pulled him into my shoulder as his sobber.

I looked at River. "We need a plan."

River looked at me. "We need my dad."

I nod.

We get Michael cleaned up and had him grab some things. He wasn't safe at his house. So, we took him to the pack house for safety and rest.

Once he's settled in his room, I head downstairs to join River in the common room.

"He sleeping. Healing. His ribs are broken and nose, but he should be fine by morning." I sink into the couch next to him.

"You are just..." He shakes his head.

"What?" I look up at him.

"You're the best damn Luna I've ever seen. So full of kindness, understanding, but so willing to lay your life down for your people. I just...I love you so much." He kisses me with all the love he has.

We separate. "I love you too and thank you."

"For what, baby." He runs a hand down my cheek.

"For helping, Michael. I know it's tough for you to deal with, but thank you for being there for him." I straighten his shirt.

He raised my head to meet his eyes. "I know he's fucked up, but we do need him. I think he knows now; he's gone too far. I believe he wants to make it right. I feel like I can at least agree with him that neither of us want to see our packs hurt or you either. The least I can do is work with him to make sure that doesn't happen."

I smile. "How did I get so lucky?"

"I'm the lucky one." He kisses me again.

****

The yelling could be heard through the pack house.

Damien was livid.

"This traitor is in my house?! Right now?!" I hear from the office door.

"Dad. We need him ok. We can't stop this without him..." River pleads with his dad.

"River you're smarter than this! You can't trust him knowing what he's done!"

River defends his decision. "Anna trusts him, dad. So, I do too. Come on. You know his information is valuable and we can't let him get in the hands of Torrent."

It goes quiet. I slowly open the door and peek in.

River's pacing around and Damian is at his desk.

Damian looks toward the door. "Anna?"

I swallow as let myself in, shutting the door behind me. I've never really been in the presence of an angry, full-on Alpha and it was a little nerve-wracking.

I slowly walk in. "Sorry to interrupt." I look to River.

He walks over and kisses my forehead. "It's fine, baby. Did you need something?"

I turn to Damien. "Michaels awake. But I can deal with..."

Damien rose. "No. Anna..." He walks over to me and places a hand on my shoulder. "It's fine." He smiles. "Why don't you get him ready for a debriefing. Twenty minutes?"

I nod. "Yes, sir." I say meekly.

"Darling, I told you. You don't need to do that." He squeezed my shoulder.

I nod again. "I'll be right back."

River plants another kiss on my head. "Ok."

I leave the office. It's quieter now as I leave. I head to Michael's room.

I open his door, knocking on it. "Michael? Are you decent?"

He chuckles. "I'm sure it's nothing you've never seen before, Anna."

I walk in as he puts a t shirt over his head. He still has slight bruising on his well-formed muscular chest, but he looks a lot better than he did yesterday. The perks of being a shifter.

"You healed nicely." I smiled.

"Yeah...Anna, thanks for all this. I suspect it's hard to have me in your home given what I've done." He puts some shoes on.

I walk in and sit beside him. "What you did is unforgivable, Michael. I won't lie. But I feel like you truly regret what you did and want to fix it. Want to save lives."

He nods. "I do. I know I've crossed the line. I know that. I fell into this pit and I'll take whatever comes my way. But if I can save lives before I lose whatever I sold, then it'll be worth it. Especially, if I know your life will be safer before I go down."

I smile. "Whatever happens, I'll be there with you. You won't go through this alone. I can't promise leniency, but if you truly want to help us, I'll do everything I can to try to save you. I'll talk with River to try to get him to show mercy."

He glances at me and smiles. "Thanks, but I'm not expecting it. I'm dead either way. If I die knowing you're happy and safe, then I've paid my dues."

"Michael..." My heart breaks at the thought that he could be executed for this.

He shakes his head. "Don't...Don't pity me, Anna. I don't want your pity. Just promise me you'll be happy and try to remember the good things. Tell me you'll forget all the shit I've caused once I'm gone."

A small tear runs down my cheek. "I promise." I whisper. I rest my head on his chest and he wraps his arm around me.

Even though Michael has caused so much pain recently, in five years, he was my best friend. My heart is broken that I could lose him forever. I will stand by him right to the end. I promise him that. Love can make you do crazy things. Sometimes those things are monstrous. It's not fair in some cases, but the law trumps love.

I sit up, wipe my face, sniffing back my tears. "Um…You have a debrief with Alpha Blake. Can you handle it?"

"Yeah. I'm good." He stands. "Lead the way."

"Ok." I walk out of the room and lead Michael to the Alphas office.