5
In his office, Dillon’s Beta, Logan, joined him to discuss Jacque’s condition. It had been four weeks since the accident and, finally, Logan had some good news to pass on.
“Jacque has awoken from her coma,” Logan informed him.
“Do you know anything else about her well-being or just that she is awake?” Dillon’s voice was gruff with emotion.
“From what I can gather, she is healing rapidly, nearly as well as a full-blooded wolf.”
Dillon couldn’t help thinking for the thousandth time how vulnerable Fane had left his daughter. Another thought also troubled him. He spun around, glaring at Logan. “You were there, why didn’t you help her?”
“I was going to, Alpha, but Fane got there so quickly. He would have known what I was had I revealed myself. I realize now Jacque’s safety should have been my first priority,” Logan said, his eyes down, neck exposed in submission.
Dillon appreciated the gesture as he was hanging on to his own wolf by a thread, and any defiance on Logan’s part would not have ended well.
“I was going to stay out of this. I was going to trust Lilly to know what was best for our daughter, but these past weeks… The more I go over it in my head, the more troubled I become. I just can’t let this go. Jacque could have been killed and all because her supposed mate, who is little more than a kid, didn’t protect her as is his responsibility.”
A niggling sensation in the rational part of his brain told Dillon he might be being a bit too hard on Fane, but he couldn’t help it. This was his daughter. Had she died, Dillon would never have had the opportunity to know her. That was unacceptable. Jacque was still a minor. Dillon could invoke his rights as her Alpha and take her under his care until she was an adult. Lilly would probably hate him for it, but she would eventually see it was better for Jacque this way. She was too young to mate, and worse, Fane was too young to be her mate. He didn’t understand what it meant to be a mate, the responsibility that came with the title.
“You said there were four wolves besides Vasile and his son?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Get our pack’s first four, with you and myself that will make six. We must approach their pack with an even number of wolves so our contact doesn’t appear as a challenge to Vasile. But we must also show I have support. Have Colin charter a private plane. I want to get there as soon as possible.”
Colin was Dillon’s assistant, for lack of a better word, and took care of any pack business and acted as a liaison to other packs. Because of his Omega status, he wasn’t considered a threat or a challenge to other packs, nor was he a submissive which would allow other packs to walk on him.
Logan nodded at his Alpha’s request and turned to go.
“We leave in an hour,” Dillon told his retreating back.
Logan mentally patted himself on the back. My plan is working perfectly. How could I have known a simple blown tire would cause the car to roll and then catch fire? Logan’s heart had been in his throat when he had watched Jacque’s still form being pulled from the burning SUV. He had nearly rushed forward to help, but when he heard the other wolves’ vehicles approaching, he had gotten in his car and driven across the median to the opposite highway. He had been driving the opposite direction as Fane and his family. They’d never even looked his direction, their eyes only on the wreckage. Logan had assumed Dillon’s anger would abate, eventually. Instead, so far it had only increased.
Logan walked into the pack war room. His four top pack mates waited, each either cleaning weapons or monitoring the perimeter of the mansion on a bank of TV screens wired to cameras all around the grounds. All these precautions seemed archaic, as no other pack had attempted to challenge them on their territory in over a century. But old habits die hard. And now that Vasile, likely the most powerful Alpha on earth, was on American soil, Logan was glad Dillon was so security conscious.
“Lee, Phillip, Dalton, and Aidan, I need you with me. Assemble your weapons. You will not carry them on your person, but I want them available in case they are needed. Go pack enough clothes for three days and then meet me and the Alpha in the main garage. I will explain the situation on the way. Move out.” Without a word, the four wolves assembled their weapons and then left the room to comply with their Beta’s instructions. Logan always felt a sense of pride when the pack obeyed without question. It was a sign of trust. Unfortunately, it was a trust he was going to have to betray.
Better not to think of that now. Just do what needs to be done, ask for forgiveness later.
Dillon stood in the main garage, waiting on his pack to join him. He did his best to calm his emotions, knowing the pack would pick up on them. He didn’t want his pack mates to shoulder his burdens. It was his job as Alpha to protect them from unnecessary stress, but this was a situation he had never dealt with before. For the first time in a long time, Dillon didn’t know how to handle himself. He called on his wolf, knowing the beast would be less emotional and more practical. It would do what needed to be done. Dillon could worry about the emotions afterward when the situation was under control. Logan and the rest of the chosen pack members arrived, all dressed in black fatigues.
“Have you briefed them?” Dillon asked Logan.
“No, Alpha. I figured I could do that en route.”
Dillon nodded his head in agreement. “Alright, let’s load up into the Hummer. Phillip, you drive.”
Logan filled in the rest of the group on the situation with Dillon’s daughter. “It is imperative this information stay within this group. Dillon will be the one to decide when the rest of the pack will know,” Logan told them.
Dillon spoke up then. “It may make you all uncomfortable since she is your Alpha as well, but I have chosen not to disclose this to my mate just yet. Speaking of, excuse me from the conversation for one moment, I need to inform her I will be gone for a few days.” He said no more on the topic.
Logan couldn’t tell by the look on his Alpha’s face as Dillon spoke to his mate through their bond, but he assumed the man had made up some story to tell their Alpha female. If she’d questioned it, Dillon said nothing about. Trust. Trust being broken even as the Alpha spoke to his mate. It was for the best, Logan decided. Just as he had had to take matters into his own hands regarding Jacque, Dillon now had to determine how best to deal with this situation himself. The added stress his mate, Tanya, would bring wouldn’t help anything. Once the situation was contained, Logan assumed Dillon would sit down with Tanya and explain things. The Beta would be sure to be busy when that conversation took place. Tanya was hotheaded and often spoke before she thought.
A previously unknown daughter appearing out of nowhere after seventeen years? Yeah, that going to be a mess. Good luck with that, Alpha.
“So, the plan,” Dillon said, “is to contact Vasile when we arrive in Coldspring. We must let him know we are there according to pack law. I am sure he will tell Lilly, who will in turn tell Fane, the boy who has declared himself Jacque’s mate. You will not engage Vasile’s wolves unless I command it. Are we clear?”
Each of the wolves nodded their heads and bared their necks in submission.
“After Lilly is notified, I will set up a time to meet with her to discuss Jacque and when I can meet my daughter. At this point, I will not mention invoking my rights as her Alpha. I will do that after I have met her. I will also only do that in front of Vasile, his pup, and his Beta. During that time, only Logan will be with me,” Dillon explained.
By the time he was done telling his pack what would take place, they had arrived at the airport. The six men boarded the charter plane Colin had secured for them.
As the plane took off, Dillon sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. He tried to envision what Jacque would say when he introduced himself to her. Would she be angry he had not been a part of her life? Would she be happy to finally meet him? He couldn’t ever remember a time when he’d been so unsure of himself.
Logan tried to work out in his mind the best time to take Jacque from the hospital. A plan of action finally came together. He would tell Dillon to remove Vasile guards and install his own after he invoked his Alpha rights. Vasile would have to acquiesce. As security chief, Logan himself would set the guard rotation for the night, when the staff was minimal. The cover of darkness would aid him in his task after escaping the hospital. He was so close to his goal, so close to having the only thing he had truly wanted in a long time, and he would have her. No matter what it took, Jacque Pierce would be his.
The private jet landed at a tiny airstrip close to Coldspring. A rental car was waiting. Dillon wondered, not for the first time, what he would do without Colin. The man seemed to think of everything.
Logan knew the location of the hospital, so he drove while Dillon found Vasile’s number in the directory of Alphas. Yes, they had a book with all the Alpha’s numbers in it. Dillon couldn’t help but think that somebody else had a Colin as well who had come up with the idea. Dillon dialed the number and as he listened to it ring, all he could think was how this was going to be interesting. The phone was answered on the fourth ring.
“Vasile,” came a voice on the other end of the line.
“Vasile, this is Dillon Jacobs, Alpha of the Denver Pack. I wish to inform you I am in Coldspring, Texas. Do you know of any other Alphas that I might need to notify?”
Vasile was silent for several beats before he responded. “No, the pack here in Coldspring is not official yet. I will notify the new Alpha that you are here.” Dillon heard Vasile take an audible breath and then let it out slow.
“Do I want to know why you are here, Jacobs?” Vasile asked.
“I’m sure you already know, Lupei. I want to speak with Lilly and I want to meet my daughter. It is my understanding she has been in an accident.” There was a slight growl in Dillon’s voice as he answered Vasile.
“How, may I ask, did you learn about Jacquelyn, or the accident for that matter?” Vasile asked, his voice laced with skepticism.
“Pack members talk, Vasile. You know how it is. A group of wolves is worse than a beauty shop for gossip. Naturally, when I heard that there had been a challenge given to the strongest Alpha’s pup, and that it had taken place in Lilly’s hometown, I checked into things. Imagine my shock when I found out I had a daughter.” Dillon didn’t think Vasile needed to know Logan had been following them for weeks.
“We are on our way to the hospital now, Vasile. Please ask Lilly to meet me at the entrance. And I would ask, Vasile, you refrain from mentioning this to Jacque until I speak to her mother.”
“I will let Lilly know. But I cannot guarantee she will see you.” Dillon began to speak but Vasile cut him off. “Jacque has been unconscious for a month. Lilly has been through hell. She is stressed and overwhelmed. Nevertheless, I will inform her. If you get here and she isn’t waiting in the lobby, then call me tomorrow, we will figure something out. I cannot imagine this is going to go as you expect.”
“I have no expectations yet. I have five of my wolves with me, my Beta and my first four. This is not a challenge to anyone, Vasile. I simply want to meet my daughter,” Dillon told him, his voice never betraying the subtle lie. Dillon knew, deep down, he didn’t just want to meet Jacque, he planned to take her home with him.
“Understood,” Vasile answered. “I would ask that you and your wolves lie low and treat this as if it were my permanent territory. Lilly is a quasi-member of my pack now. Don’t give me a reason to regret allowing this visit.”
“You can’t allow me to do anything, Vasile.”
The words were met with a snarl. “You don’t want to take tact, Dillon, I promise you. I don’t lord my power over the Alphas, but I will do what is necessary to protect those under my protection. You don’t want to test me in this.”
Dillon bit back his words. Unfortunately, Vasile was right. The last thing Dillon wanted was a war with the Romanians. But he would abide by pack law when Dillon invoked it. The Colorado Alpha could count on that.
“Understood?” Vasile asked.
“Understood,” replied Dillon.
“My Beta, Decebel, will wait with Lilly. He is unbiased in this situation. Let me know how your meeting goes,” Vasile said in sarcastic amusement. “What is your ETA?”
“My Beta says we will arrive in ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes? How courteous of you to give ample notice of your arrival.” Vasile hung up before Dillon could respond to the jab.
“Did that go as you expected?” Logan asked him.
“Pretty much. Vasile was calm until I challenged him. The calm ones are often the deadliest. They never betray their emotions, so one never knows their next move.”
“Sounds like he would be a good poker player,” Logan said dryly.
“We’re not here to play poker.”
Dillon thought about the best way to keep Lilly calm enough to let him see Jacque before he dropped the whole ‘I’m here to take my daughter away’ bit. Unfortunately, there were no bright ideas that fell from the sky, nor had he come across a book called How to Appease the Lover you Scorned in Favor of your True Mate for Dummies.
They pulled into the hospital parking lot. It was packed, so Logan had to park the rental a good way from the front entrance.
“I’m going to go in and talk with Lilly. I want all of you to stay here. She is already upset about Jacque being unconscious for so long and my presence will only add insult to injury. I don’t want to freak her out more by having a pack of unknown wolves descend on her.” Dillon knew talking with Lilly would probably be harder than talking to Jacque. He had history with Lilly. The kind of history that leaves a wound on your heart that will never heal. It scabs over, often repeatedly, but when the scab comes off, the hurt is just as raw and painful as the day the wound was inflicted. Dillon was lucky, he had his mate, whose presence often held the scab in place. Who did Lilly have?
The sound of Logan’s voice brought Dillon out of his thoughts. “At what point do you plan to claim the rights of an Alpha regarding a minor?”
“I will decide that after I meet with Lilly,” he replied.
Without another word, Dillon opened his door and stepped into the warm Texas heat. Though the air was hot, it wasn’t what had him sweating. He shut the car door and turned to walk to the entrance of the hospital. At that moment, he truly couldn’t say what would be worse, facing a lover he had hurt, or chewing on a mouthful of thumbtacks. When Dillon reached the entrance and opened the door, the first thing he saw was Lilly’s beautiful face. He knew then he would much rather chew the thumbtacks than face the betrayal in her eyes.