Page 116 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

I did know. My frustration with the situation was becoming overwhelming. This—the pressure of everything and everyone depending on you—was all part of why I’d never wanted to be a pack alpha when I was younger. Now it wasn’t even the pack, but my own son who needed me to be on top of my game to keep him alive. It was nearly more than I could handle, but I’d never say that out loud. No alpha would.

“How would you be acting?” I asked, trying my best to keep the irritation out of my voice.

Trent looked at me for a few seconds, then made a sound that was both a chuckle and a sigh. “I suppose I’d be the same as you.”

The smallest amount of relief punched through my frustration. “Things are tense. Anyone would feel this way. We’re talking about life and death. Plus, I’m still not on Avery’s good side. She’s not showing it, but I keep thinking she blames me for Ashton’s kidnapping. I’d blame me if I was her.”

Trent opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. He took a few sips before responding. “I’m going to say something, and I don’t want you to take it the wrong way, okay?”

“Shit,” I muttered with a shake of my head. “I’m not gonna like this, am I?”

“Maybe.” Trent shrugged. “You may be right that she blames you, and honestly, she’s probably not completely wrong.”

“What?” I gaped at him. “I didn’t do any of this on purpose, Trent. You know that.”

He held a hand up. “I do, but look at it from her point of view. If you hadn’t come back home, she’d never have been able to tell you about Ashton. They’d both be living a quiet life in her grandmother’s house. Instead, you met him, and by doing that, you sort of dragged them into this.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Trent continued before I could speak.

“I’m not saying you did anything directly. Hell, Avery is showing remarkable restraint in not biting your head off at every turn.It’s nothing but really bad timing and awful coincidences. Hell, if Dallas never figured out Ashton’s your son, things might have worked out differently, too.”

At the mention of my brother, my mind skittered away from the original issue. I still couldn’t believe Avery thought Dallas had taken Ashton of his own volition.

“That’s something else that’s eating at me,” I said. “Did you hear how she was talking about Dallas? Like he’s a monster like Kyle? It’s crazy.”

Trent looked down at his shoes and ran his tongue over his teeth.

“Wait,” I said. “You’re not on her side, are you? Doyouthink he was complicit in all this? You were at the meeting, man. Yousawhow scared he was.”

Trent finally looked up at me. “What I know is that sometimes people can be good actors.”

“No fucking way,” I snapped. “Not a chance. This is different. He’s my brother, and?—”

“And you and Farrah barely know him, Cole,” Trent said, more insistent now, angrier. “It’s like Avery said. You and Farrah have it in your heads that the guy has some weird loyalty to you and the Garrett family. Except, by your own words, your dad was a dick to him. Also, neither of you has been around for the last fifteen years. A shitload of stuff can change in that time.”

I shook my head. “But he came to me at the playground. He fucking told me about Kyle.”

“And who the hell do you think told him to do that? Huh?”

I stared at him for a long time, trying to think of what to say. Could Kyle have ordered Dallas to tell me? Was I being stupid and letting myself be blinded by family ties?

No, that couldn’t be it. My gut told me Dallas was only doing this because Kyle was threatening him. It was either follow orders, or wind up with a bullet in your head. No matter how much bad blood might reside in his heart from the past, my brother was still a good person deep down.

I said as much to Trent, only to get a stern look in return.

“Sure,” Trent said. “Maybe Kyle is forcing him, but that doesn’t change the fact that he had a hand in taking your son. Put yourself in Dallas’s place. If the situation was reversed, if Dallas had a son and some psycho you worked for told you to kidnap the kid, would you?”

The question rocked me to my core, and the images played out in my head. Try as I might, I couldn’t picture myself doing something like that. I’d die first. Kidnapping a child was beyond me, no matter the situation. But I was an alpha, Dallas wasn’t. Maybe that could change a person’s outlook? Perhaps it made me mentally stronger. But that didn’t change the fact that Trent was right. For whatever reason, Dallasdidagree to help Kyle take Ashton, and that was a fact I couldn’t overlook. Maybe Avery had a point.

My wolf raged and thrashed within my mind, thinking of the awful things Kyle might be doing to my son. Hatred unlike anything I’d ever felt from my wolf coursed through me, forcing me to clench my fists. My wolf seemed to be on Avery and Trent’s side. He wanted blood, and he didn’t care if it was Kyle’s, Dallas’s, or any of Kyle’s goons. He wanted to sink his teeth into someone and make them pay. That same desire leaked into me,and saliva filled my mouth at the thought of tearing at the flesh of an enemy.

Our conversation was cut short by the sound of cars pulling into the driveway. Trent glanced out the window.

“It’s Avery and Farrah,” he said. Turning back to me, he raised an eyebrow and asked, “What’s this plan you’ve come up with anyway?”

“You’ll hear in a minute.”

Avery came in, and I was shocked at how exhausted she looked. The dark circles under her eyes told me she probably didn’t get any sleep the night before. It hurt me to see her scared and tired. All I wanted to do was to fix what was in danger of breaking between us. But I couldn’t focus on that now. The best thing I could do was to save our son.

---