Page 55 of To Keep A Wolf
The call ends, and my mother picks up the phone, disconnecting the battery and SIM card before setting the pieces on the table. Then she looks up, glancing past the others to me. My hands are balled into fists at my sides. When I realize it, I relax them and exhale, concentrating on my breathing and cooling the tension and rage in my body.
The sound of Jadick’s voice in this room is a reminder that I’m not free yet. Not really. But I will be.
“I accept your apology,” I tell my mom. “But it doesn’t make up for the past or for helping Jadick trap me in all this. The only thing that will do that is helping me—” Tripp elbows me “—helpingusput him down.”
“You have my word, Mac.” My mother’s expression is solemn. “I’ll do whatever it takes. I only ever wanted to protect you.”
“I know you believe that,” I say carefully. “But your methods are not welcome here. You do it our way from now on or leave.”
“You’ll need me if you’re going to fight him—”
“Our way or leave,” I repeat. “Those are your only choices.”
“Don’t you mean ‘our way or the highway’?” Tripp whispers. “I kind of always wanted to say that.”
I give him a look, but he just grins, impervious to my glare.
My mother looks at the others, one by one, and whatever she sees in their gazes must echo my words because she finally looks back at me, nodding. “Deal. What would you like to do now?”
Instead of answering her question, I look at my father. “You didn’t ask for this,” I tell him. “I understand if you don’t want to be involved. We can find somewhere else to—”
“I’m in.” He doesn’t look at my mother as he says, “I let you go once because I thought it best for you. But I don’t intend to ever do it again. I’ll fight with you—and for you. Whatever it takes to make you safe.”
I shove aside the warmth his words bring. There will be time later to examine how I feel about the man who’s just professed blind loyalty and the woman who’s finally promised to stop meddling in my life and instead let me be in charge of my own choices. The stirring of emotions is an intense storm I don’t have time for right now.
Levi catches my eye, and I see understanding in his gaze. But, as if he knows what I need, he puts it all aside too. “Tripp and I will follow you wherever you go,” he says like that answer should be obvious.
“Hell yeah,” Tripp echoes.
My lips curve as I glance at my former bestie. Maybe not so “former” anymore. “You want to kick ass together?” I ask because bantering with Tripp is safer. It makes this whole thing less crazy.
“I got your back, Mac and cheese,” he says, and I punch him in the arm.
* * *
We take a break from our strategy meeting to allow Tripp and my dad to get cleaned up. While my mom eats leftover stew, Levi asks her for updates on Frankie and Grey and a few other Jades. She offers what little information she has, but it’s clear she’s not privy to their lives. They don’t trust her. I can’t blame them.
“What about Nely?” I ask, thinking of the girl who became my almost-friend back at the mall before everything went to hell and I became the enemy’s betrothed.
“Gone,” my mother says.
“Gone where?”
“No idea.”
“And her mate? Lorenz?” I ask.
“Both of them left. Along with most other Jades,” she tells us. “Especially those without rank or position in the alpha house.”
“They would have defected,” Levi murmurs. “This is why we left in the first place.”
“Do you know where they might have gone?” I ask Levi.
“There are a couple of safe houses in Rose Hill, right outside Blackstone,” he says. “We used them to check in with our spies in town—”
I shake my head, cutting him off. “Those houses were burned while Kari was alpha.”
His gaze darkens at that, but after a few blinks, his shoulders sag, and the light goes out. “Then, no. Everything else is compromised. Jadick…”
