Page 78 of The Return
Dad was on alert. “What do you mean?”
I turned and clutched his shirt. “They weren’t after me. They wanted Jonas. And I think… I think they shot him.”
“It was just a dream, Corey,” Delray soothed.
But it wasn’t. I knew better. “I can feel his fear. The pain. They shot him, and he can’t call on his wolf.” I snarled at Delray. “Turn the fucking car around. Now.”
“Corey, we—”
“You heard him,” Dad growled. “Turn around.”
I could feel power rippling off Dad. If he was this strong, how much stronger was Jonas that Dad had been afraid of him?
“Corey, do you know who it is?”
I nodded, my head throbbing. I hadn’t met the person, but I recognized them anyway. “It’s Adam’s mother.”
“What? That’s not possible. She’s barred from the pack grounds.”
“It’s her. Jonas knows it. He could smell her the night Kinsey was shot.”
Councilor Delray turned in her seat. “How do you know this?”
HowdidI know this? “I can feel Jonas. I know what he’s thinking, what he’s feeling. He’s not afraid. He’s pissed off. He’s hurt, though. She… I think she shot him and… something about wolfsbane.”
“Fuck!” Councilor Delray slammed a hand on the seat. “This was all to get us out of the way.” She did a quick U-turn, then floored it as we headed back the way we’d come. She called the other Councilors, told them what was going on, and ordered them to mobilize help for Jonas.
“Corey, do you know where they are?”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I couldn’t afford to panic right now. I needed to be there for Jonas and—
I opened my eyes. I wasn’t in the car anymore. We were in a cemetery, and I was laying on a grave. No, wait. Jonas was laying on a grave, his hands tied in front of him.
“…because of you!”
“Bullshit!” Jonas shouted. “I never did a damn thing to him that he didn’t initiate.”
I needed to see, to find out where we were. There, carved into a tombstone was the name Adam Taylor. Adam was dead? Was it wrong that I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I should?
“He couldn’t handle not being part of a pack anymore. The buzz of everyone in his head was ripped out when your father banished him. No one else would take us, so it was just me and Adam. He….” She sobbed. “He couldn’t stand the quiet. It was so lonely for him, and every day it got worse. One afternoon he went out to the garage and… and… he killed himself.”
Her story hurt my heart. No one should ever have to bury a child.
“And what about what he did to my mate? He beat him. He threatened to fucking rape him!”
“So what?” she shrieked. “He’s not even a wolf. He’s a lousy human! You let your father toss aside a good wolf all because of a human.”
And my hurt went right out the window. Human or not, I was—am—a member of this pack. He should have shown me some decency. I now understood better what kind of things Jonas and his father had to deal with. How could you adjudicate something like this?
“No. I let my father toss aside a piece of shit.”
She snarled at Jonas. “I brought you here because you should know where he is. I wanted to see you beg for forgiveness.”
“From him? Please. I would have killed him myself if my father hadn’t stopped me.”
Why was Jonas baiting her? Do what she asks and stall until the Councilors can get here! Wait. Where is here? If Adam was kicked out of the pack, he’s not buried in town.
“So you came out here to bury him?” He sighed. “Look, you were a good mother, and you did the best you could, but Adam… he wasn’t a good person. He was a bully, and he’d been talked to about it several times. He had so many chances to turn his life around and—”
