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Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jasper
Isatatmydesk, determined to get things done.Stars knew my to-do list was so long I had no hope of finishing it today, but I could still try.Even though my brain felt like Swiss cheese.
I clicked into my inbox and saw an email from a supplier saying they hadn’t received their funds.I clicked over to the banking platform, then waited for it to log in.
My mother was dying.
I blinked, trying to clear my mind.It wasn’t any good to think about it.When I’d stopped by that morning, she’d been barely able to sit up.My mother, my Alpha, who had always been the strongest woman I’d ever known, was fading away.
The banking platform had opened.I shook my head, opened the invoice folder.Then stared blankly, trying to remember what I was looking for.
My mother was dying.
I exhaled slowly.If my mother died, I would be welcome with one of the other clans.Well, in San Jacinto, at least.Probably.I had skills.I’d already considered how I could help Marisol improve her operations when I’d been thinking about marrying her.That part was off the table, but I could still offer my assistance.Maybe it would be enough to bring my brothers, as well as Dylan and Dominic, with me.
But that was a scenario I didn’t want to consider, because it meant my mother was dying.
Edie was trying to save her.But if my mother died, I could hardly ask her to tie herself to a homeless, jobless drifter.Even in the best-case scenario, the one where my mother recovered and lived a long life and I kept my job and my life here in Twisted Pines, I’d still be asking her to give up everything she knew, everything that mattered to her, for me.
I wouldn’t be dumb enough to take that deal, and I didn’t think she was either.
My phone buzzed and I snatched it up, grateful for the distraction.I felt a ripple of guilty excitement ripple over my skin when I saw Edie’s name on the screen.Edie’s mother, Irene, was supposed to be on the road.All thoughts of my to-do list disappeared.Maybe hot, passionate, life-affirming sex with my mate would distract me from all the things I couldn’t control, and give me enough energy so I could control them.
“Hey,” I said, breathless, though I hadn’t moved from my desk in an hour.
“Jasper, I need you to come to your mother’s trailer right now.”
I stood up, banging my knees against the desk.“What’s happening?”
“I think we may have found out why you’re mother’s been so sick.But more importantly, I think Dominic might commit murder and I need someone to stop him.”
“Who—I’m coming,” I said grimly.
Five minutes later, I burst into the trailer and found Edie trying to calm Dominic down.“We don’t have any proof,” she was saying.“Jasper, thank god.I need you to be reasonable.”
I’d had three hundred seconds to think about what Edie had said, and that was more than enough for my fury to rage.“I’ll try.What is happening?”
“It’s in the tea,” she said quickly, pushing her glasses up her nose.“Hen’s Teeth.The seeds.I need to take your mother to see Dr.Barnes.I tried calling him but he’s probably with a patient.He’ll know what to do, how to purge it from her system.”
“How—Mona,” I said, gritting my teeth on the word.“She makes the tea.”
I met Dominic’s eyes, saw exactly the same bloodlust that I felt.“Let’s go.”
“Jasper, I need you to be logical,” Edie moaned.“You’re always so damned logical and I need that from you right now.We need proof.We might need her knowledge to help your mother.I don’t have any idea what we’re dealing with here.”
“You don’t understand, Edie.Things are different here.We don’t play by the same rules.”
“Not that different,” Edie’s mother said.She was sitting next to my mother on the couch.
“Irene,” I said, clearing my throat.“I thought you left.”
“I stayed,” she said, raising her eyebrow in a way that said exactly what she thought of what was happening around her.
Edie put her hands on my shoulders.“We need to take her into custody.Is there someone who can do that?Is there somewhere she can go?”
I knew she was right, though the rage in me wasn’t ready to hear it yet.I swallowed.“It should be us.But I promise we won’t hurt her.”
