AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The horror in the room is palpable, but I continue, “Temperance is unaware she had a child. After that incident, Shadow ensured they never conceived again.”
We sit in contemplative silence and Kyan returns, taking a seat at the dining table, pouring over a pile of paperwork. “Find anything useful?” My father, Ezra, leans over to catch a glimpse. Kyan shakes his head, and I rest mine on the back of the couch. I can feel a headache coming on, and I hope it's just stress and nothing to do with Temperance being hurt.
Most of the records seem irrelevant, but suddenly, my father instructs, “Wait! Go back.”
Kyan flips back to a page showcasing a criminal record. The woman in the photograph. “That would be Satish's mother,” Kyan tells him. “She has quite the record with both our authorities and the human ones.”
My father seems to ponder that for a second, his eyes trained on the woman's picture, and I sit up a little higher to see.
“Her husband … What was his name?” My father's voice is tense, demanding.
“Donovan,” both Kyan and my father echo simultaneously.
The room is thick with anticipation. “You know them?” I ask, puzzled.
“Yes. I wiped out their pack,” my father admits, shooting a glance at my other father and mother.
“Blue Mountain Pack!” Mateo whispers, the realization evident in his eyes.
Kyan looks between them. “Blue Mountain Pack?!” my mother questions.
“Yes, a few years before I met you,” he admits.
“I remember hearing that. I didn't want to move to your pack because of the rumors,” my mother admits and my father raises an eyebrow at her. “I didn't know you back then!” she deadpans.
“So another reason for Satish to hate us,” I remark with a sigh.
My father continues, “Yes, but that might explain a few things. Those who surrendered were spared. Many were women, and a few men.”
Kyan nods in understanding. “That's standard procedure.”
Yet, my father’s expression grows dark. “Yes, but now I'm questioning something else.”
Kyan leans in, “What?”
“Jackson. A significant number of the women went to his pack,” my father divulges.
My mother's eyes widened in horror. “Some went rogue, but the majority… It now makes me wonder if they were trafficked. Because the men willingly went rogue, making me wonder if it was knowing they'd eventually return.”
Nodding in agreement, Kyan muses, “So that's how Jackson secured the allegiance of the rogues?”
My mother chimes in, “Yes, but from what we know, many were promised a pack for their aid.”
“Or perhaps they were assured the return of their wives and sanctuary?” my father counters. “Consider this: none ever dared to challenge my pack. But targeting mine and then Andrei's? We had the largest packs it was suicide, rogues were rarely ever a threat to either of our packs before that.”
“So Satish's mother had a pack?”
“No, her husband's father did. Which, actually, where did you locate Temperance?” my father asks.
“In the middle of fucking bumfuck-ville,” Casen says, and my father opens a phone, pulling up some maps. He hands the phone to Casen. “Where, exactly?!”
Casen pulls the location up, showing my father, who presses his lips in a line. “Right between Blue Mountain Pack and Jackson's.”
“But the pack belonged to Temperance's father,” I remind him.
“Yes, but the settlements where we caught the rogues after the attack on Andrei's are scattered all through that area. There were sightings everywhere, and drop off locations for the trafficked women.”
“But Satish's father removed him from his mother, he would have been young when that happened?”
