Jacob burst out laughing. “Love you too, sweetheart.”
Fran grinned and kissed his nose. “Have fun one and all.” And with a final wave, Fran left.
Jacob looked at Frank. “He wouldn’t really punch me in the face, would he?”
Frank grinned. “Do you really want to find out?”
“Not really.”
“So don’t get seriously injured any time soon,” Joe told him.
“It was one time,” he protested.
“Two, actually. You protected Frank and got hurt, then you got hurt protecting Aubrey,” Finn pointed out.
Jacob huffed. “Fine, it was twice.”
“Maybe don’t leave the castle,” Annfield suggested.
“There is lots of research to do, so I should be fine.”
“We’ll make sure he’s safe,” Finn said.
“Good. And now, Romsey, if you’re ready, let’s go and visit Nidal and get some answers,” Berni said, standing up.
With a quick kiss for Samantha, Romsey stood up and left with Berni.
“So now we need to decide, do we go straight to the library and carry on reading really boring but important paperwork, or do we show our guests secret passages and priest holes, while looking for missing ones?” Ezzy asked.
“That one, totally that one,” Samantha said grinning. “At least for a bit and then we’ll get to research.”
“Fun it is then,” Robbie said standing up. “Let’s get started.”
“I missed your mate,”James said. “I was expecting him to still be here this morning.”
“He healed up quickly, thank goodness. But I’ll make sure you meet him soon,” Fran replied.
“How was he shot?”
“An ex-packmate of my Jacob tried to shoot Aunt Aubrey. Jacob jumped in front of her to protect her,” Fran explained.
James looked shocked and confused. “Why try and kill Aubrey?”
Fran looked around and stepped closer, lowering his voice. “A rogue wolf element wants to kill all Alphas and Betas. The man knew if he killed my aunt, my uncle would follow.”
“That’s scary and disturbing.”
Fran nodded. “It is, but plans are in place to stop the rogue element.”
“If me or Matt can help, let me know.”
“Thanks, James, will do.”
CHAPTER 56
It was nearly lunchtime before everyone gathered in the library to get stuck doing the research.
They all had fun seeing the secret passages and looking at priest holes. They hadn’t yet found the missing ones, despite trying practically every large picture they came across.
