"That's what this Colin person said," Huck answered.
The alpha's mind went back to the living room when Dillon had first arrived. Now that Jeremiah thought about it, he had noticed Dillon looking around the room. But that could have been because he was in a room full of unknown wolves. It didn’t necessarily mean Dillon had been looking for his mate.
Though it had been many years since he had found his Rose, Jeremiah could still recall the intense feelings that had come over him when he first saw her, when he first heard her voice in his mind. It was like a dam breaking, releasing a torrent of emotions that swept over him like a tidal wave. He could admit it now, so many years later, but Jeremiah had been almost feral when he'd found his Rosey. She had saved him, brought him back from the brink. He probably only had a year left, maybe two at the most, when she had come along.
With those thoughts swirling in his head, Jeremiah realized that Dillon's mate couldn't be among his pack members. It would have been obvious as soon as he walked through the door. He would've gone straight to her and threatened every other male in the room.
"You there, Alpha?" Huck's voice came through the phone, and Jeremiah realized he'd been lost in thought.
"Yeah.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked up, letting his eyes roam over his office as he tried to work through the information in his head. “Just trying to process this. Good work, Hucks. You and Orson start heading—” Jeremiah froze as his eyes landed on a picture on one of his bookshelves. “Shit.”
"What is it, Boss?"
There was alarm in Huck's voice, but Jeremiah didn't hear it. A light bulb had just flicked on. “Dammit all.” He snarled as his teeth started to lengthen.
"What the hell, Alpha?" Huck's voice had become like a buzzing bee in his ear.
"Shut up, Huck. Let me think," Jeremiah commanded. Dillon clearly hadn't found his mate among the females present at the Colorado pack, but there was one female who wasn't at the mansion. There was one female who was still away on a mission. A female who had taken a detour through Texas. A female who, after taking the detour through Texas, instead of coming home, had decided to go visit her friend in Missouri.
Jeremiah's knuckles turned white as he gripped the phone in his hand, and he heard a crack as the device gave way under his strength. There was a low growl coming from him that filled the office and no doubt came clearly through the phone. Huck, wisely, stayed quiet.
No damn way. There is no way this lone wolf is my daughter's mate. He wouldn't have just let her traipse off to another pack and not follow her. What kind of male would do that? But then again, maybe the kind of male that would leave his pack when faced with hunters would also leave his mate.
The seconds turned to minutes as Jeremiah considered the implications of what he suspected. But it was more than a suspicion. Deep down, he knew the truth. Tanya had somehow met this wolf, while she and his other wolves had been traveling in Texas. They must have realized they were mates. But, again, why the hell would they have left one another? Why would Tanya have chosen to go to Missouri and Dillon come here? There were simply too many unanswered questions. Jeremiah needed more information. And to keep from killing Tanya’s possible mate before he knew if she even wanted him.
"Change of plans, Huck," Jeremiah finally said. "You and Orson get your butts down to Coldspring, Texas as soon as possible, take a flight this time and rent a car. Talk to anyone and everyone who might have known Dillon Jacobs. Friends, family, whatever. If a waitress so much as brought him coffee in a diner six years ago, I want to hear about it. Leave no stone unturned. I want to know everything about what this rogue has been doing down there."
"You got it, Alpha."
"And, Huck, don't breathe a word about this to anyone. If you do, I'll skin you and hang your pelt over the fireplace in the main hall. I'm dead serious." He slammed the phone down, not bothering to wait for a response. He knew he’d be obeyed because Huck knew Jeremiah didn’t bluff. Now he just needed to figure out how to deal with Dillon Jacobs until he could get his daughter home and figure out what the hell had happened between them. Because something had happened. There was no way Dillon wouldn’t have followed Tanya to Missouri, if he’d known that’s where his mate was going.
Jeremiah poured himself a glass of whiskey from the decanter on the edge of his desk and then sat down. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He sipped the amber liquid and forced himself to calm down. Dillon should be up soon, and Jeremiah would confront him about his lies by omission. He leaned back in his chair and took a deep sip of his drink. “You couldn’t have given me a son?” he muttered his words for the Great Luna, though he didn’t really mean them. Mostly.
Chapter
Nine
“Pain is universal. It’s one of those things that anyone can bond over, even enemies, because we all feel it in some form or another. The pain could be caused by completely different things, and yet a bond can form simply because we understand the agony the other person is feeling.” ~Dillon
Tanya took a cool rag from Daniel and ran it across Lisa’s face. Her friend burned with fever, and despite shivering from the chill, Tanya used a tepid cloth to bring the fever down. They had tried medicine, but Lisa simply threw it up. The night had gone from the old woman lying peacefully to violent bouts of dry heaving, fever, chills, and Lisa calling out in moments when she wasn’t lucid, which was more often than not. Tanya thought nothing could be worse than her friend dying, but she had been wrong. Watching her slip away into death peacefully was much preferred to this.
Tyler slipped his arm under Lisa’s frail shoulders and helped turn her when she coughed again. “Hold the bucket closer.”
Tanya moved Lisa’s sick bucket in nearer and forced herself to remain stoic. She couldn’t break down, no matter how torn up she was inside. Why couldn’t Lisa have been spared this? Tyler had told Tanya about the cancer and explained that Lisa had times when she did well and then times when she would be violently sick. The old woman had requested that he not tell anyone, but any wolf paying attention would have smelled the sickness on her. At this point, it was obvious. Tanya wanted to kick her own ass for not picking up on it. She had been so focused on the crap taking up space in her head that she had completely missed the scent that now filled the room like smoke from a fire.
“What has you so broken, mate?” A voice suddenly filled her mind.
Tanya nearly dropped the bucket. She pulled it away and turned to hand it to Austin, who dutifully took it. She knew he would empty it and then bring it back. Her emotions were frayed like an aged rope, and Tanya realized the guard she had maintained between her and Dillon had crumbled. She hadn’t even noticed.
“Talk to me, Tanya.” Dillon’s deep voice was gentle.
Her heart squeezed tight in her chest as her emotions warred inside of her. The part of her that had been waiting for her mate her whole life, eager to begin a life with him, wanted to lean on the strength Dillon was already offering. His concern came through their bond, and it called to her. But then the stubborn part of her that was scorned by his actions wanted to push him away.
“I understand you’re mad at me, and you have every right to be, but let me help you shoulder this burden. Please.”
Tanya picked up Lisa’s hand again after Tyler got her resettled on the bed. For the moment, after having thrown up once more, the woman was no longer coughing or groaning. Lisa lay still, and if it weren’t for her chest rising and falling, Tanya would have thought she was already gone.
“It’s my friend, Lisa,” Tanya finally said as she ran her thumb across the frail hand in hers. The skin felt paper thin, and the veins were protruding bright blue against the pale flesh. “She’s dying.” Though Tanya hadn’t said the words out loud, it felt as if they reverberated against the walls in the room and were now being echoed back at her. Lisa was dying. The woman who had mentored her, been a source of comfort, a safe place for her to take her frustrations and worries, was leaving this earth forever. Tanya would never again be able to pick up the phone and call or visit her. She would be gone.
