“I think he’s right,” I said, nudging Nico. “We’ve got too much to deal with to add this investigation to it.”
Nico nodded. “All right. Luis, you get on this. We’ll focus on training the packs and trying to get Maddy through her first shift. I really think she’s close.”
“Okay. I’ll dig up my info from before and head out to Tampa tomorrow morning sometime. Send me whatever you have on Maddy’s birth mom. I’ll go from there.”
After we got off the phone, we sent Luis the few pictures of her that we had. There weren’t many, but it would probably help. We also let him know the name and address of the high school she’d attended. I looked at her smiling picture on the screen after we sent it and felt a pang of sadness for Kenneth. I couldn't imagine loving someone and not having them reciprocate. I glanced at Nico as he worked on his computer and wondered how I’d feel if that happened between us. Me pining away for a man I knew didn’t want me that way. Ugh, it sounded depressing as hell.
When we were in bed that night, I had another semi-anxiety attack. My wolf was acting up again. Sweat broke out on my body, and I had a tremor in my hands. My breathing elevated, and my pulse started to ratchet higher with each passing moment. The wolf was trying to assert herself again. Nico held me close and whispered that things would be all right. It wasn’t a bad attack, but I was still consumed with guilt and shame once I’d regained my composure. Nico must have noticed.
“Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
I shook my head. “I feel like I’m putting you through so much more than I need to. Like I’m this heavy burden you have to bear.”
He stroked a hand through my hair. “That’s what I’m here for.”
“Thank you for being so patient with me. I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t so understanding all the time.”
“Well, I’d be a pretty shitty mate if I couldn’t help you through this—a shitty mate and an even shittier alpha. I protect my pack. That means everyone in it. My mate most of all.” He pulled me closer. “You can rest easy. I’ve always got your back.”
For once, I did rest easy, falling asleep in seconds. The entire night went by in blissful, dreamless sleep.
47
NICO
Iwoke before dawn, still running through the possibilities of Maddy’s birth mother being alive. Even when I’d been asleep, it felt like all I did was dream of the information she might be able to give us—of the closure Maddy might be able to get by meeting her. My head was spinning so much that I felt like I hadn’t gotten any sleep at all.
Maddy was still sleeping, her breathing deep and calm. If nothing else, I was happy she’d gotten a good night’s sleep. A glance at the bedside clock showed that it was a little before six-thirty in the morning. I decided to head downstairs and make some coffee. I’d need massive amounts of caffeine to get through the day.
I turned on the kitchen light just as my phone rang. I looked down at the pocket of my pajama pants. The phone rang two more times before I pulled it out, bewildered by the timing of the call. The screen showed me that it was Luis.
“Hello?”
“Saw the light come on. Let me in,” Luis said.
My head still had one foot in dreamland, and I wasn’t completely sure what he’d said. “You’re outside?” I asked dumbly.
“Yeah, bro. I’m at the door. I waited until I saw the light come on before I called. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“What if I’d slept in? How long have you been waiting out there?”
“Dude, you told me what’s been going on with Maddy. Honestly, I thought when I got here, you guys would already be awake. Can I come in or what?”
“Christ. Hang on.”
Realizing the day would be even more exhausting than I’d initially thought, I went ahead and started the pot of coffee brewing before going to the door to unlock it and let him in. Luis looked bright-eyed for so early, and it made me wonder exactly how long he’d been up. He stepped in and glanced around the living room, kitchen, and dining room. “Is Maddy still asleep?”
Yawning, I nodded. “Yeah. First night in over a week that she slept through the night.”
“Okay. I wanted to stop by before I head to Tampa. Straight talk. Do you really think this Gabriella chick is alive?”
Knowing how Luis was, I wasn’t surprised by the question. If he was going to put in the leg work on something, he’d want to be exactly sure of what he was looking for. Did he need to focus his search on an actual person or a gravesite?
“I’m not a hundred percent sure, no. All I can say is I have a feeling about it. Everything is so strange. Kenneth said she died not long after having Maddy. Cancer. The thing is, in all our searching yesterday, we never found any type of death announcement or obituary. Could she have died while in hiding? Maybe, but that seems weird. The whole thing feels like a cover-up.”
Luis nodded. “Right, it is a little too perfect. Not that death is perfect, but it usually isn’t tied up nice and neat with a little bow like this seems to be. Disappear, have a forbidden baby, die quickly afterward? Life doesn’tusuallywork like that. Not that it couldn’t happen, but it seems a little convenient.”
I nodded, glancing at the stairs to make sure Maddy wasn’t in sight. “Right. If I had to guess, Kenneth was still protecting this woman all these years later.”
