After his meeting with the new Alpha of the Silver Point Pack, Jackson leaned back in his chair, his mind on the new information he’d learned about Reeve’s friendship with Maximus. The fact that they knew each other did help ease his mind a bit, but he needed to know more and, since Reeve wasn’t being forthcoming about it, the only other source he could turn to was Maximus.
Rolling back his chair, Jackson rose, but before he took a step, his father-in-law walked in.
“Jackson, do you have a minute to talk?” asked Maximus.
“For you, always,” Jackson replied, sitting back down. “What’s on your mind?”
“Reeve.”
“What about him?”
“I wouldn’t normally have this conversation without his permission, but knowing Reeve as I do, he won’t give you the answers you need.”
“Why not?” asked Jackson. “After all, he’s asking me to trust him…why won’t he do the same for me?”
“I don’t know, exactly, but I’m sure it has to do with his childhood,” Maximus said, softly, pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts. “Mystia and I spent yearstracking down myths and legends that I’d spent a good portion of my childhood reading about after I went to live with her. She saw how fascinated I was about them, so in an effort to help me get over the death of my father, we would pick one story at a time to pursue. That’s how I knew who David was, if you remember.”
“I do…go on.”
“One day, I selected one about the mystical white buffalo. I could tell Mystia wasn’t eager to get into that one, but I persisted. Relenting, she transported us to the spot where he was supposed to be, but there was nothing but bare ground for as far as the eye could see. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought we were in the underworld.”
“But you weren’t,” Jackson murmured.
“Right…but Mystia was clearly upset. She kept muttering about evil taking over. Frankly, I couldn’t make heads or tails out of her ramblings, so I started to walk, heading for a bluff I could see in the distance. Even to this day, I can hear the wind as it howled around me, filling my nose with dust and forcing me to choke as I struggled to breathe through my mouth. Mystia called me to come back, but some unseen force was pulling me to the bluff, and nothing could stop me.
“When I got closer, I could hear a continuous low moan. It was an unearthly sound…one I’ll never forget…but I also knew whoever was making it needed my help. When I got to the edge of the bluff, I looked down but saw nothing other than more barren ground. Refusing to give up, I searched for a way down. When I finally found it, I realized the only way to get down there was to skid down the slope on my butt, which I did, coming to an abrupt stop at the bottom.”
“That musta hurt.”
“A little, but as I was dusting myself off, I realized the moan I’d heard from the top was now louder. Following the sound, I climbed over boulders, and fought my way through thick, thorny brush until I finally saw Reeve…or what was left of him.”
Chapter 12
It was still as clear in Maximus’ mind as it was the day he saw it—a boy with an iron collar around his neck, his wrists tied to two posts with pieces of wet, shrinking buckskin, and his body covered with oozing cuts made by whip lashes. Maximus shouted for Mystia as he ran to cut the boy down. Catching him in his arms to prevent him from collapsing, he gently laid him down in the shade of a lone, scrubby bush.
Swallowing the bile that the image always provoked, it took a moment before Maximus could continue. Despite the pain those memories gave him, it was important that Jackson knew the whole story.
“Who would do that to him?” Jackson asked, his anger rising.
“His father…or to be precise, the man Reeve grew up thinking was his father,” Maximus explained. “Reeve was the lone survivor of an attack by a marauding band of humans. When the first shots were fired, Reeve’s mother grabbed him and ran, trying to make it to safety, but one of the humans spotted her and gave chase. Just as she reached the edge of the thick forest surrounding their campsite, a bullet hit her and, as she fell, she pulled Reeve under her to hide him.”
“I’m guessing she didn’t survive,” Jackson murmured.
“No, but she did save him. The humans were too busy looting. They took what they could carry and left the dead for the vultures. Reeve kept calling for his mother and when she didn’t answer, he crawled out from under her and sat next to her body. In the morning, a passing hunter discovered him and took him into town where a young married couple said they’d look after him.”
“Were they shifters?” asked Jackson.
“No, human,” Maximus replied. “They were on their way to land the husband had put a homestead claim on, so it was just by chance, they’d stopped there to load up on supplies. When the wife heard about the orphaned boy, she begged the sheriff to let her raise him and he was only too happy to hand him over to get rid of what he viewed as a problem. At first, the husband was angry because he viewed the boy as another mouth to feed, but after seeing how happy Reeve made his wife, he relented and reluctantly agreed to keep him.
“They all left town the next day and headed out to their farm. For the next few years, everything went right for the family of three; each harvest was bigger than the one before, the farmer was able to acquire more land, and his wife was happier than she’d ever thought possible as Reeve thrived under her love and care.”
“But I’ll bet it didn’t last, did it?”
Shaking his head, Maximus said, “No…during one blinding winter blizzard, the wife woke up and thought she heard their cows mooing. Alarmed she got up and looked out the window but saw nothing other than heavy snow falling. Knowing her husband was exhausted from work that day, she decided not to wake him and tend to it herself. After getting dressed, she kissed her son and hurried out to the barn.”
Maximus fell silent, needing a moment before he could continue. Recounting Reeve’s story had taken more of a toll on him than he’d thought it would, and the horror of it had nearly brought him to tears. When he’d seen Reeve earlier, he was amazed at how happy he looked, no doubt the result of finding his Fated Mate. But when he found out it was Kahn, his gut twisted into knots, knowing the uphill battle his friend might face.
Jackson waited for his father-in-law to continue, but when the silence stretched on, his eyes roamed over Maximus’ face, noting how old he suddenly appeared to be. It was a far cry from the vibrant man he’d first met.
