“Leave him…the boss got an answer back about him,” the man said, pointing to Frank.
“Okay…I’ll be right there.”
Frank took another sniff before the door slammed shut and discovered it was a different wolf shifter who had interrupted his captor.
“When I get back, you better be standing if you know what’s good for you,” his captor muttered, giving Frank another kick before leaving the room.
When he was finally alone, Frank rolled onto his back, moaning at the pain the simple movement caused. Opening his eyes, he looked around the room, seeing nothing except a bare lightbulb shining overhead, casting shadows on the solid concrete walls of his prison. With no window, a bolted steel door, and his neck encircled with an iron collar chained to the wall, Frank gave up any ideas of escaping by himself. Before descending into blackness once again, his last thought was that he would need the help of his son.
Chapter 28
“Oh, you poor baby,” Sofia murmured, after Cain finished telling her his story. “But you don’t have to fret anymore because you’re in the Blackwood Pack now.”
“At least until I’m not needed any more,” Cain muttered. “Then I’m on my own again.”
Shaking her head, Sofia said, “I don’t think Jackson looks at it that way because he’s too kind hearted. If you want to stay on, then I’m sure he will agree.”
“Maybe,” Cain said doubtfully. Luck had always been in short supply in his life and he had used up most of it getting out of the hands of the High Council. But he had no illusions about his luck continuing after he gave Jackson the information about the humans who recruited him for Arald’s auction.
Looking at Cain, Sofia saw the same look she’d seen so many times on her son’s face and she wanted to cheer Cain up and give him hope. Seizing on the little information Steel had given her, she glanced around the room until her eyes landed on the closed laptop, giving her an idea. “When I was rescued, Zane gave me a credit card and told me to buy whatever I wanted. I thought he meant I was supposed to go shopping, you know, in a real store and I was scared silly of walking into one. So much had changed since I was young. But then Zane showed me how to use the computer to shop and…well, isn’t it amazing what you can buy over the internet?”
“You know how to use a computer?” asked Cain, a small bit of hope sneaking into his voice.
Chuckling Sofia replied, “I’m not an expert or anything like that, but I do know how to shop online. It’s actuallyone of my secret passions because I love buying gifts for my son and Zane. Have you done any shopping? Steel told me he set up accounts for you. Did you find anything you like?”
Shrugging, Cain looked down and mumbled, “Idon’tknowhowtodoit.”
It took a moment for Sofia to decipher what he said. Then, tapping his arm to get his attention, she waited until Cain glanced up at her before asking, softly, “Would you like me to show you?”
“Yes ma’am,” Cain replied, his voice barely more than a whisper. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was once again. Following Sofia to the desk where the bane of his existence waited for him like a sleeping lion, he held his breath as she lifted the lid of the laptop.
“Now let’s see what the Alpha Mate has done,” Sofia murmured to herself. When she had sorted the different clothing companies into separate windows, she glanced up at Cain and asked, “Is there a brand you like?”
“No…whatever is the cheapest.”
“Okay…what about colors…what do you like?”
“Doesn’t matter…I buy what’s on sale.”
“Hmm…what about style? Do you like shirts with collars or without?”
“T-shirts are good.”
It only took a few answers for Sofia to realize Cain’s problem. Her questions and the choices online were overwhelming him since, during his time in foster homes, he probably got hand-me-downs and, once he was on his own, had bought only the cheapest clothes with the little money he earned. Pushing back the deskchair, she turned to Cain and said, “You know what? I have some clothes I think will fit you. Want to see them?”
Cain’s eyes grew big at the thought of wearing women’s clothing. Shaking his head, he said, “Uhm…thank you ma’am but I would rather wear men’s clothes.”
“Oh my, no, dear boy,” Sofia laughed, “I have some men’s clothes I bought and then realized they were the wrong size for my son. I was going to return them but if they fit you, it will save me the trouble of boxing them up to send back.”
“Oh…OH! Okay…that’s good, then.”
“Come on,” Sofia said, standing up and heading for the door. “You’d be doing me a big favor by taking the clothes off my hands.”
Cain didn’t understand everything Sofia had said, but he did understand she was giving him some clothes and saving him from owing a debt to the Alpha Mate—a debt he had no way to pay at the moment. Following her out of his bedroom, he smiled at the thought that luck had not deserted him…yet.
~/~/~/~/~
After Heath finished telling Tristan what he knew about Rudy, his mate nodded and then said, “I want you to round up the enforcers and bring them to me…also see if there’s a map of the Silver Point Pack grounds.”
