Cal
“It’s my mom,” Nico said and thrust the phone at him.
Frowning, Cal took it and went to lean on the wall by the door.
“This is Ewan Calder.”
“Hi, Cal, right?”
“Yes.” Cal smiled, he liked her already.
“I’m Anna, Nico’s mom. You know all about me by now. Anyway, so here’s the thing, I’m the person who has been looking into the situation you and Derek have,” she said, in a calm, quiet voice which told him that she didn’t want to be overheard.
“Uh-huh.” The mate thing. He hadn’t known she was the inside person, but with how little people trusted those working for the Council, it made sense Anna was their contact for everything.
“I may have a solution, but I need to do some traveling to check it out.”
“Okay…?”
She lowered her voice even more. “They will not let you go as easily as you’d like. I’m sick and tired of their cloak and dagger shit and the horrible things they’ve made everyone do. Secrecy is needed, I admit that, but the way they’ve been doing it for centuries is….”
“Barbaric,” Cal said, because it was the only way to describe it.
“Yes. So I’m going to leave. I’ll have your release papers with me if I can get them. You know they’re particular about documents. I don’t know how long it will take me to get there, but I’m coming, Cal.”
“What’s the catch?”
“For me, it means leaving Italy for good. They’ll see this as betrayal, especially with who my father is. For you… well, they’ll try to call you back. Stall them somehow. I don’t care how, just don’t move from Finland before I get there.”
“Okay, I can do that.” He hoped. “Stay safe.”
“I need to talk to Derek, is he there?”
“Yeah, give me a moment.” He called out his mate’s name quietly, enough of the shifters to hear him and tell Derek he was wanted. “Anna wants to talk to you,” he explained as he gave Derek the phone.
“Hi, yeah,” Derek said and sat down on the ratty couch taking most of the porch space. Cal sat next to him so he could hear what she was saying, too.
Anna explained the situation to Derek and then got to what she needed from him especially.
“What was your original name?”
“Uh, Derek Martin Bower, why?”
“It took me a while to figure out another approach, but I’m tracking your family tree. Where did you get Lamont?” Anna asked.
“It’s my grandma’s maiden name. My mom said her family was French Canadian, but I don’t think I ever met anyone of her family. She said they were estranged.”
“Okay, because here’s a thing, it’s probably not French, let alone Canadian. It’s probably Scottish,” Anna sounded careful. “I’m not sure yet, but I’m going to check. Cal will fill you in. I got to go!” The call disconnected, and Derek sat there with Nico’s phone, looking confused.
“Why would Mom have lied?”
“I don’t know, but she’s right. Lamont is a Scottish surname,” Cal said, feeling a bit stunned. “I don’t get it? How did I never think of it before?”
“Because last names don’t matter much to shifters?” Derek raised a brow thoughtfully.
“That could be it.”
“But what does it matter if my grandma was Scottish? I’m still human? Not even half-human like Mikael, but fully human?”
