“Who are you? What do you want?” asked the judge, his eyes darting around the room but unable to see who was speaking.
“Who I am is not important, but what I want from you is. When Eideard MacDùghlas’ bogus claims are presented this afternoon, you will reject them, is that understood? Or else this recording will instantly be in the hands of the High Council.” Cody watched as the judge frowned, his fingers tapping his arm of his chair as he tried to figure out how to avoid losing his bribe money.
“What guarantee do I have you won’t do that, anyway?” the judge asked.
“You have my word,” answered Cody.
“Huh, I should trust the word of someone who won’t show themselves to me…what are you afraid of?”
“Good try, judge, but I think the question you should be asking yourself is…are you willing to ruin your cushy lifestyle by going to jail? Because if you are, go ahead and honor MacDùghlas’ fake claims. Your order will be overturned and you’ll be sitting in prison, unable to enjoy the money you were paid to cheat Fionn MacDùghlas out of his inheritance.”
Contemplating his choices, the judge scowled, disliking them all. Finally, picking the one that promised to get him out of this mess unscathed except for returning MacDùghlas’ bribe, he growled, “Fine.”
“Nice doing business with you, judge,” Cody said, before leaving.
~/~/~/~/~
Dakota looked at his mother, before glancing at Kieran who was smiling encouragingly at him. “Are you ready?”
“I am…what about you?” Kieran asked.
“I think so, but I don’t understand something. You want Slate to hold my hand and Logan’s…why both?” asked Dakota.
“Don’t forget Logan will also be holding onto me which will link you and me. That way my spirit will be able to guide and help me to the right issues,” Kieran explained.
“What issues are you referring to?” asked Dakota.
“Maybe ‘issues’ isn’t the right word,” Kieran said. “What I’ve been doing is a blanket removal of any grief or sorrow I find, but that doesn’t mean I’m removing the part connected to what happened and that’s because I can’t access her mind, so I have no idea how much I’ve removed pertaining to the massacre, including the loss of her pups. Once you breach her mind block, my spirit will be able to point me to the part that’s contributing to her decision to give up, because we’re linked. That’s why I wanted everyone to hold hands.”
“Your spirit will be in me?” asked Dakota.
“Not really, more like he is peeking through a window,” Kieran explained.
“Will I feel or sense him?”
“Nope, onlymacushlaor I can do that,” Kieran replied.
“Okay,” Dakota said. “I’m ready when you are.”
Ian spoke up. “Mac, Colton, ready?” After hearing both answer affirmatively, Ian said, “Go ahead, Dakota…you have fifteen minutes.”
Squeezing Slate’s hand, Dakota closed his eyes and activated his Shadow Voice. Searching through the thoughts filling the room, he zeroed in on his mother’s. “I hear her but her thoughts are very faint.”
“That’s because they’re behind the mind block,” Kieran told him.
Seizing a very faint one, Dakota pulled on it, slowly since it was very weak, finally arriving at the end where it suddenly became very strong. Realizing what that meant, he said softly, “I’m past the mind block. Now what?”
“Start talking to your mother and, remember, don’t stop no matter what she does,” Kieran replied. Then, he concentrated on his spirit, listening to it as he was directed to the part of Hope that contained the blackness associated with the massacre. His hands on Hope’s body growing warm, Kieran closed his eyes, increasing the heat. Then he began to remove the guilt and sorrow from her body while sending back love to fill the empty spaces. While the exchange was taking place, he thought how wonderful it was to be able to help Logan’s mom.
Following Kieran’s advice, Dakota began speaking to his mother, telling her about his mate and how much he loved Slate, about their trip to Scotland, the food he enjoyed, and the culinary workshops he and Slate attended. At first, his mother was silent. Then she told him to stop; she didn’t want to hear any more. But Dakota persisted, talking about his brothers, their mates, his chef-in-training, Theo, who Cody rescued along with Norm. Getting no response, Dakota hesitated, unsure if his mother could still hear him. Then he heard Slate in his mind, urging him to continue—despite his mother’s silence.
He needed to convince his mother he was real, so Dakota began describing how he felt when he learned his family had been killed. Tears ran down his cheeks as he confessed he couldn’t deal with the overwhelming grief of losing her. He told her how Logan saved him one day by holding him tight and letting him finally give voice tothe awful loneliness he’d felt. And what happened when Jackson told him she was alive…how he’d used his gift to read her thoughts.
On he went, reassuring his mother she was alone no more…that she was needed and loved…and how much it would mean to her grandpups to have their grandma in their lives and how much he needed her to help him with his own pup. Feeling his mate’s hand squeeze his, Dakota opened his eyes, looking at his mate as Slate tilted his head towards Hope. Glancing at his mother, Dakota saw tears begin to roll slowly down her face.
Babe, keep going.
My mom’s crying.
