I hung my head, not wanting to admit it. Or that I owed her an apology. “I’m sorry,” I managed, forcing down the anger threatening to overwhelm me.
She waved me off. “It’s fine. You’ve every right to be pissed off.”
Syl held up his phone. “I’ve given Rys an update. He wants to know what we’re doing now?”
Sasha raised an eyebrow. “This is your call, Elliot. You have seniority here.”
He shook his head, a flash of sadness in eyes as he looked at me. “Do I, though? Jake isn’t my pack anymore.”
“No, but his dad is.”
Elliot glanced at the mess in the living room, then back to me. “Judging by the force they used to take your dad, Xen has either convinced them John’s committed a crime against the pack, or they’re in this with him. I’m betting on the former, and I don’t think it’s safe for us to turn up at the pack house alone. Not until we have a better idea of what we can expect to find there. We have time,” he added at whatever expression I was wearing. “There’s no blood here, Jake. They might’ve been rough with him, but I don’t believe they threatened his life.”
Not yet anyway.
Would that change when he found out about me and Max?
I hung my head, hating that I had no idea where they’d taken him, if he was okay or not. And also that everything they said made sense. “Fine.” I sighed. “Let’s go back and come up with a plan.”
I felt helpless as I climbed back into the car. I tried my dad’s phone again, just in case, but it went straight to voicemail this time.
I was a paranormal police officer, for fuck’s sake. I should be able to do more than sit in the passenger seat of my car and drive away from a fucking crime scene. I played with my phone, turning it over and over until I thoughtfuck it. And did what Max and I had wanted to do from the very start.
Scrolling for the number I wanted, I hit Call and waited for it to connect.
DCI Thornton answered on the first ring. “You better have a good reason for calling me on a Saturday evening, Jake.”
“I do.” I took a deep breath, and as Elliot drove us back to Clumber Park, I told her everything.
Rys was waitingfor us outside when we got back. The others headed into the pack house, but I hesitated. “How is he?” I asked, itching to go see Max.
“The same.” He caught my arm as I went to walk past him. “I know you want to go and see him, but there’s things we need to discuss first.”
I sighed, and he dropped his hand. “Yeah, I know. Come on, then.”
“By the way, Max has had a few visitors while you were gone,” Rys said, as he led me into the kitchen.
I stopped dead in the doorway. “Er…” I stared at them all, lost for words.
Dathal, Nick, Axel, and Talis now joined Gabriel, Rys, Sasha, Syl, and Elliot.
Rys huffed. “Gabriel called them when you left. Don’t tell me you’re surprised? This is Max we’re talking about.”
Despite everything, I smiled.Of coursethey fucking came. Max was there for everyone else when they needed him. I should’ve known they’d turn up for him, too.
Axel walked up to me and gripped my shoulder. “We’ll leave you to it, now. Rys is already on edge with us all here. But Nick and Dathal are staying with me and Talis tonight, so if you need us just call.”
“Thank you.” I glanced at the others. “All of you.”
Axel smiled. “We’ll all be back in the morning to see how he is. How youbothare.”
Dathal joined us. “And when you want to go kill Xen, we’ll be there for that, too.”
“We can’t kill, Xen.” Rys grumbled. “As much as I want to,” he added at Dathal’s scowl.
“He has my dad.” I’d wanted to kill Xen for what he’d done to Max, but I needed to find my dad more.
“And we’ll get him back,” Rys said.
