Authors: Donna Flynn
“He was awake and wanted to get to Mercy
,
but I sedated him heavily
until we know what is happen
ing and he has a chance to heal,” h
e answered. “If you do not mind I will stay until I can report something to my son.”
“Yes of course,
” Lucan said ris
ing form the floor offering his hand to Nina and pulling her aga
inst his side
.
Gregory lifted an eyebrow
,
but said nothing about their closeness before moving to a chair beside the bed and taking Mercy’s hand in his own. “Fight little one
, your whole life waits for you,” h
e
said
his eyes suspiciously moist.
A knock at the door had Nina moving swiftly to answer
it ushering in a
local
doctor
who knew what they were
and worked with her in the past.
Nina and the doctor did another thorough examination and decided the best course of action was to cast her arm and wrap her ribs so the
bones
would heal
over
correctly if she survived
.
The
thought sobered Lucan
,
at once
and he reached in his pocket for his phone knowing he had to alert his brother about her condition
. As h
e prepared to dial
,
the door
burst open
and Cade
strode
in followed by a
dark haired
blue-eyed
beauty
that
looked on th
e scene with a sympathetic eye
.
“What happened?” Cade
asked walking to the side o
f the bed his face paling
as he looked down upon his
baby
sister’s
battered body
.
“Trevor happened,
”
Mather,
answered walking into the room
behind them
.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Cade asked the
venom in his voice
as he ripped off his leather jacket and prepare
d to attack his father
.
“Cade don’t,
” t
he dark haired woman said softly.
“It is alright Hailey
,
I deserve his scorn
,
but now is not the time
. W
e can argue l
ater after my daughter recovers,
”
Mather said completely understanding
and accepting
his son
’
s anger.
“She’s not your
s,
” Cade denied furiously
,
but Lucan placed a r
estraining hand on
his shoulder
.
“He is he
r father Cade. I
will explain it all after this mess is cleared up
,
but for now take my word he is no threat to her.”
Cade shifted out of his re
ach
,
but held his position
ready to pounce
.
“Explain
now
.”
“
It seems
your brother,
my son and heir
,
though
t Lucan might come back
and take his place as future
Alpha
. He decided to join forces with Blade
,
who offered him help keeping his position
in the pack
,
but he failed to recognize that he was being used by a gr
oup who wanted to
infiltrate our packs and take over
.” Gregory nodded having already heard what Mather had found out
,
but the rest of them stared at him waiting for an explanation. “A group of rogue werewolves
have
b
ande
d together
.
They think we are weak
for
hiding what we are from humans and they want it to change
,
no matter what they have to do to make it happen. N
o one who is sane would ever fol
low them
,
so t
he only way they could do suceed
was to kill every living heir to each relevant pack and place one o
f their own in the position
. It is common knowledge pack heirs are fierce
in battle so
they killed them
by shooting them
with poisoned silver bullets
. W
hen
the time was right they planne
d on killing the existing Pack
Alpha
s and
having their members
taking over
,
but Blade made a mistake when he went after our children
,
o
ne he did not live to figure out
.” He looked to Gregory. “It was not hard to g
et his pack members to talk
,
most
of them were
unhappy following him
,
but he used their families a threat to keep them in line
. W
e will have to discuss how
best to proceed and communicate this to other packs, I have the feeling Blade was only a small part of this
.”
“I have already sent some men to look into it
,
but I will meet with you later and
discuss that.” Gregory told him his first concern being his son and his mate
.
“I will go and make some coffee we could be in for a
long night,
” Nina said
brushing her fingers against Lucan’s
arm
as she passed him on the way to the d
oor. “Would you like to help?” s
he asked Hailey
who looked to Cade
for approval
.
“Go ahead
, I’ll
stay here and talk to my brother.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek and she smiled shyly before following Nina out of the door.
“I suppose everything is okay now
?” Lucan asked his brother.
“Trevor was forcing her
to bond
by threatening her
family.
”
“S
he is not his mate why would he do that?” Mather asked looking perplexed.
“That’s simple
,
somehow he found out she was Cade’s
B
ond
M
ate and he knew the quickest way to engage him in a fight would be to threaten his mate
and if nothing else he would have the one thing Cade always longed for
,” Lucan told him
. “Think about it he wanted to ensure neither of us would come ba
ck
and if he
kill
ed Cade it would force me to challenge him.”
“But you have
beaten
him before
,
he had to know you would again,
” Mather argued.
“A
h but he had an ace in the hole,” He explained
. “Blade would have made s
ure I did not survive. H
e probably would have made sure Trevor would not have either
,
to make it easier for him to step up and challenge
everyone else
,
then
once you were dealt with
he w
ould be
Alpha
.”
“I was so stupid
,
I should have paid more attention
,
but I spent too much time running the pack and not eno
ugh time monitoring my children,
” Mather said looking suddenly old and beaten. “You two a
nd Mercy are all I have left. S
he does not know I exist and you both hate me too much to ever forgive an old man’s foolishness.”
“You got that right,
” Cade answered
snidely
.
“Cade now is not the time,
”
Lucan,
said sternly.
“What,
he gets to walk in here
,
apologize
,
and you
just
forgive him?” He gr
owled his wolf rea
ring its ugly head
. “Well don’t expect me to follow you
r
lead
! H
e deserves what is happening
,
he brought this all upon himself
and if Mercy
doesn’t make it I’ll kill him
.”
“Cade!” Gregory shouted
. “We will all discuss this at a later date
,
but for now we are here for Mercy and like it or not he is her father and has earned the right to be here
with us
.”
“He is not her father,” Cade argued. “A father is one who cares for and nurtures their child Lucan is more h
er father than he could ever be,” h
e bit out angrily.
“Cade?” Hailey appeared at the doorway biting her lip nervously
glancing between the men in the room
.
“I’
m fine,” he said gently
if speaking to a child
,
holding out his hand to her. She ran effortlessly to his side hugging him close as he forced himself to calm. “It’s alright I was just upset.”
“I was wo
rried
,” s
he whispered tightening her arms around him.
“I know and as usual you rushed in where there could have been danger.”
“You
would never hurt me I know that,” s
he told him confidently
.
“Your right
,
I never would
,
but still use more caution.” He kissed the end of her nose and hugged her close.
“I wasn’t sure what you all put in your c
offee so I brought everything
up
,
” Nina said coming through the door with a large tray in her hands that Lucan rushed to assist her with
carrying
.
“Thank you,” h
e told
her
placing the tray on the nightstand then
placing his arm around her shoulders a
nd pulling her close
.
“It was no problem, it’s going to be a long night we could all use a little pick me up.” Everyone
looked to the bed where Mercy lay motionless and the room grew silent.
All assembled were aware that there was every chance it could be her last night amongst them.
Mercy
woke to an eerie silence
,
her
eyes blinking furiously in
the bright light of the afternoon sun that streamed through her windows.
Her head ached and her body felt as if ha
d been through a war.
Vividly
sh
e recalled the attack and the horror of seeing Alec bloodied and close to death.
A lump formed in her throat as she recalled the final moments before she passed out.
Had
her efforts to save him
been
in vain or had he somehow pulled th
rough
.
Her eyes searched the room frantically f
or anyone who might know, but t
he room was empty
and eerily quiet
except for the
soft hum of a machine
hooked to an
IV pole
that was pumping something into a tube connected to her arm
.
She realized
they must have drugged her to keep her down, but
she had to find out about Alec. S
he pushed the covers back prepared
to climb from the bed
,
but froze
the instant
she saw the jagged s
cars down her legs and felt her stomach muscle
s tugging tightly across her abdomen
. With
dread,
she reached for the hem of her t-shirt and slowly lifte
d it,
sickened
by
the multitude of
bruises and stitches on the
portion of her stomach
not wrapped tightly with bandages
.