“Only by two minutes,” Dylon said, chuckling. “No, I think it’s because she’s an Alpha and thinks it’s unfair she should go to bed at the same time as someone who’s not an Alpha.”
Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure Jake isn’t an Alpha?”
Shrugging, Dylon said, “Cody thinks he’s not, but I’m not so sure. My wolf can feel Jake’s Alpha spirit, but he won’t use it against his sister…or anyone else in the puppy pack.”
“Hmm…interesting,” Jackson mused, thinking about his nephew for a moment before asking, “Have you spoken to Oracle about it? Or Frank?”
“Not yet,” Dylon said. “Cody wants me to spend time with Jake out in the woods in our wolf forms while Jessica does her magic lessons. Hopefully, my wolf will find out what’s causing Jake’s wolf to act like a beta.”
“Or an Omega,” Jackson murmured.
“Yeah, that too,” Dylon said. “Personally, I’m not that concerned because Jake has plenty of time to grow into his Alpha role, but Cody worries about our son being taken advantage of when he’s older.”
“Jake is still young,” Jackson said, “and as my mother always said…kids advance at their own pace. However, I think Cody has a good idea about you spending time with Jake, especially since your wolf can sense your son’s Alpha spirit, but Cody’s can’t. If that doesn’t help, then the next step, I think, is sitting down with Oracle and seeing if she can shed any light on it.”
“We will,” Dylon replied.
“Good…let me know what happens,” Jackson said, smiling.
“Absolutely,” Dylon said. “And if you have no more questions about my plan…”
Waving his hand in dismissal, Jackson said, “Nope…it’s good. Now go see your little Alpha princess.” He watched Dylon leave his study before swiveling his chair around to his favorite position when he needed to think. Leaning back and staring out at the fading light, his mind was a whirlwind of activity after hearing the new information about Jake. An Alpha wolf could always sense another Alpha wolf, but that wasn’t the case with Cody. And thinking back, Jackson admitted to himself that his wolf hadn’t sensed an Alpha spirit in Jake either. Of course, lately he’d been so busy that, other than at mealtimes, he hadn’t seen Jake very often. But that wasn’t an excuse for him failing to notice the lack of Alpha traits in his nephew. Maybe the next time he and Danny went for a run, Jake should come with them. It would give Jackson’s wolf time with his nephew’s wolf and hopefully he would either see his Alpha spirit or find out why Jake’s wolf was keeping his Alpha spirit hidden.
~/~/~/~/~
After spending the morning and early afternoon struggling with how to use his computer, Cain needed a break. Getting up from the table, he wandered around the sitting room, finally decidingto take a nap. Sofia had promised to spend the evening with him, so he wanted to be rested before she showed up with his dinner. Heading over to the sofa, he removed his shoes and plopped down on it, sighing at how comfortable it was. Tucking one of the puffy throw pillows under his head, he closed his eyes, remembering his prison time. There, he was lucky even to get a pillow, much less a blanket. And the mattress, if it could even be called that, had been two inches thick and usually lumpy. Those were bad times.
Cain gave himself a mental shake to get rid of those terrible memories and forced his mind to count his blessings in the present. It was something Sarge had taught him one day when they were standing around a steel drum, trying to find a little heat from the dying fire inside. He’d never been so cold in his life and was sure he wouldn’t make it to morning. When he’d voiced his thoughts, Sarge had snorted and told him there were too many good things Cain had in life for that to happen and made him spend the rest of the night reciting them. When the morning came, Cain had realized Sarge was right, because he had survived.
That lesson stood him in good stead when things got bad in prison. It was one of many lessons he’d learned from Sarge that he used to get him through his time behind bars. Those, along with the ones he’d learned growing up in foster care, had kept him alive even in the most dangerous prisons—until he ended up in the paranormal one. There, none of those lessons helped him—but a beautiful woman did. He still found it hard to believe, but life was growing easier—especially because of his new friends, Sofia and David.
Finding new friends after Sarge died was something he never wanted to do since the pain over his buddy’s loss was almost toomuch to bear. He built a wall around his heart, vowing never to let anyone in again, but it was harder than he thought it would be since loneliness replaced the warmth of friendship. As the years went by, Cain slowly learned to live with it because, as he’d learned the hard way, there was no such thing as a friend among prisoners.
But now, it was different. That beautiful woman somehow cracked open his heart when she treated him like he mattered. Warmth flowed into his heart as sleep found him, but just before sinking into oblivion, he whispered to himself, “Sarge, I have friends…just like you promised I would.”
Chapter 27
It had been another long day of work for Wesley, but it had been even harder for his wife, Heather, as it had been every day since they woke up and found themselves chained to a wall. From that moment on, their lives were a living hell, especially for his wife who bore the brunt of the Alpha’s anger, though Wes still couldn’t figure out why the Alpha had singled her out as the target of his fury throughout their years of confinement. She didn’t deserve it, but he’d learned early on that his objections only resulted in harsher punishments for her. Glancing surreptitiously at his wife, he frowned at her exhaustion from having to wash piles of dishes from the Alpha’s dinner party. He wanted to help her, but one of the pack’s enforcers, who watched over them, had taught him the hard way that it was forbidden.
Wes looked around the kitchen, checking to make sure it was spotless. Satisfied, he walked over to a cupboard next to the pantry and pulled out a large silver tray. The only thing left besides the dishes was for him to serve after-dinner drinks to his Alpha and guests before he and Heather were finished for the day.
Carefully and slowly, he took each glass from the cupboard and set them down on the huge worktable in the middle of the room. Next, he went to a floor-to-ceiling cabinet where the linens were stored and grabbed a towel. He took his time so he could still be in the kitchen when his wife finished.
Heading back to the table, Wes wiped each glass with the towel before holding it up to the light to make sure it was spotless before adding it to the tray. After he finished, he walked over to the locked liquor cabinet and stopped two feet from it. Hanginghis head in submission, he said to the enforcer, “Please, sir…The Alpha is waiting.”
The enforcer snorted at Wes’s tone, walked over, roughly pushed him aside, and unlocked the cabinet. “Hurry up…if the Alpha complains about the delay, I’ll take it out on your hide.”
Wes waited until the enforcer moved away before selecting three different bottles of liquor, which he then brought over and placed next to the glasses. Finally, he added a small bucket of ice to the tray, and it was ready to be carried into the parlor for the Alpha and his guests. Feeling the enforcer’s eyes on him, he whipped off his apron, hoisted the tray and headed for the door. If he were lucky, the Alpha would order him to make the drinks, which would buy his wife more time to get finished with her last chore of the night. It was times like these Wes knew his wife actually looked forward to returning to their cell where she could finally get off her feet and rest.
He left the kitchen and headed to the parlor with another enforcer following close behind him in case he should try to escape. The Alpha did not need to worry about that; Wes would never leave his wife behind. They’d either escape together or end up dying here, the latter being more likely as the years passed. His wife was slowly giving up, no matter how much he assured her that help would eventually arrive. Of course, he couldn’t blame her since all their friends had shunned them after the Alpha had declared them guilty of selling one of the pack’s Omegas.
It was still hard to accept that their friends could believe they’d commit such a horrible crime. Their darling, Theo, had been the light of their lives. Unfortunately, the evidence the Alpha cooked up appeared to be ironclad, and they had no way to proveotherwise. Pushing aside those dark memories, Wes approached the closed door of the parlor, knocking once.
As he expected, the Alpha did not respond, forcing Wes to continue to hold the heavy tray with one hand. Seconds grew into minutes, and his arm screamed in pain at the unnatural position it was forced to remain in. Biting his lip, he forced his mind to ignore the pain and was about to call on his bear to add his strength when the Alpha finally gave him permission to enter.
Keeping his eyes down, he entered the room, closing the door slowly behind him. Walking over to the console table, he gratefully lowered the tray onto it, and then he waited for instructions. His Alpha loved to impress other Alphas, and, in this case, it was the power he had over Wes.
~/~/~/~/~