78. NATE

“He’s the reason we found our mate,” I told him.

Father’s eyes narrowed.

“Maurice found her when she came through the portal. He took her in and helped her heal.” I paused. “Maurice made arrangements for her to be escorted to us, but somewhere along the line something went wrong, and she was sent somewhere else instead. Luckily Lucas found her.”

I didn’t want to give him all the details.

Father was silent for a while. “You marked her and she carries your mark, and she smells like you too.”

“I’m trying to figure out where you’re going with this conversation,” I muttered.

A sigh fell from his lips. “I’m just making an observation.”

I frowned. “Tell me about mother.”

“She approached Sutton. I didn’t know about her plans until recently otherwise I would have warned you. I don’t even know exactly what her plans are with him.”

“How did you find out about their plans involving the kidnapping of our mate?”

“There are a lot of loyal people and some from Sutton’s kingdom who are getting tired of how he’s handling things. He has gotten a lot of people killed.”

“So someone from his kingdom tipped you off.”

He nodded.

In the last month there had been a lot of families from his kingdom that came to us for shelter. Their King was busy losing his mind due to the loss of his mate. I should have let Lucas handle it the way he wanted when we first learned of the trouble.

I stopped him because I didn’t want to start trouble and now, we were stuck because our mother wanted to take over our kingdom.

Angel stirred.

“I’ll give you some privacy.” He stood and disappeared out of sight.

I turned watching as Angel slowly woke.

She turned onto her back and stretched. A low groan came from her as she slowly sat up. She instantly wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and then slowly turned. Her eyes widened when they locked on me.

I smiled when she gasped and threw herself at me.

“You’re okay,” she breathed against my neck. “Are Lucas and Mason, okay?”

My arms around her waist tightened. “They’re fine. Lucas got injured but he’s healing.”

Angel jerked back, her eyes darting over my face.

“Is your dad in trouble?” she asked softly. “He only took me to protect me.”

“I know,” I said softly. “He told me.”

She relaxed. “What are you going to do now?”

Reaching up, I cupped her cheek and leaned forward to capture her lips in a slow kiss. Her body arched against mine, hands slipping into my hair and tugging slightly.

My body reacted.

Letting out a groan, I broke the kiss and buried my face against the crook of her neck. I sucked in deep breaths and fought the snarl that rose. Father’s scent lingered.

“Mother escaped,” I told her softly. “We think she’s with Sutton. His men were ordered to grab you and then help her out of the cell. We don’t know much but we know that they are working together.”

“Why would he want me?”

Pulling away, I hesitated as I studied her. “Sutton recently lost his mate,” I told her. “He’s a little unstable.”

“He must be in pain,” she whispered.

I nodded. “We’ve had a few of his people seek shelter and we welcomed them. That could also be another reason why he has something against us.”

“Your mother said that the other kingdoms are going to start a war because of the portals.”

“We had two kingdoms attack, three if you count Sutton, but his men only went after you.” I listened but didn’t hear Father anywhere close. “One of the kingdoms is from the west. They consist mostly of vampires. Their leader was killed recently and someone else took over. Lucas offered them his protection.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t solve all our other problems.”

My eyes dropped to her mouth when she bit her lip.

“What are you thinking?” I asked her.

Angel didn’t immediately answer me. I watched the emotions flash through her eyes.

“When you lose someone, you love…the pain and dealing with it. It leaves you open and easily manipulated.” She sucked in a breath and hesitated a moment. “I know what it feels like. Brian told me about mates and if Sutton lost his true mate, the pain he’s going through will make him an easy target. It almost seems like he has no will to live. He wouldn’t care what happens to him anymore.”

I thought over her words. It made sense.

If we ever lost Angel, I would want to die as well. There wouldn’t be a use or need to live without Angel by our side.

“I don’t know if his mate was his true mate.” I gripped her hips. “But what you’re saying makes sense. I need to get back to Lucas and talk to him before he does something stupid. He’s letting his emotions rule his decisions at the moment.”

“I don’t suppose you’re going to take me with you?” she asked softly.

I swallowed, words dying down when I saw the look in her eyes.

“It’s okay,” Angel said softly. “Just don’t die, okay? I need all of you to come get me when it’s safe.”

“Promise.”

I slipped my hand into her hair and tugged her lips to mine.

“You need to promise me something,” she whispered against my lips after breaking the kiss. “I know it probably doesn’t work like this here, but will you try to find a solution before you kill?”

Pressing a kiss to the corner of her lips, I pulled away to stare at her. “I’ll try my best, honeybee.”

“Thank you.”

Giving her one more kiss, I lifted her to her feet and kept hold of her hips until she was steady. I could hear Father approaching, he was making a show to be sure that I heard him.

“Stay here,” I ordered. “Don’t go anywhere near the entrance of the den. I’ll come get you when it’s safe.”

“Be careful.”

“Always.”

I hesitated. The urge to stay with her was strong, but I knew that I needed to get back to my brothers. I need to tell them what I learned and about what our mate wanted us to do.

Maybe we didn’t have to fight Sutton at all. Maybe Angel was right, and Mother had managed to brainwash Sutton because he was grieving. I tried to remember his mate but failed.

I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to visit them all that much. Lucas was usually the one who attended business that involved dealing with other royals.

Father stepped into to cave and hesitated near the entrance.

“I’ll come get you when I know it’s safe,” I told him.

He nodded. “Son…” His eyes fluttered closed. “Dorothy…you need to take her out if you find her or make sure she gets locked up with no contact with the outside world.”

“You’re telling me that I need to kill…” I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

“She won’t stop,” Father said softly, finally opening his eyes to look at me. “If you don’t stop her, she will keep going after your mate and if she can’t take her out, she will go after you and your brothers. Maybe even your children if you have any.”

It pained him to say it, I could see it in his eyes, but his words were true.

Mother or not, she was a threat to our mate and our future children.

“What about you?”

He didn’t answer me immediately. “I’ll be okay.”

Somehow, I had a feeling that he didn’t actually mean it.

I knew that they weren’t true mates, but I was also certain that he loved her a lot more than she loved him. If she was killed or locked up, it might destroy him.