Chapter 664 Chapter 664
Calum cleared the trees and then froze. Standing with Journee and Deva ten feet from him was someone that he thought he’d never see again. She was older, but there was no mistaking that the woman in the worn, raggedy clothes was his mother. “Mom.” He took one step forward. He was barely able to make his feet move.
“Oh.” She dropped to her knees and put her hands over her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears. “Cal?”
He rushed over and fell to the ground in front of her. His hands were shaking as he touched her shoulders, afraid that he was hallucinating her. When he touched warm flesh, all the breath left his body at once.
She reached and touched his face, a look of wonder on her own. “It’s really you.” She whispered.
“It is.” He pulled her into his arms and wrapped them around her. Closing his eyes, he inhaled slowly and felt his own eyes water when the scent he never thought to know again filled him.
“Is it her, Cal?” Devin asked.
“It is her.” He heard Deva say. He couldn’t have spoken if he wanted to.
“Holy shit.” Someone said.
“I need to check you over, Mrs. Dante.”
Releasing her, he turned to see Shaelan standing a few feet away. She was nervous and close to tears at the same time. Standing up, he held out his hands and helped his mother to her feet. “Mom, this is my mate, Shaelan.”
Deva nodded to him and then went over and motioned for Journee to follow her. Later, he needed to make sure Journee had anything she could ever need. Without her, he’d still be left wondering about his mother.
“Your mate.” His mother whispered. “You’re lovely.” She held out her hands to Shaelan.
Shae went toward her, a smile on her face. She took her hands, and Cal could see that even though she was smiling at her, she was assessing her state of health at the same time.
“Are you feeling okay? Any issues?”
His mother grinned. “Just age catching up to me. I’m fine.” She hugged her briefly and then turned and looked up at him. “I need someone to write this down.” She kept a hold of Shae’s hand and started walking to the back of the building.
“Is she okay, Cal?” Gage asked. He hadn’t even known he was on the call.
He touched the comm and glanced at her as she pulled Shaelan along. “She seems to be.”
“Of course, she is. You had to get your magic gene from somewhere.” Devin said.
“We’re headed back to get the others now,” Konner said.
His mom—he couldn’t believe he was seeing her, stopped behind the building and pulled on the faded, rotting piece of plywood that covered the wall.
“I wrote them down. All those that were here.”
Calum turned and looked to see names scratched into the boards of the wall. There had to be at least two hundred of them.
“The crossed-out ones didn’t make it.” She said quietly. “Can you write them down? Maybe we can find their families.” She nodded. “I kept personal items from everyone,” she pointed, “they are buried there under that rock.”
Calum glanced where she pointed.
Shaelan pulled her phone out of her pocket and started taking pictures of it. His mom leaned over and looked at the phone.
“That’s a camera?”
Calum grinned. “And a phone, Mom.”
She gave him a shocked look and seeing that look on her face again made him want to pick her up and squeeze her. “Well, if you have a coffee brewer in your pocket, I would love a cup.”
Calum laughed. “When we get back to the yacht.”
“The ones that didn’t make it, they tossed off the island.” She turned and pointed to the East side. “Over there.” She gave him a look.
He glanced back at the wall, and a quick count told him that at least twenty bodies should have been burned. He hit his comm button. “Konner. When you return to the island, I need you to go check where they dumped bodies into the water over the years.”
“Shit.” Devin was back in serious mode.
“Terah and I will go down and look,” Konner replied.
Calum nodded. “Mom,” he paused and looked at her, still amazed to say that again, “she kept a list of all that came here over the years.”
“Good. We can compare with the ones we’ve found.” Devin answered.
“How’s your father?”
He looked down to see the worried look on her face. “He’s been in the mountains for years now.” His dad had been gone for years at a time, trying to find her. One day he returned and went into the mountains. It always took Calum days to locate him to check in on him.
She nodded, her eyes watering. “Well, someone better go get his cranky self back to the house.”
Calum smiled and touched the comm again. “Illias, can I put this call on hold? I need to call my uncle and tell him to go retrieve my father from the mountains.”
“Hit the pause symbol, and then you can make a separate call. Just hang up the other one, and this call will resume.” Illias sounded busy.
“Thanks.” He pulled out his phone and glanced at the time. There was another op taking place soon, and he wanted to ask if it was on track but didn’t want to in front of his mom. Putting the call on hold, he pulled the earbud out of his ear and dialed his Uncle Lloyd’s number. Hopefully, he was awake. Putting it on speaker, he held the phone out.
“Yeah?”
“Uncle Lloyd, it’s Calum.”
“You don’t ever sleep, do you?”
Calum smiled. “Not today. I need you to send someone to find Dad and bring him home.”
“That’s a hard trek with the snow we’ve gotten, Cal. What’s going on?”
Calum’s mom touched his wrist and leaned over the phone. “I would like to see my mate when I get home. That’s what’s going on, Lloyd.” She straightened and leaned forward again. “My house better not be a disaster.”
There was a long pause. “Tesha?”
“Yes.” She smiled at the phone.
“You found your mother.”
“I did.” Calum smiled at her. “It will be about a week before we get her there.” He wanted her checked out thoroughly before he took her home.
“Holy shit, Calum. I’m—yeah, I’ll go find Eli myself and clean your damn house with my own hands, Tesha.” He laughed.
“We have to go, Uncle Lloyd. We’re still not back to safety yet.”
She gave him a look that told him she’d forgotten too.
“Yeah. Of course. Keep in touch. Holy shit…” the call ended with his alpha still speaking.
Tapping the button, he put the earbud back in. “Let’s get you on the boat.” He put his hand behind her back and walked back to where the others were.