Chapter Sixty

Drake.

The insecurities inside of him made him feel like a fifteen-year-old.

Why was he so jealous of a wolf? Maybe because Waverly seemed interested in them? He knew it was because they shifted into giant wolves, but it still made him jealous like a little boy.

He hated it.

Drake stood to the side of the coffee table with Waverly, watching the wolves roam around the cabin, making sure they were in a safe place.

His mother walked up behind him. “If your Dad and I don’t work out, I call the alpha.”

Waverly snickered beneath her palm, but Drake didn’t find it funny. He was on edge, but of course, his mother was making jokes.

“Calm down,” she whispered. “Beau wouldn’t have brought them here if he didn’t trust them.”

“He’s desperate,” Drake hissed. “He’s met this guy once, and now his entire pack is here.”

His mother sighed. “Everything is going to be okay, Drake. Don’t stress about this. They are here to help us. We need to work with them.”

Drake turned away from his mother because his nerves were all over the place to deal with her at the moment.

The Alpha walked in and put both palms on his hips. “The place is small which is good. Fewer ways to break into the cabins. I noticed some damage to the outside. Vampire attack?”

Sarah snorted. “Drake got into a fight with a vampire that doesn’t want us here.”

The Beta chuckled. “Ah, there is always an outcast. Did you win?”

Sarah smiled as if she was going to say no, but didn’t reply.

“It was pretty fair,” Drake admitted. “What’s your name?” he asked after several minutes.

“Reid, and my beta is Clint.”

“I’m Drake,” he said, before pointing toward Waverly. “This is my mate, Waverly. That’s my mom, Barbie, and Sarah. My brother Roderick is the one that went missing.”

Reid acknowledged everyone and casually sat down on the couch. “Beau mentioned that you believe your father has something to do with this?”

“My father wanted me to surrender Waverly and Sarah when this all happened. Of course, I refused to toss my mate over to the royals, and he’s been against us ever since. I’m positive that he has something to do with it. Not long before he went missing I had a phone conversation with him. He’s pissed needless to say.”

Reid nodded his head. “So, your father is a piece of crap?”

“More or less,” he said. “He’s friends with the royals.”

Reid looked off toward the window. Drake could tell he hated the royals, it was written all over his face and in his body language.

“That’s unfortunate. I need to hear you tell me that it’s okay to hurt him if something happens. I don’t need you turning around and hurting one of my wolves for harming your father.”

Drake felt his mother’s gaze on the side of his face. He felt the entire room looking at him. Did he want someone to kill his father? A wolf? A random person?

The hatred in his heart said yes. The little boy said no.

“I need you to bring him to me,” Drake said. “I want to be the one to do it.”

His mother’s gasp didn’t shock him. It was her husband. Someone she leaned on for many years. Someone she loved, but had fallen out of love because of his insane nature.

Reid nodded. “I’m assuming you’ll do the right thing.”

“Meaning I won’t chicken out?” Drake laughed.

Reid cracked a smile. “Yes.”

Drake shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “I won’t. I have this twisted idea of love for my father, because he’s my father, but he needs to be stopped just as much as the royals.”

Reid nodded once and turned his attention to his Beta.

“Everything looks good. Do you want to start bringing the beds in here?”

Reid stood up. “Let’s do it.”

Drake began to help maneuver the beds from each room. It didn’t take long given the strength of the three of them, but when he made it back into the living room his mother was gone.

“Where did Mom go?”

Waverly jabbed her finger over her shoulder. ‘She’s in the bathroom. I think she’s upset.”

He sighed heavily. “Make yourselves at home. I’ll be back.”

He left the four of them and knocked on the bathroom door. She didn’t answer. Panic swarmed him for a few moments. Had she climbed out of the window? Escaped when they weren’t looking?

After a few moments, she opened the door and looked at him. The sadness resting in the corners of her face hit him hard in the chest.

“What the matter?” he asked.

She closed her eyes. “I don’t know how to live without him, Drake.”

Drake looked over his shoulder, not wanting Reid to hear her objecting against fighting his father. He gestured her back into the bathroom and shut the door.

“Mom,” Drake said. “I know you’re scared, but you don’t need him.”

She closed her eyes. “I don’t want to be alone,” she whispered.

“You have Roderick and me,” he said. “Let me ask you a question, Mom. You were forced into this life by Dad. I know he’s your husband, but is he your mate?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know...”

“If you don’t know, then he’s not your mate.”

His mother shook her head. “That doesn’t mean I want him to die, Drake. He’s my husband, and during one time in my life, I loved him unconditionally.”

Drake placed both palms on her shoulders. “Mom, that man you were in love with doesn’t exist anymore. He’s succumbed to the power of being immortal. You have to move on from him. Dad isn’t here anymore.”

If his mother could cry he knew she would. The sadness radiating from her swarmed him. Gathering her into his arms, he tucked her into his shoulder and ran his palm over her hair. They stayed like that for a while.

He didn’t mind comforting her. She knew what loneliness awaited her. Not that his dad was around, but there, at least.

If things went the way they planned, he wouldn’t be after this fight.

If he didn’t submit, he would die.

He was tired of playing this game. He wanted to move forward with Waverly and let her parents know that she was alive because they deserved that.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be,” he said, lifting her chin. “You deserve to be happy. If something happens to Dad and he won’t submit to us, you’ll make it through. I will try to reason with him, but if not, I don’t know what will happen.”

She smiled and swiped a smile over her face. “Waverly is lucky to have a mate like you.”

Drake smiled though he knew his mother was hurting. “Come on. Let’s make sure the girls haven’t run away with the wolves in there.”

He walked into the living room. Waverly and Sarah were both sitting on the couch whispering to one another, but Reid wasn’t in the room.

“Where did they go?” Drake asked.

“They went outside. Said someone else from their pack showed up,” Sarah said.

Drake put one finger up at Waverly and walked out onto the front porch with his mother in tow. Reid and Clint were huddled around an older man who was definitely a wolf.

Drake went to take a step off the porch when he noticed the man staring his way.

Did he not know he was surrounded by vampires? The shock on his face startled Drake. Reid glanced over his shoulder and then back at the man.

He shoved through Reid and Clint and stopped several feet away.

“Can I help you?” Drake asked.

The man looked right through him, stepped closer, and pointed behind Drake. Drake looked over his shoulder at his mother’s wide-eyed expression.

“Mate,” his deep voice said.

Drake’s heart dropped into his stomach. “Ah, crap.”