Page 119 of Broken Bonds

Ending the call, I try to focus on clearing my mind while I drive and not on what feels like a hurricane of shit heading straight toward us.

Which doesn’t last long, because Father calls me. That’s one I can’t send to voicemail.

“You’re up early,” I say.

“Awful presumptuous of you to assume I’ve even been to bed yet,” he snarks back. “I don’t know why, and he didn’t tell me why, but Morning just called me and said I should call you. Care to enlighten me?”

Shit.

Okay, so this day can get worse. Amazing.

“I told him about Mal.”

There’s a moment of silence before he roars, “You fucking did what?”

“Pops, he knows people are looking for Mal, Sterling’s people, and others who want to use him either against Sterling or to hurt Mal because of his father.”

I can picture him, eyes pinched closed, rubbing his forehead. “Okay. What’d he say?”

“Well, for starters, he took money from me and said he’s now my attorney, so he won’t say anything. Because I wasn’t about to tell him anything until I realized this problem is bigger than I thought.”

“Thank the Goddess for that.”

“He also said we should initiate Mal, not move him.”

He snorts in aggravation. I don’t need to see the deep furrows in his brow to know they’re there. “Well, fuck. Have you talked to him? The pup, I mean.”

“I’m on my way back from the meeting now. I need to clear a couple of decks first and figure out how to approach it. Not to mention, I have no clue how to trigger his mating heat. Not like I have them.”

“Uh, you have a mate, you know, He’s been through more than a few.”

“But Shawn’s not a wolf.”

“He’s a coyote, Jax. Close enough.”

Now I want to close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose, but, hellooo, driving. “Can you have Dad research and call Shawn with ideas, please? I’m on the clock. Ideally, this needs to be handled in less than six days. Morning told me the refugees will be arriving in seven or eight days.”

“Okay, let me talk to Dad, and we’ll put our heads together with Shawn. Hopefully, we can have some answers for you by later tonight.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

After I get off that call, I call Shawn and catch him up.

“Son of a bitch,” he grumbles. “We just can’t catch a break with this thing.”

“Yeah. Sorry to dump this on you, but…”

Shawn laughs. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll call Pops and Dad and get that ball rolling. Guess I’m not going into the office after all. Don’t think I should be having these conversations there.”

“Sorry.”

“No, not your fault.” He pauses. “But you have to talk to Todd and Mal, ASAP, and help them wrap their heads around this. And you will need to talk to the Alphas. Again. I know you don’t want to guilt anyone into this, but the kid’s life is at stake.”

“I’ll handle that part. Just tell me what you find out. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

I end that call and try not to spin too many what-ifs into worries that I currently have no control over. For all we know, Sterling might end up offed by someone before the refugees even arrive, making this all moot.