Page 135 of Broken Bonds

Todd reaches over and squeezes my hand as I nod.

But relaxing is damned difficult, let me tell you what.

Todd also looks worried. “You sure about this, sir?” he asks Jax. I realize that since he’s using the title it means he’s switched from talking to “Jax his friend” to “Jax the pack Alpha” and the man Todd willingly takes a knee to.

“Yes.” Jax focuses on me, and I recognize concern furrowing his brow. “I need you not to panic.”

“That’s not a conversational intro that keeps me from panicking,” I snark.

“There have been several developments,” Jax continues as if I didn’t interrupt. “Firstly, I’ve heard…rumblings,”

“Rumblings?”

“I shipped your phones to a buddy of mine, Sawney, who’s the pack Alpha of the Empire Pack in New York. He took them to Maine for an overnight hunting run. When he arrived, his first night there he stayed at a hotel near the coast. That’s where, early the next morning, he turned them on, unlocked them, and played all your voicemails, as well as logged into your email and social accounts. I guess the voicemails were on the older one.”

A cold chill fills me. “Oh shit.”

“Yeah.” He glances at Todd, then focuses on me again. “He copied everything and sent it to me, but I don’t think you want to read anything, much less hear the voicemails. He shut the phones off after twenty minutes of fucking around on the internet with them, doing random Maine-related searches. Then he left instructions with a friend of his who runs a shop in town. Guy doesn’t know my friend’s a shifter, but this guy was Special Forces. Sawney told him about the phone and said it belonged to a friend of his whose dad and brothers were fucking assholes and wanted to kidnap and possibly kill him to get their hands on a huge inheritance they were iced out of, and that they keep lying about him when they look for him. And he wanted to see if the family was still trying to locate him.”

“What happened?”

“The guy’s friend kept watch. Sure enough, late that afternoon, a couple of guys from out of town sniffed around asking questions. Before you even ask, Sawney picked his guy because he’s a human who can take care of himself and wouldn’t smell like a shifter, just in case they got too close. They stayed in town overnight and into the next afternoon, poking around, searching in the same area where the cell pinged the local towers. And they had a picture of you. Sawney’s guy pretended to be completely clueless and snapped a picture of the picture and said he’d call them if he saw you. He also surreptitiously took pictures of the guys.”

“What’d they tell people about me?” I’m afraid to hear this.

“That they’re afraid you’ll hurt yourself. They didn’t mention anything about shifters, but they said you’re the son of a congressional candidate and you have a history of mental illness and have tried to hurt yourself before. Told them you’re off your meds and escaped a residential treatment facility where you were being treated as an inpatient. Even offered a generous reward for info.”

“Shit. Let me see.” He shows me pics on his phone and I swear again. “That’s Paul, one of Dad’s henchmen. Beta wolf shifter. He’s the one who tracked me down several times. Other one’s my brother, Harrison, an Alpha. He’s the youngest of my three older brothers.”

Fear threatens to choke me. They’re still looking for me, meaning nowhere is safe.

Also meaning I’ll likely never be able to talk to my mother again.

Jax squeezes my shoulder. “Sawney doesn’t know you’re here. And he hates your dad almost as much as you do.”

“But a reward?—”

“Means nothing to any of us. Unfortunately, this isn’t the bad news.”

I’m certain I misheard him. “I-I’m sorry, whut? How is that not the bad news?”

Jax looks positively grim. “First thing this morning, I had an unexpected sit-down with Morning Caldwell.”

“Who’s that?” I ask.

As Jax recounts what’s happened that morning…okay.

Yeeeah.

I can see how that’s way worse news than my father’s still actively hunting me.

Todd holds my hand throughout this revelation, his thumb lightly stroking the back of my hand, trying to comfort me but also not mentally speaking to me, probably so I can focus on what Jax is saying.

“So what happens now?” I numbly ask. “Do I have to leave?”

“No,” Jax says. “We’re well beyond that. Luckily, you and Todd having sex works in your favor. But I need you to be honest with me—do you want to be part of this pack and stay here? For good?”

I meet Todd’s gaze, squeezing his hand. “Absolutely. If Todd wants me.”