Page 6 of Found (Mate Rejected #8)

6

MACK

I stare across the dining table, struggling to piece together my dad's words.

“Why would they want me?” I ask. When he opens his mouth, I shake my head. “Yes, you’ve explained about the Raleighs. We know they’re back, but why would they take Aerin when they want me? Why not just grab me?”

Bennett’s chair squeaks as he reclines. “What exactly do you think would have happened if they tried to grab you?”

I ponder Bennett’s question. The answer is easy. “I’d fight them.”

Winter Lake is home, and I have no interest in being anywhere else. I’d fight for my pack and I’d fight to stay here. There’s no future where I see myself walking out on my pack. Not after my dad walked out on me.

“So it’s another trap, then?” Helena asks, frowning.

The dining room is full and I look around, wanting to see what everyone else thinks. They look as puzzled and thoughtful as I feel.

“Could be,” Colton agrees. “They have Aerin and they know you’d do anything to get her back.”

The sun is rising and none of us has touched the coffee and tea Adela was determined to make before she hurried back to sit with Zoe and Chris, who still hasn’t woken.

But just knowing Chris is healing now, slowly, but he is healing, is one less thing to worry about.

Clary, who hasn’t hidden his frustrations that we still haven’t left Winter Lake, is adding to my worry. We don’t know where the Raleighs are. We have an idea, though. Bennett thinks they might have rebuilt on the ruins of the old house in Michigan, but I’m not ready to drive hundreds of thousands of miles on a vague idea.

At least not yet.

Desperation might soon force all our hands.

Clary hasn’t stopped bouncing from one foot to the other, and I worry he’ll take off, and get himself killed speeding to Michigan. That’s if he’s lucky. If he’s not lucky and there is trouble there, then he could run right into a trap and they would kill first and ask questions later.

His mate, Leah, would be devastated if we were to save her and she learned her mate, who hasn’t stopped looking for her since someone took her, died rushing in to save her.

“But it would still have made more sense to grab me instead of Aerin,” I say.

“You’d fight back, and if they came in force, you’d lose, and you’d die.” My dad chuckles. “You get that fighting spirit from me. Or they’d drag you back, and you’d be so furious that they would get no compromise or agreement from you.”

“But that still doesn’t make sense. Why would they think I’d agree to any of their demands after they took Aerin?” I ask.

My dad seems to think the Raleighs want me to lead them, but surely, if they’ve rebuilt and reformed, they would want to lead themselves.

They could threaten Aerin, but by putting me in a position of trust, and I would be in a position of trust as their Alpha, I could stab them in the back any time.

Unless, like dad has suggested, there are more of them than we realize.

“That must be where Shane comes in,” Tina says, muffling a yawn.

None of us has gotten nearly enough sleep, and I doubt any of us will until Aerin is back in Winter Lake.

“I don’t understand why…” And then suddenly I do.

I understand exactly why they involved Shane in this. Including the part he has to play in all this. “He wants her back.”

No one responds.

I get up and start pacing, needing to work off some of the anxious energy flooding my body. It’s like getting a shot of adrenaline right into my veins. I need to do something, but the one thing I need—and want—to do, I can’t.

We need to know where they would have taken Aerin so I can get her back.

I should have known this would happen. Of course it would. How could it not? Aerin is beautiful and strong and everything a mate would want. Shane threw her away, decided he wanted someone better, but whatever he thought he felt for her didn’t last.

Bree killed his dad. How could he keep looking her in the face, sleeping with her, and building a life with her, after what she did?

“Shane is going to take Aerin away, and there will always be a threat of something happening to her if I don’t fall into line,” I say as the rest of my pack watches me. “And I’ll do it, because they know I love her.”

“So we rescue Aerin first.” Bennett crosses his arms. “Then we kill Shane. Whatever they want with you, they can’t have, because they won’t have any leverage.”

“Leverage.” My smile is empty as I roll the word around my tongue. “I’m not sure Aerin would appreciate that.”

He frowns. “That isn’t what?—”

“I know,” I softly interrupt Bennett. “I know what you meant. So it looks like we’re going to Michigan.”

“Never thought I’d go back to Karson,” my dad says.

“And you never said why you even left,” I remind him.

“That’s right,” he replies.

The silence stretches out like I knew it would. My dad doesn’t talk about walking out on the Raleighs and on me. He didn’t before and he doesn’t now.

“It would be the first place you’d think to look for them,” Ivy says. “So we’re going to Karson.”

Helena nods. “If they want you, then they won’t be trying to hide. At least not from you.”

I haven’t been back to Michigan since I left over ten years ago. There was no reason to. Everything I knew and loved was gone. Mom was dead and Dad had walked away. All that place would remind me of was everything I lost and the home that stopped being one before I packed up my bag and left.

“They would have had to rebuild,” I say. “The last time I was there, the house was burning.”

“It’s been years,” my dad agrees. “But they’ve had plenty of time to do it.”

Raleigh Pack territory is surrounded by a dense forest that I loved to run in. In the center of that forest was a three story home and several small outbuildings.

“But wouldn’t someone have noticed construction?” Warren frowns.

“Not necessarily,” I say.

Dad drains his coffee in one go and places his cup on the table as he pushes himself to his feet. “Many people viewed that land as cursed. I never heard of any new pack settling there, and I doubt any would.” He looks at me. “Map?”

“Bookcase in the den. Bottom shelf.”

Some of my books have smoke damage, but the only thing that saved the bookcase from going up in smoke when Shane tried to set my house on fire was the fact the bookcase was on the far side of the room, away from the window.

As he walks out, I return to my seat at the dining table. “We can leave as soon as we’ve figured out a route. Not all of us, though. Some of us will have to stay and watch over Chris, Adela, Zoe, and probably Aerin’s grandparents. I can’t see them coming with us.”

Ivy nods. “How was Aerin? I know she was worried about her powers.”

That’s one of the biggest reasons I worry about her. “They hadn’t come back. She couldn’t fight Shane even if she wanted to. Right now, she’s powerless.”

My dad returns with a map and we lay it down on the table, pushing our cups aside to examine it. I haven’t let myself think about if Shane took Aerin somewhere else, and that we might be wasting time going to a place she isn’t. Right now, we don’t have any other options.

An hour later, we’ve worked out the fastest routes that will take us to Karson, Michigan, as we picked at our breakfast.

We’re discussing who will stay in Winter Lake with Chris, who isn’t well enough to travel, before we can pack a bag and jump in the cars when the sound of a speeding vehicle distracts me.

I look at Bennett. “Why do I think they’re headed this way?”

He gets up without a word and walks out of the kitchen to the front door.

“Wait there,” I tell my dad when he follows me out. “We’ll see who it is.”

“Like hell I am,” he scoffs and follows me out.

Everyone pours out.

I don’t recognize the car. The license plate isn’t local, and when I spot the sticker on the bumper, I realize why that is.

“A hire car,” I mutter.

Through the windshield, I spot the driver and curse quietly under my breath.

My dad isn’t so quiet. “What the fuck is he doing here?”

“Probably here for the same reason you are,” I say as the driver cuts the engine and flings open the car door.

“He’s here for Aerin.”