The Pack (28 page)

     “I wasn’t lying I wanted to meet my granddaughter.”

     “That’s bull…”
Cade gr
ound out. His shirt rippled
as his bones moved underneath his skin
preparing for the shift
.

     “Cade we do not need to be nasty,
” Gregory
said walking
into the kitchen from the
front
foy
er looking completely at home
. He
placed his hand on Cades
bac
k and leaned close to his ear
.
“Relax, you’re better than this, do not let his presence goad you into acting rashly.”
He
smiled
as
Cade sat back his eyes
eerily dark,
but his body still human
,
then he
walked to the door and opened it.
“Mather, are you coming in or w
ere you planning to stay out there all night?”

     “Thank you,
” Mather replied stepping
through the doorway looking uncomfortable
, s
omething one did no
t often see in
an
Alpha
. “You’re looking well Gregory.” He looked over the
Alpha
who had adopted his sons with barely
concealed distaste
.

     “And you Mather are looking
…
” Gregory
arched his eyebrow. “W
ell
you
’
r
e
still alive
.” He closed
the door and extended his arm towards the table
. “Why don’t you take a seat so we can discuss why you are
here?
”

     “
I am here t
o meet my granddaughter,” he explained taking a seat
acros
s the table from Cade who snorted loudly.

     “To bad she’s not here,
” Gregory
,
told him sending a mental note to both broth
ers that he had sent Alec to guard her room
.

     “I can wait,” he answered
defiantly leaning back in hi
s chair eyeing
the three of them closely.

     “Well I am sure you can
,
but I will not allow it.” Grego
ry’s words were sharp
and Mat
her leaned forward anger radiating from him
.

     “Y
ou will not allow it?” Mather growled
his h
ands on the table as he stood
. “Who the hell are you to tell me I cannot meet my granddaughter?”

     
“She is under Lucan’s protection and he is part of my pack,
which makes her mine
. D
o not cross this line Mather we have always been civil in the past
,
but when it c
omes to my pack
I will not tolerate anyone who defies me.
” His eyes glowed with power as he stood
his massive body intimidating
to
even the best of
Alpha
s
.

     “I did not come to fight with you regardless of what you think.”
Mather walked to the door and opened it
resigned to leaving
. “I only wanted to see the girl
,
but I suppose
it will have to wait.”

    
Gregory
flew across the kitchen
quickly
pinn
ing
him against the do
orframe
with a snarl
. “Do not
bother Mercy
, if
I hear you have so much as whispered to her
,
I will kill you.”

    
He slammed t
he man back
against the wood
frame smiling at the loud crack of protest
the wood
made
then walked back to Lucan’s side placing his hand
on Cades shoulder
making them a united front
. “
This is my pack you’re messing with, g
et out and don’t come back.” 

    
Mather strai
ghtene
d his clothing
,
stared
at the three of them for a few moments
,
then walke
d out of the door
mumbling under his breath
.

     “Cade
,
I ha
ve warned you about your temper,
” Gregory said still watching the door
,
wondering why Mather was suddenly
so
interested in Mercy.

    
Was
it possible he had found out about her and wanted her to live with him? Not that it would matter.
When she had come to stay with Lucan and
Cade,
they made sure to cover their base
s
.
Linda had never listed the father on the birth certificate, so
Lucan
easily
adopted her and
had legal guardianship over her until she turned eighteen
.
Even if Mather fought the adoption
she would be eighteen by th
e time it went to court, so he would ne
ver have control over anyway, which was why
his visit made no sense.

     “I
thought he had fo
rgotten about us
, but
he always knew how to
show up
out of the blue
and
piss us off
,
” Cade said angrily
.
O
nce when he was young
,
he had craved relationship with his father
,
but his lack of concern for Lucan and him
as they grew had destroyed any chance of that ever happening.

     “I don’t think this was just to aggravate you and Luc
,
”
Gregory said thoughtfully.
“
No,
he’
s hiding something and using
Mercy
a
s
cover to come here
and approach you two
.”
He moved his hand from Cade’s sho
ulder and turned to Lucan. “I will send
someone to find out what is going on with your fathers pack
,
maybe then we will understand his visit.”

     “He has never given
up on us coming back. Maybe he
s
till wants us there,
” Lucan said
,
but even he did not really believe that was it.
They had made it clear many years before that
the
y would n
ever forgive him for the lack of caring
he had shown them as children
. T
he
only good thing he
had done
was
to
bring
Linda into their lives
.
She had taken th
em under her wing and cared for them during he
r short time amongst their pack. They had never forgotten her kindness and now they were paying
her back by protecting her child from the man she had walked
out
on
all those years ago
.

     “
Time will tell
what he wants
,
but for now I am glad w
e had the good sense to bring in
protection for my son
and Mercy. Two new teachers
will be
joining the school tomorrow and a
n assistant coach has been hired for the cheerleading squad
since a generous donation was made to pay for her salary
.”
Gregory
explained smiling as he recalled
the principle’s reaction to his donation.
The man
near had a heart atta
ck when he offered
to improve the school and help fund staff they co
uld not otherwise afford
. It was the reason they always chose small towns to locate to
,
they always lacked
funding and did not look a gift horse in the mouth.

     “Thank You Gregory
,
tha
t was extremely generous of you,
” Lucan said.

     “Nonsense
,
you are the financial
genius
who turned our pack into a stable and well to do group
. I
t is only right to use some o
f those funds
to help
you out.
”

      Lucan knew
Gregory had not used pack funds to pay for the donation
. H
e was t
he one who handled the
books and
he
would have noticed such a large discrepancy
.  The money had
to have come from his personal bank
account
. I
t had been a
gesture
of goodwill
on his part and not
because it concerned his son
,
but because that was the kind of
leader,
h
e
was
,
that was why they had joined his pack
.

     “Dad what’s going on?” Alec walked into the
room his nose
lifting immediately at the scent of another pack
.
W
hen his father told
him,
she was in danger
he couldn’t get there fast enough,
even though it killed him to sit outside her room listening to her and Kirk talking on th
e phone almost the entire time. Now though
,
he wanted an explanation.

     “
Mather stopped by for a little visit
.” Alec’s expression darkened and his hands clenched
,
but his father
went on
. “He wants
to see
Mercy
, but I warned him to stay away
.
”

    
Alec did not question his
father
,
bu
t he did question whether
Mather would listen
to his commands
.  He had only met the man once
,
but
he
had heard stories about him from Lucan and Cade
. I
f he had come
,
there was a reason other than grandfatherly concern
. T
he
million-dollar
question was what did he want?
“Did he say why he came now when she is turning seventeen in a week and not whe
n she was younger?” He
w
orried that maybe he
had found out the t
ruth about her parentage and had come to take her back to his pack
.
A Were like her would be an advan
tage to any pack she belonged to
.

     “I’m not sure about anything where
Ma
ther is concerned
,
” Gregory
said taking a seat at the table motioning for them to follow suit.
“I wonder if he thinks to form an all
iance with our pack by bonding
her with one of his own now that she is old enough to choose.”

 
   “N
o!” Alec sl
ammed his fist on the table with a snarl
unable to control the rage within him
.

     “Son it is just an idea
.
I do not really know what he wants
,
but we have to consider all the options
.” He placed a calming hand on his and frowned as he read his sons thought
s
of
killing Mather to protect his mate
. “We
do not kill without cause
Alec,
you need to reign in your emotions.”

     Alec looked ashamedly at his si
re and lowered his head
. “Sorry
,
but the thought of Mercy in
volved with
his
pack is unthinkable
.”