Chapter 86: Lucas

Sutton was in the shower when Jaden knocked on the door the next morning. Rhonen grumbled and retreated to the back of my mind. If it were up to him, our freshly marked mate and I wouldn’t be leaving the bed for the next week. But that wasn’t an option, so I let him in so we could go over the game plan for the day. I knew he was having trouble with us not having our own men here to protect us with Anders here, but we would work with what he could.

“Alpha Renward was true to his word,” he said, coming in and handing me a cup of coffee. “I clocked several warriors disguised as staff in this wing last night. On top of the usual guard down each hall. I doubt Alpha Anders would make a m…”

He froze before grabbing my shirt collar and pulling it aside. His dumbstruck expression lasted for a few seconds before he released me with a huge grin.

“How the hell did you talk her into that?” he demanded, punching my shoulder.

I fixed my collar — strategically, of course — with my own grin.

“It was all her idea,” I informed him.

His eyebrow raised in surprise. “That was smart,” he said, shaking his head. “And bold. It’s going to cause some friction.”

“Any more than we’re already dealing with?” I questioned.

“Good point,” he replied. “But it will be interesting to see if Anders sticks around now that he has no stance to claim Sutton back. Unless you think he may get desperate and go after her for nearly killing Mason.”

I shook my head. “Even if he does, I wasn’t lying when I mentioned evidence last night,” I told him. “But Sutton’s testimony should be enough to put an end to it. The proof is a last resort.”

“What evidence do you have?”

“Photos,” I said solemnly. “I made sure Dr. Calahan took pictures of Sutton’s condition the morning she showed up at the farm. But I know Sutton would hate for those to be seen. Even in her defense.”

“Understood,” Jaden complied. “I’ll head down and check out the atmosphere.”

He left the room just as the hairdryer cut off in the bathroom. I pulled a suit jacket off the hanger before mind-linking her.

‘Almost ready, princess?’

I felt the wave of giddiness through our bond. She was enjoying the new ability. She told me she even mind-linked Motty this morning to tell her she could take the day for herself. There was no reason for her to sit through the meetings all day.

‘Ten more minutes,’ she replied.

Dropping my jacket over the back of the chaise, I picked my phone up off the nightstand as I contemplated getting one for our bedroom back home. I took the time to check on things back home and follow up on a few tasks. By the time I finished, Sutton came out of the bathroom. She was in dress pants and an off-the-shoulder blouse with her hair pulled up. She looked stunning as usual but I couldn’t help but smile at her forwardness. She certainly didn’t want anyone to miss her new attribute. Not that the open top buttons of my shirt weren’t meant to achieve the same.

“Can you zip me up?” she requested, coming up to me.

Her scent overwhelmed me. The fact that mine was now mingled in with hers indefinitely only had my body responding quicker. Rhonen

“Baby, zipping you into clothing is the last thing I want to do,” I said, pulling her against me.

My tongue traced the lines of her mark as I kissed her neck. I felt her shiver at the sensation and she melted into my arms. Grabbing her chin, I turned her face, seizing her mouth hungrily. We were quickly moving toward getting undressed again until Sutton managed to come to her senses and pulled away.

“They’re expecting us, Lucas,” she breathed.

I huffed. “I know,” I conceded.

I zipped up her top and managed to allow her to step away.

“Besides, I wanted to ask you about your meeting with my father before we headed down,” she said.

“What do you want to know?”

“Well, everything, really,” she said. “The whole thing kind of took me by surprise. Did you find anything out?”

“Nothing we didn’t already know,” I told her. “But he did say he would help us get information from the Dawn Stalkers if he could.”

“Oh, did he… did he ask about me?” she asked shyly.

I sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to pull her to stand between my knees.

“He did,” I told her. “He was doing what he could to search for you.”

“He was?”

I nodded. “I’m still not sure I trust him, but he did show concern for your absence.”

She took a deep breath as she processed her reaction.

“Anything else?”

“Yeah, actually,” I remembered. “He mentioned a box. Something your mother put together for you before she died. He said he sent it to you after you moved to pack territory. It could be exactly what we’ve been looking for to tell us who your mother was. Do you know what he’s talking about?”

Her brow furrowed and I felt a shadow of anger slip through our connection.

“No,” she replied stiffly. “I don’t remember any box from my mother.”

“Then why are you upset?”

“Because I know Anders would keep things like that from me,” she stated. “Neither he nor Mason would’ve let me have it if they thought for a moment it would be important to me.”

“Then we’ll find it,” I insisted, taking her face in my hands to help calm her. “I already have someone looking for it. We’ll get it back.”

“You do?” she asked.

“Of course,” I told her.

‘You two should get down here,’ Jaden interrupted through the link. ‘Alpha Anders is insisting on getting started without you. It seems he’s going to attempt to persuade the other Alphas to hand you over after all.’

Rhonen growled and I stifled my own. Anders would never succeed but it was getting annoying that he wasn’t giving up.

‘On our way.’