My heart went out to his daughter. I knew what it was like to feel like you were alone in the world with nobody to turn to.
“Why?” I asked. “What did she do?”
He sighed deeply before answering. “I just don’t know,” he said, shaking his head back and forth. “I swear my baby girl would never do anything to betray our pack. She might not have made many close friends growing up because she always kept a wall up around other people, but she was the sweetest girl in the world. When we left for our trip, she was safe and sound in our home. When I finally made it back, she was just gone.”
“Where did she go?”
“That’s the million-dollar question, sweetie,” he replied. "She waited outside of town for a month, most likely hoping I’d come back. Then it was like she’d vanished without a trace. Like she was trying to wipe her slate clean and start fresh. I’ve tried to piece together what happened to her after that, but it hasn’t been easy because our alpha called it a shunning and there wasn’t anyone who was willing to answer my questions and risk his wrath.”
“A shunning?” I gasped. I’d never met anyone who knew a wolf who had been shunned by their pack. It rarely happened because a wolf had to do something heinous to deserve that kind of punishment.
“Yeah. That motherfucking bastard wasn’t happy with kicking her out of the only home she’d ever known on the same day her mom died,” he growled. “Even though he knew I wasn’t going to make it back for months because I’d almost died that day too.”
“Why did she leave before you came back?” I asked, my curiosity piqued enough that it temporarily took my mind off my pain.
“I don’t know,” he answered in a tortured whisper. “I just can’t think of any good reason why she wouldn’t wait for me, and nobody could tell me what made her go after she’d waited so long.”
“And you’ve been searching for her ever since?”
He nodded in response. “She’s my baby girl. I’d move heaven and earth for her.”
That right there, the words I’d have given anything to hear either of my parents say, earned him my trust.
“Not all fathers feel the same,” I replied with a glance at my own, who was still sprawled across the hood of the car. “He was taking me to a dangerous pack to mate with their alpha whether I wanted to or not. I might not be his blood, but he raised me as my own since I was born, and he was ready to literally throw me to the wolves to save his own ass.”
“Motherfucker,” he spit out before he turned to glare at my father. “Come with me. I can’t leave you here to fend for yourself.”
“The wolf who wanted to mate me may look for me,” I warned. “If I come with you, I might put you at risk.”
“I’ve spent years looking for my baby girl. I finally found out where she is, and there’s no way in hell I’m going to go to her knowing I was leaving you out here like this. I wouldn’t be worthy of my daughter if I left you knowing the danger you’re in. Besides which, from what I’ve heard about the pack she mated into, I’ll have plenty of help protecting you.”
My heart soared with hope at his offer. “Are you sure?”
“Damn straight! Elias Reve to the rescue, sweetie.”
Surprised laughter bubbled up in me. This man was willing to put his neck on the line for me in a way my own family would not and he didn’t even know my name.
“I’m Annora Channing.”
Chapter 3
Parker
“I thought you were the best for shit like this?” I asked, the annoyance that rang in my tone coming from the frustration I’d been feeling in the weeks since Eliza shared her dream with me.
“You’re damn lucky I’m willing to help you at all, pup,” Carrick growled into the phone. “If your dream-walker hadn’t said the girl was bear, I wouldn’t have agreed in the first place. But there’s no guarantee she’s right and no way in hell I’m gonna put up with shit from you when I’m doing you a goddamn favor.”
“One I’m paying you well to do,” I countered before taking a deep breath to try to calm the fuck down. Pissing Carrick off wasn’t going to accomplish anything other than possibly alienating him. “Shit, man. Sorry. I don’t mean to take it out on you, but my mate is out there somewhere. She’s in danger and I have no way to find her.”
“I get that, and we’re doing everything we can to find Elias. His daughter saw them together in her dream, so if we can pin him down, then we should be able to locate her too,” he explained. “Last town we traced him to, we were only days behind.”
As I listened to Carrick describe the latest in his search, I jotted down notes in my notebook. Once he was done, I flipped through the pages and searched for something—anything—that would tell me where they were. Then it hit me.
“They’re heading this way,” I murmured in amazement.
“What do you mean?”
“I need to talk to Eliza, but I could swear she’s mentioned a couple of these towns before,” I explained. “And if I’m right, then odds are Elias is tracking his daughter.”
“Call her now,” he ordered. “Get me a list of all the places she stayed in chronological order. If we can figure out where he’s headed, then we can head there next and wait until he shows.”
“They,” I growled. “Not he—they.”
Carrick hadn’t found any sign of her in the towns Elias had been to so far. In my heart though? I refused to give up hope, because if she wasn’t with him, then I had no way of finding her. I didn’t know her name or what town she was from. I had nothing else to work with except Eliza’s dream that showed my mate with her father.
“They,” Carrick agreed even though his tone implied he was humoring more than anything else. “Talk to your dream-walker and let me know what she says.”
Stabbing the red button to end our call, I was so pissed off that I wanted to hurl my phone across the room. Instead, I punched Eliza’s number in and waited for her to pick up.
“Any news?” she asked without saying hello—a clear sign of how worried she had been about her dad ever since she had the dream.
“Nothing yet,” I replied. Then I hurried to explain my theory when she sighed because I knew the situation was hurting her almost as much as it was me. “But I think your dad might be searching for you. The places he’s been recently line up with towns you’ve mentioned before.”
“Oh my God!” she gasped out.
Spencer’s voice suddenly came through the other end of the line, asking if she was okay. She’d started crying, so he must have grabbed the phone from her because she hadn’t answered fast enough.
“Who the fuck is this?” he demanded.
“I think they’re good tears, bro,” I quickly said before Spencer could get royally pissed off at me for having made his mate cry.
“What the hell, Parker?” he bellowed. “Eliza’s not a crier. What the fuck did you say to her?”
“Carrick’s trail on her dad has led to some of the towns I know she was in before she came to Wolf’s Point.”
The complete silence on the other end of the line told me that he understood the implications.
One of Spencer’s strengths as pack enforcer was his ability to step back and see the bigger picture. When it came to his mate, he was quick to wade right the fuck in and ask questions later if he thought anyone was hurting her. He’d even been like that before he’d realized she was his mate. I probably should have figured it out myself the night he’d found her drunk in The Den since he’d never acted like that with any other woman before Eliza.
Spencer’s question pulled me back into the conversation. “Where was he last seen?”
“Lyallville.” Which was one of the towns I’d recalled Eliza talking about one night when she was drinking while I was bartending.
Spencer repeated it back to me, and then Eliza must have stolen the phone back, because it was her voice that filtered through the line.
“That’s where I was right before I came here. If he really
is looking for me, then this should be his next stop.”
“Holy fuck,” I breathed out, stunned at the thought that my mate could be here in a matter of days. Or less.
“Yeah,” Eliza sighed.
“I’ve gotta call Carrick back to let him know he can call off the search—at least for a little bit while we wait to see if they show up in town,” I said, desperately trying to keep my focus on what needed to be done when all I wanted to do was howl with joy at the thought of meeting my mate.
Since time was of the essence, I forced myself to call the bear who’d been helping with the search and shared the news with him.
“If he doesn’t show in the next week, we’ll hit Lyallville again and see if we can catch another lead,” Carrick offered.
“I’d appreciate it.”
“And if he gets into town without the girl?” he wanted to know.
“Then I’m screwed unless Elias knows what Eliza’s dream means.”
“I won’t give up searching for her,” he promised.
“Neither will I.”
He chuckled on the other end of the line. “I’m sure you won’t if you think she’s your mate, but what you need to understand is that female bears are rare. We don’t have many young, and when we do, they’re usually boys. I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for her.”
“Not many young?” I repeated. “Bullshit! You’ve got three sons. Watch out for them and keep your nose out of my mate’s business. I needed your help to find her. That’s it.”
“You came to me for help, but that doesn’t mean you get to order me out of this if I think that girl needs my help,” he warned. “And I’m damn lucky to have my sons, but I’m the exception to the rule because my genes ran stronger than their mother’s. Which is a damn good thing because that bitch doesn’t deserve to have any part of them after the way she abandoned my boys—something no bear would ever do because we treasure our children.”
“Just as a wolf cherishes their mates,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, buddy,” he replied, sarcasm heavy in his voice before he hung up on me.
It reminded me that, even though he’d agreed to help, Carrick had a reputation for not liking wolves. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that the only reason he had agreed was the possibility that my mate was a bear with trouble at her heels.
****
The next six days passed painstakingly slowly. Last night was the worst of them with the full moon high in the sky. My wolf had been even more restless than usual, so I’d ended up running the entire night, letting my beast free in an effort to release some of my frustration. It hadn’t worked though. I’d spent hours patrolling the forest that surrounded our town, hunting down every strange scent like it presented an immediate threat. I was pretty sure I’d marked every damn tree within a couple-mile radius of my home, too. My wolf had been feeling particularly territorial, and I could only assume it was because he was as peeved about the wait as I was.
Dragging my ass out of bed, I glanced at the clock and was surprised to see that it was already early afternoon. I’d managed to wear myself out enough to catch more than just a couple of hours of sleep. The edginess hadn’t left me yet, and I still had a ton of nervous energy in my system. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the full moon was supposed to be tonight because I felt none of the relief I usually did with its passing. I still felt like my wolf was going to tear out of my skin.
My shower didn’t help, and I couldn’t bring myself to make lunch, so I decided to head over to the Packed Plate for some food. If I timed it right, I figured I’d be able to catch Spencer when he dropped Eliza off for her shift, so I sent him a quick text before I hopped into my car to head into town.
Enough time had passed that we needed to think about reaching out to Carrick for help again. I couldn’t go another day without doing something to find her. Knowing that my mate was out there and in need was driving me fucking insane.
Pulling up to the diner, I noticed that Spencer had beat me there. His truck was parked along the street already, and he must have just gotten there, because he was stepping out of his truck to walk around to the passenger’s door to help his mate out. Before he’d even made it halfway around the truck, her door flew open.
“Daddy!” Eliza screamed before she hopped out of the truck and ran, hurtling down the sidewalk and throwing herself into the arms of a man who had just walked out of The Packed Plate.
Scanning the area, I searched wildly for the woman I hoped like hell was traveling with him. Eliza was enveloped in the arms of her father, sobbing uncontrollably while my brother came up from behind to wrap his arms around her. Although I was incredibly happy that she’d found her dad, my heart dropped at the possibility that her dream had been wrong and my mate wasn’t with him.
As I walked towards them, my pace was slow. It felt like there was a pit in the bottom of my stomach, and as much as I wanted to ask Eliza’s dad about my mate, I was petrified that he wouldn’t have any idea what I was talking about. That all hope would be lost and I’d have to start from scratch.
Eliza’s eyes met mine over her dad’s shoulder, and she stepped back. Her face fell as worry filled her gaze—concern for me because I couldn’t even muster up a smile at her good fortune.
“God, it’s good to see you again, baby girl,” Elias said, his voice cracking with emotion, which drew Eliza’s attention back to her father. “It took me way too long to find you. It was like you fell off the face of the Earth.”
“I thought you were dead,” she whimpered. “All this time, I thought you and Mom were both gone and nobody would ever come looking for me because I’d been kicked out of the pack.”
“Dead?” Elias gasped. “Fuck, baby girl. I was hurt pretty damn badly, and it took me a while to recover because I’d lost so much blood and they’d used silver bullets, but there wasn’t ever a moment when they thought I was going to die.”
“She told me you were gone,” Eliza said before explaining what had happened to her in the month she had waited for her dad to return. “I had no one. Nothing was keeping me there, so I left.”
“Fuck!” he swore. “I’m gonna kill that motherfucker if it’s the last thing I ever do.”
“Not if I beat you to it,” my brother replied.
I stood by silently as Eliza introduced her mate to her dad, a moment she thought for years would never come to pass. When her dad turned to me, I held out my hand.
“And this is one of my new brothers, Daddy,” Eliza said. “Parker.”
“Nice to meet you,” I mumbled.
“Sorry he’s such a sad sack, but he was hoping you hadn’t come here alone,” Spencer explained. “With Eliza’s dream and all.”
“Dream?”
When he looked at us in confusion, I realized Eliza still had a lot to explain to her dad since she’d kept her gift hidden from him for so many years at her mom’s urging.
“I’ll explain later,” Eliza interjected. “Unfortunately, I’m about to be late for work. Even though I’m mated to one of the owners, I really don’t want to take advantage of my coworkers by skipping a shift. Again.”
“Everyone will understand, dream girl,” Spencer argued. “You finally got your daddy back. Take some time with him.”
“How about you kill two birds with one stone and I’ll stay here with you for a while, baby girl?” Elias offered.
“I’d love that,” Eliza agreed as she gave Spencer a kiss on the cheek and grabbed her dad’s hand to head inside the diner.
The door had just started to close behind them, so I almost missed her dad’s next words. Thank fuck I didn’t though.
“Besides which, I left Annora at the table when I saw you pull up,” he explained. “Poor girl probably thinks I’ve abandoned her, and she’s still too sore to move quickly enough to catch up to me.”
“Annora,” I whispered in wonder.
My brain was catching up to my wolf as I grabbe
d the door and swung it open to catch up to them only to stop dead in my tracks. The scent that drifted to me was sweeter than anything I’d ever smelled before. Like cotton candy on a hot summer’s day.
Breathing deeply, I zeroed in on the curvy brunette sitting in the corner booth. She really was here. My mate.
Chapter 4
Annora
While I watched Elias hug his daughter, I was happy that the man I’d come to trust with my life had found her after having searched for so long. Once we had crossed the state line, Elias had found the closest motel and made sure I’d had time to clean up, rest, and get some much-needed food into my system. He’d taken better care of me than my own parents, and I’d found myself telling him about what they’d done. His reaction to the Lyall name let me know that he understood the danger I would be in if Wyatt ever found me. So we hadn’t traveled directly to Wolf’s Point because he’d wanted to make sure it was difficult to track us in case anyone was looking for me.
I figured it had to have been killing Elias to know where his daughter was and not get to her as quickly as possible, especially after how long it had taken him to find her. If it had been my father, I would have paid dearly for his frustration at the situation, but Elias had never once made me feel like he was mad at me. Instead, he’d handled me with kid gloves and treated me like I wished my father had done.
As tears gathered in my eyes, my gaze moved away from the happy reunion and drifted to the man standing a few feet away.
Holy hell, that guy is smoking hot.
He was insanely tall. Elias was over six feet, and this guy had him beat by several few inches. And damn was he built from what I could tell from the bulging muscles that strained against his shirt. His dark hair looked like he’d rolled out of bed and run a hand through it without doing much of anything else to get ready. I’d never been into guys with facial hair, but the scruff on his cheeks made my thighs clench at the thought of it scraping against my skin. Watching him as he stood there with a look of sadness and longing on his face, I felt the strange need to comfort him.
Thrown to the Wolves (Black River Pack Book 3) Page 3
