Her Mortal Mate

Chapter Nine: Friends In High Places

Jadea

"Well, are you going to introduce us?" Lance ribbed once we were inside.

I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the ribs as we turned to face Garret and Blade. "Well, this is Garret," I nodded to my black haired, bearded and dark eyed beta. "And this is Blade," I said, my gaze turning to the thin, black haired, blue eyed gamma. The nice part about wolves is there was this sixth sense and we didn't have to announce the positions of our wolves. "I have two others up in Modesto. Briar and Derrick. Hopefully they will be able to join us soon after Lucien picks up some... Packages."

"Packages?"

"I'll fill you in on everything in a bit. Garret, Blade this is Lance. We were childhood friends."

"Wait," Blade cut in, his expression thoughtful as he studied Lance. "Lance Erickson?"

"Yep," Lance smiled proudly, his chest puffing out a bit.

Both Garret's and Blade's shocked expressions turned to me. "Well, it would have been nice to know you had such powerful friends!" Garret grumbled and I couldn't tell if he was hurt or not.

I shrugged. "There's still a part of my life none of you know about." At the mention of that, some of the memories came rushing back, and Garret's gaze caught and held mine, a deep rooted sadness taking over his features. "Stop it," I mouthed at him.

"What? Are you talking about the time Victor tried to mass murder all the half breeds and placed them all in a huge cavern designed specifically to kill them. And you and your family were placed right in front of all of the action--

"Thank you, Lance," I snapped, leveling a very annoyed glare his way as my packmates' eyes got even bigger. "For that little reminder."

"Just making sure that's what you were referencing," he stated with a smirk and I knew he had done it on purpose, even if those big eyes tried to appear innocent.

"You still don't know when to shut up, do you?" I asked rather bluntly.

"Nope! And if I haven't learned by this point, I doubt I ever will."

"Hold up! You were there during the half breed g******e?" Blade asked for clarification.

My unamused gaze held Lance's bright one for a moment longer before I turned to answer Blade. I smoothed over my features because it wasn't his fault this rather sore subject had been brought up. "Yes, my father's pack had been taken because we supported half breeds. Victor placed us in front of all of the action. I was there when Eidolon--or rather Constance Erickson--swooped in with her group of sorcerers and slayed the demon, Dante. However, what is less known about is the alpha wolf who saved her from being skewered by said demon. She had been overrun by demons and would have died had my father not gone to her rescue. I had the privilege of meeting Constance on multiple occasions, especially after she introduced me to her half brother, Lance."

"Why did you never tell us!? I thought you said we weren't allowed to keep secrets!?" Blade questioned animatedly.

"It was something that I just ... Couldn't quite bring myself to talk about," I shrugged. "And it never came up."

"Who's hungry?" Lance asked in the silence that ensued.

"Don't change the subject!" Garret snapped, his intense gaze leveled at me even though it had been Lance who'd spoken.

Lance held up his hands and backed away. "I'll leave you guys to it. Just, if it comes to blows, can you take it outside? I just got done replacing and repairing everything from the last fight that broke out inside." And with that, Lance and his pack filed into the kitchen leaving us to our little family feud in the living room.

"Jadea, why did you never tell us?" Blade asked softly.

I knew both of them were hurt by my silence on the subject. I'd forced us all to be open and honest with each other about so much. But I couldn't ever bring myself to talk about my time in that terrible cavern, or when my family had helped Constance.

"It wasn't ever mine to share," I said softly.

"I'm calling bullpucky," Garret said.

"You can call it whatever you want to," I snapped. "Yes, I lived through that terrible experience in Dante's cavern. Yes, I resided in the demon stronghold for a time when Constance and her group were there. But, while I lived through that, my father lived it. He helped Constance. He was a part of her tight knit inner circle. He was one of her closest allies. And when the time came to reform the councils, he had taken on one of the councilor positions at her request only to help get everything moving on the right path. And to be a sentinel, of sorts, to keep an eye out for corruption or for any of Victor's allies to try and infiltrate the council.

"My father never wanted to be a councilor. But, he felt it was important to set aside his wants and needs in order to help and support a larger cause. His time on the council is actually one of the shortest in terms of an immortal holding a seat. Due to his relationship with Constance, and nature of his councillorship, I never said anything to anyone, too afraid that the information I had could get into the wrong hands. I've seen what can happen to those who were even just fractionally close to Constance or one of her allies. Because she is the Phoenix, there are some immortals who get desperate and will do anything, hurt anyone, to get to her. I didn't want to be one of those who was used against her. I didn't want that for me, or for my family," I concluded.

Garret sighed heavily before grabbing a fistful of my shirt and pulling me into a big bear hug. "As far as explanations go, this one is acceptable," he grumbled. "You're forgiven for keeping such secrets."

"Thanks," I deadpanned as Blade pulled me into a hug too.

"I'm sorry you had to experience that."

I shrugged. "It is what it is."

"Dinners getting cold, y'all," Lance called out loudly from the kitchen. "And it's going quick. If you're hungry, I suggest getting in here."

"Well?" Garret prompted. "I'm starving."

I chuckled and shook my head. "Life would be boring without you guys, you know that?"

"Oh, we are fully aware of that fact," Blade conceded as we made our way into the kitchen and took our seats at the table.

"Jordan, Mark," I nodded to the beta and gamma. If I remembered correctly, they had once been part of Constance's cousin, Erwin's, pack. Unfortunately, he along with most of his pack, were tragically killed. Jordan and Mark had been tasked with watching over Lance growing up, while his sister had been out saving the world. When Lance came of age, they pledged their loyalty to him.

"Jadea, it is great to see you again," Jordan smiled and it looked more genuine than the last time I'd seen him. Time had healed most of the wounds from that terrible time long ago.

"So, why don't you fill us in on what's going on," Lance prompted as meat, glasses of blood and other goodies were passed around the table.

After giving them the quick overview, Lance sat back with a thoughtful expression on his face. "I know that look," I said in recollection. It was the look he got when he was coming up with some kind of grand scheme. Back when we were kids, it had meant he was going to propose something outlandish to do that would result in us getting into trouble. But I had a feeling his ideas had graduated from troublemaking--though I was sure he still found trouble to get into--to genius level.

He was Constance's brother after all.

An Erickson.

They were the strongest, most powerful family in the entire immortal realm. I was sure some of Constance's ingenuity rubbed off on him.

"So, how are you planning to save him?" Mark asked while Lance was busy scheming.

"I'm not exactly sure on the intimate details yet, but the main points: track them down and get him back."

"Do you know if he is with them?" Lance asked.

"Yes, he was with them. At least as far as we had tracked them. I can't say if he is still with them, or what they are planning on doing."

"Hmm... And there are still a few audio recordings that you're waiting to analyze?"

I nodded. "Yes. And other leads."

"Well, it's probably for the best you wait until you have all the information before you go running in all willy-nilly into a fight where you don't know all of the players."

"Already came to that conclusion, thanks," I said dryly taking a long drink from my glass, his affirmation not helping.

"In the meantime, you can get a few hours of sleep and when y'all wake up, we'll head into the underground immortal city in LA," he stated, undaunted by my remark.

"And why would we do that?" I quipped. Going into the underground city wouldn’t help get Adam back. It would just be an unnecessary delay.

"So we can ask my uncle, Nikolai, for help."

I felt Garret and Blade both perk up at the name. "Please do not embarrass me," I pleaded with them. Constance, and everyone in her tight knit circle were like mortal celebrities, but on steroids. They were the coolest, meanest, smartest, most powerful immortals on the planet. And Nikolai was one of them. "How would he be able to help us?" I played along. He wasn’t a hunting pack and as far as I knew he was residing in Louisiana.

"He and his pack are in LA," Lance's toothy grin was far more telling than his answer.

This all sounded too good to be true.

I wasn't going to get my hopes up about Nikolai being willing to help. He had his own prerogatives and life to live. He had his own enemies he was hunting down. Enemies that were a bigger threat than the ones my mate's kidnappers posed. Even if I begged him, I doubted he would be able, or willing, to help.

"Don't look so excited," Lance teased at my gloomy face. "He's bored out of his mind, I'm sure."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"He's been sent ahead of the council campaign, the one you're supposed to be a part of. Constance wants to ensure both parties are true, that neither is a threat. I'm sure he and his pack wouldn't mind stretching their legs. Not to mention, Allen, the infamous tracker, is part of his pack."

That's right!

I'd completely forgotten about Allen!

Blade and Garret shared a knowing look and I swore I thought they were going to go all fan girl on me. Surprisingly, they held it together.

Lance smirked knowingly at the two before returning his gaze to me. "I'm sure once he recognizes you, he won't hesitate to help. Remember Jadea, you alone were able to zero in on the moles Victor had placed within the immortal half breeds ranks. A deed like that isn't something Constance, or her comrades, forget."

"Well this takes having 'friends in high places', to a different level," Garret commented.

"You know, as much as it would be awesome to meet Nikolai and his pack, I think Lance is onto something. Allen might just be able to track down Adam without alerting his captors. It might just give us the upper hand."

"And, you might be able to talk with Nikolai about how to 'stage' your pending removal from the race."

Yes, there were a lot of great possibilities and resources at our disposal. And it was all thanks to my father. He somehow knew we were going to need more help than what we had. "What time were you thinking we should leave to go to LA?" I asked Lance. I heard the emotion bleeding into my tone as I tried keeping it together, but it was hard. Lance was handing me hope, as if it were an olive branch.