Her Mortal Mate

Chapter Twelve: Vulnerable

Jadea

When we arrived back at Lance's house, Briar had an update for us. It wasn't much, but every little bit counted, right? Sargent Moore's people had located the SUV rental and the name and address the renter had used. The name had been the same one used for the hotel: Jericho Williams. An alibi name since nothing was coming up in the system and the picture of the driver's license given to the rental company had been an impeccable fake. The address given hadn't panned out either. Nothing had come up for the quad yet. All other video and audio had been reviewed and nothing of significance had been determined from them.

Sargent Moore and his crew had utilized most of their immediate resources.

"Thank you Sargent Moore," I said. I'd decided to call and hear directly from the horses mouth what they had or hadn't found out. "I appreciate you and your crews diligent work."

"We aren't done yet, Jadea," he responded.

"I know. And I appreciate that, too. Once Adam's children and Mrs. Lindsay have been picked up, Briar and Derrick will leave. I will keep you updated on pertinent information I find if you do the same?" We both knew this was a bit of a lie, since we both knew some of the information I came up with most likely wouldn't be able to be shared. But, I was serious in that I would share what I could with him.

"Of course. I want him found safe and sound, Jadea." Of course he did. He was a caring soul. Most officers and detectives were, even though they tended to close themselves off from the world due to the nature of their work. They never liked losing someone, even a complete stranger. "Take care."

After I'd gotten off of the phone with Sargent Moore, I reached out to my father. "Hey squirt, I'm just getting into California now."

"Well, that was faster than I'd anticipated."

"I figured I'd go on foot and rent an SUV to take them back, that way you can have Briar and Derrick sooner."

"You always think of everything! Thank you, daddy, for everything. Especially sending me to Lance."

"Was he able to help you?"

"Yes! Much more than I thought possible."

"So, you've already talked to Nikolai?"

"I have. And he will be sending Allen out to track down Adam. But there's a catch to his help."

"Oh?"

"I have to help him get to the bottom of what is going on. I have to hunt down those who are responsible for this elaborate threat." I filled him in on everything that had transpired since last I'd talked to him and how Adam's captors had planned on not only intending to use Adam to gain a significant ransom from me, but to also use my pack and I to continue to get rich off of our hunting skills.

"I don't think it's just this pack who is behind it. I feel like there's someone calling the shots."

"You think there's a mega alpha?"

A mega alpha, in the werewolf world, was an alpha of several packs. There had only ever been a handful in the existence of werewolves. The most recent one being Constance herself. However, it was expected from her seeing as she was the head of the Imperium Guard--an elite force fate herself picked out during times when the world faced great animosity, evil and change. "Possibly. Or maybe there are several family alphas working together." If it was my blood family who was behind all of this, I was sure my father had several alpha sons who would work with Hans to bring me down. I was sure my success--financially and familially--was irritating him and could be one of the reasons he sought to keep me from winning the councilor position. “I wouldn’t put it past my biological father to be the mastermind behind all of this somehow. He is a very slimy individual who sought to gain what he could from others, by exploiting them or through other means.” That much I could remember of Hans.

While I wanted to give my biological family the benefit of the doubt, my gut instincts were telling me they were behind this somehow, especially since Chance Campbell was my competitor for the seat.

"If I would have known the Campbells were your biological family, Jadea, I would have told you about Chance sooner. Maybe we could have known about this ahead of time?"

"It's okay, daddy. I wouldn't have ever thought the Campbells would have done something like this, to be honest."

My biological family had made sure to cut out all of those who they had deemed undesirable. I would never have guessed they would have gone out of their way to come after me like this, and use me to their gain seeing as I was ‘dangerous’.

The reason they had sterilized me before abandoning me as a child, was because of my power of persuasion. It was a dangerous and manipulative power to have, and one they had ultimately been afraid of because they didn’t want anyone being able to take control over them or the empire they had built off of others backs.

It was still curious how they were coming after me and trying to use me to their advantage, seeing as my powers hadn’t changed. Perhaps, they had a shield that could protect them from my powers? Or was there some other reason, other than money, that was driving them?

If I had to guess, based on everything we had found out from the audio, Chance was possibly another one of those ‘undesirables’ they had sterilized and abandoned. It had been indicated in the audio that my competitor was being controlled and manipulated. Maybe Chance was being manipulated into doing this with the promise of ‘love’ and ‘family’ as his reward.

It was a long shot of a theory, but not entirely unbelievable. It would be something to look into.

“We will get to the bottom of this, squirt. Just keep your head high.”

“Thank you, daddy. For everything!”

“Of course, Jadea. I love you.”

I teared up as he said those words. I couldn’t remember the last time he had told me he loved me. And while I knew he did, it was still nice to hear him say it. “I love you too.”

“Caden, Rick and Andy will be there shortly.”

“I’ll give Lance a heads up.”

“I’ll have Briar let you know when I have picked up your packages, Jadea.”

“And just let me know when you all get safely home.”

“Will do. Stay strong.”

After disconnecting from my father, I felt more of my disconnected and broken self shift back into place.

I was still terrified, but I had more confidence that we would be able to retrieve Adam in time. Not only would I have my father’s best trackers, I would also have Allen. While they were tracking down Adam, I would be distracting those who had captured him by playing the frantic mate.

About a half an hour passed by before Caden, Rick and Andy showed up. After the introductions were made, Caden took me aside and held me as I fell apart. Hell! I was an emotional mess. One minute I was calm, cool and collected. Then in the next I was a raging ball of fiery emotions. I was so afraid for Adam. I wanted to rip apart those who had captured him and attempted to kill his children. I hadn’t been able to have a good cry to help get all of this pent up emotion off of my chest. As much as I trusted and adored my pack, I never felt like I could show my vulnerability like this with them. I was their alpha.

But with Caden, there was a different relationship there. He had once been my Dom. I trusted him far more than most. I was far more comfortable with him than anyone, with the exception of Adam. I knew I could fall apart and I wouldn’t be judged when I was with him.

“Lay it on me, Jay,” he encouraged. “Get it all out now.”

“I’m afraid, even with all of our recourses, we won’t get to him on time. That they’ll kill him! I can’t lose him, Caden,” I sobbed, looking up into his face. “But, I think even more than that, I’m terrified I will have to tell Aidan and Anika their father… Their father…”

“He isn’t dead yet, right?” He asked softly.

I shook my head. “According to what we know, they won’t do anything to him until after I’ve completely backed out of the race and they have gained my compliance,” I sniffled. But that could easily be a lie.

“What else?” he pressed, knowing there was more.

“I’m afraid after we successfully save him, he will hate me for this. Even though I don’t know how I could have stopped it from happening. Other than not allowing him space after what had happened last year.”

Caden nodded and pulled me in closer. “That is a very real possibility, and it is a logical fear. Know that whatever happens, I will be here for you. Know that you are not alone. Know you will always have me to fall back on if he does reject you, Jadea. You are loved by me, by your pack, by your father. You are wanted by all of us. You are important in so many ways. Even if your true soul mate rejects you, it does not mean you are worthless. It might take time for you to recover from such a blow, but know you can recover from it.”

I nodded, hating that the reassurances he was giving wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. But it was everything I needed to hear.

I was strong. I was my own individual just like Adam. Our decisions were our own to make. Our paths and fates ones we had to chose and forge by ourselves. If he decided that in this lifetime, we weren’t meant to be together, then I would respect his wishes. We hadn’t made a blood bond. There was nothing forcing us to be together. Our souls weren’t tied to each other. If he did reject me, I couldn’t say what I would do other than watch from a distance and wait until he passed from old age, where I would decide to pass with him. I would make sure to look for him in our next life.

“Jadea,” Lance called out. “Nikolai’s here. It’s show time!”