Anger of the Devil

9. A father's love

Nathan watched as the great sequoia trees passed by from the passenger’s seat in the car. Though he had had every reason to be on edge during the drive, he had stayed relatively calm until this point. However, as the darkness had fallen and they had passed the border to California, Nathan had started to feel the anxiety creep up on him. He let out a sigh when he started to recognize the nature surrounding them. 

    “Are you nervous?”

Nathan turned to look at Jake who was sitting in the driver’s seat. The drive had been almost silent until that point, both had been preoccupied by thoughts that had consumed their minds, so Nathan was a bit surprised to hear Jake speak. 

    “I’m not expecting to be greeted with much love when we arrive, so I would be foolish not to be just a little nervous.”

Nathan didn’t know the man, but he knew of him. He had been told that Jake was one of the best mediators in the states and that his calmness was unprecedented. It was a more normal trade in Betas, but he was still told that it was exceptional. Nathan had been apprehensive about Jake coming along at the beginning, but as they got closer he started to be thankful for it. 

    “I get it. I haven't met your father many times before, but I’ve met him enough times to know that he hates the Harlows with a burning passion. You must really love that girl to go against him.”

Nathan watched Jake in silence for a while before he answered. 

    “I believe in this cause, that’s why I went to Wyoming. But yes. I… love her.”

The words were as natural in his mouth as air was in his lungs, yet it still felt weird to say it out loud. They had hardly known each other for more than a month, yet he knew he loved her with all of his body. 

    “Good, ‘cause you loving a girl will probably not be what tips the scale to our advantage. The only thing we can do is to convince Alpha Dominique that not taking part in this will be his own demise.”

Nathan slowly nodded to himself as he once more turned to look at the majestic trees outside of the car. 

    “Let’s start praying then.”

Nathan could hear Jake huff a laugh. 

    “I wouldn’t call myself a pious man, Mr. Dugrey, but you better know I’ve been praying excessively for a long time now.”

Nathan mirrored Jake by huffing a laugh as well. 

    “I think we’ve established that my father and I are very different men. I know that costume is to call your Alpha by that title and their first name, but I would still argue that he is Mr. Dugrey. You can call me Nathan. Please.”

Jake was silent for some time before he answered. 

    “Very well. However, as I understand it, Dom wasn’t as cold before your mother’s death. Losing someone you love can change you. I at least hope he has parts that are less cynical, ‘cause we are very dependent on those parts if we want to succeed.”

Nathan grabbed a water bottle and took a sip as his face muscles went gloomy. 

    “My father was a hard man before my mother died. The happiness in him was killed the day she was.”

    “He lost his true love. I can only imagine how that must have felt and I don’t even have anyone to love in that way. Do you not think that you would become a cold f**k if Nadia was killed?”

Nathan turned his head to look at Jake in disbelief. His fists and jaws clenched as he tried to tell himself that Jake wasn’t threatening Nadia.

    “Too far.”

Jake turned his head just a little to gain eye contact with Nathan while still being able to watch the road. 

    “You would, but you would still know that impending doom on your kind wouldn’t be the solution to that grief. Our hope is that a similar reasoning lives in Alpha Dominique.”

Nathan counted to ten as he tried to relax. After he had cooled down a bit, he let his curiosity take over. 

    “What about Lena?”

Jake’s face didn’t change much but a hint of something flashed on his face for a quick second.

    “What about her?”

    “You said you don’t have anyone to love. What about her? You go awfully long distances to help her. What, is that just because you really, really, care about the cause?”

Jake’s brows furrowed, but he still seemed calm. 

    “Hm.”

Jake looked thoughtful for some time before he spoke again. 

    “Alright, I’ll play along. Your father has a big pack, but it is nothing compared to the Lake Maroon Pack. Now, let’s imagine that something happened to Lena the same way something happened to your mother. How would you think the great Logan Black would react to that? I personally wouldn’t want to be there if that happened. I believe in protecting people whose death could cause a domino effect that would have repercussions for a lot of people. Lena is one of those people, so I protect her.”

Nathan raised an eyebrow. Jake sounded convincing, yet Nathan wasn’t entirely convinced. 

    “That was an answer for another question. Tell me honestly; is there not a part in you that wishes that Logan would have died on that field?”

    “That was an answer to your question, but fair enough. You asked me if I love her; yes. Did I wish that Logan had died on that field? Also yes. But that isn’t because I love her. I have little to no faith in us getting him back to his normal state, and he is a greater burden to us in his present state than he would have been had he been killed. If there ever was a time for me to find that kind of love with Lena, it would have been before she met Logan. I would never want to be the man that comes after a fated mate. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it would not be for me. Luckily for me, love has other ways of manifesting. Did that answer your question?”

Nathan leaned back as he nodded to himself. He still felt as if Jake was dodging the core of his question, but he let him. 

    “Sure. That at least answered the part I was fishing for, I guess.”

Nathan could see Jake roll ever so slightly with his eyes, but he ignored it. 

    “Good, ‘cause we’ve just crossed into the Grey Pines Pack’s territory.”

Nathan tensed up as he realised that Jake was right. The forest that he knew so well was surrounding them as Jake smoothly drove the car down a narrow forest pack. Hidden shapes were moving at the outer perimeter, but they all kept a fairly long distance to the car. They have orders to let us get in. Nathan didn’t know whether that should make him glad or concern him, all he knew was that they needed to be on full alert. Jake had probably thought the same thing as he spoke with a hint of unease. 

    “So, what do you think the chances are for them to attack us the moment we step out of the car?”

Nathan groaned as he bobbed his hand from one side to the other. 

    “I’ll give it a fifty-fifty.”

Jake snickered as he kept on driving. 

    “Well, I’ve had worse odds I suppose.”

Nathan soon saw the great house that was their main pack house. He inhaled deeply and held his breath as the house got closer and closer. They were soon so close that he could see the house in greater detail, and in front of it stood a man; his father. He is still your dad. He may hate you for your choice, but you are his only living family. Nathan needed to say those words to himself to steady his heart. Then he felt the vehicle stop as Jake put the car in park. Nathan quickly glanced at his phone as he contemplated whether or not he should text Nadia. They had barely gotten the chance to say goodbye due to the incident with Cody Ashwood. They had only had the chance to give each other a quick hug in front of her family before Jake had made him leave. Nathan had wanted so desperately to tell her how much he loved her before he had left, but he had not had the chance when everything turned hectic. Besides, he had reminded himself that she was human and didn’t feel their connection in the same way as he did. He had not wanted to freak her out, and so he once again chose to stay silent as he put away his phone.

Jake turned to look at Nathan, and with a nod they both gathered all of their courage and determination to exit the car. The night was silent as they got out. They slowly made their way towards the entrance of the pachḱ house and they were only five feet away when Nathan’s father spoke. 

    “So… you’ve come back?”

Nathan took in a deep breath as he tried to relax. 

    “I have.”

Alpha Dominique Dugrey’s face was hard and cold as he just looked at his son. 

    “For good or are you just here to whine before you go back to Harlow and his b***h daughter?”

Nathan couldn’t stop himself from growling as he began leaping forward, however, Jake caught him before he could. 

    “Alpha Dominique, I apologize that we’ve come at this hour, but we needed to get here as fast as possible. You must have heard of what happened at the Lake Maroon Pack. Many were lost that night, and we’ve come to seek your council. We believe that you may have some information that could help us fight the Red Cross Crows. We do not expect you to fight, we just want to know if there is anything that could just give us some hope.”

His father’s face hadn’t changed as his focus turned from Nathan to Jake.

    “I do, Mr. Hill. However, I have no desire to share that information with you. Me and my new friends have come to an agreement that sadly doesn’t include you, your friends, or my son.”

The last word sounded almost venomous as Nathan’s father once more looked at Nathan. The hate in his eyes was very clear, but Nathan could almost have sworn that he saw something else in them; sadness. However, he didn’t have much time to think about that before multiple figures started to appear from all around them as gnarls were heard. Then, a man with grey hair and a great scar across his face came into the dim light. 

    “Nathan, Jakob. It’s so good to see you.”

Nathan swallowed hard as he saw the creepy smile on Joshua Fenris’ mouth.