Chapter 71
CARSON Sleep came quickly, but it wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep since I was on my mother’s couch. I woke up and stared at her ceiling. Sleep eluded me, and my mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. It was a struggle to focus, and the weight of our discoveries played on a loop in my head. Lynx paced around in my head most of the night. We were grappling with the next steps, the choices that could lead us to safety or danger. I was responsible for keeping the pack safe, but Leah’s safety was also a priority. I couldn’t risk her returning until we knew it was all safe. Not taking the racing thoughts anymore, I got up and moved off the couch. I stretched and looked for my mum in her room to ensure she was okay. I don’t even remember when she left or even heard her leave. She wasn’t there when I woke up. When I arrived, I spotted her asleep on her bed. Since I didn’t want to disturb her, I went back into the little sitting room and located her notebook. I wrote a quick note and left. I needed to go back to my room to get rid of this weird feeling I was having. I got to my room and let myself in. Letting out a yawn, as I walked over to the closet to get some clothes. There was no point in trying to get some sleep in my bed. It wasn’t going to come anytime soon and I had given up on it since I woke up. Grabbing some sweats and t-shirts, I sat on the bed and looked back to see Lynz sleeping in my head. He must have fallen asleep at some point, which explains why he had been so quiet for the last few hours. Looking back, I got up and walked to the door. I needed to do something; the only thing that came to mind was running. It usually settled me. Training was one of the things that the pack members were supposed to do in the morning, but it was still too early. I walked out of my room and headed straight to the front door. Once outside, I took off running and went for three miles until I returned after an hour. Trying to keep my mind off everything was hard, but I managed it. I jogged to the pack house’s front door and headed inside. Deciding that I should have some food, I headed toward the kitchen and spotted Jenny sitting at the table with a coffee. She looked at me and smiled. “Couldn’t sleep either,” she asked. I gave her a nod and pulled out the chair on the opposite side to sit in, but I decided to grab a coffee. Once my coffee was done, I sat down and took a sip. Jenny looked at me and sighed. “I can’t believe everything we have found out about my parents and the gamma,” she whispered. “This is all because of many things, but what is the right one?” I said nothing, but it was a fair statement. Which was the one that started all this? I didn’t want to think it had anything to do with my mate, but it looked like the situation was partly to blame. Shaking my thoughts away, I sighed. “Why would anyone have it out for her?” I murmured, not implying anything. “I don’t know,” Jenny whispered, her voice laced with sadness. “I wish I knew why my parents had it in for my daughter. She’s just a child in all this. Seventeen should have been an amazing year for her.” Movement in my head made me look back to see Lynx staring at me. He seemed to look at me confused, but a hand touched mine, making me look back at Jenny, who seemed to look at me strangely. “Did you hear what I said,” she asked, which made me look at her guilty. I only caught half of what she said. Jenny stared at me momentarily while Lynx moved closer, but not even to be seen by Jenny. “Leah is only seventeen, Alpha,” she said, making sure I knew she meant business. “She can’t know about you and her, not yet. Not till she turns twenty-one, the legal age for mates to know.” 1 My mind raced over what she had said, and just like a bomb, it sunk in deeper than it should. I couldn’t tell her who I was to her, not for the next four years. Lynx growled, which made me look back at him. He huffed. “Mate,” he murmured. “She is our mate. We need to be with our mate. She needs to know—” “Lynx, she can’t know,” I exclaimed, cutting him off to the point. I knew he wanted her; I did, too, but we had to wait. The law states that both mates have to be twenty-one and over. If anyone told that person who is younger, they would end up in jail. I couldn’t be in jail, and I had a pack to run. “You know what happens if we tell her. We have to do what is right for this pack and her.” Lynx said nothing, but I could feel his anger loom over us. I couldn’t keep this up, not with him. I looked back at Jenny to find her staring at me. “Sorry,” I muttered. “Lynx isn’t too thrilled with the idea of not telling her who we are. But I do understand that we can’t.” Jenny nodded and then let out a sigh. “I always wanted to tell her about our kind,” she murmured, looking off into the distance. “I was going to show her my wolf, let her be around her. I knew it wasn’t the right call. I never thought I would leave like I did. I never thought I had a mate out there for me, especially when I met Larry. He was the sweetest human you could have ever met. He had this infectious laugh that would make even the strongest of men laugh along with him.” Hearing Jenny talk about her ex like this was a little weird, but hearing about Leah’s father was also nice. I wanted Leah to tell me everything, but that would have to wait. Jenny looked at me, slightly embarrassed. “Sorry,” she mumbled, looking toward the cup in her hands. “I haven’t talked about Larry like that in a long time. Not even to Josh. I know he wanted me to talk to 1 Leah about things, but it is hard to bring everything up about what was happening here and explain what was happening with my parents.” I said nothing while she stopped briefly to compose herself and began talking again. “Maybe now she knows about us,” she said, looking at me hopeful. “Maybe she will be willing to listen to me about what happened. I won’t have to leave certain things out. The only reason I couldn’t speak to her was that she was refusing to, but it was hard to put everything into words, and leaving out the whole werewolf thing was even harder.” That does explain a lot. How would you approach something like that with a human child? Shaking my head of the thoughts, I was about to talk to her when a mind link came through from Zain, asking where I was. He had gone to my room and wanted to go for a run. Looks like we were all feeling the effects of everything. With a quick word, I asked him to meet me at the training grounds. A workout and training with him and the pack members would help eliminate the feeling I was having. Closing the mind link to Zain, and looked toward Jenny, who seemed to be deep in thought. I placed my hand in hers, which made her look back at me, slightly taken back, but she soon recovered. I wonder where she went. Not wanting her to think I was being rude, I spoke. “Zain, just mind linking me,” I said, which concerned her. I knew where she went, but I shook my head. “He hasn’t heard anything from anyone. He couldn’t sleep, so he wondered where I was. I told him we were now meeting at the training ground to train. You are more than welcome to join us.” Jenny shook her head and gave me a small smile. “It’s okay,” she said and looked toward the clock. “I better get back to the boys. I had an omega sit in with them while I came down here for some food and coffee.” I said nothing while we both moved. “I’m going to be at training after I have sorted the boys,” she said. “Should we carry on going over everything we collected from the Gamma’s house? Maybe we may find something else out with fresh eyes and some sleep.” Even though it was in short supply, it did sound like an idea to do. I agreed and watched her leave the kitchen. Grabbing my mug, I downed the lukewarm coffee and left the kitchen. I headed the way I went early, but I headed to the training grounds this time.