Desired (Two Marks 2)

Her eyes widened and she closed the lid on the laptop to give me her full attention. “What happened?”

I shrugged. “He didn’t say. You and I have parents. Yours love you maybe a little too much.”

She nodded and laughed in agreement.

“Mine aren’t quite so… overbearing, but Nash never knew his. Now, well, one visit doesn’t make a father and son a family.”

“You’re right.”

I ran a hand over my face. Considered. “I need to run out to Gibson’s place for a bit, but I’ll be back when Nash gets here, okay?”

I didn’t know what Nash just found out about his father, but I couldn’t rely on his emotional response. If it was bad enough to run back to Montana, then I needed to be armed with knowledge to convince him to stay. I needed facts. Wade hadn’t shared many facts, mostly what his parents remembered.

“Sure.” She stood and wrapped her arms around me. I’d never get tired of that—her comfort, and her seeking it in return.

“He’s going to need you.” I kissed the top of her head. I didn’t want to tell her Nash planned on breaking things off. I needed to get clear on the situation first, then I could figure out how to handle it.

Rachel’s brow furrowed in concern as she looked up at me. “Okay. Of course I’ll be here for him. Whatever he needs.”

I leaned down and took her lips with mine, inhaling her sweet scent. “I’ll be back soon.”

Once in my truck, I called Gibson.

“Have you claimed your mate?” he answered.

I ground my teeth. “Not yet. And the wheels are falling off the wagon, to be honest. I was wondering if I could come to your place to read the old pack meeting records or private pack logs that your father kept.”

There was silence for a moment. “What are you looking for?”

“Information on Nash’s dad. Harlan. I’ve heard the stories, but I want the facts.”

“What, specifically, is your concern?”

I stepped on the gas in frustration, as if getting to Gibson’s sooner would solve this shitstorm. “Wade updated you?”

“He did.”

“Nash went to meet Harlan. Now he’s convinced he’s an unsuitable mate, like his father. I want to see if I can find out what really happened. I can trust your father’s take on it more than the elders’ gossip, if you know what I mean.”

Even though the information I was requesting was his father’s, the previous alpha, it was Gibson’s call on whether the information could be shared. While it wasn’t confidential, it was considered private. Privileged, even. “Absolutely,” he said.

Inwardly, I sighed. Outwardly, I released my death grip on the steering wheel, but I didn’t slow down.

“I’ll pull the logs. You got a date? A year?”

“Nash is around thirty, so let’s start with the year before he was born.”

“I’ll get them out. See you in a few.”

I drove the rest of the way to Gibson’s house and knocked on the door, waiting for his voice to shout ‘come in’ before I entered. I found him in his office, an old notebook open on his desk. He was poring over it.

He glanced up at me as I came in, then back at the book. “Sounds like Harlan was nearly moon mad when he marked Nash’s mother. It wasn’t a domestic abuse situation—it was a rough claiming,” Gibson said. “Noble was in the middle of it, so of course, he took some injuries as well. Harlan shifted and ran into the woods and disappeared for days. Everyone was calling for him to be put down for moon madness. Noble definitely wanted him put down—he was angry as hell, and protective of his new mate. The whole pack was up in arms over it and Harlan really looked like the bad guy. My father wasn’t so quick to condemn him though.”

He pointed to a spot in the book. I stood on the opposite side of his desk but couldn’t read it upside down.

“My fathers hunted Harlan, fully prepared to put him down if he’d gone feral, but he hadn’t. They found him holed up in a cave in human form.”

“Shit.” I rubbed a hand across my face imagining the scene. “That’s almost worse.”

“Exactly. Moon madness can be explained—it’s an illness—but a wolf hurting his two mates and not having it? That doesn’t happen. At least, not in this pack. I guess he begged my dad to put him down. He was deeply ashamed about what happened. My father refused.” Gibson handed me the notebook, and I skimmed the story for myself.

“So that’s why Cathryn and Noble left for Montana?” I asked, glancing at Gibson when I’d finished.

“Looks like it,” he replied, sitting back in his chair. “No one but my father could accept the fact that Harlan hadn’t meant to hurt Noble and Cathryn, and that he was safe once his mate had been marked.”