Chapter 9
the plane had landed at a small private air strip Colin had found, they had a rental car waiting. Dillon found himself wondering, not for the first time, what he would do without Colin, he seemed to think of everything.
Logan knew the location of the hospital so he drove while Dillon found Vasile’s number in the directory of Alphas. Yes, they had a book with all the Alpha’s numbers in it. Dillon couldn’t help but think that somebody else had a Colin as well who had come up with the idea. Dillon dialed the number and as he listened to it ring all he could think was how this was going to be interesting. Vasile answered on the fourth ring.
“Vasile,” he answered with his name instead of a hello.
“Vasile this is Dillon Jacobs, Alpha of the Denver Pack. I wanted to inform you that I am in Coldspring. Is there another Alpha I need to call?”
Vasile was silent for several beats before he responded, “No, the pack here in Coldspring is not official yet. I will notify the Alpha that you are here.” Dillon heard Vasile take and audible breath and then let it out slow.
“Do I want to know why you are here, Jacobs?” Vasile asked, using his surname.
“I have a feeling you know. I want to speak with Lilly and I want to meet my daughter. It is my understanding that she has been in an accident.” There was a slight growl in Dillon’s voice as he answered Vasile.
“How, may I ask, did you learn about Jacquelyn, or the accident for that matter?” Vasile asked, his voice laced with skepticism.
Dillon decided to let Vasile draw his own conclusion by giving half truths to his questions.
“Pack members talk, Vasile. You know how it is. A group of wolves together is worse than a beauty shop when it comes to gossip. So naturally, when I heard that there had been a challenge given to the strongest Alpha’s pup, and it was in Lilly’s home town, I checked into things.”
Dillon did not mention that he'd had Logan following Jacquelyn, or that he'd been at the scene of the accident. He didn’t think Vasile needed those details.
“We are on our way to the hospital now. Would you please ask Lilly to meet me in the entrance? And I would ask, Vasile, that you not let Jacque know I am here yet.”
“I will let Lilly know, however, I will not guarantee that she will see you." Dillon started to interrupt but Vasile cut him off. "Jacque has been unconscious for a month. Lilly has been through hell for that month, she is stressed out enough right now. Nevertheless, I will let her know. If you get here and she isn't waiting in the lobby, then call me tomorrow, we will go from there. However, I must know, how is your mate going to feel when Lilly sends you home in a pine box, because you have to know this isn’t going to go well,” the Alpha told him.
“I will deal with Lilly. I have five of my wolves with me, my Beta and my first four. We are not here as a challenge in any way to you or yours. I simply want to meet my daughter,” Dillon told him, his voice never betraying the subtle lie. He didn’t just want to meet her, he planned to take her home with him.
“Understood,” Vasile answered. "I would ask that you and your wolves lay low, and treat this as if it were my permanent territory. In other words, don't give me a reason to regret having let you remain here. My Beta, Decebel, will be waiting with her as he is the most neutral party when it comes to Jacque and I think you will need some neutrality while you are, as you said, dealing with Lilly. You will have to let me know how that goes,” Vasile said in sarcastic amusement. “What is your ETA?”
“My Beta says we will arrive in ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes, how courteous of you to give ample notice of your arrival.” Vasile had hung up before Dillon could respond to the jab.
“Did that go as you expected?” Logan asked him.
“Pretty much, although Vasile seems very calm for such a dominant Alpha. Those are often the most deadly ones. They never betray their emotions, so one never knows what their next move is.”
“Sounds like he would be a good poker player,” Logan said dryly.
Dillon didn’t acknowledge his Beta’s words, instead he thought about the best way to keep Lilly calm enough to let him see Jacque before he dropped the whole 'I’m here to take my daughter away' bit. Unfortunately there were no bright ideas that fell from the sky, nor had he come across a book called how to appease the lover you scorned for dummies.
They pulled into the hospital parking lot. It was packed, so Logan had to park the rental a good ways away from the front entrance.
“I’m going to go in and talk with Lilly. I want all of you to stay here. She is already upset about Jacque being unconscious for so long and having me here is adding insult to injury, so I don’t want to freak her out more by having a pack of unknown wolves descend on her.” Dillon knew that talking with Lilly would probably be harder than talking to Jacque. He had history with Lilly. The kind of history that leaves a wound on your heart that will never heal. It scabs over, often repeatedly, but when the scab comes off it is just as raw and painful as the day the wound was inflicted. Dillon was lucky, he had his mate, whose presence often held the scab in place. Who did Lilly have, he wondered.
Dillon was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of Logan’s voice. “At what point to you plan to claim the rights of an Alpha regarding a minor?”
“I will decide that after I meet with Lilly,” he told him.
Without another word Dillon opened his door and stepped into the warm Texas heat, and though it was hot, that was not what had him sweating. He shut the car door and turned to walk to the entrance of the hospital. At that moment he truly couldn't say what would be worse, facing a lover that you had hurt, or chewing on a mouthful of thumb tacks. When Dillon reached the entrance and opened the door the first thing he saw was Lilly’s beautiful face. He knew then that he would much rather chew thumb tacks any day over facing the betrayal in her eyes.