Alpha King’s Secret Baby (The Runaway Mate #1)

Chapter 18

Bastien

Watching Casey and Theo leave shouldn’t have made my heart clench so painfully. Theo was a sweet kid, and Casey was an amazing mom. The fear in Casey’s eyes when she’d thought she’d lost him was painful to see. My protective instincts had come out, and not just from my wolf side.

I rubbed a hand over my face. I needed to get out of Delta Springs as soon as possible. The short time I’d spent with Casey and Theo felt too damn good. But he wasn’t my kid, and this wasn’t my life. I was here for a purpose and needed to get the answers I came for.

Wandering around aimlessly hadn’t achieved anything—unless I counted all the accidental run-ins with Casey, which I didn’t. I needed to change my strategy—or find one in the first place.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and walked back to my truck. My fingers collided with a stiff piece of paper, and I pulled out Oscar’s business card. There was an idea. He said he knew other shifters in town. Even if he wasn’t friends with Frankie, he might know someone who could get in contact with him. It was a long shot, but it was my best—and only—option.

I took out my phone and dialed the number, praying it wasn’t another dead end.

Oscar picked up after a few rings. “Hello?”

“Hey, this is Bastien. We met in the bar the other night, and you said I should call if I needed help,” I explained, hoping it wasn’t a drunken offer. Though, I’d been the drunk one, not him.

“Bastien,” he said warmly. “How can I help you? Please tell me it’s not a plumbing problem because today is my day off.”

“No, it’s not plumbing-related,” I said, unable to fake a laugh. “You mentioned knowing other shifters in town. I came here looking for someone. You don’t happen to know Frankie Delacorte, do you?”

There was a long span of silence. I checked to make sure the call hadn’t dropped, but he was still on the line.

“Why are you looking for Frankie?” he asked.

My pulse quickened. So, he did know Frankie.

I thought about the orders I’d received to bring Frankie back to Kildaire for trial. I’d been wary of the idea from the start, but the longer I stayed away from the pack, the less inclined I was to complete Kildaire’s mission. I needed answers and wouldn’t get them from anyone in Moon Edge.

“I think he might know something about my father’s death,” I said, putting it all on the line. “I’m hoping he can give me some answers, that’s all.”

“Frankie used to be in the Moon Edge pack,” Oscar pointed out. I knew the question he wanted to ask, my lie of omission coming back to haunt me.

“I know,” I said, shutting my eyes. “I’m from the Moon Edge pack.”

An even longer silence ensued. I silently cursed myself for telling the truth. I should have come up with some plausible story, but I’d tipped my hand instead, and Oscar might tell Frankie to get out of town before I could find him. Then, he’d be lost forever.

“Can you meet me at the bar tonight?” he asked. I couldn’t ascertain the meaning behind his tone.

“Yeah, I can do that,” I said. What else could I do? This was the closest I’d come to finding Frankie.

“I’ll meet you there at seven,” he said, all business.

“See you then,” I confirmed.

I hung up, slipped my phone into my pocket, and sighed. I didn’t know what to expect from my meeting with Oscar, but I supposed it was a good sign that he wanted to meet at all.

The chocolate ice cream I’d eaten with Casey and Theo sat heavily in my stomach. I’d either get my answers at the meeting or lose my last hope of finding them. Regardless of the outcome, there wouldn’t be a reason to stick around Delta Springs afterward.

***

I arrived at seven on the dot and found Oscar seated at the bar with a beer in hand. His back was straight, his tension mirroring my own. I sat on the stool beside him.

“Hey, thanks for meeting me,” I said. He nodded. “Look, I probably should have said something when we first met—”

Oscar put his hand up to stop me.

“Do you want something to drink?” he asked. “It’s on me.”

I frowned. I wanted to get straight to the point, but a drink was a friendly gesture. I needed to keep a clear head for our conversation, but with shifter metabolism, a beer wouldn’t hurt.

“I’ll have a beer, thanks,” I said.

Luckily, the bar wasn’t busy, and the bartender delivered my drink in a matter of minutes. I took a sip from my beer while I waited for Oscar to speak.

“There was an incident that finally made me realize I needed to leave my pack,” he said, fiddling with the label on his beer bottle. “Five years ago, we were sent into Kisatchie Forest on another stupid mission. We were supposed to pick off any wolves we found to weaken the Mood Edge pack.”

I listened intently, my grip on my drink tightening. I didn’t like where this story was going, but I didn’t say anything or try to stop Oscar from telling it.

“We found a wolf—a female on her own. We were a group of five. The odds were good. Unfair. We chased her through the woods. We were going to kill her,” Oscar said, eyes fixed on the bar top. “But other wolves came to her rescue. They killed my comrades—my friends. I was the only one who got away.”

I swallowed hard. I knew of every skirmish we’d had with mountain lions over the last ten years. Only one incident matched his description—the day I’d found Casey. I’d killed Oscar’s friends. A lead weight settled in my stomach.

“Oscar,” I said, ready to confess my sins, “I used to lead our pack protectors. I was the one who killed your friends. I’m sorry.”

He went pale, the blood draining from his face.

I waited for him to demand retribution. It was only right.

“No, I’m the one who should be sorry,” he finally said, looking at me with haunted eyes. “When we found that wolf alone in the forest, she was in her human form. She was crying. We chased her—attacked her unprovoked—and paid for it.”

I remembered why Casey had been in the forest that day. She’d been spreading her father’s ashes. A flare of protectiveness rose in me once more, but it was in the past. I regretted killing the mountain lions instead of simply fending them off. Kildaire had us fighting a war, and everyone suffered for it except him.

“All of us lost people we shouldn’t have,” I said. “I’m sorry for my part in it.”

Oscar nodded and took a swig of his beer. He set it down with a grimace.

“I have to ask you something,” he said. I nodded. “Did the girl survive? The wolf we attacked?”

I cracked a smile. “Yeah, she did. She lives in town, actually.”

“In Delta Springs?”

“Yeah. Small world, right?”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said with a shake of his head. “I guess fate has a way of bringing everything full circle, huh?”

Fate certainly had a way of doing something. Like deciding Casey was my mate when I didn’t want one. It felt like the hand of destiny was still trying to push us together.

“Something like that,” I said with a sigh. “I’m pretty sure the wolf, Casey, is the one who sold Frankie the protection symbol that’s keeping him hidden.”

“Fate has a sense of humor.” Oscar laughed. He was beginning to look like his usual self.

“Sometimes a sick sense of humor,” I added.

Oscar smiled, and we both relaxed and sipped our beers.

“So,” he said after a moment. “You want to speak to Frankie.”

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “I think he might have the answers I’m looking for.”

“All right.” He glanced over his shoulder and nodded at a guy in one of the booths. It was hard to make him out in the dim light. “Hey, Frankie! Come over here.”

My mouth went dry as the man got up and walked toward us. Frankie was in his forties but looked careworn. Leathery skin covered his thin frame, but his arms were still leanly muscled. The fleur-de-lis he must have bought from Casey was on a cord around his neck. He looked at me warily as he took the stool beside me. He was covered in scars, and one eye was milky from an injury.

“Just so you know,” Frankie said in a gruff voice, “I’m only here because Oscar vouched for you.”

“Noted,” I replied. It was now or never. I took a steadying breath. “I heard you left the pack after a failed mission—the same one my father was killed on.”

Frankie’s mouth thinned. I tensed, suddenly worried about what I would hear. If Frankie had abandoned his squadron, I wasn’t sure I could hold it against him—not after the conversation I’d had with Oscar. We had all been forced to fight because of the whims and egos of our Alphas.

“What was your father’s name?” Frankie asked.

“Claude Renard,” I answered. It had been a long time since I’d said my father’s name out loud.

Frankie’s eyes widened.

“Shit, you’re Bastien?” he asked in disbelief. “Claude and Delia’s kid? I haven’t seen you since you were, what? Six? Seven, maybe?”

It wasn’t a surprise that he knew my parents. Everybody knew each other in the pack, but I had no memory of him.

“Yeah, that’s me,” I said. “I don’t remember you, though.”

“That makes sense. You were young, and I only ever saw you when I came around for meetings.”

“Meetings?” I had no clue what he was talking about.

“Yeah, your parents’ meetings.” He must have seen the blank look on my face. “You know, about reforming the pack. I often saw you hanging around.”

Is this guy playing me?

I didn’t understand what he was talking about, and he still hadn’t answered my question. “Are you going to tell me about my father, or am I wasting my time here?” I asked, nervous energy stinging my skin.

“It’s all connected, kid,” he said with a shake of his head. “You really don’t remember any of this?”

“No,” I said through gritted teeth.

Frankie sighed. “Your dad was in the same squadron with me. I don’t know how it is now, but back then, we kept constant patrols. Kildaire had taken the territory maybe ten years prior, and we were still under constant threat from other shifters. A bunch of us didn’t like how Kildaire ran things. It seemed like every year, he imposed more and more restrictions. Your dad convinced us that we needed change. He didn’t want to challenge Kildaire to become the Alpha. But we figured we could reform things peacefully if we banded together.”

My mind was struggling to put the pieces together. I’d grown up thinking our pack had rightfully inhabited our territory for generations, and while Oscar had told me otherwise, I hadn’t fully processed what that meant. More importantly, I’d always been told my father was loyal to the pack—that I should emulate him by dedicating my life to the same cause. Kildaire had personally recommended me for pack protector training when I was young. Moon Edge’s restrictive rules had troubled me, too, but I’d obeyed because I thought I was following in my father’s footsteps.

“And I’m just supposed to believe you?” I asked, even though my gut told me he was being honest. I glanced at Oscar, who sat silently on his stool. He nodded, encouraging me to trust Frankie.

“That’s up to you,” Frankie shrugged. “But I went to your house for meetings about how to make it happen. Your mom was a firecracker, the ringleader of the whole operation. The rest of us didn’t have wives at that point; we were too young. Your mom ran circles around us.”

That sounded like Mom, all right. “So, what happened?” I asked.

Frankie’s face paled.

“Kildaire found out what we were doing,” he said. “Tobias had been experimenting with herbs to push his powers. He started to foresee things, and Kildaire used the visions to strike our enemies before they could mount a defense. As far as I know, one of his visions was about us. We found out too late. Kildaire sent us on a mission undermanned and underprepared. It was supposed to be a recon, and we ended up outnumbered by another wolf pack. I was the only one who managed to get away.”

He pointed to the marks on his face. It must have been a hell of an injury to leave a scar like that. He was lucky to be alive.

Anger burned in my chest, consuming my heart. Kildaire had sent my father to his death on purpose and claimed it was a mission gone wrong. There was no doubt in my mind that Frankie was telling the truth. I could feel it.

“I got back to the commune just in time to hear Kildaire telling the pack that we’d all died defending the pack from our enemies,” Frankie continued. “Nobody had reported back to him. That’s when I knew for sure it was a setup. I tried to warn your mom, but Tobias gave her one of his teas to calm her nerves before I could. It was poisoned.”

I felt like I’d been hit by a ten-ton truck.

“Poison?” I asked, my head spinning. “No. My mom died from the mate bond. She was so heartbroken about my father’s death that she couldn’t carry on.”

Frankie gave me a sad look. “I’m sorry, kid. I smelled the aconite myself. Mate bonds are strong, but they don’t kill people.”

Aconite. Wolfsbane. It was one of the few accurate myths about us. It was deadly to wolf shifters, even in small doses.

My mom wasn’t collateral damage. She’d been murdered, just like my dad.

I clenched my fists, my fury rivaled by the pain of reopened wounds. My grief was a crushing weight on my chest. My whole life was based on a lie. My decision to join the pack protectors. The reason I didn’t want a mate. I hadn’t wanted my mate to go through the same pain I’d experienced, hadn’t wanted to leave my kid an orphan. I’d rejected Casey, thrown her aside because of a falsehood.

“Are you alright?” Oscar asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged him off, standing from my seat.

“I need some air,” I said.

Not waiting for a response, I left the bar and stepped into the night.