Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
J acob awoke the next morning and just lay in bed. He had nothing to get up for, it’s not as if he could finish college, considering the college was on pack lands. Jacob sighed in frustration, he was so close to finishing.
His father had wanted him to drop out and take full time Alpha lessons. It was only a promise Jacob had made to his mother that he would stay at college until he finished, which had stopped him, but now it looked like he would have to drop out anyway.
“Sorry mum,” he said softly, his heart aching. He loved his mum more than anything. When she got sick and died it had hit him hard. Being only bonded mates, his father hadn’t died along with her. Jacob had wished more than once that they had been fated mates, then he wouldn’t have had his father’s influence in his life. He was beginning to think his father had been wrong about a lot of things. The foremost in his mind was ruling with an iron fist, and humiliating people in public.
Again, he thought about Fintan and the way he had treated him. The way he had been made to humiliate him in public. He rubbed his chest when he thought about the mate he jilted. As he was rubbing his chest, he realised it wasn’t as sore as it usually was when he thought about Fintan.
He shook his head. Fintan was lost to him, but he had another mate out there. If he couldn’t have Fintan, he could always mate with the new wolf fate had given him, it was a better option than being alone forever. Sure, his mate would have to give up everything, but he got to spend the rest of his life with Jacob, so what more could he want?
His thoughts then took him to Alpha Cresswell. The man had no manners, he could have knocked on the door and asked to see Jacob. The man must have realised that Jacob’s whole world had changed in an instant. But did he care? No, he just came in and started going through his father’s things.
He might have a screwed-up vision of what an Alpha should be like, but he was pretty sure knocking on the door and then asking Jacob to show him round was the way things should have been done.
It had just made Jacob so angry, sure he could have shown the man the respect he was due as an Alpha but Cresswell hadn’t shown him any respect either.
He still hadn’t shifted and his arm was killing him. He did think about shifting, but knowing he would have to get used to not doing so, he didn’t want to. Now, however, that he reassessed the situation, it wasn’t only his arm that hurt. He was pretty sure his whole body would be covered in bruises.
Desperately wanting coffee, Jacob managed to get out of bed, with only a groan or two, and went to make coffee, via the bathroom.
He looked in the mirror and saw the faint handprints around his neck from where Cresswell held him against the wall — in a few hours that bruise should be gone. Luckily, he didn’t have any bruises or cuts on his face. He pulled his t-shirt up and saw he was covered in bruises, pretty much everywhere. They were almost healed and now at that sickly yellow stage — in a few hours even those bruises would be gone. He just wished his arm would heal as quickly. He unwrapped his makeshift bandage and looked at his arm, it still had a chunk out of it, that was slowly healing but on a positive at least the bleeding had stopped.
He saw no point in getting washed and dressed, so once he had finished his business and washed his hands, he brushed his teeth and went to make coffee.
Sipping his coffee, he wandered over to one of the windows and looked out. All the windows looked out onto the woods that surrounded the lodge. He was just looking past one of the trees when something caught his eye, it was a tuft of light blue hair. Had his mate stayed outside his lodge all night?
Putting his cup down, he opened the door and walked towards the clump of trees. As he got closer he saw that it was indeed his mate.
Jacob tried not to laugh when he saw that the wolf had patches of blue hair all over his body. He had never seen something like that before.
Knowing that his mate would have to shift quickly before anyone saw a wolf on the loose in England, Jacob bent down and stroked his head. “Wake up, little wolf,” he said gently.
Fran came awake in an instant. He couldn’t believe he had fallen asleep, some guard he was. He was surprised to see Jacob crouched down beside him in his sleepwear.
“Where are your clothes?” Jacob asked him.
Fran nodded and turned slightly to the right. Jacob saw them along with Fran’s phone.
“I’ll grab your stuff, you go into the lodge. If anyone is looking, hopefully they’ll just think you’re a dog with cute blue hair.”
Fran looked at Jacob and titled his head.
“You didn’t know your wolf had the same colour blue as your hair?” Jacob asked.
Fran shook his head.
“We can talk about that in a little while, let’s go into the lodge,” Jacob picked up Fran’s clothes and phone and stood up.
Fran walked beside him and into the lodge.
Jacob closed the door behind them and settled the clothes on the table. “Do you want coffee? I could do with another one.”
And before Fran could shift and answer, Jacob walked into the kitchen and put the kettle on.
He turned back and looked at Fran who was sitting on his haunches watching him.
Jacob sighed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to change and be near me either. I’ll make you coffee and put it in a bowl for you. I’ll ask you questions about how you want it so I get it just right for you.”
Fran was touched that Jacob would go to so much trouble. He was going to shift when Jacob started talking.
“Cresswell was rude. He didn’t care for the fact that I had lost my father the evening before, or that the life I knew was over. He just swept in, without a ‘hello’ and started going through my father’s things. Does he care that a lot of that money came from my mother? No, he just decided that apart from the restitution needed for the Pullman pack, the rest of the money was his. He didn’t care that my mother picked out the furniture in the house, and that a lot of the main pieces came down through her family, generation to generation. No, because it was in the house it now belonged to him,” Jacob turned to look out the kitchen window. “He graciously allowed me to take family mementoes, but everything else I had to leave behind.
“He didn’t care my father built that house with his own money, no, all he cared about was me leaving so his family could move in,” Jacob placed his hands on the sink and dropped his head. “He just didn’t care. All he saw was that he was now the new Alpha and that everything was his.
“He also told me that there had been complaints made by pack members against my father. Apparently, if he hadn't been killed in that fight, the Council was sending someone to investigate him. Sure, he was a hard Alpha, but was he really that bad?” Jacob laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “What am I saying? I know how bad he was. He didn’t treat me any differently than he did other pack members.”
Fran shifted. “Was he abusive?” he asked gently.
Jacob shrugged. “Sometimes,” he replied without turning round.
Fran pulled his jeans on. “I’m sorry you had to live through that. No one should have to suffer violence from those who are supposed to care about them.”
“He wasn’t always like that. He changed after my mother died, any softness he had died with her.”
“I’m also sorry for how Cresswell treated you. He should have been more understanding.”
“Thanks.” Jacob pushed off from the sink. “I was making coffee. Now you can tell me how you take it.”
“Just milk, please. Does my wolf really have blue hair?”
“Tuffs of it, yep. I’ve never seen that before,” he replied with a quick smile.
“Me either, but I like to be different,” he said, with a shoulder shrug. “You didn’t shift and heal.”
Jacob shook his head. “I need to get used to not shifting if I have to live in non-pack areas. I’ll need to find somewhere to live away from forests. Well, being an outcast, away from everyone, really,” he said in a resigned tone, making two coffees.
“There must be something we can do about that. I can understand marking you as a lone wolf, but to mark you as an outcast is going a bit far.”
Jacob brought the drinks over to the table and they both sat down.
“How did you attack him? As a wolf?”
Jacob looked up at him in surprise. “How did you know I attacked him?”
“Uncle Berni got a call from Cresswell.”
Anger flashed in Jacob’s eyes. “Your uncle is Alpha Pullman?”
“He is,” Fran confirmed.
Jacob jumped up and stomped over to the door. “Get out.”
Fran stood up. “Look ...”
Jacob interrupted him. “I said get out,” he bit out angrily.
Fran sighed and picked up his phone and the rest of his clothes and without another word left the lodge. He heard the door slam behind him.
Fran pulled his top on and then his shoes before walking towards the hotel restaurant. He still needed coffee and now food.
Fran sat at the dining table drinking his coffee. He couldn’t bring himself to eat anything, so he was overdosing on coffee, trying to figure out how he could finally get through to Jacob.
He snorted, Jacob hadn’t even asked his name, if that didn’t tell Fran all he needed to know, nothing would. But now he had to decide if he should stick around or go back home and forget all about Jacob.
He shook his head. He didn’t really have a choice, he needed to stay near Jacob. Underneath all his anger, Fran sensed a frightened, confused young man. All he needed was a steady guiding hand to help him. Which, for the moment, didn’t look like it would be him.
Downing his drink, Fran left money on the table and headed to reception to see about booking a lodge for the next week or so.
Jacob picked his coffee up and went into the lounge area where he then sat down, trying to get his anger under control. How typical was that? His mate was related to the Alpha that ruined his life. He should have figured his mate was a relative of the Pullmans and not just a regular enforcer.
This was his punishment for breaking his mating with Fintan, it had to be. Why else would the fates give him a member of the Pullman pack and family as a mate? Well, the joke was on them. He'd mate ... Jacob paused in his thinking. I don’t even know his name. He shrugged, he could learn it in time if he wanted to. Well, he’d have to when he mated the guy.
He couldn’t wait to see the look on Alpha Pullman’s face when he saw his nephew had mated Jacob. As an outcast, the Alpha could kill him, but in doing so, he would be killing his nephew as well.
Jacob smiled and sipped his coffee. Yes, that would work out nicely. Then he could go back to the Bishop pack and retake it, knowing that Alpha Pullman would have his back. He seemed like a family man, so he was bound to, right? And his mate had watched over him last night, which means that no matter how Jacob treated him, he was sticking around, so he would most probably run into him again.
His thoughts took him to Joe, his best friend. He hoped Joe was alright and keeping out of Cresswell and Nidel’s way.
With that thought in mind, he went back to drinking his coffee, knowing he now had a plan.