CHAPTER 9
“ I got a message from the hospital asking if you were alright as you have taken a leave of absence,” Robbie told Fran.
“What did you say?”
“That you needed this time as you were going through personal stuff and you’d be back as soon as you could.”
“Thanks, that’s pretty much what I told him.”
“Did Cresswell explain to Uncle Berni everything that happened with him and Jacob?”
Frank and Robbie nodded. “He did. Cresswell said he went about things all wrong,” Frank said.
“That’s what Jacob said. He also said that a lot of the money came from his mother’s side of the family and had nothing to do with his father and that a lot of the furniture in the house were antiques passed down from his mother’s side of the family. Hopefully, I talked Jacob out of taking any money out of his father’s accounts, but who knows what he did in the end.”
“Tis a bad business. In shifter law, whatever is in the pack house and in the Alpha’s accounts automatically goes to the new Alpha unless restitution is called for,” Frank reminded them.
“Yeah, I know that,” Fran said. “But I can see how it might be frustrating for the dead Alpha’s family.” He paused for a moment. “How do you think Finn is getting on?”
“Hopefully he can talk some sense into Jacob,” Robbie said.
Before anyone could answer, the lodge door opened and Finn came stomping in, closing the door loudly behind him.
“It went well then?” Robbie asked him.
Finn dropped into a chair next to Robert. “I get that he’s hurting, but he’s also an arse.”
“And this is news to you?” Frank asked him, raising an eyebrow.
Finn shook his head. “Not really, but I had hopes that maybe when he met Fran he would fall over himself to mate with him.”
“I take it that he still wants nothing to do with me,” Fran said softly.
“I don’t think it’s you personally. I think it’s the whole Pullman name he’s having issues with. He’s blaming Berni for ruining his life and Cresswell for taking everything from him.” Finn sighed.
“So what do I do now?” Fran asked no one in particular.
Frank blew out a breath. “I wish I knew.”
“This is the part where I go and talk to him,” Robbie said, standing up.
Finn snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
“Jacob is still injured from his fight with Cresswell. See if you can get him to shift, so he can heal,” Fran said.
Robbie nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Jacob scowled as he looked at Robert Pullman. “Am I to get a visit from everyone?”
“Not everyone, no, only a few of us came to help Fran.”
“Go away,” Jacob said, going to close the door.
Robbie put his hand out and stopped him. “We will be talking, and we’ll talk now,” he asserted, pushing his way into the lodge.
He heard Jacob cursing him under his breath, but chose to ignore it.
Robbie could feel the pain Jacob was in, but what surprised him was that not all that pain was physical.
“I don’t know if you know, but I’m a doctor. How injured are you?”
Jacob didn’t bother to close the door and walked into the lounge. “I’ll be fine in a few days, I don’t need a doctor.”
Robbie rolled his eyes, walked to the lodge door and closed it, before joining Jacob in the lounge. He sat down opposite him.
“You know Fintan is lost to you, don’t you? He and I are true mates, which nothing, not even death, can break.”
Jacob scowled. “So it seems.”
“And the fates in their wisdom have granted you another mate, in my cousin, Fran.”
Jacob didn’t say anything.
“Is it the fact Fran has blue hair that is stopping you from being with him?”
Jacob felt a smile try and tug his lips as he remembered the tufts of blue hair on Fran’s wolf.
“It’s not his hair then,” Robbie said. “So it’s because he’s a Pullman. You’ve judged him without knowing anything about him.”
“What, you mean the way Alpha Pullman did to me? He judged me without knowing me and now I’ve lost everything,” Jacob ground out angrily, standing up.
“You were judged lacking by your own actions. That’s on you,” Robbie said, standing up and glaring at the younger man. “But know this. If you hurt Fran, losing everything will be the least of your worries. Man up and sort yourself out.”
With that Robbie turned and walked out of the lodge.
Jacob blew out a breath and then shook his head. Why wouldn’t someone just ask him how he was without spouting on about mates? His whole world had crumbled down around him, he was familyless, homeless, packless, and his mate was from the family that ruined him. How was that fair? He had followed his father’s strict rules, and for what?
All he needed now was someone else from the Pullman family to come and talk to him. Jacob decided the best thing he could do was have a shower. He still ached and he had cuts from the fight he had with Alpha Cresswell that were healing slowly. But as he said earlier, he had to learn to live without shifting, and heal the human way.
Robert made it back to Fran’s cabin. The first thing he noticed was Finn and Fran were missing.
“They’re in the bathroom, Franny is doing his hair and Finn is in there with him,” Frank told him. “I take it your meeting didn’t go well either.”
Robbie rudely snorted. “Not really, but then I never thought it would. On the plus side, he likes Fran’s hair.”
“It must be hard for Jacob,” Frank said, looking into his coffee cup.
Robbie sat down opposite him. “What, having Fran for a mate?”
“No, well, yes. But look at things from his perspective. Two days ago he was an Alpha heir, he saw his father killed, a new Alpha came in and threw his weight around. Then, he was thrown out of the only home he’d ever known. He’s packless, friendless, a lone wolf and an outcast, everything he had has been taken away from him. That’s a lot for anyone to deal with, especially a nineteen-year-old, and he’s only just nineteen. I’ve never thought about what happens to a losing Alpha’s family before.”
“He might have lost everything, but we’re here to help him,” Robbie pointed out.
Frank shook his head. “No, we’re here to help Franny, not Jacob. He’s bound to be angry with all Pullmans, if I was him I would be as well. Did you give him a chance to talk properly?”
Robby shook his head. “Not really.”
“I’ll wait a bit before I go and see him. I can’t imagine he’d be happy to see me just yet.”
“Probably not,” Robbie agreed.