Chapter 193

After Steven told me what he found in Wyatt’s correspondence with the King, we went to speak with Beau. He deemed it important enough to have a meeting for, so we went to rouse Neil, only to find him waking by then on his own.

Now, we are all sitting in the living room. Beau is standing. He’s holding Mia, rocking her as he gentle walks back and forth along the length of the L-shaped couch.

“Our father as the Alpha King has a much farther reach than we do,” Beau says. “He has an entire kingdom or resources at his disposal. Of course, he’s closer than us. The bastard.”

“Please watch your language in front of Mia,” I lightly scold. The last thing I want to have happen before I leave is for Mia’s first word to be bastard.

“He has many more resources than us,” Steven agrees. “And with those resources, he’s been able to track down Mia’s mother’s location to a general area.”

“How general?” Neil asks.

Sitting beside me, Neil looks exhausted. The heavy bags under his eyes are well defined again. His cheeks are sullen. Whatever progress he’s made against the poison seems like it’s been totally reversed since the gunshot. Likely the blood loss is to blame.

It makes my heart lurch uncomfortably in my chest. I need Neil to be okay. With only 5 days left until I leave, he has to hold on. He would be so angry with me, if I disappeared for his sake so close to the finish line.

“A ten mile radius,” Steven answers.

Neil’s jaw tightens, his face grim.

Ten miles is a very small area to have it narrowed down to, when the possible scope could include the entire world.

“Where?” Archer asks.

We all look at Steven. He closes his eyes. “Nearby.”

“Wait,” Beau says. He stops moving for a moment. “Here?” Mia begins to squirm so he starts moving again. But his flabbergasted expression doesn’t leave his face, and instead of turning when he reaches the end of the couch, he moves backwards instead so he can keep his gaze on Steven.

“Here,” Steven says, confirming all of our worst fears.

The brothers told me before, when I asked them about their search for Mia’s mother, that they believed she had left the kingdom long ago to save her own skin. She would need a whole other kingdom between her and the Alpha King for her to feel safe.

But if she is nearby, that throws that entire theory out of the water.

“How much do you want to bet that dear old dad gave us false trails to follow, likely with Wyatt’s help,” Beau says, anger rising in his voice.

No one speaks up to take that bet. Likely because everyone knows it’s true.

Steven doesn’t saying anything but his face speaks volumes all on its own. He sighs as he looks down at the manila folder he holds in his hands. He flips it open and then starts combing through the paperwork. He pulls out something then. It looks like a photo.

“What’s that?” I ask.

He turns it to me, and yeah, it’s a snapshot. Something like a Polaroid. I didn’t know they still made those. He hands it to me.

“Wyatt had this picture of her, given to him by our father,” Steven says. “In his free time, he was to go out and search the nearby neighborhoods looking for her.”

“This is Mia’s mother?” I ask.

Neil leans close to me to look at the picture over my shoulder. “She looks different than the last time we’ve seen her.”

“She must have dyed her hair,” Steven says.

“It could be a wig,” I suggest. If I’m running from someone, I would wear all kinds of wigs, never settling on one appearance for long.

I look closer at the picture. Mia’s mother has a beautiful head of long, blonde locks. It could be natural, could be fake. It’s hard to tell from such a grainy photo. The fear in her eyes is distinct however, as she stares straight at the camera. Her blue eyes are wide. Her lips parted into a terrified O.

“What’s her name?” I ask.

“Carrie,” Neil says. He whispers it soft, like it’s a secret. I take it to memory.

“She’s beautiful,” I say. “Terrified, but beautiful.”

“Our father only likes the pretty ones,” Archer says. He crosses his arms.

They all fall into silence for a moment. “Well, we should go to her,” I say. “Find her and protect her.”

“It’s not that simple,” Archer says.

“Why not? She’s close. She needs our help.”

“We don’t know that she needs our help,” Beau says.

I can’t believe this. The woman they’ve been searching for is so near them, and now that they know it, they are just going to leave her to the hungry wolves?

“We can reunite her with Mia,” I say, pleading to Neil now. “Isn’t that what you want?”

He looks across the room to where Beau is rocking Mia to sleep. He doesn’t answer me.

“If Carrie stayed this close, she likely has a lingering attachment to Mia,” I say. “She could be watching over Mia, even if she can’t get close to her out of fear for both their safeties.”

“You are making a lot of jumps,” Archer says. “That’s all speculation.”

“But it could be true!”

“We don’t know that,” Archer says, frowning.

“So what’s the alternative? We do nothing, until your father tracks her down and, what? Kills her?” I couldn’t believe they would be so complacent to this. “You are going to just sit back and let that happen?”

“Carrie made her choices,” Archer says.

“She was scared and alone,” I say. How could I make them understand? “Maybe her opinions have changed by now. If she hasn’t left yet…” I look to Steven, my last hope. “You knew this was urgent. That’s why you wanted to wake up Neil for it. You know we need to act.”

Steven looked the most conflicted, however he seemed content to bow to group opinion.

“Shouldn’t we at least ask her what she wants?” I ask. “We find her and ask her. If she wants our protection, we give it. If she wants to be left alone, we do that too.”

“Why do you care so much about her?” Archer asks. “You never even met her.”

“She’s Mia’s mom, for one,” I say. The other reasons are more complicated. “I know what it feels like to be alone.” I shake my head. “And I want to do this with what time I have left here. Mia deserves a mother. Her real mother.”

That, at last, seemed to be the missing piece that convinces them.

In the end, they take a vote. Everyone agrees to search for her, to find out her reasons.

All except Archer, who votes to leave her be.

Since he is outvoted, he concedes his argument and agrees to help, albeit begrudgingly.

Once the meeting is done, Beau passes a sleepy Mia to Archer, and then grabs me by the arm.

“Come with me,” he says.

I shrug, because I have no other plans.

He drags me into the kitchen. I’m thinking maybe he wants dinner. But then he turns and kisses me.

Turns out, he might actually want to skip straight to desert.