Page 55 of Blades of Ice

They paused the conversation long enough for everyone to fix a plate. Dooley moved his computer off the table so they all had plenty of room. The two males conversed about their next steps, and Lydia was glad to let them take the lead as long as they didn’t veer away from her goal – getting to Beck.

After the food was demolished, Dooley helped his mate clean the kitchen while Jon put his bags in one of the bedrooms.When he returned, he handed Lydia a small, insulated cooler. She unzipped it to find four potion bottles and a handwritten note explaining what was in each one. Lydia prayed she didn’t need them, but she wasn’t holding her breath.

Dooley and Kennedy disappeared to their bedroom giving Lydia and Jon time to talk privately. He didn’t ask how she was, and Lydia didn’t mention Summer. Everyone in their Clan assumed Rain’s sister was Jon’s mate, but both insisted they were friends. It would have been something if he and Amelia had both mated with the siblings. Lydia still wasn’t sure the full-blood wasn’t his mate. When Summer’s parents moved her to California, Jon spiraled for a while. Then again, there was no way the female could have stayed away from Jon if they were fated to be together. Then again, again… Damn this made her head spin. Both Sophia and Tessa had transitioned after meeting their mates but stayed away from them. In Tessa’s case, she went three years avoiding Gregor. If Jon and Summer were mates, they weren’t together, and the reason why was none of Lydia’s business.

Jon removed his boots, sank down on the sofa, and got comfortable. “Tell me about your mate.” Lydia spent an hour talking about how they met, to how he found her in the woods, which had Jon growling, to everything up until Beck disappeared. He peppered her with questions about the sisters and Amara, asked if Beck was leaving Alaska when he was found, and what would happen to the pack if Amara wasn’t found. Lydia answered as best she could. When she yawned for the fifth time, Jon stood and held out his hand.

“Let’s hit the hay. If we’re leaving at the ass crack of dawn, I need my beauty sleep.”

Lydia hip-checked him. Jonathan Hartley was as gorgeous as they came. They bid each other goodnight, and Lydia closed her door. Lying in bed, she thanked the gods for her family. Shewas glad Carleigh interfered and sent their cousin to help, but she’d still give her shit about it later.

Chapter 22

When they arrivedat the warehouse the next morning, Lydia began the process of moving the helo out of the building, but Jon stopped her. “I’ve got this.” They hadn’t discussed who would pilot the craft, but if it were up to her, Jon would take the controls. It wasn’t that she didn’t like flying; she did. But if Jon flew, she could focus on the landscape. Once the helo was outside, Dooley transferred their bags from the SUV and then drove it inside. When he walked out, Lydia closed and locked the door.

“Nice,” Jon said, taking the pilot’s seat with Lydia next to him. It only took him a few minutes to familiarize himself with the controls. Lydia helped by pointing out the few differences from the one they’d learned in. Having Frey for a father, Jon had learned to fly before he was driving a car.

The trip to where Chloe’s aircraft was didn’t take long. Jon landed expertly a safe distance away. “Tell me again why we didn’t rent snowmobiles?”

“We don’t know how far we’ll have to travel, and there’s nowhere to get fuel out here.”

“Yes, but if whoever we’re tracking is on one, they must have found a way. They’re probably carrying gas cans with them.”

Damn. This was why Lydia was an archivist. Planning rescues was not her strong suit. “If you want to fly back and get one, I’m okay with that, but I’m not turning back now. I’ve wasted too much time already.”

Jon gripped her shoulders and squeezed. “You haven’t wasted anything. You followed the coordinates Carleigh gave you. If I had been here, or Anthony even, we would have done the same thing. As for the snowmobile, we’ll put that on the back burner. Dooley can scout ahead in his fur, and you and I can use the drones. If we feel it’s needed, I’ll hand my drone off to Kennedy and do a flyover. I doubt there’s anyone out here to see me except the ones we’re after.”

Lydia told Dooley where she’d left Beck’s snowshoes, and he shifted and took off. He returned a few minutes later and handed them over to Jon. The foursome grabbed their gear and set out, following the barely there indentions of the snowmobile. Every so often, Dooley would hand his pack off to Jon and run ahead in his Bear. Each time, he came back letting them know they were headed the right direction. Lydia and Jon used the drones sparingly to save battery, but they did a few flyovers to make sure there weren’t more snowmobile tracks.

Lydia thought sharing her tent with Jon would be awkward now that they were adults, but instead, it was fun, reminding her of all the sleepovers the cousins had as kids. They faced one another when they turned in for the night and whispered secrets in the darkness. Out in the middle of nowhere, Jon confessed what happened with Summer all those years ago, swearing Lydia to secrecy.

“It wasn’t Summer who caused my transition. It was her next-door neighbor, Celia. Celia who was human and married with a little girl.”

“Oh shit, Jon. That had to be rough. But how do you know for sure it was her?”

“How did you know Beck was your mate? You felt queasy, right?”

“Yes, but to be honest, I chalked it up to bad fish.” Lydia giggled, thinking back to meeting her mate. “But Celia was anadult, so why were you alone with her? You had to be to know she was the cause.”

“Remy and Isla were having a pool party. Summer was in her room on the phone with her boyfriend, who her parents didn’t know existed. While Isla, Mom, and Amelia were in the kitchen getting food ready, I was hanging outside with Dad, Remy, and Rain. Celia, her husband, Ken, and their daughter, Marisole, showed up and hung out on the patio with us. Marisole begged her mother to get in the water, but Celia didn’t want to get her hair wet, so Marisole turned those big green eyes on me instead of her dad. Celia placed her hand on my arm, telling me I didn’t have to play with her daughter if I didn’t want to, and that’s when it hit me.”

“What did you do?”

“I thought getting away from her would lessen the nausea, so I jumped in the pool with Marisole. It wasn’t a hardship because you know how much I love to swim. But I figured I didn’t have long before the transition took over, and once the females were outside, I got Dad’s attention and told him I wasn’t feeling well. We made our excuses and went back to the vacation house where we were staying. On the way there, I told him what happened, and he said if it was meant to be, it would. Kinda like what he and Mom went through.”

“Did you ever think it might not be Celia? That it could have been Marisole?”

“Ew, no. She was a little girl.”

“A little girl who would one day grow into an adult. It wouldn’t be the first time a Goyle met his mate and had to wait on them to grow up. Look at Matthew and Slade.”

“Yeah, but Matt was a teenager, not a child.”

“It happened with Ezekiel. Stella was a toddler when they met. Waiting for Marisole to be old enough is better than hopingsomeone’s marriage implodes, don’t you think? When’s the last time you were around either of them?”

“Not since that day. Ken got a job on the East Coast, and they moved. Holy gods, Lydia. What if you’re right? I can’t believe I never thought it could be her instead of her mother. Neither did my folks.”

“Like you said, she was a little girl. But that’s been what? Ten years? How old was she?”

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