Page 46 of An Unending Claim

It was a perfectly rational explanation and Nathan damn well knew it, so he pressed his lips together for a moment, then inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to calm down. He raised a hand to his head and yanked out the elastic holding his hair in a man bun. Running his fingers through the strands, he took two more deep breaths.

“Did he give you—” His question was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone. He growled in annoyance as he yanked it from his pocket and silenced it, but as he set it next to him, the number flashed, the person calling back right away.

“Take it, Nate,” I urged. “I want to see if I can finish following B’s trail. Then we can go over everything and decide what to do next.”

I saw his intent to argue in his hard expression, so, quick as a cat, I snatched the phone and hit accept, then speaker.

“Nathan King’s office,” I chirped with a false cheeriness that would fool just about anyone, except Nathan.

“Peyton, I presume?” a smooth, suave voice asked from the other end.

“Yes.” My brows drew down at the familiarity in his voice. He wasn’t a shifter, and Nathan had ordered his pack to keep my presence quiet, so I was suspicious as to how this man guessed my identity. “And you are?” I asked the question a little louder since Nathan had taken the phone away.

“My name is Jude,” the man replied. “I called to speak with Nathan, though I suppose this concerns you too.”

Nathan looked as if he were about to toss his phone at the wall, so I made a shooing motion and turned back to my computer. He’d promised to keep me informed, so he left it on speaker, but the irritated shape of his mouth made it clear that he did so reluctantly.

“Where the hell are you?” he growled.

How is that important?

“Your office.”

Oh.

From Jude’s answer, I would have expected him to sound smug, but he said it in an exasperated tone. Nathan further surprised me by rolling his eyes instead of becoming angry at the invasion of his space, especially at the Council HQ.

“I figured, since you called. Couldn’t be bothered to bring your ass out to Silver Lake?”

“No time.”

Nathan snorted. “Sure.” Then he glared at his phone and growled, “Don’t touch my chessboard, Rook. It’s my move.”

Jude was quiet for a long moment, then, “That’s why I’m here. If I waited for you to take a turn, it would have been too late.”

Nathan chewed on that for a beat, then grunted, “What is it?”

“We’ve had some developments here that I’m afraid impact your situation. One of my slayers is—”

Right that moment, I finally reached the end of B’s trail and I gasped.

CHAPTERNINETEEN

NATHAN

Ididn’t hear anything else Jude said, distracted by Peyton’s horrified gasp. Dropping my phone, I crouched down and spun her chair around to face me so we were at eye level with each other. My wolf was already on high alert, unhappy with seeing our mate in pain. Now he was poised on the edge, ready to attack.

I pushed him back and concentrated on Peyton. “What is it? Is it the baby?”

Peyton shook her head, then looked at my phone for a moment before meeting my gaze again. “I found out where he called from,” she whispered.

“Where?” I demanded harshly, then softened my expression when Peyton glared at me. “Sorry,” I grumbled. Muffled laughter came through the speaker on my phone, but I ignored it. “Go ahead, baby. You can trust Jude.”

Her eyes narrowed, her expression dubious, but she answered anyway. “An internet cafe near Geneseo.”

“Isn’t that Castile territory?” Jude piped up.

“Yes,” I bit out through clenched teeth.

---