Page 103 of The Alpha's Stealthy Daughter and Her Commander
I linked Uncle Bjourn, “If this was Ashley, and I think it is, then there will be nothing of the evidence variety for you to find to prove who was in the Resistance. She wouldn’t have left it behind for Cassie to pick up if there was. Plus, leaving it was intentional.”
He replied, “Your number isn’t the first option on that burner. Mine is.” I could work with that. I said, “I can use that. Plus, our burners don’t have our names in them. Just numbers. She’d picked mine out of those numbers to call.” He nodded and I knew he agreed.
There were four numbers programmed into burners, and mine was not first on this one. Bravo One knew my number and I knew Ashley also knew my number. Ashley loved to memorize things just in case. She’d called me to get me here and rescue Cassie.
Uncle Bjourn was trying to corral us home. Cassie’s feelings told me she felt she should help with the cleanup. Oh hell no. Micah linked, “Maybe say no with some chill.” I didn’t. He replied, “Or ya know, go all Commander on her.” I planned to. She did go through the portal, so it was victory.
I pulled her down into my lap while she was debriefed. We went over her story so many times I knew it by heart. I’d asked her leading questions along with Uncle Bjourn. I even asked Aunt Astrid a few. The facts and story remained that Cassie’s eyes never blazed. There was no goddamn reason for Ashley to think Cassie was anything other than a Fairy.
There was more than one Fairy that could shoot sunlight from their hands. She didn’t look like Cassie when I saw her. How did Ashley know who Cassie really was? If she could see past that stupid Fairy charm, then we couldn’t send Cassie out on missions associated with the Ring if the charms weren’t working.
On the one hand, Ashley knew who Cassie was. So, she did know what she looked like. The problem with that was Cassie was well known. She looked just like Haley, and everyone knew what my mother in law looked like. It would be easy to link her and Cassie together.
That drew me back to the thought that Ashley saved my mate then called me. She knew Cassie was Cassie. But how? I asked if she ever took off the charm, but she said no. She said she’d felt someone watching her the second she’d stepped up to make the buy. She would’ve felt them sooner while she was doing recon if they’d been there.
Which led me to believe a Demon shimmered them in. I was going to go insane. How the FUCK did Ashley know Cassie was there? Gunner walked in with a report that had all my connections sending me calm. They could fuck off with their calm and I let them all know it.
The Ring tried to paralyze Cassie with their bullets. Based on the dose, they truly didn’t know who she was, or they would’ve used something else. That just circled back to the questions pounding in my head. We hadn’t known the drug rooms were monitored by multiple supernatural groups. Now we did.
That would not be a mistake any of us made ever again. We had gotten actual eyes on The Resistance, instead of just a card with a blue circle with a line drawn through it. Cassie had seen three of them. That was pretty big.
Once we’d wrapped the meeting in the castle, Cassie and I walked side by side the house. Then got into an argument. I deserved to know that my wife was in the goddamn field. I had never stopped her from doing anything, and all of a sudden, I was out in the cold on her life?
Knowing that she was out there so I could be prepared was crucial. Mostly so that I didn’t scramble sending people to multiple places. Her phone being off sent me over the edge because that’s not how one should discover their mate was in the field.
I could literally not think of a less fun way to find out that my wife was out there than feeling her fight. Compound that with finding that out was followed by feeling her pain and knowing there wasn’t a single goddamn thing I could do about it.
I understood why Uncle Bjourn sent her out. I just should’ve been told before she left. I understood they wanted the Conners brought into this. Cassie had a personal stake in it since she was boxing out herfamily and her own pack leadership. She had her own Beta and Gamma, and I knew that was hard on her. Truly.
Aunt Astrid, Torvi, and Milana said they weren’t close enough to see the Resistance. They saw the girl on the bike, but that was it and she was driving away from them. She couldn’t have seen them or their blazing eyes to know Hackura were there.
Which led me to believe there was something was wrong with that Fairy charm. That meant Cassie was out there was bad equipment and that pissed me off. What was I supposed to do with that? I can’t assign Cassie to anything in the field if we needed to be sure people didn’t know her if someone could see past a Fairy charm. If Ashley could tell, who else could? Was Cassie ever safe out there?
We weren’t getting anywhere in this argument, and I needed to get some air. I was too pissed off right now. I took off running and promptly lost track of time. I felt like such a failure. My own wife didn’t tell me where she was going. She’d fought and been hurt without me by her side.
So, I failed as a mate and a Commander. Plus, I couldn’t get Ashley to open up. Was I even fit to be the Commander at this point? If I couldn’t do something so simple as communicate with my wife, how could I lead people into battle? I couldn't get a source to open up. I couldn't even get my wife to trust me enough to tell me she was going into the field.
My lungs were burning when Cassie linked me about going to her parents’ house. I knew she’d be safe there, and I was still angry. I needed to calm down, so she went without me. I loved her more than anything and just wanted to keep her safe. Why couldn’t I do that?
Hell, how was I supposed to do that if I didn’t know where she fucking was? I could feel Cassie was upset. I hated that feeling even more. My phone rang. I answered, “Micah, did you get to Ashley?” Micah answered, “In a way. She’s meeting me in an hour or two. She was vague but she’s busy right now.”
I questioned, “Did you do recon?” Micah answered, “Yup. I don’t know where she is, but it’s not in Black Path.” I groaned, “Alright. I’ll catch up with both of you tomorrow. I want to talk to her.” Micah said, “I’ll let her know. I’ll just be here, eating a burger. Mason has fully recovered and is back on the grill.”
I heard Hendrick say, “The stubborn man IS NOT fully recovered. He’s mostly recovered and determined to run me into an early grave.” I laughed. Mason said, “You kept me in that newfangled bed Ashley got us.” Hendrick retorted, “It’s comfy and you ADMITTED that.” He growled, “Staying in bed twenty-four seven is not the life I want to lead.” I laughed again and hung up.
Cassie felt more settled, so I kept running. Eventually my dad showed up literally standing in my path. I stopped on a dime, breathing hard. I commented, “Dad, you’re blocking the path.” My dad said, “When your son is running for several hours, putting his mother into quite an anxious state about his emotions, you run along until you find him. What’s going on? I obviously know what went down with my daughter in law, but she’s fine.”
I retorted, “My wife was out there, and I had no idea. How can I be fit to run the army here when my wife doesn’t tell me things? I can’t get an eighteen year old girl to open up to me! I couldn’t even when she was fifteen. It’s been three years, and I am nowhere with her.”
I ran a hand through my hair, “I can’t even get her to leave that stupid pack! Now there’s a guy who she hates, HELL I’ve run into him ONCE and I hate him, who is claiming she is his! He’s tried to forcibly mark her, and I can’t do anything about it.”
My dad snorted, “But you have. I do believe Silas has been spending time in Nashville. What’s he doing there?” I admitted, “After Trevor tried to drug Ashley, mind you Ashley didn’t tell us, Addison was worried and told Micah, I sent Silas to beat the shit out of him. He says because Ashley doesn’t have a wolf, she doesn't feel the mate bond. That’s bullshit. Every partial Werewolf, wolf less or not, I’ve EVER met feels the connection. It’s humans who have to be marked. They still feel a pull though. I can’t help Ashley, and I failed Cassie today.”
My dad argued, “You are an excellent Commander. You spent most of your youth going on missions to learn what you’d be sending people out on. You understand what you are asking of people. You took Cassie with you when you met her because you knew you’d be worried after that whole debacle. You make good calls every day and I’m damn proud of you.” He squeezed my shoulder.
He added, “Until I saw Ashley fight today, I wasn’t so sure about the ones you’ve made with her. She clearly has good intel. It’s obvious they have some inside knowledge we don’t. I understand why you are cultivating trust instead of forcing her to give you answers.” I didn’t fully understand it, I just knew I had to.
“As far as my daughter in law, she loves you. Your mom will tell you herself it’s not an easy balance to figure out being the Commander’s mate. Cassie has added pressures your mom did not. She’s still an Alpha of her pack, but your lives are mainly here.” I knew that.
