It had been over a week since we saw her. I mindlinked Rayan yesterday, who kept giving me vague answers as to what she was doing. His reply was she was around, which I didn’t particularly like. I tried mindlinking Reika, but she shoved me out each time, and Ryker was nearly impossible to get a hold of even via the mindlink. We kept getting interrupted before I could even ask how she was, leaving Rayan my only link to her.
Lucy always had some excuse not to come to visit us, or for some reason, she couldn’t talk long, making me wonder if Reika told her we were her mates.Was this her way of rejecting us?
“Hurry up! He finishes school soon, and I already told Jacob we were picking him up today,” Ace called to me as I finished getting dressed.
I slipped my jacket on before grabbing my car keys and walking down the long hallway toward the front of the packhouse. Ace was waiting in the living room. He had become extremely impatient, waiting for Lucy to come around. Every day he sat at home, hoping she would show up, and Atticus had been hounding him to mark her before she could reject us. Tyrant was the same, wanting to mark her, but Atticus was even more demanding of Ace because of his relationship with Melana. Atticus knew Ace stuffed up when it came to her, because Lucy wouldn’t be too happy when she learned he was her mate.
I didn’t understand how Ace could even go against his wolf. Tyrant wouldn’t even let me entertain the idea of anyone but Lucy. So I was surprised Ace had been able to maintain any form of relationship he had with Melana. Tyrant made that impossible for me, but I wasn’t interested in anyone else anyway. I feared Atticus would force Ace to mark her against her will if he couldn’t see her soon. So today, we were picking up Rayan and dropping him to his father at work since Reika had appointments. This would give us time to figure out what was going on with Lucy, and I could ask Ryker what Reika had told her.
“I’m driving. You drive too slow,” Ace said, holding his hand out for my keys. I rolled my eyes at him before chucking my keys at him, which he caught before grabbing his jacket.
I locked the door before climbing into the passenger seat. Ace tore out of the driveway before I could even shut my door. “Slow down, dick. You wreck my car, you’re buying me another,” I told him as he sprayed rocks everywhere along the gravel driveway.
We headed through the city before taking the highway out of town and heading for the pack school, which was just outside the city. The drive took thirty minutes from the packhouse to the school before we pulled into the parking lot. I got out, sat on the hood, and lit a smoke. Checking my phone, I still had five minutes before the school bell rang. Rayan had no idea we were picking him up, so I would like to see him try to avoid us. I knew Rayan and Lucy were close, so if he didn’t know what was going on, I knew my last resort would be having to hunt down Mitchell, which I didn’t particularly feel like doing.
When the bell rang, kids came rushing out, running in different directions. I waited to spot him, and he was the second last kid out as he dawdled. I watched as he looked around for Jacob, his bag slung over one shoulder before I whistled, his head snapping in my direction. The look on his face was almost comical. I heard him curse under his breath before dropping his head.
“Where is Jacob?” Rayan called out as he crossed the road before stomping through the garden beds that surrounded the park. He crushed the neat gardens, stomping on the flowers. Ace climbed out of the car.
“What, no hello?” Ace asked him.
“Why are you here? If it is about Lucy, ask her yourself,” Rayan said, and Ace growled before taking his bag from him and opening the back door. Ace chucked his bag in the back of the car before grabbing his shirt above his shoulder, steering him to the back seat.
“Where are you taking me?” Rayan demanded, and Ace raised an eyebrow at his little Alpha voice coming through.
“To your father at work. Now, get in before I spank your ass for being a disrespectful little shit,” Ace told him. Rayan huffed before sliding into the backseat and folding his arms across his chest. I climbed in the passenger seat, and Ace climbed in the driver’s seat before reversing out of the car park. Once the car was moving, I turned in my seat so I could face Rayan.
“How is Lucy?”
“She is your mate. How about you tell me?” Rayan said.
“You know?” Ace asked him, looking in the rearview mirror at him as he turned at the cross-section.
“Yeah, I heard mom and dad talking about it,” he said, putting his arm on the window and resting his head on his hand.
“Does Lucy know?” I asked him, and he shook his head.
“No. Mom told me not to tell her,” Rayan said, exhaling loudly.
“Well, that’s good, I guess, for now,” Ace muttered under his breath.
“You hurt my sister, I will,” Rayan said, and I smiled when Ace cut him off.
“You’ll what, pipsqueak?” Ace asked, and Rayan growled at him.
“I will kick your ass, Ace! I won’t be a kid for long, and then you will be answering to me,” Rayan snapped at him. He was definitely his father’s son. Ace smirked but said nothing else. He had a point. Rayan was next in line to become Alpha King.
“So, how is she?” I asked him, and Rayan shrugged.
“You live with her. You have to tell us something,” I told him. Rayan held his hand out, rubbing his fingers together, and I rolled my eyes.
“Information costs,” Rayan said with a devious smile on his face, his silver and gold eyes sparkling back at us.
I reached over into Ace’s pocket. “Why do I gotta pay him? You pay him!” Ace snapped at me.
“I don’t carry cash,” I told him, snatching his wallet out of his pocket, Ace having to shift so I could pull it out.
I grabbed a fifty dollar note out, and Rayan raised an eyebrow at me before I grabbed all the cash out of his wallet. Rayan leaned forward, plucking the cash from my fingertips.