Chapter 19
Derek’s POV
Piper and I graduated last month, the third week of May, and this month Piper and I are living in Red River while I get a packhouse built to go right between the two properties where we will live together. Her parents will stay at their packhouse, and my parents will stay at the one at Red River. Piper and her parents are very happy with how things are going, and I am not. I want Gabi, and I haven’t been able to find her. It is now the middle of June, and it has been three months since Gabi left me. I also haven’t been able to compel mom or Justin to tell us where she is. Dad is also furious as he cannot get her to break for him either. He and mom are arguing a lot these days.
My grandfather, my mom’s dad, had even come by last week and told her in front of my father that if she needed to, she could always come back home. They have well over a thousand warriors in that pack, and my dad knows better than to start something with my grandfather. He never liked my dad and now that everything is going downhill, he is letting my dad know that all it will take is one word, and he will rain hell down on him. Even with us getting the River Bed pack, we have about 415 warriors total for both packs, and our warriors are not well trained, but my Grandfather's warriors are. We had the first attack, in which Gabi’s parents were killed, and have had two more attacks since then, one when we were at Alpha training, and once when we had just come back home. They have killed about ten Red River pack members in these two attacks. They also attacked the River Bed pack twice as well, and 7 people were killed on those two occasions. They attack about every month, and I feel like they’re just toying with us right now. Not even fully trying to attack, and I am worried. Dad doesn’t care, he is glad about the two packs combining and he thought we were invincible now, right up until grandpa showed up. Then he backed right down and hasn’t argued with mom since.
Mom had been different since the Jack incident too like something had tipped the scales and she was mad, like really mad. I wondered if it was because she had figured out that Dad had been keeping side pieces the whole time they were married. I felt a little guilty as I had planned to do the same thing, but with my mate as my bonus person. I just wanted my mate, and Piper wasn’t doing it for me anymore. I hadn’t stepped out on her, but that was only because I couldn’t find Gabi yet. If I did find her, then Piper would have a problem. But Piper has been very happy and had nothing but nice things to say to her family about living with me in my pack.
I didn’t want her to be hurt, but if I could get it all rescinded and I went back to where I was with Gabi, and Piper could go back home with no repercussions on me, or my pack, I would take it in a heartbeat. No matter what dad said. That would be my ideal situation. I am heading to speak to dad about having the Luna ceremony here in two months, in August. Piper has some elaborate plans for her “vision” of the ceremony and I plan on just letting her do it. It puts off our mating and I could still find Gabi in the next two months, maybe.
I knocked on the door of the office and waited until he called for me to come in. He has an Omega in there with him, looking flushed and embarrassed and he motions for her to go. She hurries on out like she was glad to be released and I notice that she is young. I stare after her and I cannot believe dad. That Omega was in her early twenties. What is dad thinking? How could he treat mom like that? How did I not notice what a piece of shit my dad was? Oh, yea, I remember, I was too busy getting my dick wet to care about what he was doing. I wish I had noticed it earlier. Maybe I wouldn't be caught up in this now. Dad acted like getting to pick your mate was the best thing that could ever happen to you. He lied. It isn’t. Only getting your mate is the best thing to ever happen to you and I ruined it, by being a greedy prick. I am still greedy about wanting Gabi when the only right thing has been her getting to leave my pack. When we have the Luna ceremony, I will officially become Alpha. Until then, dad is still running the show. He planned it like that, so I would have to go through with it if I ever wanted to be Alpha.
“What did you need to talk to me about, son?” dad asked me.
“The new packhouse between our packs has had some vandalism done to it. I think it is the rogues. I don’t have any proof of it, but it makes sense. I think we may need to put some people out there or expand the perimeter checks to include the area where the packhouse is being built. It will be only 4 stories, but we can’t afford the rouges to damage it, or burn it down. I was thinking that maybe we needed to get Uncle Heath out here with his training team to help train our people and the warriors of the River Bed pack as well for us to be more protected. We don’t know why this rogue is targeting us, or them, and we could lose a lot more members if we don’t do something soon, dad”, I told him and waited for him to respond.
“We have only lost 12 people, and the majority of them were Omegas, so no big deal. They might be done now, as your Luna ceremony will be here in two months. I think we will be fine. I don’t like your Uncle Heath anyway. He thinks he is such a great fighter, ha, I could take him, he has no special skills. He is just a glorified warrior, that is it. We don’t need them. You just graduated. Didn’t you learn fighting techniques at Alpha Training? You try training them. I don’t think it is bad enough for us to have to crawl and ask for help from him yet. I hope to the Goddess I never have to ask him for help. Was there anything else?” my dad said to me and leaned back in his chair.
“No dad, we have lost 19 people altogether. The River Bed pack counts too. I was just concerned about our packs. I saw them the last time. It was just like the first attack, where the biggest numbers of their group stayed back while they tested our perimeters like they are testing us and our skills, and I don’t like it. I know they are up to something, and I don’t want to lose more pack members while we are trying to figure out what they are doing. I don’t want our packs to suffer, I would like to be proactive and figure this out. With no more loss of life dad”, I told him and got up from the chair in front of his desk to leave.
“Has your mom told you where the girl went?” Dad asked me.
“Gabi? No, she had never said where she took her” I replied.
“We need to figure it out. I would like to know where she went, just to make sure that she is OK” my dad told me, and I know that he was completely lying.
“Mom said that she is safe, and we don’t have to worry about it,” I told him.
“I had her followed a couple of times, but she keeps losing the people I put on her,” Dad told me. I had to fight off a smile. Mom had always been smarter than dad. If she wanted to lose him, she was going to find a way to do that.
“I have no idea, dad. She hasn’t told me anything. As far as I know, Gabi is gone. Mom told me, as far as I was concerned, that Gabi was dead, to both of us. That we would never see her again” I said, and the thought of that makes me really sad.
“She isn’t dead you idiot, your mom wouldn’t hurt a fly. She knows exactly where she is, and I will not rest until I know where she is too. Your mother is not smarter than me, I will figure it out, mark my words” my dad said, and I was suddenly worried about Gabi. Dad hates her and there will be nothing good at all about him locating her. Gabi needs to be kept safe and I leave his office to go in search of mom and I find her in the kitchen.
“Can I talk to you a minute mom?” I asked her and she nodded and stepped out onto the back patio with me, and I motioned for her to walk further out, as I didn’t want to be overheard.
“Mom, dad was just asking me about Gabi, and he said that he is having you followed when you leave the pack. You need to be careful and not let him find out where Gabi is mom. Please keep her safe. If you have to, go get a rental vehicle so he can’t track your vehicle. I would not put anything past him, and he is scaring me with how he seems to be obsessed with Gabi”, I told her.
“Thank you for the heads up, but I have assumed that he had people following me since I got back from taking her to safety. I will not lead him to her, and she will come back. She has to” Mom tells me.
“No, it is not safe for her here. She needs to stay away”, I told her.
“Gabi has to accept your rejection. She keeps going into heat from having met you. That isn’t safe for her. Plus, she still has a connection to you that has to be broken. So she will be coming back, but she will not be alone when she does”, mom tells me, and I am now worried that she has found her second chance mate.
“Has she found her second chance mate yet?” I asked her quietly.
“No, not yet, Gabi had other things that she needed to do before we moved on to the next step. Don’t you worry though, she is not your concern, Piper is. You should go and help her with her “vision” of what she wants to do. This Luna ceremony is going to be expensive. You need to be more concerned about that. Your dad hemorrhaged money by doing what he wanted. He is not a good Alpha and has run this pack right into the ground”, Mom tells me.
“Yes, he doesn’t care about his people. I just asked him if we could pay Uncle Heath and his team to come here and help us train our warriors for this pack and the River Bed pack too. So, we could be prepared against rogues. Dad said that it was a dumb idea and that Uncle Heath had an inflated ego of his abilities. Dad also said that, since it was mostly Omegas that were killed, he didn’t care, as they don’t count. Dad doesn’t care if we lose more people, but I do”, I told mom.
Mom looked surprised when I mentioned to her about getting the trainers to come here and help us out. “I think that would be a good idea. If we keep getting attacked and losing more people. I think we should definitely reach out to them for help. But you know he charges for them to come and train, and it won’t be cheap. So maybe you should try to calm Piper down on her “vision” of her Luna ceremony”, mom told me and walked back towards the house.
Well, mom is smarter than dad and she agrees with me, so I guess we will see if the rouges attack again, and we will go from there. I sigh and head to find Piper to tell her that this is not a royal wedding, and to keep it around $50,000, or less, and I already know that this conversation will not be a fun one.
I was right, Piper yelled at me and slapped me before running off to call her mom. Who told Alpha Lowell, who immediately called my dad. I see dad coming in hot and I already know why.
“Didn’t I tell you to make her happy, until after you are marked and mated?” dad said to me.
“You did, but we are hemorrhaging money. It is a Luna ceremony. Piper is spending too much money. There are other things like keeping our people alive in our joined packs, that is more important than her buying a dress for $15,000 to wear one time, dad” I told him.
“Just play along son, let’s get this done and before you know it, this will all be behind us. Now go find her and tell her you can do $75,000, but that is for the clothes, food, and everything. Sleep with her, it will make her happy and she should go back to being blissfully happy with you again and call off her parents. They want to come here and see what is going on. I would like them to stay where they are until the ceremony”, dad said, and then walked away. I head up to our room to sleep with Piper and take one for the team, but the joy I used to get from sleeping with other girls is gone now. I only want Gabi, so I think of Gabi as I pleasure Piper. I end up having Piper flip over onto her knees so I can see just her brown hair and trick my mind into thinking that it is Gabi that I am with, and I am able to finish. This is getting harder and harder to do. I lay back on the bed and Piper snuggles into my side, she is happy again, and I realize that I am a condemned man. This is as good as it is going to be for me, and I get angry with my father for setting me up and encouraging me to do this. He lied to me all the way around and it makes me angry that I may not get another chance with Gabi to try to fix this, but I can't. Piper will be my Luna, or I won't have a pack to worry about.