Proof of Life (The Potentate of Atlanta #4) - Hailey Edwards Page 0,76
when I slid a panicked glance past her shoulder.
“It was just a broken ankle.” I patted her lightly on the back. “Seriously, I’m good.”
“Abbott told me you healed yourself.” She pulled back, and I sucked in air. “That’s remarkable.”
A queasy sensation writhed through my gut when it hit me that she and I hadn’t been alone since she learned who and what I really was the hard way. We weren’t alone now, with Midas here, but it left me itching to hunch away from the blow that was sure to come.
Tisdale hadn’t had a problem with Hadley Whitaker, future Potentate of Atlanta, as a daughter-in-law.
But I wasn’t her, exactly, and now she knew it.
“I took the liberty of familiarizing myself with your history,” she said, plucking the creeping fear right out of my head. “For the pack’s sake, I have to be well informed on any matter that might blow back onto us in the future.”
Lips gone numb, I managed to fumble out, “I understand.”
“That history will not be made public, sweetheart. No one will learn of it from me. I wouldn’t betray you or your secrets.” She cupped my cheek. “You understand you are pack now. This was as much to protect you as the rest of us.”
Again, Midas grinned at me, and again, his mother practiced her anaconda-style hugging technique.
“I might be out of line in supposing that your reluctance to spend time with me and the pack stems from the betrayal from your own mother and family when they disowned you.” She tightened her thin arms, I don’t know how, and my vision tunneled. “You’re ours now, and we’ll fight for you. I don’t only mean myself, or Midas, but all of us. Pack means you never walk alone.”
Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, and I blinked at the ceiling to clear them. “Thanks.”
“I understand Liz is still at large.” She withdrew slowly. “Ares hasn’t woken yet, but she will soon.”
Even without the vow she just made me, I would have to be blind to miss how much the losses hurt her.
“I’m hoping Ares will have answers for us.” I leaned back before she trapped me again. “Nothing about it makes sense to me.” I smoothed my sheets. “They took high-value targets but didn’t ransom them. They had days to…” I swallowed hard, “…but they didn’t add them to their closet. They fed and watered them and had more supplies that hinted at their plans to keep them alive for an undisclosed purpose and amount of time. Even the drugs were meant to keep them docile enough they wouldn’t harm themselves, or their captors.”
Not that Boaz let their best intentions stop him from causing enough trouble to force them to take lethal measures to contain him.
“You’ll figure it out.” She patted my thigh. “I have faith.”
A knock on the door brought her head around as Lethe strolled into the room. “Time to go, Mom.”
“Leaving so soon?” Midas intercepted her with an arm slung around her shoulders. “Are you two headed back to the den?”
“Yep.” Leaning her head against him, she growled, “The Knoxville debacle is eating my soul.”
Withdrawing a bit, he looked down at her bright blue hair. “Do you need any help?”
“If two alphas can’t fix this,” she reasoned, straightening, “then two alphas and a beta can’t either.”
“What’s causing the problem?” I glanced between them. “I thought we had worked out a solution.”
The former alpha had been kicked to the curb, and Tisdale was open to absorbing the rest into her pack.
“With the pack itself?” Lethe met my gaze, and for once it was absent of hostilities. “They’re cool with whatever. Honestly? They’ve been beaten down so often they don’t much care what happens to them.” She twitched her shoulder. “The issue is other packs who have a bone to pick with Atlanta seeing guests of ours come to harm. They’re spinning the incident into an attack on neighboring packs instead of what it is—an attack on us—in the hopes it gives them a foothold to social climb.”
“You said ours,” Midas pointed out with a little-brother smirk.
“Shut up your face.” She palmed his forehead and pushed him back. “Old habits die hard.”
“Call if you need anything.” Tisdale went to break up the shoving match between her kids. “And do try not to get yourself maimed, mauled, or generally murdered, won’t you, sweetheart?”
“I will do my best,” I promised her. “Let me know if you need any help on your end too.”