The Lost Mate

Max

“Montgomery has our son.”

Seneca looked towards me at my strangled gasp. My heart had stopped, or maybe I just couldn’t hear or feel it any longer. “What did you say?” I asked, not sure I’d heard her right.

“He has our son.”

“Our son?”

“I didn’t realize I was pregnant until after we were caught by Wulfric, Max,” she said, along with more tears. “And Montgomery, he’s the vampire who’s master this place, and if he found out I told an outsider about him...or about Jonas...”

My mind was still reeling, like my world had been tipped on its axis. Unfamiliar names washed over me while I struggled to come to terms with this new impossibility that wasn’t actually impossible.

Jonas... My father’s name. She’d named him after my dad.

Even though I could barely fathom the idea that I had a child, my wolf’s protectiveness was already fully engaged. “What does he want from you?”

“I serve here, sometimes I feed his guests.” She shrugged.

“Feed!?” My wolf roared to the surface.

She clutched onto me, like I would run off and cause havoc. But no, I needed to find out everything first, because I was getting all of them out of this place.

“It’s not often. Most vampires hate werewolf blood. And he just uses Jonas to keep Dad and me in line, it’s one of his things. I don’t know what’s going to happen to him when he’s older. But if I don’t obey, they’ll hurt him. As long as I do everything that I’m ordered, Jonas is safe. It’s all I can do.”

“Do you know where he is?” There had to be some way to get the child to safety first. My child, the child I didn’t even know existed ten minutes ago. My boy.

My head spun. He would already be almost three years old. I had missed so much while he’d suffered alone. I was going to rip this structure apart brick by brick and release them.

“Why? You can’t stay here. If he finds out about you, Montgomery will just enslave you, too. Jonas’ll be your weak spot. That’s the way he operates, he uses weaknesses against people. He doesn’t like disobedience.”

This Montomery, whoever that bastard vampire was, was going to die. But she was right. We needed to get the boy—and preferably Lillian and her father—to safety before he was dealt with. My wolf wanted to kill him, but running in like a mindless beast was not the way to take him down. “I’ll save him, when I come back for you. But I’m not leaving you here to rot. Or to live as some vampire’s blood bag.”

She wiped her eyes but more tears replaced them. “It’s not that often. And it’s too risky. I can’t lose Jonas after everyone else who died. Please, Max. I need to keep him safe.”

“We’re not going to lose him. We’ve built another pack, and he’s going to be safe there. We’ve got connections outside of it all over the place. When Glenhaven was destroyed, people formed new attachments elsewhere. I’ve made allies wherever I’ve searched. And what this Montgomery vampire is doing is against the accords, so the official vampire forces will be on our side, too.”

“Max, no. We can’t risk it. If he finds out, the first thing he’s going to do...” Her eyes welled up with tears. “A lot of other people have disappeared. Other children...”

I stared into her eyes until she trailed off. “Living here with the threat of our child’s safety hanging over your head is no life for you or your father. And living in a cage is no life for him.”

“It’s a children’s wing, not a cage.”

I didn’t care if he was being kept in a literal prison or not, I was getting him out. “Is that the life you want for him?”

“Of course not.”

“Then let me help you. Tell me everything you know, and I’ll find a way. You have to trust me. I won’t do anything rash.”

“Max...”

“If you don’t let me help you, I’ll go to that vampire and volunteer to join you here. Because I’m never leaving you again, not without a plan to escape. I’d rather die than live without you, and now that I know we have a son, how can you possibly expect me to just walk away and forget about him?”

With a shaky breath, she buried her face in my chest, and began telling me everything.