39. Maya

39

Maya

I smelled the blood before I even saw him. It mixed with sweat and the musk I only associated with him, so I turned calmly and waited for him to catch up to me. "I sent Duke to escort you," Rhyson said with a frown. "Why are you walking?"

"Walking is good for me, and it's not like I have anywhere to be. Why were you fighting?"

"A skirmish outside the border. Nothing that Jax and his people couldn't handle."

"But you wanted to see how they handled it," I guessed, then turned and started walking again. He fell into step next to me. "Why do you care? These aren't your wolves, and it doesn't look or sound like they'd welcome your interference. It would take an army for you to conquer them."

"I'm not worried about power, and I'm not thinking of conquering this mountain. It's just idle curiosity."

He was lying, but I brushed it aside. I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that Janelle couldn't repair my bond. Silly, of course. I'd never had any hope until I came here, and now, every day brought new hope only to dash it again. I was starting to think that it would have been better if I'd never known at all. It wasn't like I had any additional fury or shock that my father was behind it. I didn't hate him more. I couldn't. I already hated him with everything I had.

"How did your meeting with Elonso go? Are we leaving soon?"

"Tomorrow. Elonso knows who I am, and he wants my power to help clear up a problem for him," Rhyson said stiffly. "It seems that drugs are a rampant part of his pack, and he can't quell it. He wants me to find who is producing them and cut off the head, so to speak."

"What makes him think you can do that? There are plenty of other wolves who know way more about this mountain than you do."

"He has a name, but he can't find him, and he apparently can't expend the wolves to find him. I have a feeling Paisley knows more about the drug trade here than he's letting on, so I'm going to see if he has any information. Then I'm going to do what I do best."

"And what's that?"

He flashed me a feral grin. "Hunt."

It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. We both knew that Rhyson no doubt had the power to walk right into Elonso's pack and demand the information, but he wanted the thrill of hunting something down. He reveled in death.

But then again, I was quickly discovering that so did I.

"You're disappointed."

His statement startled me. I thought I'd been hiding it so well, but obviously, he'd detected it in my face. It wasn't like he could feel it in my bond. I didn't have bonds.

"Janelle found a bond on my wolf, but she couldn't find one on me. There is nothing to connect it to. So while she feels it, I can't. I'm never going to be able to bond with her. I'm never going to be whole."

My voice caught, and before I could take another step, Rhyson grabbed me and wrapped me in his arms. We'd never had this kind of relationship before, so I stiffened. The urge to collapse into him was overwhelming, surprising me even further. We'd made some progress, but only in that he didn't believe that I was a lying whore anymore. It didn't mean we were cuddle buddies.

"Even if we can't heal your bonds, we'll keep searching for another way. You and your wolf can still have a relationship without the formal bond. We just have to figure it out."

"We?" I asked as I slowly pushed away. "Worried about your child carrying my curse?"

His eyes flattened. "Maya, I'm worried about you. I told you, we're going to find a way to make this work."

"Make what work? Co-parenting? Are you really going to let me be the mother of your child? Raise him alongside you?"

"Yes. I know how I've treated you before, and I was wrong. I meant what I said last night. We're going to move forward."

Move forward. First, we had to get off this damn mountain. "Let's go talk to Paisley, but maybe I should do it. He's been a little wary of you since we first arrived. I suspect he knows who you are."

"I'm not going to scare a kid," he grumbled. "I can talk to him."

"We'll talk to him together." It wasn't that I thought he meant to scare Paisley, but I knew that boy was hiding. He was clean, for the first time in what was probably years. He'd thrown his support in with what turned out to be the king of wolves, a figure with extreme power but who was now well-liked on the mountain, and he didn't know anyone he was with.

He was no longer the strung-out kid. He'd found himself growing up quickly, and he didn't know what to do.

When we walked into the infirmary, Tessa and Saul were in the lab, looking at some equipment, and Paisley was in the corner with a tablet, furiously taking notes. I almost smiled when I saw him. Maybe Jax would let him stay. It looked like he might have found something that he enjoyed. When he looked up and saw us, the smile immediately faded from his face. He hopped off the stool and turned to the exit.

"Paisley, we're here to talk to you," Rhyson said, stopping him in his tracks. His entire face paled. "Let's take a walk."

I cleared my throat. "If that's all right with Saul and Tessa. It looks like Paisley might be taking notes for them."

A bewildered look crossed Rhyson's face, and I sighed. He might not think he should be king, but he's certainly come to expect everyone to treat him as such. It never even occurred to him that he might be interrupted.

Tessa grinned. "I think we can take a break. When can we expect him back?"

"Um…" Rhyson looked even more confused. "When we're done with him."

"No more than forty-five minutes," I assured her. "We'll have him back by lunch."

"Excellent."

I gently took the tablet from Paisley and handed it to Saul. "It's going to be okay. We need your help with something."

Swallowing hard, he nodded and drew himself up to his full height. We left the infirmary and headed back to Jax and Anna's house, where we commandeered a meeting room. Paisley sat at one of the tables and licked his lips nervously. "What's going on?"

"We need to know who your supplier was," Rhyson said bluntly.

"I don't know his name," the boy said quickly. "Can I go back now?"

"Paisley," I said calmly, and reached out and took his hand. "I know this is hard for you. I don't know if it's fear or anxiety that's keeping you quiet, but you're clean now, and you're free."

"It's not that. This is a smaller mountain than you can imagine. I won't be able to hide for long. He has a network out over the whole mountain. All he has to do is send my picture to his people, and there is nowhere that I can hide." Paisley shook his head. "I'll be dead within days."

Rhyson shook his head. "You won't need to worry about that. I'll be killing him. Jax will provide you with sanctuary status until I do. That means if I fail or die, you will have a home here."

The boy blew out his breath. "When you arrived at Gideon's camp, you were the first outsiders I'd ever seen. Those guest houses aren't used for guests very often."

Rhyson opened his mouth, but I put my hand on his arm. Paisley was talking on his own, and I didn't want Rhyson to say something stupid and throw him off his game.

Luckily, the boy didn't notice. "I didn't grow up in the pack. I'd only been there for about two years. I had a little sister, and when my parents died, I wasn't strong enough to keep her safe. We wandered into Gideon's camp, and he offered us sanctuary, like Jax. I accepted without hesitation. Letty was thirteen at the time, and for the first six months, everything was fine. Then, she started to become withdrawn. For about a year, she barely seemed like herself, but she wouldn't talk about it. One night, I snuck away from the hunt and returned early. I saw a man with Letty and realized what was happening. What must have been happening for a whole fucking year."

Tears filled his eyes, and I reached across the table and took his hand. He couldn't even look at us, but his hand squeezed mine. "I confronted him, and he just laughed. He could have killed me, would have killed me, but Letty begged for my life. He dosed me for the first time that night and told Letty that if she tried to leave him, he'd kill me. He kept me so high that I didn't even know when time was passing, and when it started to wear off, I'd go looking for it. I was so hooked. I knew what was happening, but I couldn't stop."

He paused, and I squeezed his hand. "It's okay, Paisley."

Finally, he turned his head and looked at me. "It's not okay. Letty died four months ago. I know that bastard broke her neck, but no one would believe me. Or no one cared. They all thought she was a whore. She was fourteen years old. I didn't break into your cabin that night for your fucking amulet. I broke in that night because you were the first outsiders that I'd found. You were a lifeline. I needed help."

I thought back to that night. The fear in his voice. Suddenly, I knew who he was scared of, and when I turned to Rhyson, I saw it in his eyes too.

"Say his name," Rhyson said flatly. "Give me a target."

"Gideon," Paisley whispered finally. "Gideon is the one making and distributing the drugs."