Pretty Baby [Wolf Creek Pack 7] (22 page)

Elliot realized he hadn’t been around during the time everyone dealt with the Teacher, but the silence that filled the room at Tommy’s words sent chills running up and down his spine. He didn’t want to believe the man he thought was his father could be so evil, but it was beginning to look like he didn’t have a choice.

Philip Spencer was involved in some pretty shady stuff, but even Elliot wasn’t sure they had reached the bottom of the shithole the man was involved in. Elliot just knew he suddenly didn’t want to be connected to Philip Spencer in any way, shape, or form.

“Tommy?”

“Yeah, pretty baby?”

“This mate thing, it’s for life, right?”

“Of course, I thought you understood that.” Elliot pressed his head against Tommy’s shoulder when the man’s arms tightened around him. “This is for eternity, Elliot.”

“Then can I take your last name? I don’t want to be a Spencer anymore.”

Tommy stilled. “You want to take my last name?”

Elliot shrugged, suddenly afraid that Tommy would tell him no. They might be mated, but it wasn’t like they were married or anything. Elliot just didn’t know how this thing worked. Maybe Tommy didn’t want that kind of commitment.

“You wouldn’t rather change your name to Morgan?”

“I’d rather have your name.”

Tommy’s arms tightened even more, until Elliot could barely breathe. “Tommy,” he gasped. “Can’t breathe.”

“My father is the town mayor. I’ll bet he can rush the papers through for us.” Tommy said as he loosened his arms a bit then placed a small kiss on the top of Elliot’s head. “Elliot Nash has a nice ring to it.”

“Thank you, Tommy,” Elliot whispered silently, nuzzling his head against Tommy’s shoulder.

“Thank you, pretty baby.”

“Damn!” Joe exclaimed, bringing Elliot’s attention back to the conversation. “Do you know what you’re saying, Tommy?”

“It’s just a thought. I figured with Philip Spencer being knee-deep in this, and owning an investment company, that maybe he knew or was involved with the Teacher. It just kind of made sense to me.”

“That means Nate and all the other students that the Teacher had aren’t safe. Philip Spencer might know exactly where each of them are located.” Joe’s face paled. “And if he does—”

“Then he can try to take them back,” Tommy finished for his brother.

“Fuck, we have to call Reece and let him know,” Donovan said.

“I need to call Taylor and Justin, make sure they stay safe.”

“Send them to Devlin,” Donovan said. “If anyone can keep them safe while we deal with this situation, it’s that damn vampire coven of his.”

Chase nodded as he jumped to his feet. He was already dialing his cell phone as he walked into the kitchen. Elliot glanced around the room, trying to figure out what in the hell was going on because he didn’t have a clue.

“Tommy, what—”

“When Nate came to us, we rescued him and a bunch of other guys from this man they called the Teacher,” Tommy explained. “He was keeping them held captive, forcing him to do what he wanted. He’d had them for years. Joe killed the Teacher when the man came back for Nate.”

“And if Philip Spencer was involved with the Teacher,” Donovan went on, “then all of the men we rescued could be in danger.”

“So, why don’t we just go stop him?” Elliot asked.

“It’s not that simple, Elliot,” Andre said. “They have Summer and our daughter. Sophia is still back at the house waiting for us to return. If I hadn’t seen the boys leaving with Flynn and hidden away in their car, I never would have been able to leave. As it is, Sophia is going to be pissed when she discovers Flynn is gone. She thinks he is her last chance.”

“Last chance at what?” Elliot was getting more confused by the minute.

“Chase, Devlin, and Donovan have all found their mates, male mates. Flynn is unmated. There’s a fifty percent chance that his mate will be female, therefore, he can produce more subjects for her bosses. It’s the same reason they want to keep Summer and Tereza in their clutches.”

“I don’t understand,” Elliot said. “I just found Tommy a few days ago. If I’m a shifter, then why didn’t they keep me locked up like everyone else?”

“Because you never shifted, Elliot.”

Elliot looked up at Tommy. “I was defective?”

“You, pretty baby,” Tommy said as he tapped his finger on the tip of Elliot’s nose, “are perfect.”

Elliot felt his face flush with pleasure at Tommy’s words and buried it in the man’s shirt. He could hear the soft laughter of those around him and figured his embarrassment had been worth it if it lessened the tension in the room.

“Remember, we talked about this, Elliot. I think your wolf knew something was wrong and refused to allow the shift. It was the wolf’s way of protecting you both. That’s why you got so sick when you were fifteen years old.”

“You were sick?” Andre asked. “I never learned of this.”

“How would you?” Elliot asked.

“Your mother was kept appraised of your development.” Andre grimaced. “When they would bring you in for your monthly checkups, they would put you to sleep, allowing your mother and sister to see you for a few minutes. Your mother lives for those times.”

“They told me she was dead.”

Andre shook his head. “No, she wasn’t dead. She is just kept under close guard. They move her and Tereza around a lot, from facility to facility. I never know exactly where they are going to be until Sophia tells me.”

“But they are brought in to see me when I have my monthly exams?”

Andre nodded. “Yes.”

“Then I know exactly where they are going to be next week.”

“How?”

Andre, and everyone else, looked so interested that Elliot couldn’t help but smile. “Because I know where I will be.”

* * * *

“Elliot, I’m not sure I like this idea.”

Elliot glanced over his shoulder at his mate as he rinsed off the last of the dinner dishes. He wasn’t in the least surprised to see Tommy’s arms crossed over his chest or the little glare in the man’s eyes. Elliot sighed deeply as he walked over to lean against Tommy.

“I don’t like it either, but can you see any other way to do this?”

“Does it have to be you?”

“Yes.” Elliot chuckled. “I don’t think we could get away with sneaking someone else in. The doctors know my face.”

“I still don’t like it,” Tommy grumbled. “It’s like sending you right back into the lion’s den.”

“Tommy—”

“Elliot, what if something goes wrong?”

“Nothing is going to go wrong.”

“You can’t know that!” Tommy snapped. “Anything could happen, and if Philip Spencer gets his hands on you again, there’s no telling what he could do. I might never see you again.”

“Tommy.” Elliot gripped a handful of Tommy’s shirt and gave his mate a little shake. “You’ve got to stop this. I need you on my side right now. I’m scared enough for the both of us.”

Tommy’s head fell back. Elliot didn’t know if his eyes were closed or if he was counting the ceiling tiles, but he could feel the tension in the hard body pressed against him. Elliot leaned forward and rested his head against Tommy’s chest.

“I have to do this, Tommy, please understand.”

“I do understand, Elliot,” Tommy said as his arms wrapped around Elliot. “I just don’t like it. If I were to lose you…”

“That will never happen,” Elliot whispered, “no matter what happens. I will always belong to you.”

“I know, pretty baby. I just don’t like this plan. It puts you into too much danger.”

“He’s right, Elliot.”

Elliot turned to see Daniel Nash standing in the doorway of the kitchen. “Do you have a better plan? Because if you do, I’d like to hear it.“

“Let us go in and get your mother and sister out.”

“It’s not enough.” Elliot turned in Tommy’s arms and leaned back against his mate. “We can’t just rescue my mother and sister. We have to destroy anything that says shifters even exist. We can’t let him continue to be a threat to us.”

“I agree, but how do you plan to do that?” Daniel asked. “There has to be more than one place that this information is kept. Spence Corp has a lot of different research facilities. How can we destroy it all?”

“We have enough people,” Tommy said. “If Elliot could give us each of the locations then we could plan simultaneous strikes. Destroy everything all at once.”

“We’d have to hit Philip’s office at the same time, and maybe his home office.” Elliot liked this idea much better than the one they had before. “He keeps a lot of things on his computers at work and there’s a vault of disks in his home office. That’s where I usually go for my exams.”

“It would have to be quick and very coordinated.” Daniel rubbed his chin. “But it might be possible. Chase has some very interesting friends, and we have more than one person in our pack and
Zacarius’
coven that might be able to get in where others couldn’t.”

“Anything is better than letting Elliot go to his usual monthly appointment by himself, even if we put a tracking device on him. No matter how closely we follow behind him there’s always a chance that they will discover the tracking device and take Elliot.”

“So,” Elliot said, “put a plan together and call these guys. We have five days until my next appointment. That should give you plenty of time to come up with something, shouldn’t it?”

“It will be tight, but I think it can be done.” Daniel grinned. “I’ll start making phone calls. You two go talk to Chase.”

“Wait!”

“You have something to add, Elliot?” Daniel asked.

“There’s a doctor, his name is Dr. Carter Banning, I don’t know which facility he will be at, but he’s the lead doctor on my case. He’s kind of my—” Elliot grimaced. “He’s the right hand man to Philip Spencer. He knows everything that is going on. You might want to find out what he knows.”

“We’ll keep an eye out for him then.”

Elliot nodded at Daniel, thankful that the alpha was listening to him and accepting his words as fact. Elliot’s father, scratch that… Elliot’s captor had never done that. Philip Spencer’s word was law, and anyone that didn’t accept his word paid the price, usually in a very painful and humiliating way.

Elliot was still trying to process that fact that the man he thought was his father all of his life was in fact the one keeping him from his true family. While he didn’t like Philip Spencer all that much, there was a part of him that felt affection for the man he thought was his father. And he didn’t know how to resign himself to the fact that it had all been a lie.

“Tommy?” Elliot asked as they left the kitchen.

“Yeah, Elliot?”

“Do you think I’m gullible?”

“Gullible?” Tommy stopped walking to turn and stare down at Elliot.

“Yeah, you know, gullible, easily led, accepting of everything?” Elliot couldn’t think of any other way to define what he was trying to say.

“No, pretty baby, you’re not gullible. You just try to see the good in everyone, and that’s not a bad thing. Who wants to go around their entire life waiting for people to take advantage of them? I think that would be a sucky way to live.”

“But if I had questioned things a little more, maybe—”

“Elliot, listen to me.” Elliot couldn’t miss the intensity in Tommy’s eyes as the man looked down at him. “Philip Spencer fooled the entire world, not just you. He told you from a very young age that he was your father. Why would you have believed anything else? You had no reason to question him.”

“But—”

“Elliot, this is not your fault. This whole thing rests squarely on the shoulders of Philip Spencer. He did this, not you.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Elliot!”

Elliot couldn’t help but giggle at the exasperation in Tommy’s voice. “So, I shouldn’t feel bad that I’m so happy Philip Spencer is not my father?”

“I’m thrilled.” Tommy’s grin was enchanting, making Elliot’s heart pound a little faster. “Hell, I may even throw you a party to celebrate.”