No Place Like Home

Chapter 9

Ruth’s POV

The days started to melt into each other and I lost track of the date. I knew that I couldn’t go to New York; that would be the first place Jubal looked for me. I had passed several packs, but I avoided them.

I was currently lying in the sun on a rock, watching several butterflies float around before me. It had been late yesterday when I stumbled upon the small clearing with a lake. Si loved lying in the sun just as much as I did. Stifling a yawn, I leap from the rock and drink from the cool water. After I quenched my thirst, I shift back and pull on some clothes.

I started walking North, I think, pushing the thoughts of Jubal and my mate from my mind. I wasn’t watching where I was going and before I realized what was happening, I was falling off the side of a cliff. A silent scream slipped from my lips, but I heard nothing.

Pain exploded throughout my body as I hit the rocky ground. I whimpered and looked around me. Several times I tried to move, but each time I tried, the pain overwhelmed me. My eyes were closing on their own, and as I fought to keep them open, I called out to Jubal. Just as I finished fighting, I thought I heard Jubal’s voice.

Jubal’s POV

I sat at my desk, my eyes glued to a picture of Ruth and me. I just got off the phone with Dolph, but he promised that Ruth hadn’t shown up at his place. He swore that if she did, he would call me the second he saw her. I didn’t place much stock in his words, but I was desperate.

Suddenly, a part of her note made sense. Only one person was coming to visit our pack and the thought of it made my blood boil. The alpha’s nephew had done something to my sister to damage her. Not only him, but his cousin, my future alpha, as well.

Growling, I link with Nate. I need for you and your son to meet me at my house Nate. We need to talk.

What’s it about Jubal? Have you found Ruth?

No, but I’ve found one of the people who made her run.

We’ll be there in a few minutes. I knew that Nate wouldn’t like what I was about to accuse his son of, but it had to be him and his cousin. I waited for them to arrive and before I knew it, I heard Nate walking towards my office with his son right behind him.

“What have you found Jubal?”

“In Ruth’s letter, she mentioned that her mate and someone close to him once caused her harm. She said that she thought she could handle being close to her mate, but once she heard that another one of her tormentors was coming here, she couldn’t handle it.

“That got me to thinking. Only one person was coming to our pack: you nephew. And that could only mean one thing; your son was the other one my sister was talking about. He’s her mate and one of the people who hurt her.” Nate glances from me to his son who he finds looking pale as a ghost.

“Castiel, what do you have to say for yourself?” Nate demands, glaring at his son. “I’ve never laid a hand on your sister Beta, I swear.”

“But you don’t deny that the two of you are mates correct?”

“She’s my mate, I won’t deny that. When I first saw her I thought that I met her before, but I wasn’t sure. She reminded me of a girl that Kirk and I picked on when I went to visit him in New York.”

“Why would you do that son?”

“Because Kirk said she was a liger, and that she wasn’t fit to be a member of his pack.”  Nate let out a growl that had Castiel shaking. “My own son hurting another were just because of what she was born as?!” I take another look at his face as Ruth’s nightmare flashed through my mind.