Auctioned Mates Revenge
Chapter 59

Gordon's

POV

I stumbled down the stairs of my house, trying to shake off the weight that had forced me to take a mid-morning nap. I had been lucky that I didn't pass out in the distillery. That was the last thing the remnants of Frost Pelt needed to see.

I wasn't sure how much longer I could put it off though. I was losing time more often these days. The only solace I had was my office at the distillery and the familiar pace of managing production. I tried every day not to think about how quiet the house was without my brothers and nephews or how empty my life had become since Grace, my mate and wife, had been killed and my little girl was taken.

I was grateful that I was not certain she was dead too. I was grateful that the few of us who had survived the attack could still band together and that not everything had been lost, but I had no faith that Teagan was searching for her any longer. I don't know that I ever had real faith that she had ever even started to look despite all of her promises.

Maybe my little girl was dead, and Teagan just didn't want to tell me. It was easier to keep me working if I had hope. Vlad, my wolf, whimpered and my throat clenched and my eyes burned again. The grief hit me hard and fast. It had been years since he'd said a word, but every time he stirred, I wasn't sure if I was going to blackout, die, or just be in too much pain to move for hours after.

"Shit," I grimaced as I nearly knocked over a tower of orders that hadn't been processed and likely wouldn't be.

"Hey," Greyson called, practically appearing at my side and grabbing me by my shoulder as I clenched my chest. "Easy. Sit down, old man."

I struggled to laugh, "Who are you calling old man?"

He steered me into a seat and forced me to sit. I sucked in painful breaths around the pain in my chest and as usual, Greyson said nothing. He was dark for a northern wolf, much like my Grace had been. Instead of a golden undertone, his skin had a reddish tint. He was as broad and as sturdy as any of my nephews had been before they'd been murdered.

I hated that he was here to simply keep an eye on me, keep me functioning, but I know that I'd be dead by now if not for his presence.

He reminded me, in all the best ways, of my nephews from his rough nature to his sarcasm. Since he'd been assigned as my babysitter, we'd come to an understanding. I still wasn't sure what he was doing working for Teagan, and I hadn't asked yet, but I knew he kept some of my secrets. Like the fact that I kept photos of my family tucked away in my room and often spent most of the night wishing to have gone with them.

Hope that I might see my daughter was the only reason I was still here.

Greyson set a plate of food in front of me and my pipe. The bowl was empty, but the two canisters he'd placed beside it were familiar and marked: Bliss and Midnight Calm.

It was rare for him to pull out Blooming Vibes before lunch. Judging by the pain in my chest, I probably needed both.

I snorted, "A bit early for this, isn't it?"

He sat with his plate and a package of cigarettes, "Your call."

He ate and popped a cigarette in his mouth. With a flick of his lighter, he lit the end of it and took a deep draw. The scent of Dark Earth wafted through the air, a different calming blend than Midnight Calm. It was more geared towards settling bouts of anger in a wolf rather than tempering the kind of attacks I had been diagnosed with after the attack.

"What's eating you?" I asked, "Not like you to start smoking over lunch."

"... rough morning."

He blew out a ring of smoke, and I sighed, eating whatever was on the plate. I couldn't taste much of anything. My senses had been dulled for years, but I'd been told that it was part of living after the death of my mate. Something was broken in me and there was a good chance that it would never be fixed.

I filled my pipe with a mix and borrowed Greyson's lighter, taking a deep draw. I felt Vlad settle back into sleep and a grounding calm drift through me.

Everything still felt heavy, but it didn't feel as crushing. The grief felt a little more distanced from me. A little more, the memory of Grace's last words faded to a whisper in my ear.

Live, she told me, cupping my face. For her.

"What's up for the rest of the day?" Greyson asked. "It's not like you to take a nap before lunch."

A little shock went through me as I remembered what had happened earlier in startling clarity. Teagan was out of the territory, off visiting someone or something. Her second-in-command husband and her daughter had gone with her leaving me and the rest of her government to oversee pack matters.

The greedy fools she kept under thumb would be too busy scheming to think anything was out of place with me, and they didn't care so long as I continued to produce as much whiskey as I did for them and wherever they wanted it exported.

I had forgotten about the call, the meeting I'd set up, and the thrill of danger that had gone through me when I'd agreed to it.

“... a meeting. An export deal, I think, for a club."

Greyson hummed, "Lucrative."

I nodded. There was that, but I wasn't worried about that. Blue Ice was the best wolfsbane whiskey in the world. It had been for over a hundred years. Money was guaranteed for as long as no one else could make it.

It was who was on the other end of the deal that mattered.

Matt Wallber, the eldest son of the alpha of the Warhammer pack, had called me. Whether he was in league with his father, Teagan, or whoever, I didn't know, but if there was anyone with enough power to replace my little girl, who I could offer a deal, it was him. I had considered reaching out to someone in Midnight, but Alpha Asra's reputation was off-putting. He wasn't a man I could do business with, and I had been refusing to sell directly to him for years.

"I'm meeting them at the distillery," I said. "They'll be staying here. Tradition."

He nodded, "I'll go over security. When are they arriving?"

I checked the clock, "Within the hour."

He scoffed and put his cigarette in his mouth, "Cutting it close, old man."

"I won't tell if you won't."

He laughed and stood to head off to check the security around the house as I finished my pipe and prepared myself to do something dangerous.

Teagan wouldn't kill me. She might shackle me in her dungeon for the rest of my life, but she wouldn't kill me, and as far as I could tell, that fate wasn't any different than the prison I was already in.

I washed up, got ready, washed dishes, and grabbed my cloak. The distillery was barely a few minutes away from my home and the familiar path always helped clear my head. A snow-dusted jeep was coming up the road as I approached the distillery and I felt something stirring in my chest, clenching and painful.

What was happening? I stumbled, catching myself on a tree and panting as I started to shake. Vlad was twisting, fighting the heaviness of Midnight Calm. My jaw clenched as I went down in the snow and I heard footsteps in the snow before I heard the Jeep coming to a stop. "Grace!" A male voice called.

Grace? Was I hallucinating? Have some sort of flashback? Someone's hands were on me and I felt Vlad struggling to wake. I felt a surge of warmth through me as if I was on the edge of shifting. I hadn't felt it in years, but I felt the drug burning out in my blood with an urgency I didn't understand.

Whoever had grabbed me pulled me close.

Her hands were in my hair and her scent was so familiar. I knew it, but I was fumbling for where I had smelled it before. It was faint and seemed so far away.

"Grace?" A man asked.

"It's okay," she said, "Just breathe and let me get you inside, okay?"

I nodded, numb and leaning against her, slipping into the comfort of her presence. She was a strong little thing, lifting me from the ground and getting me to the side door of the distillery. Her gloved fingers finagled the latching mechanism with ease as Vlad continued to fight through the medicine.

The heat of the distillery enveloped me and she got me to the cot in my office.

Then, I saw her eyes. They were the same shade of blue as mine.

"I... know you," I said, looking into her face. My eyes burning. "Emoni?"