Filed To Story: Their Bullied and Broken Mate by Teri Petry
*MADDIX POV*
Ginger has been at Spirit Mountain for three days. She has visited the kitchen every morning using the excuse that she has a special diet, and to make sure it’s followed, she prefers to cook her own food. So far, she hasn’t run into this Tomlan character. She met Trey, and casually asked about Damian. She made it seem like she was trying to start gossip.
She made mention that she ‘heard’ that Damian was poisoned by one of his staff, and when Trey replied to her that he wasn’t sure what was going on, he was being truthful. She did mention that he had said that he hoped the Alpha made a very full recovery, and that was also truthful.
Hopefully, today she will encounter Tomlan. She reminded me that she needed to be back at Ruby Meadows in a few days to meet with my cousin, Trinity. She and her husband have been trying to conceive again since her miscarriage, but she is having issues. She’s hoping a fertility tea and spell from Ginger will do the trick.
I asked her to try her nonchalant approach to questioning people with others in the kitchen, and she said she would. It was nearly lunch time today when she called me with an update.
“Mads, I think we are dealing with more than just this Tomlan person. There is a prep woman who works in the kitchen, and she has a deep hatred for Damian. I thought I would strike up a conversation like I did with Trey, and when I mentioned that I was glad the Alpha was recovering, she started to spew profanities, and she wished he would have died. She said that he had lied to everyone, and tricked the former Alpha into the challenge. I asked her if she knew how he got sick. She said that she didn’t, but wished someone would have used more silver and just killed him. Maddix, I never mentioned him ingesting silver,” she explained.
I asked if she got her name, and she said the woman’s name was Ingrid. I told her I would call her back, and made a trip up to Alette’s room to speak with her and Damian.
When I walked in, I found my sister playing with Willow and feeding Sterling a bottle. Riley was lying on her couch sleeping. I knew she had been tired, and I had just been so preoccupied that I had neglected helping her. I needed to fix that. They are my children too.
Damian was relaxing in the recliner watching the Trailblazers basketball game. He was still on ‘bed rest’, but he said the recliner was close enough during the day.
I sat on the floor with Willow, and thanked Alette for watching them, so my mate could rest. She told me she was happy to help, and that she was going to need all the experience she could get now that she was pregnant. I explained that I needed to talk to them about the investigation Ginger was doing, and when I mentioned the name Ingrid, Damian tensed up.
“I never thought about her. Honestly, I forgot she was even still around. She was one of my dad’s play things when he was mad at my stepmother. She and Lance were also close at one point in time. She was definitely in love with dad, and hated anyone he hated. It would make sense, more so than Tomlan. The only thing he had against me was that I was better than him on the wrestling team in high school. As far as I know, that is,” he said.
He called Buck, and told him to apprehend Ingrid, but to place her somewhere by herself. Buck told him he was on it, and that he hoped that Damian and Alette would be home soon. Damian returned the sentiment, and disconnected the call.
My phone rang less than five minutes later, and Ginger about blew out my eardrums. “MADDIX! I met Tomlan! It was definitely him and Ingrid. They are mates, and she has it out for Damian. He came in during dinner prep, and I was preparing my veggies for dinner, and I heard him tell her that they failed. He said that the silver had to be too diluted, or it would have killed Damian,” she exclaimed.
Apparently, Damian had heard her because he was right back on the phone with Buck. He was demanding that both be detained, and he told Buck to let one of their best warriors, Gavin, interrogate them. According to Damian, this Gavin guy liked to get creative with his persuasion tactics.
He had Alette summon Phoenix, because he said they needed to leave. Too much was happening under their noses, and being at Blood Moon wasn’t helping solve anything. Once my brother showed up, he reluctantly agreed that it would be alright as long as Alette drove. He said he would email Damian’s chart to the pack doctor in Spirit Mountain. I could tell Alette was sad to be leaving, but she also knew that, as his mate, it was her place.
She may not have been an official Luna yet by title, but she still took care of all Luna’s duties. They are scheduling her ceremony soon, because in her words, “I don’t want to look like a pregnant heffer in a huge moo moo gown during my ceremony”. My sister is always so elegant with her words.
I gently woke Riley to let her know that they needed to leave, and she started to get emotional. She loved having my sister here, and she was going to miss her. I wasn’t sure which were more confusing though, the pregnancy emotions or the post-pregnancy emotions. Either way, my mate was going to miss Alette.
After the girls hugged for about the millionth time, Damian insisted they had to go. I helped them take their things to their car, and loaded it for them. Before they drove away, Damian told me that I was free to visit anytime. I asked him if we could come stay a day or two this weekend, and he said he would be super happy if we would. That would give the girls more time together.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.