No Escape

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lily's life was a mess. A crazy busy mess. She didn't let Charlie leave her side unless she was with Adrienne. The only time she let that happen was when she had a random thought or question about Jackson or his pack or how things worked that she didn't want to forget. Adrienne had Holden to worry about, Lily didn't want to take her away from him any more than she had too. She said that she didn't mind, but it hadn't changed anything.

Most of the time, Lily spoke with Jackson at night when Charlie was sleeping. They would sit on the couch in her room while the three-year old was passed out on the bed. Jackson always wanted to hold her hand, and she let him, as he told her stories about his pack and information on how things worked. "You said the pack has border patrol, what do they do exactly?" She asked him. She imagined they guarded the border to the territory, but if that was true how did Carter get past them all the way to the pack house?

"Our territory is pretty big, so its divided up into eight smaller sectors based on cardinal and ordinal directions. Each one has a head patrol in charge of it. They make the shift schedules and handle minor problems that arise within the pack and guard the borders. If there's ever a threat or, they report it to the Beta, and he takes point from there. They help maintain the peace." Jackson explained. He watched as Lily nodded in response. He could tell she was holding something back. At first, he thought that it had been too much information, but then he saw the confused and conflicted look on her face and knew it was something else entirely. He sighed, "go ahead and ask me."

Lily shook her head. She wanted to ask about Carter but didn't want to offend him. She would never blame him, or anyone in the pack for that matter. She wasn't even sure she really wanted to know about it anyway. Jackson gave her a look that told her that he wasn't going to drop it until she asked, so she sighed and said, "what happened when Carter got through?"

Jackson was hesitant to say, his father was being difficult when it came to anything involving his mate, and he didn't want to give her anything more to worry about, but he wasn't about to lie to her, "technically I'm not Alpha yet, I'm just acting Alpha. It's a part of training. So, when there's a big enough threat, it goes to me and my father, same with Dylan and his dad.

"There was a group of about ten rogues at the Northeast border. They caught our attention by mentioning your name. When we got there, they were saying things about how your dad wanted you to return home. It didn't make any sense to me why he would go about things that way, so I was skeptical. Adrienne outright refused, but my dad didn't have an issue with it. We were trying to get information from them when Adrienne discovered they were just talking in circles and not really offering up any new information. She realized that they were just providing a diversion. So the two of us rushed back to the pack house, but by the time we got there you were gone."

"How did he slip through though? You can smell the difference between pack and rogue, right?"

"We can. The simple answer is that it happened during a shift change while defenses are at their weakest. But I know that's not good enough, and we've made changes to help fix it. We will be better. I will be better, I promise."

Lily frowned at him; she had learned that telling him it wasn't his fault didn't work. She hated that he let this get to him like that, "I don't blame you. I want to be better too, you know."

He nodded at her, "if I asked you about Carter, would you tell me?"

Lily studied him for a moment and considered it. He had told her that for a wolf senses and emotions were heightened, especially when it came to a mate. Especially for an Alpha. Lily wasn't sure if he could handle it. "If you promise not to let the anger get the best of you."

Jackson pulled Lily closer to him, placing his arm around her shoulder. She rested her head on his chest. Jackson was glad that she didn't seem to be fighting the mate bond as much anymore, he was able to relax a bit more. "This should keep my wolf at bay," he told her.