Pretty Baby(33)

Tommy grabbed Elliot and walked him over to a tan-colored overstuffed  chair by the fireplace. He sat down and pulled Elliot onto his lap. Joe  did the same with the other chair and Nate, the rest of the people in  the room finding places around the living room.

Chase stood by the fireplace, alone. Tommy knew the man had met his  mates, Justin and Taylor, recently, but they were still working out the  dynamics of their relationship. Tommy hoped they worked it out soon. No  one should be without their mate, especially in times like these.

"Andre," Tommy said as he looked over at the man, "how do you know that Philip Spencer isn't Elliot's father?"

Andre's eyes flickered to Elliot then to his sons, one at a time before  coming back to rest on Elliot. "I should probably start at the  beginning."

Tommy barely suppressed his snort by pressing his lips together. The  beginning would be nice, but so would the entire conversation. "Please,  start where ever you need to."

"My wife, Summer, was pregnant with our fifth child when she  disappeared. Flynn was barely three years old, Chase, Devlin, and  Donovan a few years older." Andre's lips curved up in a sad little  smile. "She was so excited. She was just positive that this time it  would be a girl. She'd already given birth to four boys and she wanted  her girl. I don't think I've ever seen so much pink in my life."

The smile slowly slid off Andre's lips and his eyes began to sparkle  with unshed tears. "And then one day she was gone, just gone." He shook  his head, staring down at the floor. "I don't know what happened to her.  I couldn't find her for the longest time."

"Wait, you couldn't find her for the longest time?" Chase whispered. "You mean you did find her? You found our mother?"

"I didn't find her, but the people who have her found me."

"Have?" Donovan shouted as he pushed away from Jim and jumped to his feet. "You said have. Is our mother still alive?"

Tears started trailing down Andre's pale cheeks as he nodded. "Yes, your mother is still alive."

"And you never told us?" Chase shouted.

"Son, you have to understand, I couldn't tell you." Andre wiped the  tears off his face as he looked up at his sons. "I couldn't. They said  they would kill her if I told anyone.                       
       
           



       

"She's our mother!"

"And she's my mate!" Andre countered loudly. He waved his hand at Flynn.  "Look what they did to your brother. If you know they can do that, what  do you think they could do to your mother? I did what I had to do to  keep her alive."

"What?"

Andre leaned back on the couch and rubbed his hands over his face then  dropped them into his lap. "After your mother was taken, I searched for  her. Other packs searched for her. We never had a hint of where she was.  Then one day, a little more than ten years ago, I received a phone call  from someone that said they had her. I didn't want to believe it at  first, but then they kidnapped Flynn."

"How did you know it was them?" Tommy asked.

"They let me speak to my mate."

"You spoke with Mom?" Donovan whispered. "How was she? Was she okay? Did they hurt her like they hurt Flynn?"

"Do you remember several years ago when I was injured?" Andre asked,  looking up at Donovan and Chase. "I told you I had been injured in a car  accident. I spent almost two weeks in bed recovering."

Chase and Donovan nodded.

"I tried to free her. It was after my failed rescue mission that they  took Flynn. It was their way of proving that they could get to any of  you any time that they wanted. They had total control, and I couldn't  keep any of you safe from them."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Chase asked as he walked over to kneel at his  father's feet. "We would have helped you. The other packs would have  helped. We could have saved them both."

Tommy tensed when Andre's eyes went to the man curled up on his lap. "They had Elliot," Andre said softly.

"Elliot?"

"He was the child your mother was carrying when she was kidnapped."





Chapter 14


"You're my father?" Andre nodded. "My wife was pregnant with you when she was kidnapped."

"But, I thought … " Elliot frowned. "Philip Spencer isn't my father?"

"No." Andre shook his head. "If they had kept you all in the same place,  I would have asked the other packs to help me rescue you, but Philip  Spencer was raising you as his own son. I knew where they were keeping  Summer and Flynn, but Spencer kept moving you around. I could never get a  lead on exactly where you were."

"What about our stepmother?" Donovan growled. "How did she come into the picture?"

"She's not your stepmother!" Andre snapped. "I would never betray your  mother like that. Sophia works for Philip Spencer. She was sent in to  keep me in line. As long as I agreed to have her there and do as she  said, they would let me see your mother once a month."

Donovan's mouth dropped open. "They let you see her?"

"Every month on the full moon, I'm allowed three days with your mother."

"That's where you go every month," Chase whispered. "We thought you-"

"I know what you thought," Andre snapped. "You thought I was a drunk that didn't care about his family."

"Dad, we-"

Andre waved a dismissive hand at his sons. "I know, I gave you that  impression, and I'm sorry. It was the only way. If I did what they said,  they promised not to take any more of my children. They let me see your  mother." Andre swallowed hard, his eyes watering again. "They let your  mother keep Tereza."

"Tereza?"

"Your sister."

"We have a sister?" Chase asked.

"She was conceived at their facility on one of my visits. She just  celebrated her tenth birthday. They promised they would let your mother  keep her and not experiment on her, but I suspect they are just waiting  for her to hit puberty and shift."

"I didn't shift until a few days ago," Elliot said. "Maybe she will be like me and not shift."

"She's already showing signs of shifting, Elliot. I figure we have a few  more months, tops, before she hits puberty, and then all bets are off.  Once they have an unmated female shifter in their hands there is no  telling what they will do to her."

"Why are they doing this?" Elliot asked. "Why do they need an unmated female shifter? Wasn't your wife enough?"

"Summer is mated to me, which means she can't mate with anyone else.  Tereza doesn't have a mate. Her genetic makeup is different than a mated  female's."

"To what purpose?"

"They want to create the perfect combination of genetics and mind power  with the aim to create a killing machine controlled totally by them.  They could sell his services to the highest bidder, the government,  other governments, private businesses, millionaires, etc. They would  make millions."                       
       
           



       

"Sell his services?" Nate snorted. "They sound like the Teacher."

"The teacher?" Andre looked confused.

"The Teacher was made my guardian after my mother died. He used people  like me to make him money, lots of money. I have certain abilities that  make me very popular among the Teacher's clients. The Teacher sold my  services to the highest bidder, government agencies, businessmen, drug  dealers, you name it, and he sold our services to them. That's how he's  gained so much power."

"And he made money off of this?"

Nate nodded. "He made a lot of money. I personally brought in a lot of  money for him, some of it was supposed to be mine. He said he was  investing my percentage for me, but I think he just kept lining his  pockets with it. I know I never saw any of it."

Elliot frowned at the eyebrow Tommy cocked. "What?"

"Does anyone besides me see a connection here?"

"What connection?"

"The Teacher made millions selling the services of Nate and his friends.  He invested a lot of that money, money that was supposed to go to them.  Philip Spencer owns one of the biggest investment firms in the area,  hell, maybe the entire country. And we know for a fact that Spencer has a  lot of shady deals going on. Could the Teacher and Philip Spencer have  been working together?"

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.