A Knight's Purpose (Book 1) ✔️

Interludes I

Camden

I grip the steering wheel of the Jeep tightly as I drive through the morning hours, April in the passenger's seat and Maia dozing in the back.

"Do you want to talk about it?" April asks quietly, trying not to disturb Maia.

"No."

She falls silent and I sigh.

"I don't know what to say, April. Maia has a family member who lives and could take her from me." The wheel dents in my grip.

"She couldn't take her, Cam."

"Yeah, she could. Legal precedent under the Law is that if family is located the kid is to be returned."

We fall silent.

"Have you called the Captain yet to let him know?" Barely a whisper and I can feel the pity rolling off of her.

"No."

"You need to, Cam. You know he'll know what to do."

I run an agitated hand through my hair as I contain another sigh. "I know. But I don't even know what I'd tell him. I ran into this crazy woman who could run as fast as a wolf and help Maia shift and claimed to be her aunt but told me she couldn't help me. And then I left with only her phone number. How well do you think he'd take that?"

"Not great I'd guess. Maybe we should have called him before we left her." She chews on her lip in agitation.

"At least we know where she'll be for the next few days at least." I'd left strict instructions that until I'd called and talked to Alpha Bluecreek, Eve was not to be released.

"She said she was leaving as soon as we did."

I scoff. "When did she say that?"

"Last night and Cam she seemed to mean it. She honestly thought she could get away."

"Well, she also claimed to have been part of one of the worst magical disasters in the past twenty years and we didn't find any sign of her there." I can feel my lips moving as I grumble to myself under my breath. "I'll have the Alpha check up on her." I move the car over into the far right lane and take the next exit, driving a few miles to a small town before I find a bakery.

"Can you get the coffee and some breakfast stuff?" I toss over my should to April as I look through my phone for the Tershaw Alpha's number.

"Sure, no problem."

Rose answers on the second ring.

"Hello Alpha, could you run down to Eve for me? I need to hear her officially say she relinquishes her claim on Maia. I'm sorry I didn't think of it before I left."

"Of course, Camden." I hear rustling and wince as I realize I must have woken her from a nap. We'd left early enough that she would have had time to go back to sleep after seeing us off before I'd called.

A moment later there's murmuring and a door creaks open. And there's silence.

"Rose?"

A heavy silence.

"She's gone, Camden."

"What? How?"

"I don't know. Soldier, did you let her out?" Rose changes her attention to the young man who must have been guarding the door.

"No, Alpha! I peeked in when I took over the watch and I saw her in bed and she hasn't been by me. The door never even opened."

A growl from Rose. "Did you hear that, Cam?"

"Yeah. There are no windows? Can you track her scent?"

"She's in the basement so there aren't any windows. Her scent is everywhere but there are no heavy concentrations of it so no way to tell which way she went last. I'm sorry." There's both anger and fear in her voice.

"Hell. Well, thank you any way. It was a personal thing for me to ask you so don't worry about our professional relationship." I can hear the release of her breath across the phone line. "Goodbye." I hang up.

I can't stand to talk to her another moment and barely manage to contain my rage as I feel the phone metal start to bend in my grip.

A coffee cup shoves into my face and I whirl to find April standing there, grimacing.

"Coffee always helps get you out of a mood so please drink. I couldn't stand being cooped up with a pissed off wolf all day. My cat already wants to jump from the car as it is."

"Sorry." I take a deep drag of coffee. It helps. Barely. "You were right, Eve is gone."

"Well, if we can't find her, then she can't have legal claim on Maia, right?"

A sigh is my only response. How could I have been so irresponsible with Maia? The only answer I can think of is that I was knocked off balance. I'd overcompensated by worrying about Maia and watching Eve for any sign of deceit that I'd forgotten to look at the bigger picture - that she could take Maia without lifting a finger. Because I hadn't asked or documented the answer to one question.

I won't let that happen again. Next time I see Eve, I'm going to get to the bottom of this and get it all on paper.

***

Sorry my darlings for such a late post! I got caught up last night and it slipped my mind. But here you go, the first of three short interludes! I'll (try to) post every week since they're about half the length of my normal chapters.

~M