A Love that Lasts Forever Ch. 04

***

Amy was just about to take the five year old class outside when Quinton had found her. After a brief discussion she promised to keep the kids from destroying any more flower beds. With that matter solved, Quinton was left wondering how to tackle a more difficult and distressing matter. What to do with Caleb Giles.

Quinton had to admit, the little omega was starting to grow on him a bit. He was still angry over what had happened to Rhys but he couldn't really keep blaming Caleb for that. From what little time he'd spent with Caleb he could tell that the boy was no killer. Plus, he genuinely believed that Caleb had run from Silver Moon out of fear. Hearing how Caleb had described the treatment of omega's in his old pack, it was no wonder he'd escaped them.

Quinton couldn't imagine a place so behind the times that they'd treat members of their pack, of their species, as nothing more than property. It was barbaric and Caleb definitely didn't deserve to be treated that way. That thought left Quinton with an even bigger issue though. If he decided not to hold Caleb responsible for Rhys death then, by pack law, he would have to turn him back over to Silver moon, and there was no way he could do that.

Technically, the pup belonged to Black river. That is, if Quinton were to officially claim him as his brothers child. If the council agreed, which they probably would, then Seth Bowden would have no claim over him. Not that Quinton figured Bowden would care. He'd probably be glad not to have to deal with him and there was no way that Jace Bowden would accept another shifters pup as his own. So that issue was pretty much solved. The pup was safe.

That just left Caleb. Even if Quinton did choose to turn him back over to Seth, he already knew that Caleb wouldn't go without his pup. He'd no doubt try to run again which would earn him a good beating, or worse. Quinton didn't even want to think about worse.

He could always appeal to the council. As Rhys mate, Caleb's safety and welfare had now become Quinton's responsibility. The only problem with that theory is that their mating had never been made official. That, and Jace Bowden had an official claim on Caleb.

"Damn it, Rhys." Quinton cursed under his breath. "You're smarter than this. Why didn't you at least file the mating with the council?" But Quinton already knew the answer to that. Had Rhys filed with the council, he would have had to disclose his location to them and they would have, in turn, told Silver Moon. Rhys was probably waiting till they had reached Black River where he knew they be safe before officially taking Caleb as his mate.

That way if Seth objected to the mating, and Quinton knew he would, then at least Rhys would have Black River to back him. That would have been a smart move on Rhys part as Black River had way better standing with the shifter council than Silver Moon.

Quinton knew what he had to do now. He had to challenge Seth Bowden's claim on Caleb and hope that the council sided with Black River. That is, once he was totally sure that that was what Rhys had wanted. He was still on the fence about Caleb's story though now it was starting to look more and more like he was telling the truth.

Silver Moons demand for compensation over Caleb's deflowering was proof enough that the pup was conceived after he'd run. But, whether or not Rhys was the father, well, Quinton still wasn't 100 percent sure about that. If Caleb was desperate enough he could have lied about the pups parentage just to get his foot in the door. But, if he had lied, then who was the real father? And for that matter, why wasn't he here now?

Everyone else seemed convinced that Rhys had fathered that pup, so why wasn't Quinton convinced? Maybe because a part of him still didn't trust the omega in question or maybe he just wasn't ready to believe it. Either way, he had to know for sure. The only way to do that though was to get the truth out of Caleb.

He just hoped he was ready to open up to him. Even if he wasn't ready he'd have to eventually, if he wanted Quinton's help anyway. Caleb was in a shit load of trouble. Trouble that he couldn't get out of on his own. If he had any hope at all, he was going to have to trust someone. With Rhys gone now, Quinton was the only hope he had left.