Chosen By My Mate's Father-in-law
Chapter 34: Chained

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Chained

Terror and panic gripped my rapidly beating heart. My mom couldn’t feel her mate? What did this mean for my dad? Was he hurt? Did it mean my father was...gone?

My stomach churned with anxiety, and my head spun.

No, I couldn’t even think of that terrifying possibility.

“Mom! Please, get up!” I got on my knees, trying to pull her up. My heart broke as I watched my usually strong-willed mother break down on the floor. Her shoulders shook with the strength of her sobs, and her lips were pale and trembling. Her eyes were bloodshot. Ever since my dad got arrested, it seemed like she was slowly breaking from the inside and out. Now, this was her last straw.

Mindie raced up behind me, and her eyes widened in shock when she saw my mom.

“What’s going on?” she asked, panicked.

“My mom, she can’t...” I swallowed down the emotion threatening to overwhelm me. “She can’t feel my dad.” My voice broke on the last word.

“Oh my Goddess,” Mindie breathed out. She knelt down and put an arm around my mom, gently rubbing her shoulder. Then, she looked up at me. “I’ll stay with her. You should go to the prison to get some answers.”

“Yes, good idea. Thank you.” I reached down to smooth my mother’s hair out of her face. “I’ll find out what happened, Mom. I promise.”

Her bloodshot eyes met mine. “Please,” she uttered. That seemed like the only word she was capable of saying.

Gratitude for my best friend flowed through me as I threw on the first clothes I touched and quickly braided my hair back.

When I rushed past the kitchen, Mindie was handing my mom a glass of water.

“Thank you again, Mindie!” I called out, then ran out my front door.

Since the sun hadn’t risen yet, the roads were dark and clear. I drove quicker than I should as I raced to see my dad. At the prison, I used the visitor’s entrance, my heart slamming against my chest.

A uniformed guard with intimidating muscles and narrowed dark eyes sat in front of the desk.

“Name?” he asked in a bored voice without looking up at me.

“Jasmine Lowett,” I answered, raising my chin. “I’m here to see my father.”

The guard glanced up at me, suddenly interested. “Your father has been switched to the high-security section of our prison an hour ago. If you want to visit him, it’s going to cost you.”

My stomach sank.

“How much?” I tried to keep my voice neutral.

A mocking grin crossed the guard’s face. “Ten thousand dollars.”

“Ten thousand? Are you serious?” I asked.

The guard smirked and shrugged. “That’s what it costs to visit a high-security prisoner. If you can’t pay for it, move along.” He gestured for the door I came through.

“Can you please just tell me if he’s alright? I’m worried about him,” I said, hoping this guard had a soft side he hadn’t shown yet.

“No.” His voice was flat. “If you don’t have the money, you need to leave.”

My shoulders slumped in defeat. An image of my mom’s tear-streaked face popped into my head. Before I left, I promised her I would find out what had happened to my dad.

There was still one option left...

My scholarship money.

It was the only way I could check on my father. With a resigned sigh, I reached into my purse, ready to take out my new cheque.

“Jasmine, is that you?” a familiar voice asked from behind me.

Surprise shot down my spine as I turned around to see Isabella rushing up to me, her bodyguards trailing faithfully behind her. She was dressed in a sports jacket and leggings—clearly, she had been working out before the sun rose. From the corner of my eye, I noticed how the prison guard straightened in the presence of Gareth Laken’s daughter.

“Is there a problem?” Isabella continued as she looked between the guard and me. “Are they not letting you through?”

“No, they said it’s going to cost ten thousand dollars to visit my dad,” I told her.

Isabella turned to the guard, drawing herself up to her full height. “That’s ridiculous. My father implemented a new rule years ago that every prisoner is allowed one visit no matter the crime they are accused of committing.”

I froze, and my heart skipped a beat. This was news to me. With a sick feeling in my stomach, I realized that Elliot must have done all he could to conceal this rule from my mother and me. Just to make us more desperate for his help. I was beginning to understand how cruel he could be, and sympathy for Isabella made my heart ache.

The guard muttered under his breath, but there wasn’t any fight left in his expression. He couldn’t argue with the Lycan King’s daughter.

Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting in an uncomfortable plastic seat, on the other side of a glass window, anxiously waiting for someone to bring out my dad.

When two guards led him in, my jaw dropped. It hadn’t been that long since I’d last seen him, but he looked completely different. The orange prison jumpsuit was hanging off of his malnourished body. He walked with a slight shuffle and kept wincing as if he was badly injured. Patches of his hair were turning white from stress.

My eyes pricked, and when the guards roughly pushed him into the seat across from me, a few salty tears ran down my cheek.

“Oh, sweetheart, don’t cry,” my dad said, his voice weak and hoarse. “I’m alright. It’s not as bad as it looks.” I was able to hear him from the four holes made in the glass between us.

He shifted slightly in his seat, making a rattling sound. I leaned forward and gasped when I saw the silver chains connected to his wrists and ankles. That was why my mom couldn’t sense him! Silver cut off our connection to our wolves.

They must have put these chains on him when they switched him to the high-security section.

Seeing my father broken, bruised, and chained broke my heart. And when they put those silver chains on him, metaphorical ones encircled my mother too.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” I promised, a few more tears escaping my eyes. “I have a new tutoring job that pays well. I’ve already saved up some money. And I’m going to use the money from my scholarship to help get you out.”

My dad was already shaking his head before I even finished.

“No, honey. I can’t let you do that,” he said. “You need to put that money toward your future and to take care of your mother and yourself...now that I can’t.” My dad let out a shaky breath and met my eyes through the glass. “Jasmine, I don’t think they will ever let me out of here.”

My blood ran cold.

“No, don’t say—”

But the two guards who brought him in walked back to his side and roughly pulled my dad to his feet.

“Time’s up,” one of them said gruffly, then turned to me. “You need to leave.”

Panic rose in my throat. This was all happening too fast.

They began to drag my dad away. He looked back at me one last time, and our gazes locked together.

“I love you,” he mouthed.

That was my final straw—the thing that truly broke me. Hot tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t stop them as they sprinted down my cheeks.

Shakily, I stumbled out into the waiting room. Isabella was sitting in one of the chairs, and her head shot up when I walked out.

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