He was only now realising that his children had grown up when he didn’t appear to have been looking. Cassia was recently mated with Pietro, and it would only be a matter of time before Dara would find her mate. It felt a bit churlish to be relieved that she was adamant that it wouldn’t be Kothari. He loved the boy just as he much as he did the rest of their pack but he didn’t want the headache of having him as a son-in-law. Not that he wouldn’t have accepted him if he had been Dara’s mate. He knew the deep abiding love that came with mating with the other half of your soul. He would never do anything to stand in the way of that.
Dara wanted to do this. Her protective nature probably demanded it of her. If she truly believed that she was Kothari’s one hope of ever coming home, then to deny her the opportunity to be herself could lead her to hating him forever. Could he live with her hate if it meant keeping her safe? Could he live with not only her disappointment in him, but also Cedar’s and Cassia’s, not to mention his Alphas’? Andrei would understand, despite his agreeing with Dara’s decision. Kallum was oddly silent on the matter, standing off to the side a little as if he were viewing the discussion from the outside.
Turning to the Varcolac, he raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have anything to say about this? It’s not like you to be so silent on Varcolac matters.”
“You have to find peace with this in your own mind, Alexei,” Kallum answered, his expression solemn. “This is a family matter as well as a pack one. If you require my opinion, then I will gladly give it to you. Do I believe Dara is capable of this task, hell yes! Do I think she should go alone to Europe, not particularly; however, I can see the weight to her argument. Right now, Kothari has only two beliefs in his world. One is that he will find his parents and bring them home safely. The other is that Dara is his mate, whether that be fact or not.”
When Alexei opened his mouth to speak again, the younger man held up his hand. “Please, let me finish, Alexei, this is important. There is one thing here that no one else has touched on, which is crucial to any kind of success at finding Kothi and bringing him home. None of us can sense him. Whatever has happened within his mind, he has somehow managed to project a false sense of calmness along all his psychic bonds. He didn’t cut us off to alert us like Lily did once. He fed us all a great big lie that all was well with him. ”
Everyone gasped aloud, with the exception of Dara who was nodding her head. It was she Kallum was now looking at, his expression shrewd as he watched her intently. “You can… you sense him, can’t you, Dara? You knew something was wrong and that’s why you went to check on Kothi.”
Everyone turned to look at her once more as she gave a tentative nod. “It’s very faint, and I have to search really hard down our Varcolac link, but there is what appears to be the tiniest beacon of light far off in the distance. Every time I closed my eyes last night, I kept seeing that light. I think Kothi may have been reaching out to me, trying to alert me from wherever he has gone within his mind. I think that the closer I get to Kothi’s physical location, that light will grow and I should be able to track him.”
If what Dara said was true, then it would appear that she was the only one who would stand any chance of tracking Kothari in Europe. It was the final piece of information to put an end to the debate on whether or not Alexei was prepared to allow her to go. He couldn’t stop her, not without hurting his family, his pack, and most of all Kothari. He had been part of the pack long enough to feel the same pull of loyalty to each and every member as he felt for Andrei.
Conceding defeat, Alexei strode forward, engulfing Dara in a hug so tight it was a wonder she didn’t complain that he was hurting her. He had to let go, he had to believe in her strength and wisdom to do what was right, but she was his baby, his little girl that he had never dreamed possible for most of his life. “I know I must let go, Dara, but I don’t know how to. If anything happened to you… I swear I would commit murder if even one hair on your head was touched.”
“Dad, you know I can protect myself. If I remained shadowed the entire time I was in Europe, no one would be any the wiser. I know that’s not feasible as I will need to interact with people once there, but I have that added protection.” It felt strange to be reassuring her father when, until now, it has always been the other way around. Nevertheless, Dara had to make him see her abilities so he could be at peace with her decision. She could tell the exact moment that he accepted it by the resigned expression that flitted across his face.
“You really need to do this, don’t you, honey?”