Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“What did you say to him yesterday?”
“I asked him if he could guarantee he wouldn’t harm you. He said he couldn’t. I told him he should fuck off and leave you be. He said he would if he could. That’s not a guy who’s willing to do whatever he can do to put you first, baby girl. He’s too fuckin’ broken to do that.”
“That’s why we have to help him, Dad. Don’t you trust Fate? You of all people, who Fate blessed twice, first with Mom and now with Kathleen?”
Dad’s gaze narrows.
I continue. “Yeah, you lost Mom, but you didn’t let it make you bitter. And look how you got blessed a second time with Kathleen. Don’t you think Fate is looking after me, too? Looking after him? You’re not thinking clearly. You’re not thinking like a council alpha.”
“I might be a retired council super-alpha, Cicely, but I’m a father first. Father has always outranked council alpha.”
“But mate outranks everything, Dad. Have a little faith.”
“I don’t want you to be his first mate, the one who dies. The one who gets remembered because it all gets figured out later on. Fate does do shit like that, and you and me both know it.”
“And we also know that no matter how much we want or don’t want what we think Fate has planned, we can’t fight it. Fight Fate and you know you won’t win, Dad.”
He sighs, pain taking over the anger in his expression.
I add, “I’m going to continue believing that Mom is good wherever she is. And I’m going to continue to be happy for you and Kathleen. I’m gonna live my life, believing it’ll work out. And I want your support.”
Dad and I hold one another’s gaze for a long minute before he gets out of the car and pulls me close, kissing the top of my head.
“Proud of you. Love you,” he says. “Even if I don’t say it often enough.”
“Yes, you do. And more than that, you do more than enough to show me what I mean to you. I’ve never doubted it for a second. Please try and support my relationship.”
He doesn’t make any promises. Instead, he gives me another kiss and hug before he gets into his car.
23
JARED
She walks in with the keys and squats, reaching for the ring around my throat. I grab her wrist, seeing the back of her hand looks bruised and raw.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “What happened?”
Her eyes hit mine and infuse with warmth. She falls into me and wraps both arms around me, planting herself on my lap.
My arms close around her and I hold on tight, burying my nose into her hair, kissing my mark, reveling in the feel of how the goosebumps rise on her body at my touch.
Everything inside her is emotion. She’s feeling a lot of things right now. And they’re cutting through me like a thousand knives, making me want to go to my default of avoidance. But comforting her is the least I can do. She needs this from me.
And fuck, she feels good melting into me like this, as if she believes me holding her is the key to fixing her problems.
I don’t know that I’ve got hope that there’s a way around all this. I don’t know if it’s true that my monster didn’t kill my mother and my sister. I don’t know what it means – if anything – that my father could still be alive. Don’t know much of anything right now, except that everything about having her in my embrace feels right.
“Where were the keys?” I ask.
“Want the truth?”
“Always,” I tell her.
She looks me in the eyes. “I want the same, okay?”
My throat feels clogged, so I nod instead of answering.
“Dad stole them after he saw the surveillance of what happened outside.”
“It hurt you.”
“A little,” she says.
“Tell me.”
She says, “Your wolf couldn’t get the muzzle off so used his claws on me.”
“Fuck!” I bark.
“The patrol guys got here super-fast. Cade baited your wolf and that meant a few more claw marks as you sprinted off me.”
“Fuck sakes. Babe, I’m so fuckin’ sorry.”
“I’m okay. Dad was in the surveillance room at Joel’s, unfortunately. He turned up and he was ticked. See this?” She places her palm on my ribs. They’re sore and bruised.
“Yeah?”
“Dad’s boot.”
I laugh. “Don’t blame him.”
She doesn’t look amused. At all.
I pull her tight to me and bury my nose in her hair.
Cicely in my arms is so different than Cicely at arm’s length. That’s for damn sure. And it reaffirms what I need to do, what I’ve been afraid to do. Lean into this. Hope for it. And if my monster shreds it all to ribbons, at least I’ll have had a sliver of time with everything I’ve ever wanted but never believed I’d get.
“I’m sorry,” I say into her hair.