Chapter 31 Heath
HEATH
Aiden and I watched in silence as two chrome Mercedes SUVs crawled up the long, canopied driveway of our parents’ estate. The occupants would be met at the front door by our house manager.
“That looks like the Nelsons again,” Aiden mused as he studied the cars from our perch—the large balcony off our shared quarters. “Do you think Dad’s decided to force Clara on a second date with them?”
“Probably,” I muttered. “Their parents are by far the richest of any of the families he’s been dangling her in front of.”
It’d been a long two-week break in the Blackwell household. Clara had gone on three more dates with shitty teenage Primes our parents had selected. Aiden and I made sure one of us was always in the house, keeping an eye on the situation, so that we could shadow any dates she was whisked away on.
Our dads—both Holden and Stephen—decided that Aiden and I had made enough trouble already, so they kept the details of these dates to themselves until the last possible minute. They also quit telling Mom anything because she’d proved susceptible to being sweet-talked out of information by her sons.
The cars parked at the top of the estate’s circular driveway.
The Nelson kids exited the first Mercedes and swaggered to the door in their best suits.
They were a newly formed quad and all Prime felines, which was typical of Dad.
The two Nelson sons were lion shifters, and their two best friends were a leopard and a jaguar.
The second SUV spat out the elder Nelson Quad and their bonded mate—a diminutive redheaded woman wearing a dark-green pantsuit.
Dread began to pool in my gut.
“I don’t like this,” I said to Aiden. “If their parents are here, that means Dad’s trying to make a deal.”
“You’re right,” he said, shoving off the stone railing.
I was already headed for the balcony doors. “We need to know what’s going on.”
He followed me back into our living room.
Once we’d both graduated from prep school and formed our quad, Dad allowed us to move out of our childhood bedrooms and into a guest wing on the third floor of the house.
We had a four-bedroom apartment to ourselves, but nothing would feel like ours as long as we were under the roof of Blackwell Manor.
We left our wing and snuck quietly down two flights of stairs. When we reached the landing overlooking the grand foyer, we were just in time to watch Mom and the Nelsons’ mate lead a sullen Clara away, the older women exchanging performative niceties as they went.
Mom’s two fat corgis scuttled along after them.
Holden and Stephen greeted the elder Nelson Quad with handshakes, and then they all disappeared down the hallway leading to our dads’ offices.
That left the younger Nelson Quad milling around in the foyer. They didn’t look particularly excited to be here.
I was about to storm down the stairs and demand an explanation as to what exactly was going on when Aiden grabbed my arm and pulled me out of sight. We crouched low, peering through the slats in the imperial staircase that was the centerpiece of the manor’s grand entrance.
“It’s bullshit we’re supposed to wait for the bonding to start fucking her.” That was Anthony Nelson, oldest Nelson son and the leader. He had the look of an all-American high school quarterback. Tall, handsome, wavy brown mane, blinding white smile.
He was also about to be dead.
“Easy,” Aiden warned.
His brother, James, snorted as he adjusted his tie. “What our parents know won’t hurt them, man. You know these latent bitches—they’re gagging for Prime cock.”
Now I was the one to grab Aiden before he climbed the railing. “Settle down. We won’t let them touch her.”
“At least she’s hot,” one of the non-Nelsons drawled from where he slumped against the wall. “Your parents could’ve bought us an ugly central bond. This one’s Prime feline blood and has a nice rack and a tight ass. Even if we have to wait a few months, it could be worse.”
“I dunno, man,” said the last guy. “We’re going off to college in the fall, and she still has to finish high school. Are we really expected not to fuck all the willing pussy at Proteus just because they found us a bond this early? Get real.”
Anthony shrugged a bulky shoulder. “If she has a problem with it, I’ll just knock her around a bit. Dad says it’s the job of the quad leader to keep the bitch in line. Centrals can get uppity.”
That was it. I jumped to my feet and stalked down the stairs, Aiden hot on my heels.
My wolf was howling for blood. When I hit the bottom of the stairs and the little assholes saw me coming, their spines went ramrod straight.
Anthony pasted a bland, polite smile on his face and extended his hand. “Hey, Heath, how’s it go—”
“Listen up, Nelson,” I said, my voice low and full of murder. “If you touch my sister, ever, in any way whatsoever, I will kill you. This bonding is not happening.”
His face turned haughty. “Well, that isn’t really up to you, is it, bro?”
“Did my brother stutter?” Aiden said, his tone just as haughty. “Welcome to the real world of being a Prime shifter, Nelson. Go ahead and challenge him, beast to beast, and see what happens.”
An amber sheen flashed over Anthony’s brown eyes, a growl reverberating in his throat. He stepped toward me, and I let my wolf surge to the surface. I pressed, bending him to my will, and he snarled as his spine bowed instantly.
“Does anyone else have any smart comments?” Aiden asked.
“Boys!” Holden’s voice boomed from the hallway.
Our dads strode into the foyer, the elder Nelsons in tow.
“What’s going on out here?” Holden asked.
“Nothing,” Anthony replied, straightening and wiping his brow.
Dad, perceptive as always, slid me an annoyed glare before returning to his polite business face. “I see. Well, we appreciate everyone stopping by to finalize things. Your mother should back shortly so you can say goodbye to Clara before you leave.”
“Dad—” I began.
“Quiet, Heath,” he snapped, his words a physical whip against my flesh.
My wolf clawed at the bars of his cage. I clenched my teeth and sucked in a calming breath.
Mom came trotting around the corner with Clara and the Nelsons’ mate. “Oh, look, your fathers have finished up already,” she gushed happily.
The moms air-kissed each other’s cheeks obnoxiously before Mrs. Nelson rejoined her mates, pressing herself into the nearest man’s side.
Mom gave Clara a light shove in the younger Nelsons’ direction. “Say goodbye to your future bondmates, honey. Hopefully they can pop by on occasion to take you out between all their classes and activities at Apollo Prep.” She winked at Anthony, who returned an oily smile.
Aiden snagged a flustered Clara before she was within touching distance of any of those shitheads, and then he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Yes, good luck with the rest of your semester,” he said tonelessly to them. “Clara will let you know if she’s interested in going out with you again.”
One of the elder Nelsons let out a boisterous laugh. “Well, she better be! She’ll be doing a lot more than that with our boys after they’ve bonded!”
Mom had the decency to wrinkle her nose at that inappropriate statement, but our dads didn’t blink an eye.
“Um, yeah,” Clara said with a half-hearted wave. “Bye, guys. Happy almost-graduation.”
Anthony looked like he was about to rip Clara away from Aiden, but he must’ve decided he didn’t have a death wish. He forced a smile at her. “We’ll be seeing you, doll.”
He jerked his head at the front door, and his quad followed him out without another word.
Our dads and the rest of the Nelsons exchanged fake smiles and another round of hearty handshakes, and then the rest of our visitors finally left, the slam of the heavy front doors behind them booming like a cannon blast in the cavernous, cold foyer.
“What did you do?” I growled at Dad between clenched teeth.
“I’ve secured Clara’s future and ours, Heath,” he replied irritably.
He swept his long mane of hair over his shoulder and folded his arms across his chest with a derisive sneer.
“The Nelsons have offered to sell to our firm a controlling stake in one of the most profitable companies in their portfolio. We’ve been trying to get into magical pharmaceuticals for a while now, and now that our families are to be joined, as it were, they are offering to sell that slice of equity at an unbelievable price. ”
“That unbelievable price is your daughter’s body and soul, Dad,” I snapped. “How could you? What fucking year is this?”
Mom wrung her hands. “Oh, Heath, please don’t talk to your father that way.”
Stephen cut me a scathing glare. We used to be close, he and I, until my wolf surpassed his in dominance and power.
“You don’t make the decisions in this family, son.
Arranged bondings are still alive and well in the highest echelons of our society.
We are securing this family’s legacy while you and your brother run off to play soldier. ”
“Clara likes the Nelson boys,” Mom insisted. “Don’t you, honey?”
My sister could only stare at the marble floor. “I’ve only really met them once, Mom.”
Holden waved a dismissive hand at that. “You’ll have plenty of time to get to know them. There is no higher calling for a shifter female, Clara. You honor the Moon by becoming a blessed vessel for a group of fine young Prime males.”
“Right,” she muttered.
“And it’s okay with you, Dad, that I just overhead Anthony Nelson brag about his right to ‘knock around’ his mate if he feels like it?” I asked, seething. “You’re still feeling good about selling your daughter into a life of abuse at the hands of her bonded?”
Clara gasped.
Mom looked anywhere but at me.
Dad’s expression turned to ice. “I’m quite sure you’re exaggerating, Heath. If Clara behaves as a good mate and spouse should, then no such thing should be necessary.”
Aiden and I could only gape at him. To my knowledge, none of my fathers had ever put their hands on my mother in that way, but she’d never done anything but exactly what they’d asked of her since they’d bonded the year before Aiden was born.
Holden slanted a harsh glare at Aiden and then back at me. “That’s enough out of you two. Do not interfere with this match, or I will make your lives hell. Clara will bond with her mates under the Full Moon after her seventeenth birthday, and that’s the last we’ll be discussing it.”
“The fuck she will,” I growled. My wolf rose. Fur ghosted down my arms and my chest. My vision sharpened, and a snarl tore from my chest.
Dad loomed, his lion emerging. The gray of his eyes pooled into molten silver, and his long hair thickened. His body seemed to grow larger, muscles swelling and veins popping.
His gaze snared mine, and I held on, my wolf pushing against the weight of his unspoken command to yield.
It was excruciating. Knives dug into my skull. My wolf trembled in my chest, snarling, growling, shaking his head wildly. I could shift, let him out, force my dad to fight me beast-to-beast, smear our blood all over these marble floors and hope I lived to fight another day.
I’d give him a better fight than I would’ve even a year ago, but the force of the power he could channel from his quad as a bonded Prime would be overwhelming—it was now as he battered ruthlessly at me, and his lion would be able to do the same.
I didn’t think he would kill me, but I grew less sure of that by the day. If he had to choose me or the mountains of money to be made in magical pharma, he’d probably rip my throat out and mourn me later.
My vision went spotty, narrowing so that those glowing pools of silver were all I could see. My body swayed.
“Heath,” Aiden said quietly. Urgently. “Let’s go. We’re not going to settle this tonight.”
I dropped my gaze to the floor. The pressure relented instantly.
Dad let out a satisfied chuckle. “You are impressive, son. But you aren’t me.”
He snapped his fingers at Mom, and she hopped to, following him out of the room, her hands trembling and her eyes glassy. Stephen gave all three of us a disgusted look before stalking back down the hall that led to his office.
Aiden’s hand landed on my shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I shook out my limbs. “We need to talk. All of us.”