Chapter 5 #3
He didn't believe that she could flash, so she wouldn't be able to help remove people, but that didn't seem to matter.
Zorth was removing people's whole cells and flashing them away, while Harry was taking groups that could be flashed to the same place.
It was clear to him that Zorth was even more powerful than Harry.
It made him wonder if Lottie would ever have that kind of power.
He could see the good that could be done with it, but it still scared the hell out of him.
Darren moved to Lottie and hugged her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded and leaned on him. It was obvious that while she’d not been damaged, she was totally worn out and emotionally drained.
At least it was something she could recover from.
They would go home once the other people were safe, and it would take some time.
It took hours before they were free to leave, and others arrived to investigate who was running this prison and what was going on.
He was relieved when Zorth finally flashed them all home.
Harry hadn't come back from the last time she had taken people away.
When they arrived home, Liza had food on the table waiting, and Harry was sitting there eating.
It made him wonder why Zorth had so much power.
It was true that Harry could eat and get a certain amount of power that she could do things with, but Zorth hadn't been able to eat or rest the whole time they'd been in that basement, and yet he had the power to do anything he needed to do.
“Not all power users are created equally. It's true that Zorth is a witch, but he is also something more.” Flo explained.
It was Funny how his mother always seemed to know what he was thinking.
She had answered the question that he had never asked but had wondered about.
His wolf was starved, so he filled his plate full and began to eat, knowing that once he had eaten, he would be tired and need sleep.
The girls were asleep, and he was grateful that Liza had watched them while they'd been gone.
Hopefully, the wardens would take care of this despicable wolf that had been trying to hunt down his daughters and had possibly sold his nanny to some kind of slaver.
Cage had told him that since his daughters were white wolves, there was a good chance that they would act.
The fact that Lottie was a female wolf could only help.
Tyne would take charge of the last site Lottie had been at, investigate, and lay claim to anything of value so it could be sold to pay for the investigation.
There was nothing that he could do about any of this right now.
He finished eating and hurried to his room, where he showered and lay down, so once he was rested, he would be able to get up and get on with things.
It was afternoon when he woke, and he could smell lunch even though his door was closed.
He got up and dressed, then headed to the dining room, where he found some people already at the table eating.
Apparently, his mom and Carlos managed to get by on less sleep than he needed.
Once he’d been a wolf longer, he’d make it on less sleep.
Until then, he still felt tired. But he knew he needed to find out what was going on.
“You should have slept longer. You’re a new wolf.” His mom shot him a dirty look.
“I was hoping to hear about what was happening with the investigation. I also wanted to be up in case Lottie got up to see how she was.”
“She's not up yet, and I doubt that she'll be up anytime soon. Her magic was drained along with her energy, and even her artifact ran dry. I imagine she won't be up until breakfast in the morning. It's better if she sleeps longer than she needs than if she doesn't sleep enough.” Flo assured.
That made sense, and he wouldn't want her to get up if she was overly tired.
Magic and the rules attached to it were completely beyond his understanding.
Darren was sure that he would learn in time, but for now, he was just trying to find his way.
His wolf nudged him because it was hungry, and there was no point in sitting here starving and not eating.
Once the meal was done, he cleaned his area and took his dishes to the kitchen.
“Where are the girls?” Darren asked.
“They wanted to have a tea party for lunch, so Liza served it in one of the other rooms,” Flo observed.
He knew he was lucky to be here, where his daughters could get the best possible care.
If they were a little spoiled, that wasn't the worst thing that they could be.
They realized that they'd been in danger, and he was sure they knew that Lottie had been taken because of them.
That couldn't be easy to deal with. Instead of interrupting their tea party, he'd wait and see them when it was over.
Darren knew that he had plenty to do, and he got his computer and brought it downstairs so he could see his girls as soon as they were through with their party.
Once he got to his work and was doing well, he didn't feel this tired.
It was important that he get his work done well so he could support his children the way he wanted to.
Not everyone understood stocks the way that he did, and he enjoyed working with them.
He would review the available information and decide what constituted a sound investment.
He was almost always right, and the few times he was wrong, he made it up to his customer by pointing them to a different stock that more than made up for their losses.
Few people were truly talented like he was.
If he’d been younger and single, he’d have made even more, but he chose to take time off for his daughters.
They were his whole world, and they were even more important to him than his job.
Darren found that Lottie was becoming more important to him.
The wolf inside howled in approval. His wolf was pushing hard for a different relationship with Lottie.
His girls came running to him, done with their tea party. “Daddy!” They yelled.
“Was the tea party fun?”
“We had little sandwiches, crackers, cheese, and cookies.”
“That sounds wonderful. What do you think about doing some of your reading this afternoon?” Darren suggested.
“We can do that,” Adele said, and Ellis agreed.
The girls ran to get their books, then sat on the living room floor reading.
He continued working on his computer, but occasionally he looked up to watch them.
What would happen if he started seeing Lottie?
Darren thought the girls would approve because they liked her.
Would she be willing to date him? It was hard to say, but once she recovered from recent events, he planned to ask her.
Lottie was up and joined them by supper.
She looked good, but he could see some signs of strain on her face.
That was no surprise under the circumstances.
The talk at the table seemed to be about everything but what had happened.
There was no point in discussing it with the girls at the table, as it would only upset them.
The girls were the first to finish their meal and left.
It seemed no one wanted to bring it up now either.
How did you even talk about something like that?
Did you ask someone how they felt about what happened or what was done to them?
He wasn't sure he wanted to know whether anything awful had happened to her, and he wasn't sure she would want to discuss it with a group of people, either.
All he really wanted to do was make sure she was all right, and that if she wasn't, she would recover.
Darren wished he could assure her that everyone involved would be punished, but that wasn't up to him, and he wasn't the one out there searching for the bad guys.
Harry was probably the one who would know the most, but since she was a witch like Lottie, she was probably resting and trying to regain her magic.
Cage might know, but Darren hadn't heard anything from him yet, and if his mother had, she wasn't sharing.