13. Phil #2
Instead of taking a step or two back, our latest werewolf grinned.
The look was pure pleasure and instantly made me regret admitting our discomfort.
I’d thought the werewolf was massive when I’d been sitting.
Standing didn’t lessen that impression. Sedrick was probably a little taller, but they were equally muscled.
“Forgive me. Most know who I am, but since you’re a . . . pixie? Perhaps not. I’m Arie Belview. Dillon and Ruthie are my grandchildren.”
Dillon gnashed his teeth, and Ruthie shuddered in my arms. Arie’s declaration wasn’t a big surprise.
He was right; I didn’t recognize him on sight, but weres were very considerate where a child’s needs were concerned, and this werewolf completely ignored the anxiety his presence produced. Arrogance did that.
Arie Belview was every werewolf stereotype rolled into one overbearing figure.
Eyes lit from within, Arie’s wolf was on full display.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Arie’s bespoke suit jacket pulled against the girth of his chest. Everything about him was immaculate, from the carefully trimmed dark brown hair and a thick beard to his polished shoes.
Arie Belview screamed money and power without the punch of an underlying werewolf.
My wings beat furiously, spreading pixie dust into the air. If I hadn’t been downwind of Arie Belview and his ring of thugs, they would have been blowing snot. I had a feeling Arie planned his position upwind on purpose.
I swallowed down my increasing fear. I was the adult here. I might just be a pixie, but I would not allow harm to come to Dillon or Ruthie. Sedrick would be back soon. I just had to hold out until then.
Pulling on an affable calm I didn’t feel, I said, “While it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Belview, I’m not sure Sedrick would like you here, especially in his absence.”
Arie’s devious grin turned into an equally suspicious frown. “Surely he can’t object to me seeing my own grandchildren.”
Oh, Sedrick did object. He objected very much.
“Get the fuck away from us,” Dillon hissed, the words garbled from his mouth full of wolf teeth. “Momma didn’t want you around, and neither do we.”
I had no idea what Dillon did or didn’t know about his maternal grandfather. It sounded like Kelsie hadn’t minced words when it came to her side of the family and had given Dillon and Ruthie ample warning.
Arie’s look of abject irritation was the first real emotion I’d seen. “Your mother was confused, Dillon. She was wrong about—”
“Like hell she was.” Sedrick stormed into the melee.
In one powerful stroke, he pushed in front of us and formed a wall blocking Arie from my view.
Dillon slipped from my grasp and stood even with his uncle.
“Kelsie knew exactly what you are, Arie, and she didn’t want her children anywhere near you, and neither do I.
Kelsie and Will left the kids with me. No matter what you do or say, their will is legal.
I have full custody, and I get to say who can and will see them, and you sure as hell aren’t on that list.”
“I see.”
I didn’t like not having eyes on Arie Belview and took a step to the side so I could see around Sedrick.
“I highly doubt that,” Sedrick sneered. “The fact that you’re here, talking to Phil and the kids, says just the opposite.”
“Phil?” One of Arie’s eyebrows arched, and his gaze tracked to me.
A chill spread up and down my spine at the gleam in his amber eye.
“Is that the . . . pixie’s name?” The corner of Arie’s lip twisted into something resembling amusement.
“I had no idea your hired help was this . . .” Arie waved a hand in my general direction, “different. I’d heard you hired a home-and-hearth pixie.
I’d even heard your choice was a bit larger than your average pixie.
I had no idea rumors could be so accurate. ”
“Phil’s a great pixie.” Dillon defended my questionable pixie honor. I didn’t think Dillon had much of pixie experience or knowledge to base his statement on, but I appreciated the effort, nonetheless.
“Who I do or don’t hire is none of your business, Arie.” Sedrick’s voice was frigid.
“On the contrary, those surrounding my grandchildren are entirely my business.” Arie sounded just as icy.
“Not as long as I’ve got custody,” Sedrick argued.
Arie relaxed and stuffed his hands into the pocket of his pants. Rocking back on his heels, his gaze swept from Sedrick to Dillon and then back to me, but his eyes locked on the back of Ruthie’s head, not me.
“For now,” Arie answered ominously. “Don’t get used to it, Sedrick. I get what I want. Kelsie and Will found that out the hard way. If you keep going the way you are, you’ll force that lesson upon yourself too.”
Ruthie wailed something low and wounded into my neck. Her claws dug deeper into my shoulders, and fresh rivers of blood oozed down my skin and darkened my t-shirt.
“Dillon,” Arie’s voice was lighter, almost jovial, “I’ll see you and Ruthie soon. Don’t worry. You won’t have to live in that little hovel your uncle calls home for much longer.”
With that parting remark, Arie Belview turned and walked away. His three shadows never said a word. They didn’t have to. Their presence said it all. Their silence said they’d do whatever the man holding their leash ordered.
For the first time since I could remember, the crowd staring at me had nothing to do with their shock at my size. This time, the sympathetic gazes spoke a different story. This time, those eyes sang with another kind of relief—that they weren’t the ones caught in Arie Belview’s crosshairs.