Chapter 22
CICELY
“No! Fuck it. You’re coming home with me,” Dad asserts while I sift my hands through my hair with frustration.
I’ve undressed, shifted to help me heal, and re-dressed.
“He needs to be euthanized!” Dad shouts.
“How dare you say that!”
“Look at you!” Dad hollers loud enough to wake the dead, though not loud enough to wake my mate, who is restrained but hasn’t shifted to human yet.
I’ve never seen my father this furious.
“Saw the whole fucking thing in the surveillance room,” Dad tells me. “I see my daughter knocked down, attacked with claws, and run over like you’re nothing but roadkill so he can attack those coming to your rescue? No! This ends.”
We’re just outside the bunker. Cade, Clinton, and Dad secured Jared’s wolf inside and I’ve already shouted because my father, who is the most stand-up guy anyone could ever meet, hoofed Jared’s wolf in the side while he was unconscious, shouting at me that he wanted to put a bullet in his brain.
I screamed at him to get the fuck away from my mate and I’ve never screamed at my dad in my life.
He stormed outside and he’s been pacing for the last few minutes. Everyone is giving him space.
I’m about to go back into the camper, but now Linc and Joel roll up in Linc’s Bronco, followed by Riley and Erica on Riley’s motorcycle.
“Hey,” Erica rushes to me, concern in her eyes.
I hug her.
“You okay?” she asks.
I laugh. But there are tears threatening.
And I’m pissed at myself for it because this notches Dad’s ranting up by a couple more degrees. Now he’s addressing Lincoln.
“What the fuck is gonna be done about this shit? This shit that’s on you, Fowler.” Dad is aggressively all up in Linc’s grill and Linc’s nostrils are flaring with anger.
Linc looks ready to get aggressive too, which is very concerning.
Two super alphas, regardless of the fact that one of them is twenty-five years older than the other, chest to chest like this is the last thing I need to deal with.
“Slow your roll there, Lorenzo. We’re on it,” Linc fires back. “I just shared a whack of information with him. He took it in stride, didn’t seem to react, but…” Linc looks at me. “I do take responsibility. We need to talk about a better plan, Sis. To make sure nothing happens to you.”
“Do better. That’s my daughter!”
Linc grinds his teeth.
“Lor, we’ll learn from this, yeah?” Joel puts in. “If we share further information that might be triggering, we’ll ensure he’s good before we leave.”
“He shouldn’t have any of us around at all,” Riley weighs in. “Especially unmated alphas. Whose idea was it for you to be on security detail, Cade?”
“That’s got nothing to do with it,” Joel argues. “This isn’t down to Cade being parked a mile away.”
“I was just here, and–” Linc starts to explain.
These guys are stressed out, that’s obvious. The council guys don’t typically get like this, but the nature of the situation seems to have everyone’s testosterone levels accelerating.
“It was you,” I cut Linc off. “Sorry Linc, but it was. It was you and me and our history. And maybe some of what you said on top of it.”
“Triggered him,” Joel offers.
“Yep,” I say. “So, if you could all go before he wakes, that’d be helpful.”
Erica is rubbing my back, trying to be comforting, but the only one who could comfort me right now is my mate. And he’s unconscious, inside the bunker.
“If not for that contraption on his face, imagine what would’ve happened!” Dad shouts. “You’re coming home. If he tries to come at you again, he’ll have to get through me!” Dad pounds his chest.
“Dad, I’m not going anywhere without Jared.”
“Look at you, Cicely. Tears in your eyes.” Dad throws his hand out. “You were bleeding when I got here for fuck’s sake!”
“Can everyone just go?” I ask. “It’s gonna overwhelm him when he wakes up.”
“We’ll just–” Linc tries.
“Just nothing,” I cut him off as I open the tailgate of Jared’s pickup truck.
There’s a bunch of his work gear back here.
I grab a slightly beat-up brown suede utility belt and use the buckle to cinch it, so it’ll fit my waist. “I’ll wear this.
I won’t have the weapons out of reach. He got triggered.
He just got some big news and Linc was here and that’s not easy what with our history and the weapons were inside. ”
“What news?” Dad demands.
“I’m not doing this right now. You can get filled in somewhere else.”
“Come with me,” Dad says and grabs my hand.
I shake him off. “I’m staying here. With him. Where I belong. My guard was down. Thankfully his wasn’t and before he shifted he got the mask on so he couldn’t use his teeth on me.”
“Could’ve killed you with his claws!” Dad challenges. “You wanna see the footage? Send her the footage, Joel.” Dad points at me. “Show it to him when he wakes up. Let him see how his fuckin’ wolf treated you. Come on, let’s go!”
“We were watching, Lor,” Clinton says. “We were here in under a minute.”
Dad keeps ranting, “Only got here because it happened directly outside the storage building. If they’d been inside that trailer? No cameras in there.”
I speak up, gesturing to the toolbelt. “I won’t get caught unprepared until–”
“What if this isn’t fixable?” Dad demands. “How long you think you can survive like this?” Dad grabs my hand again.
I shake him off. “Stop it, please. I can’t do this. I’m not doing this. I love you, Dad, but back off. Thanks Cade, Clint. I appreciate the back-up. I’ll be more careful.”
Erica hands me another velvet pouch. “Here. These might help, too.”
I open the bag and there’s a silver bracelet inside. It’s full of alternating blue and green dangling crystals.
I look at her quizzically.
“The green ones,” Erica explains, “hold a Starling coven potion that’ll immobilize him briefly.
Pluck one off and throw it in his direction and he’ll freeze for a minute.
Talking to Bailey this morning gave me the idea.
I got the recipe from Aphra Starling. The only place you can’t use it is in a safe magic circle and chances of you being inside one are slim to none, so this’ll help.
It's not elastic so careful when you shift you don’t lose it. ”
Normally, I’d ask about Bailey. But I’m not in the right headspace.
“Thank you,” I say.
“If you have to throw one at him, you’ll need to be at least three feet away, but no more than twelve feet away. And it’ll only debilitate him briefly. Just a minute or so.”
“Appreciate it,” I say and hug her.
“If it breaks and you’re within three feet it’ll take you out, too. Blue ones are turquoise, for some extra protection. Keep that anklet on, too.”
“Thanks, Erica. Now guys, please go ahead and go. I’ll be careful, Dad.”
My father’s expression has me thinking he’s going to be inflexible about all of this.
“Dad, please.”
“I’m on patrol,” he insists.
“We’ve got a full roster worked out the next three days, Lor,” Joel tells him.
“But we’ll tweak it and try and have only mated alphas paired with betas.
Do our best to have no unmated alphas here until things cool.
Linc and I will do any communicating by phone until everything levels out.
If it needs doing in person we’ll have one of the mated council members do it instead. ”
“Well, now it’s a roster with one more,” Dad says. “I’m goin’ home to get some of my shit sorted and I’ll park beside them. I won’t be leaving until either this is sorted or he’s gone.”
“Whatever makes you feel better,” Linc agrees.
Dad comes over to me, grabs the back of my head and gives me a rough jerk so he can briefly press his mouth to my forehead. “Love you,” he says, gruffly.
“Love you,” I rasp.
“I fuckin’ hate him, though, baby girl. Fuckin’ hate this shit for you.”
“We’re on it, Lorenzo,” Erica tells him. “We’re covering multiple bases. The coven. The council. Catrina. We’re going to figure this out.”
She’s vowing this to me. And I believe her. I have to. I can’t let any doubt creep in, or it’ll bring me to my knees.
“I know you will,” I tell her. “If there’s anything I can do–”
“Just keep doin’ what you’re doing, girlfriend,” Erica says.
“And what’s that?” I ask, bewildered, because I feel like I’m doing nothing to help.
“Being what he needs. Wearing him down,” she winks. “Believe it or not, it’s helping.”
“Is it?” I ask.
“Absolutely.”
“Thank you. Thanks to all of you. But I need some alone time.”
And I turn and go inside, shut the door, and lock it. I grab the two weapons and strap them to my waist. I don’t want to cry in front of them again. And I don’t want to be around anybody. I’m going to turn some music on, clean up our brunch dishes, and wait for him to wake up.
I crank the music and fill the small sink with hot water, squirting dish soap in while I hear multiple car doors closing as well as Riley’s motorcycle starting up.
After I hear nothing else, I let out a long breath.
Catching sight of myself on the back of the frying pan I cooked the eggs in, I can see I look like shit. My hand still has a little damage from his claws, and I can still feel it on my back. My eyes are red, so is my nose from crying. I need to do another shift to heal.
So that’s what I do. I heal on the outside and hope hard that all these people that care will find the answers we need so we can work together to help my mate heal on the inside.
***
I’m done having alone time. I want him.
I venture out there to see if he’s still wolf, to see if he’s awake. I find him sitting with his head in his hands. I walk in.
He has the mask off. He eyeballs the loaded toolbelt.
“What happened?” he asks.
“You shifted. You jumped me. But you got your mask on before that so that was good.” I shrug.
“It didn’t hurt you?” he asks.
“Not terribly,” I admit.
He frowns. “What does that mean?”
“A couple scratches,” I fib.
It was a lot worse than that. Deep cuts on my hand and chest, and he ripped up my back and also shoulders when he sprinted across me. I’ve shifted twice and there’s still painless but colorful bruising on my back.
“You could’ve come and asked,” I quip.
“Don’t see the keys there,” he says, eyes flitting to the empty nail they’re generally hung on.
Where are they? My eyes scan the floor and I don’t see them.
“One sec,” I look around outside the building. No sign of them.
I grab my phone and open a group text string with Linc, Joel, and the phone number they gave me for the patrol team.
One of you put the keys to Jared’s restraints in your pocket?
I get multiple responses within seconds. None of them have the keys.
I text Dad to ask if he has the keys.
He reads my message.
And I wait.
I wait and wait and he’s not replying, so fuck it, I storm out onto the old water tower road and can see the two vehicles parked a ways away. My temper hasn’t simmered in the slightest by the time I get to Dad’s car.
He’s got music on, he’s reclined in the driver’s seat, there’s a cooler bag on the passenger seat, and his phone is in a cradle attached to a vent. There’s a camera feed open of the camera showing outside the bunker.
I hold my hand out.
He looks at my open hand, looks up at my face, and then scoffs.
I wiggle my fingers.
Dad reclines his seat further and puts his sunglasses on, folding his arms over his chest.
I know one thing – he’s showing me where my stubborn streak came from.
“Dad,” I warn.
He sighs, then hits the button to force his seat upright before he leans over and opens the glove box, pulling the keys from it and dropping them in my palm.
I turn to leave.
“Cicely.”
I turn back around.
“Almost threw them away. Anything like that happens again, I’ll throw that asshole into a pit he’ll never come back from.”
“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.