Chapter Fifty-Six #2
My dad raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
Thoth chuckled. “Sadly Gav, I only have you and Amy.” He sighed. “That’s a little sad, isn’t it?”
My dad smiled. “You have more than us. You just aren’t sure who is on your side.”
“That’s the fucking point, Gav.” There was another smashing sound from his side. “How are we supposed to be sure, when we have people we are supposed to trust turning on us?”
I watched the two carry on and felt like I was missing something. “Why do I feel like I am out of the loop?” I looked between the screens. “I mean, I know I am, but something is going on between you two.”
My dad scratched the back of his head and chuckled. “Old friends baby. That’s all. Anyway, get back to your story. What the hell happened to you? And how the hell did you end up in a cell?”
I groaned in frustration. “Let me just tell the whole thing.”
“Okay.” My dad waved his hands at me. “I promise not to interrupt.”
Thoth sighed. “I’ll stay silent.”
“Okay, so the day that mom got her divorce.”
“DIVORCE.” My dad yelled.
I leveled him with a look, and he raised his hands. “Sorry.” But I could tell he was ecstatic about the information.
“Yes, mom got a divorce.” I looked at him and raised an eyebrow, and he winced and then nodded. “As I double checked with Rick before the divorce, he told me to go for a run. Really emphasized taking the time to connect with the trees.”
“He needed you in the woods.” Thoth cut in, but I just nodded.
“I made a deal of driving my mom to the airport.”
My dad furrowed his brows. “You said she went to the cabin.” I just turned to glare at him. “Sorry.”
I laughed. “I created a connection from the cabin to my closet here.”
“What?” Both men asked this time.
I sighed and just dropped my head into my hands. “I swear I will answer any questions you might have, but I’ll never get through this if you both keep interrupting me.”
My dad sighed. “Give me a second, then.”
“What? Why?” My dad started opening drawers, and then I heard Thoth do the same. “What are you doing?”
“Getting a fucking paper and pen, cause I know I’m going to have a ton of questions.” My dad slapped a notepad on the desk and clicked a pen. “Okay go.”
“Okay.” I sighed. “I sent mom through my connection in my closet. But I used my magic to make a copy, and I drove her through the pack to the airport. I sent the jet on a trip to the other coast, so it looked like she was going to Toya’s old pack. Then I shifted and ran back home.”
“I-” I snapped my eyes to Thoth, and I heard a whispered sorry and some scribbling.
“I just hit the edge of the pack lands when I felt something shift. Something felt off, and we ran towards it.” I could feel their eyes on me, like an almost physical feeling, but I closed my eyes to remember.
“I crouched down and slipped through a bush and I saw them. Vince, Morgan, Brandon, Rick and Verity. They had a little boy, and they were trying to drain him, but I had gone to his house the Friday before and gave him enough strength to last another week.”
“What the fuck?” Thoth whispered, but I ignored him.
“Vince was pissed because Verity had said the kids were ready to harvest, but they weren’t. Not anymore. Rick was prancing around, flirting with her, talking about how he was ready for this to be over.”
“What to be over?” My dad couldn’t help it and I just smiled.
“Vince told them that if you drain your own child, it will not only give the man the power from his child but also the mother. It’s why Morgan wanted mom to have his pup, and why I can only assume Brandon was so pissed in my last life when he thought the pup wasn’t his.
” I opened my eyes. “They are harvesting powerful females for more power. They said they needed it so that when they killed the king, they’d have enough power to become the next one. ”
I opened my eyes to see my dad scribbling more notes. But his face was pale. He looked up and saw me watching. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “I’m sure.” I leaned forward. “Verity and Rick kissed and then she took off. The guys were talking, and I stood. I figured I had the upper hand and I had seen everything I needed to see. But somehow, even with Nix, Megan, and my magic, Rick caught me.”
“How?” Thoth jumped in and this time I threw my head back and laughed.
“You two can’t stay quiet, can you?” I wiped my eyes from laughing so hard. “It’s comical.”
My dad blushed. “I want to defend myself, but I can’t say anything.”
Thoth sighed. “It’s the first time I have gotten to speak with you. I’m a little…excited.” He snorted as my dad glared at the other side of the screen. I could hear the smile when Thoth spoke next. “She’s a beautiful woman, Gav. Any man will be lucky to call her a mate, Goddess given or chosen.”
Even I could hear the interest in his voice, and I blushed, but my father just growled. “You keep your paws to yourself.”
“Anyway.” I cut in. “Vince and then rest caught up, and he called Verity to knock me out. He wanted her to force me to shift so he could…” I just looked down at my hands.
“Please tell me he didn’t.” Thoth’s voice dropped to a deadly threat. Even with the voice warping, I could hear it.
“Baby.” My father was calm, but I could see the twitch in his eye. “Did he?”
I shook my head. “I stayed shifted. Verity told him she could only put me into a light sleep from where she was. Apparently, she had already made it to the car with the ‘brotherhood’, so she knocked me out. I woke up on the way to the jail, but I pretended to stay asleep because I needed to figure out if Rick really was with them. I had told him my secret. I had already taken his mate, pup, and him to the cabin and I showed them Carly.”
“The shaman?” My dad asked. “How is she holding up? I heard Carl was dead?”
I just nodded. “She is doing okay. I let Carl see her every so often.”
“Wait, you just said he was dead.” Thoth sounded a little breathless. “How are you letting a dead man see his kid?”
I just looked at his screen and pretended it was his face. “Magic.”
My dad snorted. “A new power, because it wasn’t a thing for me. It started with my grandmother, and now it apparently extends to Carl.”
I winked at him. “The Goddess has given me a bit of leeway.” I waved my hand again.
“Anyway, back to Rick. He has a corrupted rune burned into his neck.” I yawned, the day catching up to me.
“I was confused about it until I realized Verity, or her sisters, all laid draining traps all over Vince’s woods.
Anyone that runs in there will lose their strength.
It pulled my power in, too. And funneled it all into Rick.
Making him faster and stronger until the power transfer was completed. ”
My dad furrowed his brow. “Why would Vince give it all to Rick?”
“Because it’s killing him.” My answer was soft. “He can’t control the transfer and when he’s done using the power, the extra is purged from his system, so he can’t use it against Vince.”
“I thought you said they were working together?” A sound from Thoth’s side had us all silenced. Then there was movement before he dropped out of the call.
I looked at my dad and he held up a finger. “Give him a minute. He is in a room that I charmed. If anyone tries to get in, it lights up. He dropped the call to make sure no one would hear or see us.”
I nodded. “Who is he?”
My dad smiled. “That’s not for me to say. Why do you want to know?”
I looked away. “I-”
My dad’s eyes narrowed at me. “You like him, don’t you?”
I snapped my eyes to his. “I…” I groaned. “It’s stupid.”
My dad smiled. “What is pumpkin?” He was goading me. I groaned, and I covered my face with my hands.
I shook my head. “OKAY LISTEN.” I yelled and then hit my head against the wall.
“After everything I went through with Brandon, finding a man I liked was the last thing on my mind. But then I met Rowan, and I had thought…” I looked off to the side.
“I thought maybe, you know. Even when I knew it was impossible, he’s the king for Goddess’ sake.
But I felt it in here.” I hit my chest, and I watched my dad’s eye turn sad.
“You really liked him?” His question caught me off guard.