Chapter Twenty-Seven
Millie
I was pregnant.
We were having a baby.
Life really couldn’t get much better than that, but it could get a whole lot worse.
As Cannon and I were making the grocery list one afternoon, Cannon came in and let us know that my father had escaped custody.
The details as to how were pretty fuzzy, which meant he had help.
If he’d gotten out on his own, it would’ve been a bloody mess.
His escape was clean, not a drop of blood to be found. He was there until he wasn’t.
It shouldn’t have surprised me. He had connections in the most horrible places.
From the look on Tyrone’s face, there was something I was missing from the story. I reached up and placed my hands on his cheeks. “Tell me what you are holding back.”
“It’s… I think this is something I should’ve seen coming.”
“No, my love, you can’t expect yourself to think that way.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. The more I think about it, the more I think this is what happened in a dream I couldn’t fully remember. I think he comes here.”
“He won’t. He can’t.” He’d better fucking not.
“What do you mean, he can’t? He couldn’t get out of jail, either, and he’s not there anymore.” He was right.
From that moment on, I was so overprotected, I didn’t go anywhere alone. For the past two weeks, if I so much as went to the window, someone was with me. One of the alphas was running the perimeter at all times. If my father came here, it would not end well for him. Nor should it.
But, as time ticked on, we started to wonder if my father had fled and given up on retaliation.
He could’ve just cleaned out a bank account that hadn’t been uncovered and gone to another country.
That was what most people would do in that situation.
And as great as Felix was about finding all my dad’s money issues, the odds were pretty strong that there were more out there, so it was definitely possible.
But my dad wasn’t like other people. He blamed my sleuth for everything that had gone wrong. His own shitty behavior? No, that didn’t factor in at all. So even as the days marched on and the possibility seemed to grow closer to reality, I could never let my fear go.
Today, when Felix was on the phone with a client facing some sort of tax issue, I heard the chickens go wild and forgot everything in that split second. I forgot about my dad. I forgot about my safety. I forgot about all of it and ran out to see what was up.
Our land was filled with bears and because of that, we didn’t have as much trouble with foxes as some people did, but that didn’t mean foxes weren’t there, and that one might not have decided to brave it. I couldn’t allow us to lose our chickens.
I barely reached the pen when the reality of my mistake slammed into me. My father was standing there, his eyes no longer human.
“It’s your fault, bitch.”
There would have been a time when him calling me that name would have stung, but now all it did was fuel me. I wasn’t the one who broke the law time and again, I wasn’t the one who sold drugs, and I wasn’t the one who raised a daughter just to get the highest profit.
“Get off this land before my mates find you here and decide to end you. Go.” My voice didn’t waver.
“They can find me all they want, but your dead body will be on the ground.”
“What kind of a father are you who would say something like that to your own—”
I didn’t get to finish my sentence. He ripped through his skin, and I did the same with mine. There was no way I was letting him take me down without a fight.
Tyrone had shown me some self-defense over the past few weeks, both in my skin and in my fur. And yeah, my dad was stronger than me, but Tyrone had tricks…tricks that could be used to fell the largest bear. I pulled out everything I had and got in a few good swipes.
My father’s ear was hanging on by a thread.
Blood was pouring from his foot. He kept coming, and I kept defending, until suddenly he knew all my tricks.
I’d used them all up. Now, it was time to go for the jugular and hope that I caught him just enough off guard to land my final swipe before his last breath because, if I messed it up, it was going to be me on the ground.
Growls filled the air. Not my father’s. Not mine. No, my mates were here. I felt myself tackled to the ground and was shocked to scent that it was by Felix. The other two jumped on my father. I tried to get up. Felix refused. I tried again. He still refused.
I gave up. He wasn’t allowing me to have this fight. There had to be a reason, but in that moment, I couldn’t think of a single one that would be worthy enough.
And then Felix jumped off me, shifted, and spoke to me as the other two stood over my father’s body.
“He’s gone, omega ours. He’s gone.”
I looked around him. There was my father. Blood everywhere. I waited for some sorrow, some disappointment, but none came. Only relief. I took my skin again.
“I almost had him.”
“We know.” Tyrone touched my cheek. “And you would have, too, our fierce omega. You remembered everything I taught you. You’d have destroyed him.
But you don’t want to remember the day your father took his last breath and you took your first life.
You don’t want that guilt, as deserved as his death was. ”
“It isn’t wise for you to carry that guilt.” Cannon squeezed my shoulder.
“Let us shelter you from it.” Felix pressed his hand against the small of my back.
I never would’ve thought of the burden I’d be carrying until it was too late. But they had. My mates were always protecting me, even from myself.