Chapter Thirty-Six
Shiloh
It had been a few days since the end of Hazel’s heat. Everything in the house was scented like pack with that slight undertone of her heat, and it made my wolf disgustingly happy. Me too. How could I not be, with Hazel as our mate?
Knowing that we were all on the same page about not only starting a family but also how our careers were going to look made such a huge difference.
I hadn’t realized how much our career decision had been weighing on me until we discussed it as a pack.
Not all decisions were finalized, but we were on the same page, and that was what mattered.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping that Hazel was carrying our pups already. But if she wasn’t, that was fine because there were other heats—a lifetime of them. The only sucky thing about today was that Hazel went back to her shop, which meant I was missing her.
Lindon was switching out the towel bars in the bathroom to something a little more functional than the ones the previous owners had in place, which held hand towels and not much more. True was on his computer, I assumed doing some subcontracting work, and I was back outside chopping more wood.
We hadn’t cut down any trees. These were downed ones that we found in the woods, fallen from a storm or strike of lightning over the years mostly.
When the supply ran out, I’d probably find a new hobby or a job in town.
I hadn’t decided yet. For now, this was good.
It was repetitive and felt so productive.
It was a good thing I was out here today, though, because I scented someone coming toward the property before I saw them.
My wolf was on high alert—alpha for sure, male also.
But other than that, I couldn’t pinpoint what they were.
For the first time, I was glad that Hazel was gone because my wolf was not pleased.
At her shop, she was safe. Here? That was still to be determined.
A car was coming up the drive, and I didn’t recognize it.
It was battered and probably as old as our mate.
They parked and a man got out. He looked pissed, intoxicated, and like he’d been awake for days on end.
If we had been anywhere else, I’d have thought it was just somebody who got lost. But it was far too much of a trek to get lost and end up here.
He was looking at me like I was the enemy. The wind shifted, and I caught his scent. It wasn’t Hazel’s, but it was close. This person was related to Hazel.
Fuck. He was the enemy.
I knew before he opened his mouth that this was James, Hazel’s father. My wolf had wanted to meet him for a long time, and for that meeting to be very short and end in lots of blood. But not like this. Not in our driveway. Not with Hazel nearby.
We knew it was a matter of time before he found her, but that didn’t make him being here any easier to stomach.
I wanted to attack him so badly. Instead, I shifted just my vocal cords and howled for my packmates. They came running out, understanding that if I howled, there was a reason. Lindon came outside first, followed by True.
True didn’t even get a chance to scent him before he recognized the bastard. It made sense. He’d done far more research than I could even imagine.
“James,” True all but growled.
“I’m here for my daughter.” He didn’t even introduce himself or pretend with any niceties.
She wasn’t something he could come and collect. She wasn’t his anymore. Never had been. I didn’t care what the DNA said. Fathers didn’t treat their daughters like that. Full. Stop.
I let Lindon take the lead. I’d like to say it was because I was a good pack member and deferred to him in times where it was appropriate, but that wasn’t it.
I knew that if I had this conversation, it was going to be very short and very bloody, and that was not something I wanted to explain to my mate.
“I said I’m here for my daughter.”
“You can leave,” Lindon barked back.
To my shock, the man fell to his knees.
“Don’t think you can beg us for her,” Lindon continued. “She’s not yours. She’s part of our pack, and you may not have her.”
“You don’t understand. I need money. You have money. It’s only fair you pay a dowry.”
“A fucking dowry?” True snapped his mouth shut when he got a stern eye from Lindon. I understood why all communication should go through him, but I also understood why True was so pissed, he couldn’t contain it.
“These are not the days of old,” Lindon stated. “There are no dowries. Besides, you sold your daughter. That person is dead. She is ours.”
We would never say we owned her, but implying it for this fucker? I was on board with that.
“Please, I need the money. You don’t understand.”
“It’s not that we don’t understand. We don’t care.”
“I fed and clothed her her entire childhood. That should earn me something.”
“It has. You’re still breathing.”
I wasn’t sure how we were going to get him to leave, but I knew we had to.
Unfortunately, we didn’t do it in time. Hazel was home already.
It didn’t make any sense. She could barely have gotten to the shop by now.
She froze, and then True and I stood to her father’s right so she could run around behind us and to Lindon.
“Why is he here?” she growled, her wolf so close.
“Hazel, daughter.”
I’d never seen anyone shaking the way she was. She was terrified, clinging to Lindon’s back—my strong, brave omega afraid. I was going to fucking kill him. My wolf agreed.
Lindon reached behind him and rested a hand on the small of her back. “Hazel, tell us what you want to do. Not what you think your dad wants. Not what you think we should do. Tell us what you want.”
“I wish I didn’t forget my lunch.” That explained why she was back, but also showed how off center this was making her. As if the lunch mattered now.
“Take your time, love.” Lindon was so good at this.
“I think…maybe…maybe we should talk to him.”
It was the wrong answer. At least in my opinion. She was supposed to say, “Kill him,” but I had to respect her decision. What kind of an alpha would I be if I didn’t give her the choice?
“But not inside,” she added. At least we agreed on that.
“Why are you here?” she demanded. “You are no father to me. I could list all the ways you harmed me growing up, but none of them compare to you selling your own daughter, and not to any someone but to an alpha who killed omegas, who rented them to other alphas, and the list goes on.”
She stepped around Lindon. “That was the life you chose for me, all so you could have a little bit of money. Actually, it sounded like you weren’t even going to get that. Was I worth more than your debt? I barely survived until I left, and now you’re back?”
“You don’t understand. I didn’t have a choice.
I owed those men. If I didn’t pay, they were going to hurt me.
And with the drugs, I couldn’t defend myself.
” He said anything and everything but took no responsibility for the shit he did.
“You owe me, honey. I raised you. Without me, you wouldn’t have any of this, including your mates. ”
That was the wrong fucking answer and, if he’d been watching his daughter at all, he’d have seen the second he crossed the line.
Hazel’s wolf was so close. She was no longer cowering. Her claws erupted, her teeth elongated. I didn’t think James fully understood how dangerous his daughter could be and how, the second he crossed the line and tried to take credit for us, she was done being patient.
Hazel lunged for him. She wasn’t running away. She was being strong. She was fighting. She pinned him, and for a second, I thought those claws were going to swipe his neck open. The fucker deserved it.
But then I looked at Hazel. If she did it, if we didn’t stop her, she would have to live with the fact that she killed her father. He was a piece of shit. He deserved to die, but she didn’t deserve to carry the weight of that.
I grabbed her, pulling her away. “I got you, omega. I got you. He can never hurt you again. If you do this, you’re not like us. It will eat away at you. If he needs to die, we’ll do it.”
She was crying. Her wolf was pushing to get out, but she wasn’t letting her beast in. Hazel was making a choice. Her fingers were returned to normal, and the scent of her beast lessened. She was back in control.
James cackled. The fucker thought he was safe. He wasn’t. True was the research king, and he came with receipts I didn’t know existed.
“James,” True said, “I have evidence connecting you to so many illegal activities that they’re going to need multiple binders for your charges.
You trafficked your omega daughter. You created illegal contracts that got you into half your debt.
You have gambling debt in so many places, and none of them are legal casinos. And drugs. So many, many drugs.”
“Fuck you. What are you gonna do? Arrest me?” James had no self-preservation and I, for one, was glad for it. Let him suffer.
“No.”
A rumble down the drive told me True had truly saved the day.
“They will.” He pointed as the van pulled up. “They already have the evidence. I told them I’d call when you were here, assuming you’d be dumb enough to show up, and look, you were.”
James scrambled to get up, as if he could get away from us on a good day. Based on his current condition, I doubted he’d be able to shift now, much less run.
“I didn’t bother with the human authorities. They wouldn’t be able to keep you and this saves a step.” His behavior threatened to expose shifter-kind. He wasn’t getting away with any of this.
They took him away. My attention was glued to Hazel as it went down. A couple of times, James tried to pull her into it, and True was there with the facts.
James begged and pleaded for her to help him.
Instead, she focused on me and talked about whether we could sell the firewood or if it was better for us to build a woodshed and keep it all.
Nothing of any importance, not for the moment, but something that would give her something to concentrate on that wasn’t him.
The second he was gone, including his car, thanks to the officers, we surrounded Hazel, hugging her close. And that was when she let it all out, sobbing.
“I forgot my lunch and because of that, I almost killed him.”
“I know.” I kissed the top of her head. “And if I thought that’s what you really wanted, I wouldn’t have stopped you. He’s still going to die. I’m just glad it’s not by your hands.”
I was, too. I’d killed people in our line of work, multiple people, and most of them never cost me a wink of sleep. But a couple still haunted me, and they weren’t my family. This was better.
He came here thinking he could claim his daughter, get control over her, use her for his own gain, and he left in custody.
And Hazel?
She walked into our home with the three people who loved her most, although my guess was, her besties might fight us for that honor, and the life she’d chosen for herself, not the one he tried to thrust upon her. If that wasn’t justice, it was pretty fucking close.