2. Clyde
CLYDE
I slid my laptop into my messenger bag and glanced at the time with a groan. I was leaving work much later than I wanted to. On most days, it wouldn’t matter so much, but today was Posy’s library book club, and being late wasn’t an option.
Thanks to a technical glitch, my meeting overseas had started later than planned.
Had it been an in-office meeting, I’d have left early or rescheduled, but getting people from two different continents into a meeting at the same time was not an easy feat.
Unless it was unavoidable, we never messed with them once they were set.
If all went well, I would still get to the library before Posy’s book club ended.
The librarians had been hardcore about kids whose parents were late.
The first few days they pounded into the kids that late parents would no longer be allowed in the club.
Had it been soccer or choir, Posy wouldn’t have been worried about the threat.
Those were activities she did to be with friends more than out of a true love of the activity.
But book club? That was her passion. I could see her going to school to become a children’s librarian or writing her own kids books one day.
And that was why, if I wasn’t there five minutes early, my sweet daughter started to get nervous.
Being kicked out of her club was currently her worst fear.
Given her past, I was happy that losing a club was the scariest thing she could imagine, but that didn’t mean I was okay with her dealing with that.
Her life had hardly been sunshine and roses in the beginning, and my goal was for her to have the best childhood possible, and for now, that included book club.
I hurried to my car, looking forward to the ride back home where Posy would tell me every single thing that happened in the book club.
From the second her seatbelt was buckled, she talked about the books they’d read and the new art activity they’d completed, and which questions she got called on.
No detail would be left unspoken. If another student sneezed during the story, I’d know about it.
I heard many parents at school events complaining their kids were tight-lipped about what happens at school.
They would ask their kids what happened while they were there and get two-word answers.
I couldn’t relate to that because Posy loved sharing every single detail, and I was there to soak it all in.
If I’d known I’d have to work late, I’d have asked Miss Caitlin, the older woman next door, to pick up Posy. Caitlin was the adopted grandma we’d both needed when we moved here.
The day we moved in, Miss Caitlin had come over with muffins, telling us if we ever needed anything, she’d be there.
I thought it was platitudes mixed with a little nosiness about having a single father move in.
But she’d meant every word, and over the years, she’d become as close to pack as the two of us had.
Miss Caitlin would invite us over for holidays. She’d come have dinner at our place when I was making something special or something I knew she’d enjoy. On the rare occasion I had to travel for work, Posy would stay at her house. We were family.
And tonight, I could’ve called and asked her to pick up Posy when I first noticed the meeting was going to end late.
But Miss Caitlin had mentioned being invited to tea with her “old lady friends.” I knew I’d most likely make it on time and hadn’t wanted to disrupt her having her own life.
She’d done so much for us over the years and rarely went out with friends.
Growing up in a pack and dealing with all that entailed, from politics to nosy neighbors, it was hard to believe how “normal” and “ordinary” my life had become, at least by human standards.
I had work that was flexible, paid the bills, and required a tie most days.
I was king of the school pick-up and drop-off line etiquette.
We lived walking distance to a park. I knew the differences between each brand of chicken nuggets.
I was an ordinary dad living an ordinary life. At least from the outside looking in.
It might not have been the life that I expected to have, but it was a good one.
Growing up, I’d planned on living with my pack forever. I’d meet my mate and settle down. We’d have a family full of pups, both work hard, and grow old together. I’d earn my place among the wolves through my achievements and rise up the ranks. I had it all laid out.
But none of that happened. I lived in a two-bedroom house that didn’t have much in the way of a yard, the exact opposite of a cabin in the woods.
I was a single father to an elementary-school-age daughter with no mate and no pack.
Nothing I wanted had come to be, and still, I was happier than I’d ever been.
I wasn’t saying I didn’t get lonely sometimes.
I did, especially after Posy would go to sleep and it was just me and my thoughts.
That was to be expected when you were a mateless pack shifter living among humans.
And the truth was that even if that loneliness seeped into every part of my day, I wouldn’t change a thing because this life was what was best for Posy.
Her alpha father had been my very best friend from my earliest memories. That didn’t change when he met the love of his life and got married. The three of us were like brothers, and when his mate announced he was pregnant, I embraced the title of uncle.
They both loved Posy from the second they suspected there was a pregnancy and wanted to give her the very best of everything.
But pack life was pack life, and in our pack, it was a dark one.
Those in power had embraced the ways of old when the new Alpha took over, where blood, not words, made decisions.
When Posy was still a baby, challenges were made, and her alpha father was in the middle of them. He wasn’t a violent wolf, never had been. He’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. A strong and honest Alpha would’ve ended it right there. But ours was far from either.
From there, the events were kind of a blur, the trauma from them still not far from the surface for me.
The announcement being made, the wolves being gathered, the growls and the cries of pain, the scent, the blood…
so much blood. All of it blended together, and the timeline and exact details were lost to me.
But despite the pleas of many, Alpha insisted rules needed to be followed.
Rules that were from ancient times that no other pack I knew still acknowledged and rules that sealed Posy’s fate as an orphan.
When one mate fell, they both did according to the elders, and when my bestie was bled out, Betas made sure his mate followed.
Pack was supposed to be family, but I called bullshit. A pack that required an infant to become an orphan to meet some ancient law didn’t give a shit about cubs. There was no convincing me otherwise.
One elder went so far as to say Posy was lucky because back in the days of old, she would’ve been killed too. That was when I knew there was no way she could stay there.
Our pack had gotten increasingly violent since the current Alpha took over. He thrived on blood and fear. Sick bastard.
Challenges weren’t meant to be for pride.
They were supposed to keep the pack structure, make sure wolves stayed in their place, and solve disputes that required more than words.
Instead, wolves were using them to settle stupid grudges, like making noise too early in the morning for their liking or not getting a position they wanted in the pack kitchen.
Anything and everything turned into a challenge.
And I couldn’t let Posy live that way. I couldn’t live that way.
When I told the pack that I was claiming Posy as my own, I half expected to be part of one of those challenges.
Instead, there was relief among the crowd.
No one had wanted to deal with her. The only plus side of that was not needing to fight them for her, because I would’ve, and my wolf was in such protective mode at the time, I’d have won.
Thankfully it never came to that, and Posy and I got out of there and to this new life…
the one where I was about to be late picking her up.
I somehow managed to hit every single red light on my way to the library. The traffic-light fairy did not like me today. I tried not to worry too much. I was cutting it close, but at the most, I’d be a minute late.
That was until I swerved out of the way of a kitten and caught the edge of a pothole with my left wheel. The second it hit, I knew something was wrong. Two seconds later, my car was going thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk. Fuck. My tire was flat.
There was no way I was getting to the library on time now.
I pulled over and grabbed my phone to call the library.
I tapped the screen. Nothing. I tried to turn it on.
Nothing. It had been plugged in all morning, so it should have had a lot of power left, but either the charge didn’t take or my phone was broken.
It didn’t matter which, the result was the same, I had no way to contact Posy.
Crap. Posy was going to be wondering where I was, I had no way to call a rideshare to get me there or the automobile club to get a tire change. That left the most time-consuming option, thanks to the way they made the spare nearly impossible to get to in my cat, changing it myself.
At least I knew how to change a tire. I made quick work of it once I got the spare free, my wolf strength making it easier for me than it would for most. But as quick as I was, I still arrived late.
When I pulled up to the library, my stomach dropped. The lights were all out. It was closed.
I remembered Posy telling me that her friend Micah’s big brother offered to drive her home last time, and I begged the goddess for that to be what happened today because the other options were far too terrifying to even think about.