I winced, remembering Scarlet flicking the bloody bit from her lips. “But the person I saw on the gurney. It wasn’t Cooper, was it?”
Dad shook his head. “Beth Ramirez’s father, Tony. Says a wolf charged him.”
“Liars,” I said, eliciting a frown from Dad. Scarlet and Ramsey hadn’t mentioned anything about interacting with a human, only hunting the cows. “I don’t mean Tony, sorry. The wolf charged him? Like how?”
“Well, he was about to shoot a wolf, when another one knocked him over,” Dad replied, setting down his beer. “Probably one of Ivan’s rogue hybrids.”
I blinked at him, dreading having to tell him about the McAllisters. He was not going to take it well.
He opened the fridge again and peered inside. “Any of Fawn’s tuna salad left?”
“Second shelf.” Dad pulled out the container and then grabbed the loaf of bread from the basket on the counter. “But the wolf didn’t actually attack Mr. Ramirez,” I said.
“No. He had the wind knocked out of him, but he’s claiming it was an attack. I’ll try to soften it in my report.”
“What was Cooper doing there? I saw his truck.”
Dad looked up from slathering tuna salad on a slice of whole wheat. “You were close enough to see everything. That doesn’t make me happy.” He finished making the sandwich and brought it to the table.
“Cooper, Dad?”
“Tony called him first, thinking it might be one of Ivan’s hybrids attacking his herd. By the time we arrived on the scene, Tony was down in the field and Cooper’d called for an ambulance.” He took a bite of the sandwich and reached for a napkin from the wooden holder on the table. “There was no blood, not a mark on Tony.”
“But the town’s still gonna see it as an attack.”
“You bet.”
“So they did make it worse,” I said. “Great.”
Dad frowned and took another bite of his sandwich. “How was the rest of the grand opening?”
“Probably as boring as you saw,” I said, trying to change the subject. “The food was really good. I know I’m not supposed to like Nathaniel, but the guy can cook.”
“You didn’t go back to Frontier Lanes after your snoop session at the farm.” He took a sip of his beer and then wiped his mouth on a paper towel.
“No. Something came up.” I put the kettle on and took a mug and a packet of hot cocoa mix from the cabinets.
Dad cleared his throat. “Look, Lily, I know you can handle yourself, but with this stuff going down I want to know where you are one hundred percent of the time.”
“You do. I was with Morgan.”
“And?”
“We had to help some people out,” I said, in what I hoped was a breezy tone. The teakettle whistled. I stirred hot water into my mug of mix and carried it back to the table.
“You may as well tell me what you don’t want to tell me,” Dad said, pointing at me with the remains of his sandwich. “I’m gonna find out anyway. That’s how this Cop Dad stuff works.”
I sat down. “Morgan and I ran into company from London.”
Dad nearly choked on his last bite of sandwich. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
I shook my head. “The McAllisters are here. They want to see you. Scarlet, specifically.”
Panic filled Dad’s eyes. He glanced around the room as if looking for an escape route.
“What? What’s wrong?” I asked, setting down my mug. He didn’t answer, just pushed out from the table and hurried up the staircase. I heard his door slam. I followed him upstairs, worried about how strangely he was reacting. “What is going on?” I called out. “Dad, talk to me!”
I opened his door and didn’t notice him at first. Then I saw he was kneeling in the closet, working a floorboard loose. He set the board aside and reached into the hole he’d created.
I shook my head in disbelief. Dad’s hiding places had gotten better after the break-ins around town and with Ezra’s pack in town. This was way more secure than the battered shoe box of memories above him on the closet shelf.
My mouth dropped open as Dad pulled out a banded stack of cash, more than I’d ever seen in one place. “What is all that?” I managed to say.
Dad turned to look at me over his shoulder, his face totally serious. “This is our jump money. How quickly can you pack?”
“You’re scaring me. What’s happening?”
He pulled an empty duffel bag from the closet as if he were about to start packing. “I should’ve expected it. Should’ve known they’d come.”
“You’re going to run away from the McAllisters?”
Dad went to the dresser and opened the top drawer. “Morgan did this?” He pulled out socks and underwear and jammed them into his duffel. “He summoned them?”
“No. He seems weirded out they’re here.”
Dad cast me a glance as he stacked some T-shirts and pants. “How’d they seem? Ramsey and Scarlet?”
“Well, they ate those cows. That’s not a good first impression.”
“That was them?” He set the stack of clothes into his bag, then sat down on the edge of the bed. “Oh, this is bad.”
I took a seat next to him. “Why are you acting so crazy?”
“I’m a lone wolf, you get that now?” His voice was shaky and his breathing was weird still, like he might hyperventilate. I’d never seen him like that before. “They shunned me,” he said, red blooming in his cheeks. “It wasn’t my choice.”
“They kicked you out?”
He nodded, then gazed down at his hands. “That would’ve been bad enough, but then something else happened.” He swallowed before he spoke again. “After years in exile, I returned to London and stole our lupine pendants from them.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “Our stones?”
“They were never mine to give you,” Dad said. “Maybe it’s fitting that they were stolen from us. They never belonged to us in the first place.” He glanced up and I saw his eyes were misty, the humiliation renewed in his telling me the truth.
“Oh, Dad…”
He held up a hand, needing to continue. “I wanted them for you girls, so that I could try to live a life with your mother. It was the only way. I never thought the past would catch up with us the way it has.”
“So, Scarlet and Ramsey—”
“Are killers. They’re gonna rip me to shreds,” Dad interrupted. “And then they’ll turn their attention to Ezra’s pack and kill them to get those stones back. It’s justice.” Dad let out a growl that made my ears and heart hurt. “We can’t go anywhere,” he said, in a defeated tone. “We can’t let them slaughter Ezra’s pack. And they will. Ramsey’s cruel and very cunning. He’ll have no trouble with an injured old wolf and his brash pups.”
My stomach cramped with anxiety. “This is my fault,” I said. “If I hadn’t gotten close to Morgan. If I hadn’t made him want to stay here this long, then the McAllisters would never have come.”
“None of this is your fault. It’s mine. All of this is because of a decision I made long ago,” Dad said, getting up from the bed. He pulled the money from the bag and returned it to the hiding place. “Forget you saw this.”
“Um, okay.” I stood up. “Kind of hard to not remember when you tell me that we’re strapped for cash. But I won’t tell anyone.” I rubbed my arms. The whole place felt cold now, even Dad’s room. “Sometimes we do the wrong thing for the right reason.” My smile felt weak, hopeless, but I tried it out anyway.
Dad looked grateful for my repeating the cliché. “You always try to understand. Even when the other person doesn’t deserve it,” he said, hugging me.
“You were trying to save us from all this drama,” I replied, giving him a pat on the back before the hug ended. “I get it.”
“My success rate is pretty awful.” Lines crinkled at the sides of Dad’s eyes.
“Not on everything,” I told him, crossing my arms against my chest. “Scarlet and Ramsey want to meet with us.
We should use that time to get them on our side. To make them see why you did what you did. You can apologize.”
“We can try.” Fear resurfaced in Dad’s eyes. “They probably won’t care.” He clicked off the light in his bedroom and followed me back downstairs.
My lukewarm cocoa waited on the kitchen table. I took a sip, wishing it could solve all the world’s problems. I studied Dad over my mug. “I know violence isn’t the answer, but if they’re going to rip you to shreds, then maybe you should bring a gun.”
“You want me to kill your boyfriend’s parents?”
I jumped back in my seat. “No, no— Wow, that sounds horrible when you say it like that.”
Dad ran a hand over his forehead and plunked down on a chair at the table. “I’m an officer of the law. I can’t go around shooting people. Or wolves.” He let out a slow breath. “I really miss Ivan. He’d know what to do about all this.”
“I could ask Cooper for backup.”
“Are you kidding? He was there tonight at the field with a rifle.”
I set down my cocoa. “Morgan will help us, I know he will. Remember how good he was at mediating the parley?”
Dad gave me a funny look. “That’s not how this kind of thing goes. We meet, they kill me.”
I rallied a smile for him. “C’mon, Dad—where’s that tough wolf who survived in a cave with hardly any food or water for nearly two weeks? You got this. We’ll make them see our side of it.”
“I hope you’re right,” Dad said, getting up from the chair.
“Where are you going?”
He paused at the doorway. “Think I better pull out my will and insurance papers.” Over his shoulder he said, “Just kidding. Kind of.”
I put my cup in the sink and looked out at the darkness beyond the window. I closed my eyes and thought of Morgan. I hoped that Ramsey and Scarlet were reasonable. That being parents, they’d understand the lengths someone would go for the ones they love. That Morgan would go that length for me. That Dad had for us.
Did Morgan love me? I knew he cared, but now I hoped that his feelings ran deeper, that he’d protect us. The hope was flickering, brief, but it was all I had. Correction—it was all we had.
***
Town Square Park behind the gazebo seemed as good a place as any. Public, not far from home and except for a handful of joggers, mostly quiet until later in the day. Morgan agreed to the location by text, promising to bring his parents.
Dad parked his squad car in front of the coffee shop. He was in uniform since he said he had a shift after this meeting. I wasn’t sure if that was exactly true, but in police gear he did seem a more imposing presence. I nodded at him and pushed through the door leading to the sidewalk from the coffee shop, sprinkling a little glitter onto my sneakers. The cat outline had almost shed all of its dazzle—it wasn’t going to last until the festival next weekend.
I handed him a mocha. “Maggie needs me back by ten. I’m covering for her cousin, since she took my Friday night shift.”
“I should’ve had you call in sick,” Dad said. “This could take longer than an hour.”
“No, it’s all going to work out. Have some faith.” I checked to see if Morgan had texted anything since we’d arranged the meeting place earlier that morning, but saw nothing but a message from Fawn and Rose saying they were going to church with Lewis’s family.
Dad seemed nervous, I thought, watching him rake a hand through his hair and then put his sunglasses in the pocket of his jacket. Was he more worried about them actually doing something violent to him, or facing the people that he’d stolen from?
He sipped at his mocha, glancing around as we entered the park and slowing his pace. “I thought about our talk last night. There’s something I left out,” he said. “Being in a wolf pack is like living in a dictatorship where the strongest—not even always the smartest—is in charge. No one else has a say. I couldn’t go on living like that.” His eyes darkened, anger flaring behind the sadness in his tone. “My father before me, he’d lived most of his life a lone wolf, too. That was in my blood. When I met Ramsey touring with the band and heard about his so-called family, it sounded like something I wanted to be a part of. To have family, when it’d been just been my pa and me for so many years. It was different than I thought it would be. Oppressive.”
A look came over his face, nostalgia maybe. I wanted to know more about his father, about his life as a young wolf, but it seemed like Dad was done sharing about his past.
“I’m glad you left them,” I said. “If you hadn’t, then you wouldn’t have met Mom.”
Dad sighed. “It’s all connected, isn’t it? No matter how it turned out, I am glad I have you three. You make all of this worth it.”
We reached the picnic tables behind the gazebo.
“Hey—did you know that we’d all be born this way?” I asked in a quiet voice.
“I’d heard tales of what might happen, but there’s no formal study of genetics. Some European scientists are doing some tests, formulating serums that might help some day, but their investment capital is put toward cures, not lineage. Young wolves are told not to fall in love with humans. Easier said than done. I loved your mother.”
“But someone could turn a human…”
“They could and do. That’s not something your mother or I wanted.” Dad took a seat at one of the picnic benches.
Before I could reply, Morgan came running full speed toward us. He nearly crashed to a halt at the picnic table. “We’ve got to go,” he said, breathing in gasps. “There wasn’t time to text.”
Dad got up from the bench. “They aren’t coming?”
Morgan sucked in another breath. “When I arrived to pick them up I let it slip that Ezra now has the pendants. My father went on a tirade and wrecked the hotel room. He and Mum are on their way to find Ezra.”
“The bowling alley?”
Morgan gestured toward us to get up and move. “There’s a small house behind it. That’s where they’re living.”
“We’ll meet you there,” Dad said. “Go!”
Chapter Thirteen
A few minutes later, Dad and I made our way along the back of a one-story house covered in warped shingles and flaking green paint. Blackberry brambles snaked up toward the building’s small windows, making the sneaking prickly and difficult. Rundown as it was, this was the place the pack was calling home. I could smell bacon and coffee scenting the air, so probably the wolves had been eating breakfast when they were ambushed. Morgan’s SUV had been already in the lot when we’d arrived, next to the McAllisters’ rental. He had to be somewhere nearby. Maybe even inside with the pack and his parents. But I couldn’t smell or hear him.
“I feel like we should be calling in backup,” I whispered.
“We are the backup.” Dad ducked lower as we approached a sliding-glass door. Voices echoed from the interior. Loud talking, Morgan’s voice among them. My palms began to sweat. Had Morgan thrown himself into the conflict to resolve things, or was he joining in the confrontation? It was hard to understand what was going on inside with everyone talking over each other. Ezra’s menacing growl cut above the arguing. “I can’t believe I’m trying to save that arrogant ass,” Dad muttered.
I bent around him, trying to see through the glass door. I felt his hand, pulling me up by the arm. He held a finger to his lips. The ruckus inside was quieting.
“You have no right to bust into my home!” Ezra’s voice, growly and low, cut through the walls as if they were paper. “This is my town. You have no dominion here.”
“Listen, friend,” Ramsey said, an edge to his tone. “We have no intention of getting involved in your petty bucolic squabbles. We’re here to take back our stones and be on our way.”
“No deal,” Ezra replied. “We’re not giving them to anyone.”
“Is that so? I have to say, your sons look as if they’ve had nice long lives,” Ramsey said, a sneer in his words. “Younger first, or older first? Which pup do
you like more?”
“That’s not how we handle things on this side of the pond, you pompous dandy!”
There was a scuffling sound, then breaking glass and lots of growling. I couldn’t stand not being able to see what was happening. I tried to poke my head around Dad again to see, but before I had a glimpse, Dad was pulling me around the corner of the house, out in front of the ramshackle porch. “That’s it. We’re outta here,” he whispered.
“No! We have to do something. He’ll kill them.”
“If Ezra’s smart, he’ll turn over the stones.” Suddenly, Dad’s radio squawked loudly. A report of a room trashed at the Pioneer Inn blared from dispatch.
Dad’s hand jerked toward the volume dial, but it was too late. The door flew open and there Scarlet stood, plaid cape flowing behind her.
“George, darling!” The way she said Dad’s name made my skin prickle with fear. Scarlet’s shiny white teeth reflected the morning sun. She stepped forward onto the sagging porch, her arms open in a welcoming gesture at odds with the vicious smile.
“You have some nerve,” Ramsey said, looming in the doorway behind Scarlet. His thick, muscular body seemed to swallow up all the empty space.
I swallowed against the lump in my throat. Next to me, Dad seemed to be reaching for his gun on reflex. I could see the fear hiding just behind the bravado he was projecting with his jutted-out chin and chest. “Dad,” I whispered. “Careful.”
Dad growled and took a step forward. “Your issue’s with me, not Ezra’s pack.”
“True, but they have our property,” Ramsey said. Scarlet reached for his arm and they moved out onto the porch, standing on the top step. Morgan, a sour look on his face, followed them. He didn’t glance our way, but he had to know we were there.
In the daylight, Scarlet’s hair shined even more red than the night before. Her complexion was similar to Morgan’s but creamier, lighter, and a sprinkle of freckles touched her nose. Her profile seemed fit for a cameo brooch in an antique store, her features fine and her lips an upturned pout.
A Forest So Deadly (Pioneer Falls Book 2) Page 15
