Sami mustered a sly grin as she regarded him. “Well, now I might not want to be safe. If I don’t send the message, I’ll be able to keep you forever.”
Aric scowled as he leaned back on his haunches. “Teenage girls bite the big one.”
I didn’t bother hiding my laughter. “Just wait until she discovers shoes.”
“Shoes are better than boys.”
“You say that now, but you’ll change your mind.”
Twenty-Three
Paris and Kelsey were already in the middle suite room with Sami when Aric and I woke the next morning. I could hear their low murmurs through the door and knew Sami was safe, so I took a few moments to cuddle with Aric.
He’d been largely quiet after the heavy conversation the previous evening, and I was dying to know what he was thinking.
“She’ll be okay,” I whispered. “We’ll figure it out.”
“I know.” Aric pressed a kiss to my forehead and tugged me closer. “She has an entire cadre of people willing to die for her, and that’s on top of the wolves my father is sending.”
I stiffened, surprised. “Your father is sending wolves?”
“After what happened last night we can’t afford to be caught without an army of our own,” Aric replied. “You know it as well as I do.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, unconvinced. “That will draw more attention to us.”
“They already know we’re here. A show of force can only help us at this point. That’s what we’re getting. If we have to fight, we’ll have backup. We’re going to need it.”
Part of me knew he was right. The other part wanted to flee Covenant College and never look back. Of course, if we did that we’d have to pack up our home and go into hiding again, start someplace fresh where no one could find us. We wouldn’t have a choice.
“If we’re going to do this we need to do it right,” I said after a moment, resting my palm on Aric’s bare chest so I could feel the reassuring beat of his heart. “We need to come up with a good plan, and we need to make sure that nothing is left, because I don’t want someone trying to reinstate The Academy in another twenty years. We’ll be almost sixty by then, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be too exhausted to deal with it.”
Aric snickered. “And you thought you felt old now.”
“I do feel old.”
“You’re young at heart.” Aric rubbed soothing circles across my lower back. “She didn’t freak out when we said she’d have to fight. I thought she would – at least at first – and then calm down after. Instead she seemed up for whatever we throw at her.”
“She gets that from you.”
Aric shifted so he could meet my gaze. “What?”
“Resiliency. Strength. Loyalty. Pride. Courage. She gets all of those things from you.”
“She gets them from you, too,” Aric countered. “We make jokes about her bad behavior, but she gets good stuff from us. She especially gets it from you.”
“She’s a good girl,” I agreed, fighting off tears. “This is not the life I wanted for her.”
“This life isn’t set in stone. We have a chance here to send a very big message. We have our friends here; there’s strength in numbers. I would never admit it in front of him, but I’m almost happy Rafael is bonding with her. He’ll protect her with everything he has.”
“He will.”
“Because she’s your daughter,” Aric added.
“Because he’s a good man,” I corrected. “He wasn’t nearly as in love with me as you think. He realized any potential relationship between us was doomed. He stayed and fought out of friendship, not love.”
“There are different kinds of love, Zoe. I love you with my whole heart and soul, and we belong together. I can’t live without you. I’d like to think you feel the same way.”
I burrowed my head into the hollow between his neck and shoulder. “I definitely can’t live without you.”
“Rafael loves you in a way that’s purer,” Aric noted. “He loves what you stand for, which is a righteous fight. You don’t want to hurt people simply because they’re different. You understand that this world is a better place because people don’t look and act the same.
“He loves you despite your mouth, or maybe a little because of your mouth,” he continued. “He would’ve protected Sami to the last because she was your daughter. He’s fond of her now, though. I think it’s because when he looks at her he sees you.”
“He sees both of us,” I corrected. “He loves you as much as he loves me. You guys have a bromance.”
Aric snorted, legitimately amused. “Excuse me? I don’t have bromances.”
“You don’t have many of them, I’ll give you that,” I conceded. “But you have a few. I think you might have more if you weren’t surrounded by women instead of men. If you’d had a son … .” I trailed off. Any mention of Aric not having a son usually led to an argument.
“I don’t want a son,” Aric stressed, giving my rear end a vicious pinch. “Don’t even think of making this a thing … again. I have everything I’ve ever wanted. I have a wife I will never stop loving … or wanting … or craving. I have a daughter who is turning into a fine person, even though she’s still a pain in the ass like her mother.”
“Oh, thank you so very much,” I deadpanned.
Aric grinned. “We made the right decision all those years ago,” he said, sobering. “We can only keep one child safe. I’m not sorry about the child we got. I love her more than anything. She’s going to be a great person when she grows up. Heck, she’s already halfway there.
“I like our family exactly as it is, warts and all,” he continued. “In six years it’ll be you and me again, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to that. We’ll still have the kid, we’ll still be a part of her life, but we’ll be able to relax and live however we want … including naked.”
“That’s assuming everything here goes as planned,” I reminded him, flashing a tight smile. “Sami might be with us forever if we can’t send the right message. Then she really will get her way and marry Rafael, because she’ll never trust another boy her own age. She’ll always be suspicious of the people entering her life.
“That’s what I fear most,” I admitted. “I learned to trust while I was discovering my powers. Would I have been able to trust you if people attacked every other month when I was a kid? I’m not sure I would’ve been able to get past that.
“I like to think we would’ve found each other no matter what,” I continued. “I want to believe all of this was destined. I need Sami to have something to hold on to. A peaceful future, one she can mold however she wants, is something I desperately need to give her.”
“Then that’s what we’ll give her.”
He made it sound so simple. “How?”
“By following your gut,” Aric replied. “It never leads you astray. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s how we’ll fight this enemy. That’s how we’re going to come through this on the other side.
“I believe we got dragged back to Covenant College for a reason,” he said, clutching me close as he rubbed his cheek against mine. “This is where it started for us. It only makes sense that this is where it ends for her. The trouble, I mean.
“She’s going to have a long and happy life, Zoe.” Aric sounded determined, which made me feel so much better. “We’re going to give that to her. We’re going to claim it for ourselves. We’re going to make sure the message we send here is so definitive, so bloody, that no one will dare come after us again.”
His enthusiasm was so profound I couldn’t help joining in. “I have faith we can do this.”
“I have faith in you … and we will do this.”
“Good.” I closed my eyes for a moment and inhaled quickly. “I suppose we should start now, huh?”
Aric tilted his head to the side, considering. “I think we can enjoy ten more minutes of this first.”
“I like the way you think. I always have.”
“Right back at you, baby.”
“OKAY, THE goal for today is to find out whatever we can about the people at The Academy,” Aric said an hour later, frowning when he saw Rafael hand Sami a container of strawberry jelly for her toast. “Are you two paying attention?”
Rafael barely flicked a glance in Aric’s direction. “Last time I checked, I am capable of handing something to a person and listening simultaneously. It’s a difficult skill, yet I’ve somehow mastered it.”
“The more time you spend with Zoe, the snarkier you get,” Aric grumbled.
“I could say the same about you.”
“No fighting,” Sami ordered, her eyes flashing. “We can’t win if we’re fighting. I don’t want to fight.”
“No one is fighting,” I soothed, patting her hand. “That’s simply the way we communicate sometimes. Your father and Rafael are both alpha males. What did I tell you about alpha males?”
“That they like to talk to hear themselves talk and occasionally they thump themselves on the chest as if they’re gorillas because they want people to look at them,” Sami answered automatically.
“Nice,” Aric drawled, rolling his eyes. “What a great thing to teach our child.”
“Am I wrong?”
Aric ignored me. “We need as much information as we can get on this Martin guy. He’s clearly the key.”
“What if we can’t figure out who he is?” Sami asked worriedly. “Will he win?”
“He’s not going to win,” I promised. “He’s a beta male. What did I tell you about beta males?”
“That they want to be alpha males but their nuts are too small so they can’t,” Sami replied. “Because they have small nuts, they’re weak and easy to beat.”
Aric worked his jaw, dumbfounded. “When did you impart this great knowledge on our daughter?”
“When you were out chopping the wood without a shirt on,” I answered.
“Mom likes to ogle you – I think that’s the word she used – when you chop wood,” Sami offered. “It gets her hot and bothered.”
I extended a warning finger. “I know I never said that to you.”
“No, but you said it to Aunt Paris last time she visited. I eavesdropped.”
Aric snorted. “Oh, that’s kind of sweet, Zoe.” Aric kissed the top of my head. “She gets the eavesdropping thing from you, too. It’s not so funny when you have to constantly look over your shoulder to see who’s listening, is it?”
“That shows what you know,” I scoffed. “I never say anything in private that I wouldn’t say in public.”
“And because she has no filter in private or public … you figure it out,” Rafael offered, tapping the edge of Sami’s plate. “You need to keep up your strength, junior mage. Eat your breakfast.”
Sami made an exaggerated face. “You’re worse than my dad. I don’t like people bossing me around. If we’re going to get married someday, you need to realize that I’m my own person.”
I didn’t bother hiding my smirk as Aric made a disgusted sound and sank into the chair next to me. “She gets that from me.”
“Yes, well, I can’t decide if that makes me happy or sad,” Aric said. “The fact that she’s planning to marry a guy you kissed makes me extremely uncomfortable.”
“Somehow I think it’ll work out okay,” I said. “I’ll help with the search for Martin, but I want to show Sami a movie on my computer this afternoon. I think it’ll help with what we talked about last night.”
Aric cocked an eyebrow, surprised. “A movie?”
“It’s a really good movie, and it plays into this situation,” I explained. “I think it will bolster Sami’s self-esteem and prepare her for what’s to come.”
“So … what? Are you going to show her Braveheart or something?”
I snorted. “Um, no. Braveheart won’t get it done. I have something better planned. She’s already seen it but now I’m going to talk her through it … my way.”
“I can’t wait to see this,” Rafael muttered.
“Well, I’m only mildly terrified,” Aric said after a beat. “Do what you want. If you think this movie will help, then I have faith in you. Give it a shot.”
“HOLY CRAP!”
Sami’s eyes were wider than saucers when I muted the television and the closing credits started to stream down the screen.
“I can’t believe we just sat through that movie,” Aric complained, his phone in his hand. “I can’t believe I let you show her that movie.”
“Calm down, whiner,” I admonished. “It’s not as if there was nudity or she accidentally saw some hot Scot shed his kilt.”
“I watch that for history and nothing else,” Sami barked, remembering where she was and who she was with. “This movie, … is it true?”
I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling. “No, it’s not true. I didn’t show it to you because it’s a biography. I showed it to you because I thought it might inspire you.”
“And what is this movie called again?” Rafael asked, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the screen.
“Firestarter.”
Paris jerked her head up and made a face. She sat at the small dining table in the adjacent room, only visible through the open doorway, and made a face. “That’s what you showed her to inspire her?”
I shrugged. “I thought it was a good idea.”
“I kind of liked it,” Sami admitted. “Other than the weird clothes – and never buy those tennis shoes for me, because they’re gross – I thought it was pretty good.”
“You did?” Aric was obviously surprised.
Sami nodded. “She got rid of everyone who was trying to hurt her. She ended the people who wanted to make her do bad things. She took control of the situation.”
I smiled. I couldn’t help myself. That was the message I wanted her to get from the movie. “And she won.”
Sami nodded. “She won even though she lost her father.”
I swallowed hard. I was less thrilled with that aspect of the movie, but you can’t always get everything you want. “Yes, but the important thing is that she won,” I reminded her. “You don’t have to do it exactly like the movie. I want you to realize you can do it like the movie.”
“Other than you or Dad dying, right?” Sami was clearly fixated on that.
“Of course your parents aren’t going to die,” Rafael interjected smoothly, taking me by surprise. “The movie was a good lesson in power. The father never learned the lesson correctly. Your father and mother, on the other hand, have learned that lesson. That’s a very important distinction.”
“I guess so.” Sami seemed happy with the explanation, because she merely shrugged and got to her feet. “I’m hungry. When’s lunch?”
“Soon,” I replied, turning my attention to Paris. “We need to see if Aunt Paris found anything.”
“Yes, because I’m the only one doing work,” Paris grumbled.
Kelsey was offended. “I’m sitting right here searching for stuff, too.”
Paris patted her hand. “I wasn’t talking to you. I like you today.”
“Good to know.”
I rolled my eyes as I moved closer. “Did you find anything?”
“One thing,” Paris said, her eyes brightening. “I’m not sure what it means, but I definitely found something.”
Great. We were finally getting somewhere. “What did you find?”
“I found one Martin Bishop in the school academic library,” Paris replied, turning her computer so I could see the screen. The photo was a match for the man we saw in the athletic department basement.
“That’s him.”
Paris nodded. “I ran his background and came up with nothing … until I looked closer at his original birth certificate.”
“What do you mean ‘original’ birth certificate?”
“He has two,” Paris replied, leaning back in her chair. “The second had a blank spot where his father should have been listed. It bothered me enough that I du
g further. Most people have a father listed even if the dude isn’t involved in the kid’s life.”
“Okay,” I prodded. “You dug deeper. You find a second birth certificate?”
“It would technically be the first birth certificate,” Paris replied. “Someone tried to erase it, but I found it on the hospital’s website, so we got lucky there.”
“And?” Good grief. She tells a story like Sami when she’s hopped up on sugar, meandering all over the place like a drunken snake.
“And Martin Bishop had a father listed on his first birth certificate.”
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Aric urged. “Who was it?”
“Kennedy Reagan.”
And there it was, the piece we were missing. Kennedy Reagan. A wolf who fathered little half-wolves all over the state and never took care of them. A wolf who wanted to bring back archaic rules that allowed male wolves to have multiple wives. A wolf who tried to kill me several times, including by feeding me to a starving Rafael.
“Well, great,” I muttered, shaking my head. “We have another hypocrite trying to mount a creature war. I can’t wait to get my hands on this guy. I just … son of a bitch!”
Twenty-Four
Sami was furious when we left her at the hotel with Paris and Kelsey. In the bright light of day I wasn’t overly worried about someone attacking – especially at a hotel – but I considered leaving Rafael behind, too. He instantly negated that argument by insisting that Martin should know that more than one manner of monster was ready to take him out.
Paris had managed to track down Martin’s address and Aric found it with little effort. He parked in front of the house, and that’s where we faced our next argument.
“I think I should talk to him alone first.”
Aric balked. “Are you crazy? He’ll try to kill you.”
“He will,” I agreed, bobbing my head. “He’ll also quickly realize he can’t. I want him to be afraid of me even if I’m alone, so afraid that when he realizes I have studly and terrifying backup that he’ll crap his pants.”
Dying Covenant: The Complete Series Page 73
