A few empty energy drinks rattled around on the floorboards as I drove around a particularly sharp turn. They had helped keep me awake but, unfortunately, Liam had wanted to have one as well to help with his own tiredness.
He had never had anything like it.
Sitting beside me wide eyed he looked at everything at once, but seemed to see nothing. He was twitchy and jittery, fidgeting in his seat and playing with the radio absently. He was also very talkative.
“I can’t picture you or my sister skipping class.” He spoke offhandedly, his fingers dancing across the radio buttons as he read every single sign we passed out loud, just under his breath.
“Mental note, never let you have an energy drink again.” I shook my head as his own whipped around to look at me. It might have been my imagination but it seemed like his eyes had trouble focusing.
“Why? What do you mean?” His fidgeting continued as he spoke without him even noticing it. “I feel fine. It has no effect on me. I don’t even feel it.” I just gave him what was quickly becoming my go to look: a flat stare. “I feel fine.”
“I might believe you if you weren’t babbling and repeating yourself.” It looked as if he were about to reply but he stopped himself and seemed to be mulling it over. “It also would help your case if you could stop moving around so much.”
With obvious effort he was able to get himself under control, though it looked like he might burst from the concentration. It would have been adorable if I hadn’t been dealing with it for hours already.
A few turns later and I was pulling into a parking lot. A cursory search as I drove slowly between row after row of parked cars rewarded me with my goal. Kristen’s car sat a little away from the others in her row.
She exited her car smiling broadly as I pulled up beside her and parked. Liam practically flew out of the truck to rush over and give her a hug.
“Are you well sister” He stepped back, holding her at arms reach to give her a quick once over. She must have passed because he smiled and swatted her shoulder playfully. “You look well.”
I joined the siblings and waited for Liam to give Kris enough space for me to give her a hug as well. She really did look good, not as if she had suffered near fatal wounds a few short days ago. The rapidity with which shifters healed was almost frightening.
We all stood for a moment, appreciating each others presence. It was the first time we were all together again since the celebration for Liam being recognized as an alpha. It seemed like a lifetime ago, not just a few days.
Liam’s focus began to wane and he slowly looked around, attempting to take everything in all at once. “Where are we? There are a lot of vehicles here. Is this a place to purchase them? They seem to be worn in, not many appear new.”
Kristen glanced at me, one eyebrow arched delicately, and I replied to the unspoken question. “He had his first energy drink.” Gesturing towards him I sighed theatrically. “It... energized him.”
“I can see that.” Kris laughed and stepped in front of him, bringing a hand up before his face and making exaggerated waving motions. “Hey, spaz! Calm down and focus.”
He stared down at Kris and nodded, then closed his eyes and seemed to relax somewhat. “I believe I should avoid those drinks. They work, perhaps, a bit too well.” He looked around one more time, actually taking in the scene instead of simply seeing it. “Where are we?”
“In the student parking lot, behind the high school.” Kris and I shared a grin, Liam watching us both, confused.
We had been such rebels. We only ‘skipped’ first period study, which we were allowed to miss. We had been so nervous that we’d miss the next period that we just sat in Kris’s car in the parking lot, talking about where we could have gone.
“So. What now?” I asked, shivering slightly in the cold air. The last vestiges of warmth from the truck having long since vanished.
“We need to go somewhere you two can get some rest.” Kris’s eyes were full of concern as she took in our appearances. I could only imagine what I looked like, I hadn’t slept very long or taken a shower in days. “After that, when you’re both ready, we’ll all sit down and actually come up with a plan.”
I nodded my assent, unable to speak as I succumbed to a series of yawns. Now that I was aware of it again, my exhaustion felt like a monster sitting heavily upon my shoulders.
“Wherever we go, it should be somewhere Troy is unfamiliar with. Or, better yet, somewhere he is fully unaware of.” Liam moved behind me as he spoke, wrapping his arms around me and holding me close.
His body heat chased away any cold I may have been feeling as I melted into him. The comfort and warmth made my tiredness spike however and my eyes closed on their own accord as I settled back into his embrace. Nestling against him felt like coming home.
“I know where we can go.” I spoke, then sighed as I opened my eyes. I could have fallen asleep within the protective circle of Liam’s arms. “Dad would love the company and Troy has no idea where he lives.”
“Perfect!” Kris smiled happily, she had always gotten on well with my father. Not that it was all that difficult, Dad could sit at a table with two arch enemies and have everyone laughing in minutes.
“Your... father?” Liam’s voice was a low rumble in my ear and against my back through his chest. He wasn’t able to keep an edge of concern out of his words and I chuckled at the absurdity of it.
He had faced down a gang of punks at a club, had stood defiantly before his leaders, and had ripped his way through a small army. All to protect me and all within little more than a week.
But he was afraid to meet Dad.
“It’ll be fine, my father will love you.”
“How can you be so sure?” His tone had, if anything, gotten even more nervous. Kris grinned at the two of us as Liam squirmed slightly behind me.
“It’s simple,” I twisted slowly in his arms as I spoke, then pressed my face into his chest and wrapped my arms around him. “He’ll love you because I love you.”
Liam took a deep, steadying breath and held me tighter. He was still uneasy, but now he wore determination like a heavy coat. He would face this like every other challenge he overcame, and he’d give it his all.
“Ahem...” Kris’s voice shattered the moment and I shot a glare over my shoulder at her. Like always it just rolled off of her. “As much as I’d love to stand here in the cold watching you two be sickeningly adorable, we should get moving.”
“Which car should we take?” I spoke from Liam’s chest, not ready to stop holding him anytime soon.
“I was thinking we might want to call a cab. Troy seems to be able to find us with a frightening ease and I wouldn’t really be surprised to learn he put bugs or trackers on all our cars at this point.” Her words hit a chord within me, it really did feel odd how easily he seemed to track us down.
“Trevor!” Liam barked the name out unexpectedly, causing me to jump slightly.
“Who?” Kris and I answered in unison. I leaned back to look up into his face and found him smiling.
“He is from the tribe and drives a car for a... car service? He gave me this.” Liam still struggled with some human terms, though he seemed to be adapting quickly. He lowered an arm and fished around in his pockets briefly before pulling out a business card. “He said if I needed another ride to call that number and ask for Trevor.”
I smiled at his earnest excitement, he felt like he was saving the day with this information. I didn’t have the heart to tell him any cab service would be fine for this, and fortunately Kristen felt the same.
We were both happy to let him have his first moment of victory within the human world.
Chapter Eleven
Jen
The doorbell chimes still hung faintly in the air when Dad opened the door. He must have seen us being dropped off at the curb and made his way here to meet me, meet us.
“Jenny!” He pulled me into a hug and it was as if everything bad that had happened to me
lately was simply washed away. Dad’s hugs had that magical ability. Everything was alright when he was near.
“Hey Dad!” I smiled up at him as I stepped back, letting him look past me to Kris and Liam.
“Kristen, it’s been forever! How’ve you been?” Dad smiled at her and gave her a quick hug as well. She had practically lived here during high school and he had taken her in like an adopted daughter.
“Hey John! Eh, things have been better,” Kris smiled and shrugged as she stepped away. “One day at a time, you know?”
Dad grunted, nodded, and turned to Liam. “New boyfriend Kris?” He smiled and extended his hand towards Liam.
Liam glanced at the hand uneasily, as if it were a poisonous snake poised to strike. Steeling himself he brought his own hand up and enveloped my father’s as if it were a childs. Dad wasn’t exactly small, Liam was just gigantic.
“Actually Dad...” I began, catching his attention. “This is Liam. He’s Kris’s brother. And... he’s my fiance.”
Dad spun back to regard Liam, eyes now hard and appraising. “Hmm. Is that so?”
Liam’s smile faltered slightly under my father’s gaze, “Yes sir.”
“Where’s the ring then? I don’t see one on her finger.” Liam was confused at Dad’s words, he didn’t know human ceremonies very well.
“Dad!” I slapped his arm, causing him to let go of Liam’s hand.
“What?”
“It’s none of your business! Now, are you going to let us in?” I was going to get sick if I kept spending all this time out in the cold.
“Right, right. I’m sorry.” He stepped back and held the door for us as we passed into the warmth of my childhood home.
Walking into the house was like walking into a time machine. Little ever changed here, Dad found a setup he liked and he just ran with it. Forever.
All of the furniture was in a style popular more than a decade ago, though it was all in perfect condition. The electronics though, those usually changed every other year or so when something shiny and new came out. An enormous television hung from the far left wall, it was some new curved model that was so high definition it made the million dollar movie playing on it look like the stage at a school play.
The sound from the movie came at us from every angle, it felt as if we were in an actual movie theater. I could faintly hear music playing throughout the rest of the house. Dad had set up speakers in every room and had some elaborate system set up to play whatever he wanted in whichever room he wanted it to play in.
In all the years since Mom had passed away, Dad had been converting the whole house into his man-cave. His car was an old, run down beater that barely ran. But he’d be damned if a new toy came out that he didn’t have.
To each their own.
“You all look like you’ve had a rough few days. You hungry? I’ll whip up a quick breakfast.” Dad was observant and, thankfully, tactful. He didn’t ask the obvious question: Why were we here instead of at one of our own houses?
“Breakfast would be amazing Dad, thanks.” I walked with him into the kitchen, Liam and Kris falling into step behind. The sounds of the movie faded away and were replaced by some old rock music as we left the living room.
You never knew what he’d have playing over the speakers. It could be anything from classical to a pop music station playing songs that came out today, or anything in between.
Within minutes we were sitting at the table with heaps of scrambled eggs, toast, and corned beef hash. Quick, easy, and one of his staples. We fell into an amiable silence as we ate; it hadn’t really been all that long since my last hot meal, but it felt like ages. As the piles of food grew smaller, conversation picked up.
“So, Liam.” Dad seized on a momentary lull in our idle chatter to pin him down. “What kind of job do you have?”
Liam’s fork paused on it’s way to his mouth as his eyes widened slightly. He really wanted to ensure my father that he was good for me, but couldn’t tell him that he was an alpha werewolf. I could practically see his thoughts churning, searching for an answer.
“I, uh, work on the reservation.” Liam quickly shoveled some eggs into his mouth and chewed painfully slow, hoping to get more time.
“The reservation?” Dad perked up, he was, unfortunately, very curious about the topic. Rumors had run wild through the town for the past few years since the reservation had sprung up, seemingly out of nowhere. It had been wrapped in secrecy from day one, for obvious reasons. None of which he could know.
Kris came to the rescue.
“He’s senior management at the reservation. He isn’t really allowed to talk much about what that actually means though.” Liam shot her a look so full of gratitude it could have been a visual hug.
“That sounds important.” Dad perked up and smiled at Liam, who nodded. “I assume it pays well?”
“Dad!” I glared at him. Really!
“What? I want to make sure he’s good for you!”
“That’s for me to decide!” I felt myself blush slightly. Partly from embarrassment, partly from anger.
My father just chuckled at my reaction and held his hands up defensively. “Just pressing your buttons sweety, just pressing your buttons.” Kris barked out a quick laugh and Dad winked at her conspiratorially.
“Ugh. You two. I’ve been home for what, an hour? And you’re both already ganging up on me?!” I stood and began to collect the dirty dishes. “It’s just like old times.” I rolled my eyes to another burst of laughter from Kris.
Dad was laughing too, then did a double take of me. “You’re taller. Much taller,” he glanced down at my feet, examining my flat shoes. “What in the hell?”
“Growth spurt.” I answered evasively and moved quickly towards the sink.
“A growth spurt,” he replied flatly, “in your mid twenties. Right.”
“Dad, it’s nothing. Promise.” I looked at him and he nodded slowly. He knew something was up, but also that I wasn’t going to tell him.
Liam provided the perfect distraction in the form of a head to toe yawn and stretch. I felt myself yawning in reply, soon everyone was covering their mouths and stretching.
“Cut that out, it’s barely noon!” Dad stood and shook his head as he visibly held back yet another yawn of his own. “You all clearly need a nap or something. I’ll go get a blanket for Kris.”
“No need, I’m just getting over a cold, I’ve had plenty of sleep.”
“You sure?” He looked at her and shrugged at her nod. “Suit yourself. You two need some shuteye though.”
“We’ll get some, but we need to have a conversation first. Privately please Dad.”
“Seriously?” He looked around, taking us all in, and I nodded.
“Hate to see you go John, but love to watch you leave.” Kris grinned as Dad snorted.
“Thrown out of my own kitchen,” he snorted. “Fine!” I’ll be watching the rest of the movie if you need me.” After a nod to our group he made his way out of the kitchen.
After a moment I spun and shot a dirty look over at Kris. “Are you for real? I don’t know what was worse, you flirting with him or the cliche line you used.”
Kris just shrugged and grinned right back. “What? You know I’ve always thought he was handsome and he’s actually only a few years older than me. I’m closer to his age than yours.”
“NO.”
“Fine, fine. You can really take the joy out of life sometimes, you know that right?” Kris winked at me and I just growled back.
“So,” Liam interjected, “a plan?”
I signed as I nodded and made my way back to the table. We really needed to figure out a way to resolve what we were now calling ‘The Troy Situation.’ Unfortunately we had nothing to go on.
We didn’t know where he was, what his real goal was, or how to draw him out safely. All we knew was that he was coming for Kris and that he wasn’t afraid to ‘cheat’ by using guns or mercenaries.
After an hour or so of z
ero progress we felt we should sleep on it and come back at it with fresher minds. Kris decided she’d try to take a nap as well, even though she wasn’t particularly tired, and Dad offered the use of his own bedroom since he would be up and watching movies.
I shot another warning look at Kris before we walked away towards the bedrooms. She rolled her eyes but held up her hands in defeat as she stepped towards the master bedroom. I watched her disappear into the room, closing the door behind her, before taking Liam’s hand and opening the door opposite the one Kris had just entered.
My room was unchanged from when I had left for college. Posters hung on every wall like a shrine to each boy band or actor I had had an unrelenting schoolgirl crush on.
Pink seemed to ooze from every corner, threatening to drown me in embarrassment. It had never really been my favorite color and yet every relative had always assumed that, as a sweet teen girl, I wanted nothing more in life than pink everything.
Liam grunted as he stepped into my room and closed the door behind himself. “This is your room?”
“It was my room a lifetime ago.” I felt defensive as I watched him move around the room. While it may have been from a long time ago this was still a part of who I was. Some of who I was was laid bare to his inspection.
He made his way around the room, glancing at the things he passed but not commenting on any of them. Eventually he reached the head of the bed and looked down at the obligatory pile of stuffed animals. My heart lept into my throat and threatened to choke me as he reached down and plucked up one in particular.
“Be careful with Bo-Bo!” I practically dove at his hands to retrieve one of my most valuable possessions; an extremely worn, and often repaired, stuffed rabbit. Of all the animals on the bed he had to pick the only one that mattered.
“Bo-Bo?”
I held the small bundle of fabric and stuffing gently and answered quietly, unable to meet his gaze. “Bo-Bo Bunny. My mother gave him to me right before...” I had been very young when she had passed, I could only remember faint images of her in my mind. “It was the last thing she gave me. One of my last memories of her.”
Bound to the Prime (Bound to the Pack, #3) Page 6
