“And weekends?” Garrett asked.
“Four, after chores. And after she has spent at least an hour doing something else, usually time on her bike.” I cringed. “I don’t know how much time she’s going to want to spend on that bike now.”
Dad leaned back. “You sound like a father.”
Cutting my gaze to his, I held his eyes. It was hard, since I knew he was the Alpha and that move could potentially be disrespectful. “I am a father.”
“You could have told us.” Mom looked at me, and I could see the sadness in her eyes that she had missed so much of my daughter’s life.
From the bag next to me, I pulled out a scrapbook. “Here. This is your copy. Leigh and I made it for you when we realized that…we wouldn’t be able to tell you about her.”
“Why, though, Son? Why would you keep a child a secret from us? Did we make you afraid of us?”
“No, no. I was afraid for you. Leigh is the daughter of an informant. A government spy. People knowing she had a kid was dangerous, and if they found her father, they would find her. If they found her, they’d find Cassie, then me, and then all of you. We had long talks when Cassie was a baby about telling you or not, and her father said that until his cover was blown or he was dismissed from service, it was better to keep it quiet.”
I picked at the remains of my salad. “It sounds weak. But we did it to protect you. And when she was in the wreck—which was not an accident, by the way—it was just letting the cat out of the bag. I am so sorry. But Leigh and I were just trying to protect her, and you all.”
My father had a hand on the table and studied it. This was his ‘deep in thought’ pose. “You’ve been there for her?”
“Leighann and I made a go of being a family for about the first six months and realized we weren’t meant for each other. We stayed roommates, though, until Cassie was two and a half. I was there all the time for her. Then I got the scholarships in U Alaska, and I had to come back. That’s when we switched to what we have now. Every other weekend and two vacations a year. I’ve kept a little one-bedroom place in Langley since then. Just a small one. So I had some place that wasn’t Leigh’s and she could sleep over.” I smirked. “Leigh didn’t like it at first, but then she met Uriah four years ago.”
“Uriah?” Garrett asked.
“Her husband. Well, her mate. He’s a cat shifter.”
“So, wait, Leighann is a shifter?”
“Wolf, yes.” I nodded.
Dad sat back in his chair. “I’m not happy that you didn’t tell us. Not even drop a hint, Patrick. I understand the reasoning, but that doesn’t make me any less upset. Eventually, I’ll get over that as long as you bring her around.”
“Nothing is secret anymore,” I answered. “Well, relatively. She’ll definitely be around and I’m more than happy to fly you down to Vancouver if you want to do that.”
I leaned forward. “I’m sorry. That’s all I can say. Leighann and I had to make decisions. She’s one of my best friends and I don’t regret anything. We did what we thought was best at the time. Now it’s different and we’re adjusting.”
“I like her.” Darius smiled. “She’s a good kid and she clearly loves you. She seemed really well adjusted and there was no resentment in her for finding all this out.”
Another quiet moment passed. Mom slapped her hand on the table. “I got a granddaughter. Whatever happened, happened. We missed the first twelve years and I’m not going to miss any more. That’s that. What do you need from us, Patrick? How can we help you be an even more awesome father?”
“That’s that.” Garrett laughed and slapped me on the back. “But I’m going to rib you about this forever, Trick.”
I groaned. “Tatianna told you.”
“Oh yes.” Darius laughed, rubbing his hands together. “Oh yes, she did.”
Chapter Fourteen
This was not how I had planned to spend one instant of my vacation. At all.
We didn’t have time to be coy, either. There were literally coyotes at the door and I wanted to know what we had to do. Delia and Jess would be our own personal Alphas, but they needed a kick in the ass sometimes.
I glanced at Jess. “Who was on patrol tonight?”
Jess seemed shocked that I brought it up, then shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Delia shrugged. “Bart. Pretty sure.”
I tossed a look at her, and Jess looked stunned again.
Delia looked between us. “What? You asked.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Brandy hissed.
“The pa…the guys at the compound set up patrols around the property. They alternate. No one wants the coyotes here.”
Well, this cat was thrashing to get out of the bag.
“Bart’s not out there,” Jess said. “He got into a fight with Martin and he’s the kind of asshole who would flake out.”
“What are you talking about?”
The bang on the door cut off the conversation. Someone had shifted and was now bodily slamming against the door. Jess needed another kick in the ass. “Call Garrett. We need them all up here.”
“Are they trying to break in?” Brandy was terrified.
“Line’s dead.” Jess laughed.
We all held out our cell phones in the next instant. She shook her head and grabbed her own. “I got his number on speed dial.”
The door rattled hard against an impact.
Jess stepped back and had her conversation with Garrett as Brandy grabbed my elbow. “Upstairs. Let’s get upstairs. You can pick them off like fish in a barrel if you have to.” She pointed to my gun.
“Good idea,” Zanna said and crept over to the stairs.
“Excellent idea,” Jess agreed. “They’re going to be here as fast as they can, but it’s still going to be about ten minutes.”
A polite knock rattled us more than any banging and howling.
“Brandy. Brandy Yéil, you are challenged. Come out and face the challenge. You are challenged for this land. You have to answer.”
“What?” Zanna looked confused.
“They want my land. I’m not answering, because it’s my land and I don’t know why they think they can challenge me.”
Jess’s face betrayed her. She knew. She absolutely knew the answer to that, but she wasn’t about to talk. “Go. Upstairs!”
At the top of the stairs I heard the most wonderful sounds. Wolves. Howling in the distance.
Patrick, Garrett. Martin, and even Tatianna. I could hear each howl as if they were speaking. Jess and Delia both had looks of relief on their faces.
“Joy. Wolves,” Zanna mumbled.
We were all distracted again when the doorknob down below groaned and snapped under an unseen pressure. It plunked down on the floor and the door creaked open.
“The doorknob?” Brandy hissed.
“Window. Go out the window,” Jess snapped, pushing me, Brandy, and Zanna toward it.
It was a good idea, and I grabbed the other two and pushed them along, Delia taking over a moment later.
None of them heard the door slam back, wide-open.
“They’re in.”
Jess nodded. “They snapped the knob.”
“Yeah, well, you know they’re strong.”
She nodded. We watched the bottom of the stairs.
I slapped a hand to my forehead. “Naked. They’re going to be naked.”
Jess groaned. “Of course. They’ll try to intimidate us with their swinging and not-so-swinging dicks in our faces. Best way to get us flustered.”
Delia hissed behind us. “Come on!”
We nodded and pressed our shoulders together, backing away from the stairs and into the room.
“Go,” Jess said to me.
I spun and raced to the window. Handing my gun out to Brandy, I swung out onto the roof. I grabbed the gun back and slipped it in the window. I really didn’t want to fire it—I would ruin Jess’s hearing.
A minute later Jess was out
with us on the roof.
Zanna was nearly wringing her hands. “The coyotes are everywhere. They’re around the front. Yipping. Shoving into the house.”
Delia glanced over the edge. “Ten feet to the deck. We can hang drop, and it’s not too bad.”
“And do what then?”
“Hide in the underbrush.” Delia shrugged.
“The what? That’s not safe.”
Garrett howled, very close.
“The woods are safe,” I said.
We all quickly glanced at each other and shrugged. Brandy and Delia sat on the edge.
“When are they going to be here?” Zanna asked, looking into the dark forest around us.
“Soon. Garrett, Patrick”—Delia looked at me, but I didn’t react—“are on their way. Probably Jason and Martin too. Just, let’s get out of their line of sight.”
I watched as Brandy and Delia were the first two down. They landed and ran as fast as they could. Zanna was right behind them with the two guns we had. I dropped down next and turned to grab Jess’s gun as she sat to hang down from the gutters.
Blood and bone rained down on me from above. Jess’s body jerked and fell.
“Oh my God! No!” I knew I screamed the words, but it didn’t feel like it. I scrambled to get under her, but I was knocked out of the way by the body of a massive wolf.
“Garrett, oh, Garrett.” I scrambled over and put her head on my lap. “Holy shit, she’s hit so bad…”
He shifted instantly back to human and gasped.
“Shit, shit.” My voice rose to hysterical levels. “We need an ambulance. We have to get her to a hospital!”
“Jess! Jessica!”
“Don’t shake her!”
“Who shot her?” Garrett wasn’t himself. He was as hysterical as me.
“I don’t know!” I cried.
There was so much blood. Her shoulder was a ruin and I could see a pulse. See it. There was no way she was going to live.
Someone knelt behind me, holding me up, while I kept her head on my lap.
“Don’t die, Jess. Don’t die…”
Garrett growled from deep inside. “Find them. Take them out. I’ll take the heat, I don’t care.”
The person behind me—Patrick, I realized—kissed the top of my head and ran off.
I gasped. “Zanna! Zanna is a field medic!”
Tatianna yipped and ran off.
I put my forehead on Jess’s. I wanted to will her to stay alive. “We tried to get out. I don’t know where the shot came from.”
“I do. I saw. The gun came out of the window.”
I looked at him trying to find a pulse, whispering desperately in her ear to stay with us.
“Where is the closest hospital?”
“To handle this? Anchorage.”
Oh, God. That was hours away.
Jess’s eyes fluttered open and she found Garrett right away. The love between them, the sensation of right and destiny nearly knocked me back.
Garrett was her fist bump.
“Gar…”
“Ssh, Zanna’s coming.”
She tried to shake her head.
“It’s not too late,” he said. The tears he didn’t even try to stop dropped onto her cheeks and lips. He knew he was lying.
Jess was dying.
He threw his head back and let out an anguished screaming howl. “Don’t leave me! Please don’t leave me!”
Zanna dove in and shoved me out of the way. She ran her hands over Jess’s exposed mess of a shoulder and her eyes filled with fear. “Oh. Oh God. I can’t… This is too much. There’s no kit in the world…”
Jess’s hand fluttered, and Garrett leaned down.
“I love you…”
My heart hurt. She was going to die.
“Oh, God, baby, don’t do this… Hang on. Please.”
“…trying…”
A strong, tenor voice filled the air around with a calm sensation I didn’t know could get through our panic. “You know what you have to do, Son.”
Mine, and Garrett’s, head snapped around. Martin stood there on the stairs.
Garrett’s breath became panicked. “She never said yes.”
“Risk her ire, or lose her forever.”
While there were hints of his Alpha there, the true sound was that of a father, encouraging his son to grab life before it slipped away.
And I gasped. Garrett could mate her. I didn’t know how it worked, but if he mated her, she’d be bound to him and his magic and she could heal! “Can you do that? Can you? Please, anything. Save her.”
“She never said yes.”
“Don’t try to be noble. Please. She’s dying, and she loves you. Save her.” I caught his eyes and he stared hard at me. It took him just a moment to nod.
“Leave. Everyone leave.”
“No!” Zanna screamed.
I grabbed her and pulled her back. “Trust him, Zanna. He loves her and he can do this. But we need to go.”
“No! He—”
“Zanna.” Martin’s Alpha was out. “Come with us. Come.”
She shook her head and still resisted.
I stood and pulled her to her feet. “Go. Go with Tati.”
Everyone moved quickly after that and left me standing with Garrett. I dropped a kiss on the top of his head. “Save her. Please. Save her.”
Running after Zanna and Tati, they were heading for the Range Rover. Zanna had a look of complete confusion on her face and seemed very lost.
“Tati, I got this,” I said, trotting up. “Go help the rest of the pack.”
She nodded and shifted before we got another two steps. I’d never seen her wolf, and she was a pretty little brown wolf. She darted off after other wolves around the house, engaged with the coyotes.
Pulling open the door, I basically shoved Zanna in the back. Neither of us could fight a coyote, and I didn’t want them sniffing around us.
“What’s…what’s going on?” Zanna whispered. She turned and plastered her gaze on the maniacal fight outside, in front of the cabin. She turned slowly to me. “Did Garrett Pauler and his sister just turn into wolves?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Are we letting Jessica die?”
“No, Z, we’re not. Garrett is her mate, and he can save her.”
“How?”
“I don’t know how it works. But because he can make her his mate forever, she gets the magic properties of his blood, and she’ll heal. At least that’s how Patrick explained it.”
“Patrick?”
“Well, his sister and brothers are shifters…”
“They change…into…”
“Wolves.”
“My head hurts. How is this possible?”
“I don’t have all the answers, just some of the facts. I do know that you weren’t supposed to find out that they can shift. But at the same time, since those damn coyotes were attacking you as well, you have a right to know.”
“This is like one of Brandy’s books…”
I shrugged. “I guess so.”
“Jess.” She sucked in a breath and pointed out the window.
Jerking around, I saw Garrett walking toward us carrying Jess and flanked by Martin and Patrick. Slamming the door open, I jumped out of the back and pulled the back door open.
“Where are we going?”
“My house, please,” he said.
“She’s alive?”
He nodded tightly. “She’s alive. The wound is really bad and it’s going to take a few days to fully heal.”
“So she’s your mate,” Zanna managed.
“Yes.”
I closed the door and walked around to the front of the Ranger Rover to climb into the driver’s seat. I slammed the door and opened the windows.
“Addi.”
I turned and a fully naked Patrick was standing there. “Can we talk? Later?”
Glancing behind him at Martin, I could see the man was working on forgiving his son for whatever this
was he had done. I took a deep breath.
“After. Call me. We’ll meet somewhere.”
“Somewhere?”
“Neutral territory.”
He nodded and stepped back. Garrett needed to get Jess back to his house and take care of her.
* * *
“Is she awake?”
“Can we see her?”
“Does she hate him?”
“Is she hungry?”
Martin laughed and held his hands up to stop all of us from attacking him. “Ladies. She’s fine. They need to go visit Grandmother because there’s something different with this mating. Different,” he cut off our squawking, “does not mean bad. She’s fully healed except for a bruise on her shoulder.”
I let out a breath, as we all did. Jessica had been out for two solid days. She’d been an absolute mess when Garrett brought her to the car, but she’d been breathing. That was all I needed to see.
And now she was awake and with Garrett—who was her mate. Our friends knew the truth about St. Terese and the shifter and I felt relieved that I didn’t have to keep it a secret anymore.
“Let’s let them get on their way,” Martin said, ushering us to the door. “I’m sure she’ll come back and tell you all about it. You are besties, after all.” I heard the smirk as we filed out onto the porch.
“Is Jessi gonna be okay?”
The voice came from the right and I turned to find a smaller, younger version of Olga standing there, with Patrick’s eyes watching us.
Cassandra.
Patrick rose from the couch and stood behind her, hands on her shoulders.
“Jessica is going to be fine,” Delia said. “She just needs time to heal and relax.”
“Oh, thank God. I know Uncle Garrett was a mess.” She glanced back at Patrick.
He smiled at her, then looked up at us again. “Ladies, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Cassie. Cassie, these are Jess’s best friends. Delia, Zanna, Brandy, and Addi.”
“Hi.” She smiled.
They all answered with a pleasant greeting and Delia cleared her throat. “We’re going to head up to the cabin and get shit sorted. There’s still stuff to do, like curtains and rugs. Come up when you can, Addi.”
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