If she hadn’t gotten on, we would’ve probably made it to the room before Daya fell back to sleep, his wolf stated, and Garin had to agree his jaw tensing at the memory.
“I heard you spoke to Alec,” Trevor said now getting his attention.
“Yes, he called when I entered the hospital,” Garin admitted in a hard voice lifting his head to answer him when he saw the looks on their faces.
“I’ve been talking to you for the last few minutes,” Tammie spoke in a angry voice getting his attention and Garin found himself surprised when he realized she was standing in front of him. “Yet, you answered that man without hesitation.”
At her term, Garin’s eyebrow went up glancing at Trevor whose eyes darkened although he didn’t say a word neither did Kala, but it was more from her mate holding her than anything else.
“Sorry, my mind was on something else,” Garin apologized politely even though his eyes narrowed on her.
“Did you hear anything I said?” Tammie demanded putting her hands on her hips.
“No.” It was automatic response with no apology behind it, and Garin walked around her to go sit next to Jordan with the others at the counter.
Garin caught the brief shake of Tammie’s head before she turned and joined them trying to seat on his lap without much luck.
“Garin, honey, you need to relax,” she cooed in a low voice putting a hand on his arm. “If it is Daya, maybe she was messing around with the wrong men and things got out of hand.”
Before she could say more, Jordan slammed his fist on the counter making her jump. “Don’t talk about my niece as if she is anything like you.”
Tammie paled at the fury in Jordan’s eyes stuttering, “It is the truth.”
“Are you sure you want to say that, Tammie?” Kelsey asked from the doorway, and everyone turned to her.
She walked farther into the room. “It crossed mind a few days ago that maybe, just maybe, you had something to do with those men attacking Daya.”
“What?” Tammie laughed off the accusation, but everyone could see she suddenly had tensed eyes shifting around the room.
“I saw your face that day, and you knew Daya was getting off late because you heard her,” Kelsey revealed voice going hard. “Your friends told me so.”
“So, what if I knew the time?” Tammie shrugged her shoulders. “They did, too.”
“But they didn’t have a problem with Daya,” Kala said slowly her face pale and anger threading through her voice. “You did since Garin had chosen Daya over you.”
Tammie scowled opening her mouth to respond when Kelsey continued.
“I talked to a few of your friends and learned that you had two men over at your place a couple of nights ago, a few hours before Daya was attacked to be exact.”
Tammie paled turning to Kelsey who stared at her.
“I talked with your landlord and when I mentioned the men, he told me how worry it had made him when he learned that they attacked a woman especially since they were with you.”
“I…I…” Tammie stammered eyes shifting to the others before landing on Garin whose eyes were almost dark with fury. “It was supposed to be a game.”
“A game,” Garin questioned in a deadly soft voice.
“Yes,” Tammie replied regaining some of her confidence sneering slightly. “I was tired of you ignoring me and I thought Daya would like a little company while you were gone.”
“Tammie,” Garin uttered standing up from the counter. “You seem to think that the reason I was ignoring you was because of Daya, right?”
“Yes,” she spat tilting her hand to the side fluttering her lashes at him. “Are you telling me that isn’t why?”
“Oh, it is,” Garin assured giving her a smile which made Kelsey shiver slightly while Jordan and Trevor nodded their heads, “but as Daya said the first time you asked her about a threesome, I prefer my lover focused on me and only me.”
“What?” Tammie pouted at him forcing tears to her eyes. “Garin, you are the only one I have been with since we met.”
Garin shook his head sharing a glance with Kala who rolled her eyes and glared at Tammie’s back.
“You shouldn’t wear so much perfume after leaving one guy to go to another,” she remarked, and Tammie spun around to stare at her.
She didn’t have time to respond when Jordan chimed in an indifferent voice although there was a smirk on his face. “I have noticed that when a woman comes to me smelling as if she dumped a whole bottle of perfume on her, then it means she has something to hide.”
“The perfume doesn’t really cover up the smell of other men,” Trevor tacked on picking up his drink.
Kelsey leaned against her counter folding her arms over her chest. “You wear the wrong type of perfume for one.”
Tammie gave her a narrowed look, but Garin turned away knowing that Kelsey could handle the woman if need be.
“You should leave, Tammie,” Trevor suggested lightly, but the look on his face dared her to ignore it. “And don’t come back to this house.”
Tammie scowled again before storming out of the house.
“Honey,” Trevor uttered, and Kala took a deep breath closing her eyes focusing on the young woman who was just getting into her car and a second later, Kala opened her eyes.
“Kelsey, make sure she gets home safely and remove…” Kala started to say.
“Remove all traces that she has ever been here or knows about the pack house,” Kelsey finished giving her a sharp salute before leaving the room.
Kala sighed and put her head back. “I’m not having no more study sessions here, and if I even suggest it, someone please stop me.”
“But you had an ulterior motive for this one,” Trevor remarked watching everyone turn to him in shock. “I think she wanted to learn a little more about Daya.”
Kala flushed, but she laughed nodding her head. “Guilty,” she admitted. “There was just something about her that I couldn’t put my finger on.”
Garin wasn’t going to tell them how glad he was for that gut feeling of their Alpha Female turning to Jordan who was watching them with a soft, wistful smile.
“You must miss Daya’s aunt,” Garin said quietly watching Jordan’s eyes fill, but he blinked them away.
“She was the light of my life,” Jordan uttered leaning on the counter. “I met her later than most Alpha’s do, but I was glad that I waited. When I met her niece, I will admit I wasn’t thrilled about having a non-shapeshifter part of my pack. I already knew that my mate was going to catch Hell because she wasn’t a full-blooded shifter, so I talked my mate into placing Daya with my caretaker when I was little.”
A sad smile shifted over Jordan’s face, and Garin knew he was thinking about the past. “She hated being away from Daya and would go over almost every weekend, even during the week, to see her. Daya was her light during those times when living with me in the pack almost drove her crazy, and then when I lost her…”
“Daya was your light, she was the one thing that reminded you of your mate,” Kala concluded.
“When I first took her home to the pack, I did it because my mate asked me to take care of her,” Jordan replied with a chuckle. “Even then, she was strong and determined along with stubborn. Soon, I realized that having her there helped ease the heartache of my mate’s death, and we shared similar memories of her which helped, too, since most of the pack wouldn’t talk about her.”
“Daya told me about her aunt,” Garin shared seeing the look Jordan shifted to him.
Jordan gave a loud sigh closing his eyes. “I’m glad Daya is doing better, and those men should be, too, or…” He controlled his temper by clenching his jaw trying not to think what he would do if Daya had died.
“She is fine, so let’s not think about anything else,” Trevor advised catching the look on Jordan’s face.
“You said you wanted to discuss something with us,” Garin offered changing the subject.
“Yes, yes, I do,” Jorda
n said absently running a hand through his hair. “I’m relinquishing my Alpha Title over to my heir next month.”
The silence had him opening his eyes to see the stun looks on his companion faces although Garin’s jaw had tensed while his eyes went completely dark letting Jordan know that Daya trusted him enough to tell him about her aunt and her ex-mate.
“Okay,” Trevor uttered slowly shaking his head astonishment shifting to confusion.
“Everything is supposed to go to him except for a small inheritance that Daya’s aunt and I started when we first mated,” Jordan explained a scowl coming to his face. “I fear that once he realizes that she has it and is my niece, he may come after her.”
Garin growled at his words while Kala asked after sharing a look with Trevor. “Would what you leave Daya cut into the pack funds?”
“No, since it wasn’t never included,” Jordan revealed with a small wince. “But my heir has no concept of managing money and he has been very frivolous with the pack money along with his mate.”
Garin had to turn away at these words, and Trevor gave him a look.
“Are you asking us to watch over Daya when the time comes?” Trevor surmised, and Garin turned back to Jordan with a response already on his lips.
Jordan nodded his head slowly. “I hope you will because I don’t want Daya to be stuck in the middle of the battle that I’m sure will occur after my demise.”
Kala stared at him in confusion. “I assumed you were handing over the pack to retire,” she stated.
“Originally, yes, that was my plan,” Jordan agreed with a weak smile. “But about five months ago, those plans drastically changed.”
Trevor stared at him eyes narrowing slightly when suddenly something hit him hard and his wolf growled at the insight.
“Why…what happened?” Trevor asked sharply. “Why are you asking us to protect Daya, Jordan?”
At the sound of his name without the Alpha honorific, Jordan gave a lopsided grin. “I’m dying, and according to my pack doctor, it will be sooner than expected.”
Kelsey exited the apartment having arrived before Tammie since the other woman made a stop off at a local hangout place.
“What are you doing here?” Tammie uttered snidely meeting her outside. “You don’t live here.”
“I had come to see you,” Kelsey admitted truthfully staring at her intently.
Tammie noticed the stare and fluttered her eye lashes. “I don’t swing that way, but if you can’t help yourself,” she purred, and Kelsey made a gagging sound which made her frown.
“I don’t either,” Kelsey retorted. “I was going to ask you about Professor Jansen’s class and see if you have any of the notes.”
Tammie shrugged her shoulders. “No. I’m thinking of dropping the class anyway since I don’t really need it. I heard something about a house full of men, so I took it to maybe get invited, but nothing.”
Tammie went to walk by, and Kelsey made sure to bump into her which caught her purse sending it to the pavement.
“I’m so sorry,” Kelsey apologized shaking her head at her own clumsiness, and Tammie snarled at her bending down to pick up the items.
Kelsey took a quick look, and a grim smile swept across her face since it was just like her apartment.
“I hope your phone isn’t broken.” Kelsey reached out for it, and Tammie scowled snatching it from her.
Kelsey moved her hand a second before she grabbed it, and the phone slammed against the pavement hitting at just the right angle which destroyed the screen.
“Damn.” Tammie swore loudly glaring at Kelsey who made herself grimace.
“I thought you had it,” she argued lightly, and Tammie snarled again reaching for the broken pieces.
“No good to me now,” Tammie remarked in an ugly voice.
“Tammie.” A voice called out getting their attention, and both women looked up at the man who stood just outside the entrance of the apartment.
He was staring at Tammie with undisguised passion and Kelsey shifted a quick look to Tammie to see the cunning look on her face.
Without much effort, Tammie forced tears to her eyes. “My phone broke, Dave, and I need it, so I can keep in touch with my parents.”
The man helped Tammie to her feet and with an arm around her escorted her into the building, and Kelsey stared after them shaking her head before returning her attention to the mess on the pavement.
Gathering all the scattered pieces, Kelsey threw everything away except the broken phone after a brief thought. She didn’t know what kind of information was on there, and just to be on the safe side, she took it with her.
Alpha Female, Tammie made it home safely. I checked her apartment and there was nothing about the pack, and I also got her phone.
Walking to her car, Kelsey opened the door and stared at the apartment building. “Garin was too good for you,” she whispered in the wind before getting into her car and pulling away.
Chapter 10
The silence after Jordan’s statement lingered in the kitchen until Kala uttered in a shocked voice. “What?”
Like humans, shapeshifters could die also but normally in battle since they rarely get sick although they aged at the same pace as humans.
“A few months ago, we were attacked by a small group of rogues,” Jordan explained running a hand through his hair. “They were a small group and not very well organized, so I thought nothing of it when I was nicked with a small knife one of the individuals had before shifting. I started getting lightheaded and my eyes started going burry a day later that I realized something was wrong since I had never exhibited problems before. I went to our pack doctor after the blurry vision and we discovered that the knife wound hadn’t healed, so he ran some tests. He surmised that the knife must have been coated with poison that was slowly building in my bloodstream. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know how to slow it down or cure it.”
“Does Daya know?” Garin asked in a tight voice.
Jordan shook his head slowly. “No, I haven’t told her yet although she realizes something is wrong, but she will wait until I tell her about it.” He sighed closing his eyes and ran a hand down his face. “I know Daya, she will want to come back to the pack house with me, but that’s not what I want.”
Opening his eyes, he glanced around the table and then shifted his gaze to Garin. “She has found a place here even if she isn’t sure for how long.” Giving a ghost of a smile, he added. “You’ve made her feel more welcome in the past few months then my pack has in the last six years.”
“How can you be sure?” Garin’s voice was hesitant scowling when he caught the shocked look from his Alpha and Alpha Female.
“Because she told you about me and her ex-mate,” Jordan’s words were blunt. “If she didn’t trust you, then you would’ve never been given that information since Daya is a private person. She kept the fact that she was my niece from everyone in the pack from the time she moved in with me, and anyone else would’ve used that to their advantage.”
“Daya wanted the pack to like her for herself,” Garin remarked getting up from the counter heading for the door. “Not because of she was related to even by marriage, or her aunt’s mating.”
Stopping in the doorway, he merely turned his head. “I’m going back to the hospital. Excuse me.”
He didn’t leave eyes going to Trevor who nodded his head without a word, and then Garin was gone.
A second later, the sound of a car could be heard driving away from the house, and Jordan gave Trevor a searching look.
“He cares about her,” Trevor explained with a soft sigh. “He just hasn’t realized that she could be so much more although I think his wolf has already come to his own conclusion.”
Kala frowned sitting forward. “You don’t think…”
“I’m not sure,” Trevor admitted reaching out to grab her hand, and seeing the confused look on Jordan’s face, explained. “You know Garin came back from a mission when he heard Daya was hurt.�
�
It was a statement and Jordan nodded his head waiting for Trevor to continue.
“What I didn’t tell you is the mission involved protecting Garin’s ex-mate which we didn’t learn until the last minute.” A scowl crossed Trevor’s face. “But Alpha Leonardo didn’t know that the Alpha he had offered safety was mated to a woman who rejected her first mate.”
“Leonardo wouldn’t have allowed Garin to go if that was the case,” Jordan remarked watching Trevor nod his head in agreement. “But I also have a favor to ask you.”
Trevor and Kala looked at him questioningly, and Jordan chuckled softly. “I don’t want Daya involved, but if push comes to shove then she will be the deciding vote…”
“What do you mean?” Kala asked looking at her mate, but he was focused on Jordan his eyes slightly narrowed.
“I’ve given my Beta’s son approval to challenge Jared, my heir, for the right to be Alpha,” Jordan explained. “If it isn’t settled by themselves, then…”
Understanding, Trevor gave a soft sigh. “Daya will be called in as your niece to make the final decision.”
Jordan nodded his head slowly. “When that happens, Jared may try to use their connection to sway her to his side.”
Kala scowled at his words. “Their connection? He severed that when he rejected her and mated with another.”
“We know that, but Jared believes otherwise,” Jordan admitted his jaw tensed.
“What would you like us to do?” Trevor asked a hard look on his face.
“Daya won’t like it, but I believe it is for the best until the issue about my pack Alpha is settled,” Jordan replied. He hesitated briefly before explaining what he wanted watching Kala’s eyes widen while Trevor’s jaw tensed, but otherwise he didn’t say a word.
Garin entered the hospital with a quick stride just in time to meet up with the nurse from earlier who just stepped off the elevator, and seeing him, smiled brightly walking toward him.
“Hi,” she cooed fluttering her eyelashes at him. “I’m off duty, so why don’t we…?”
His Wolf's Choice Page 13
