Michael shoved his hands in his pockets. “I said he would, unless he was her mate. And he is.”
“What is this bullshit! You can’t marry off my daughter. She’s only seventeen.”
I stepped in front of him, but he moved me to the side. I was scared to push him back. I didn’t want to accidentally hurt him.
“Calm down, Dad. You know I’m going to be eighteen really soon.” He had a right to be upset. Hell, I was still a little upset. But I didn’t want him to yell at Dastien.
“No one is going to make her marry me tomorrow. I would never force her to do anything she didn’t want,” Dastien said. “I know that’s a lot coming from me. I can’t ever take back what I did, but I hope eventually you’ll be able to forg—”
Dad’s face turned a bright shade of red. “You can get the hell off my property. Now.”
“Oh my God, Dad! Seriously. Calm down.” I grabbed the back of his jacket as he strode toward Dastien. The cloth’s rip stopped all motion in the back yard. Dad tried to get a look at his now ruined suit coat. “Oops.” I hadn’t meant to tear it.
“Teresa. Did you just rip my coat?”
I gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I honestly didn’t mean to.”
Dad pulled off the two pieces that used to be a jacket. “It’s okay. I guess one less suit won’t kill me.”
The back door slammed again. “Tessa. What happened to your father’s coat?”
“It was an accident. I’m sorry, okay?”
Dastien’s chuckle was too soft for my parents to hear. My cheeks burned.
“Would everyone like to come in and have some lemonade?” Mom said.
“No, thank you. We should head back to campus,” Mr. Dawson said.
Dad pulled me into his arms. “I don’t care what he says, if something isn’t right there, you come home. There are other options.” His lips were set in a firm line when he pulled away from me.
“I’m going to be fine, Dad.” I hoped I wasn’t lying.
“Forgive me?” Mom said.
“Totally.”
She came down and wrapped her arms around me. “Call if you need me.” She pulled away. “And call your brother. He’s freaking out.”
“I bet he’s having an awesome time in Austin and isn’t thinking about me at all.”
Mom grinned. “You’d be mistaken, kiddo.”
We walked around the side of the house to the black Escalade parked in the drive. Dastien pulled a pair of flip-flops from his back pocket. “Missing something?”
“Apparently.”
“They were like a trail to you. One not far from here, one at your front door.”
I yanked them from his grasp. “Thanks.” I slid them on and got in the car.
Dastien held my hand in the backseat as Mr. Dawson drove us to St. Ailbe’s. I watched the trees fly past.
All too soon, we pulled through the gates, and into the small parking lot next to the main building. Dr. Gonzales ran up to the car.
“We have a problem,” she said as we got out.
I barely heard the rumble Mr. Dawson gave before it stopped. “What now?”
“It’s Imogene,” Dr. Gonzales said.
Oh shit. “Is she okay?” I asked. “I mean, is she still—”
Dr. Gonzales held up a hand. “She’s fine, although she might not be for long. Rupert Hoel is here—”
Mr. Dawson’s door slammed so hard that for a second I thought the SUV might flip over.
“Why is he here this time?” His voice was too calm and soft.
“He believes you’ve lost control of the student body. That our prize student has gone Feral and turned a local. That the mutt is uncontrollable and almost killed his daughter. He believes this situation is very serious, and needs to be tended to. He demands that the two of them be held before a full tribunal.”
What the hell did a “full tribunal” mean?
Mr. Dawson’s fists were in tight balls as he looked off into the woods, at seemingly nothing in particular. At least I thought it was nothing until four people stepped out from beyond the thick. Four men wearing all black with no shoes. They flowed as one.
Cazadores. And I sure as hell didn’t like the way they were watching me. Their eyes pinned me in place as they navigated around the last of the forest.
The tallest one stepped forward. “You’ll have to come with us.”
He couldn’t mean me?
Chapter Thirty-Five
Mr. Dawson stepped in front of me, blocking the leader’s path. “She won’t be going anywhere.”
“What would you have me do, Michael?” he said. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d seen him before.
“She’s done nothing wrong, Trent.” As soon as Dastien said his name, it clicked. He was the one from the bookstore.
“Dude. You’re in trouble too,” Trent said.
Dastien stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Dawson. I had to peek between them to see what was going on. “Fine. This is my fault. I’ll go on trial. Alone.”
“Everyone needs to calm down,” Mr. Dawson said. “No one is going anywhere.”