“Wes is in the ground because of you,” Austin continued.
“You don’t know jack shit,” my dad shouted. “I should have known you were one of them. You think I wanted my boy growing up and struggling like I did for so long? The job paid well and he was willing.”
“He didn’t want money, Nelson. Wes wanted immortality. That’s why he bartered with the Mage. He was star-struck with our world—wanted to be one of us. Let your daughter go; there have been enough casualties.”
I’d never been in a situation like this before. I was just a girl who worked at a candy store and had a regular life.
Something flashed in Austin’s eyes… something dark and bottomless. My dad must have seen it too, because he pulled me to the right side of the porch using the belt. He was going to make a run for it.
Out of nowhere, Lorenzo appeared from the side of the house and seized my father’s wrist. He jerked his arm away and the gun went off. I stumbled forward and Austin caught me around the waist before I fell.
“So you are the human who killed my aunt?” Lorenzo said, holding my father by the throat. “You’ve caused us much grief over the years, and it’s time to face the jury.”
“Wait,” I started to say.
Two men held my father while Lorenzo confiscated the gun and set it on a small table. I’d never seen him look so fierce. He had his hair tied back and wore the same black tank top with writing on it as he had when we first met.
Lorenzo’s malevolent eyes darkened. “You may have some sentimental bond to this man, Alexia, but if he plays in our world, then he plays by our rules. This human committed a crime against my family by taking a life and stealing a child. He’s going to face my family and serve his sentence. There’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise, so don’t waste your breath.”
He walked over and angrily removed the belt from my neck. “Shift, and heal yourself.” His eyes flicked to Austin. “You have things under control here,” he stated, more than asked. “I’ll take my prize and go my own way.”
“Just one minute,” Austin demanded. He eased me into a chair and his heavy boots stomped across the porch until he stood in front of my father. Without warning, he threw a hard fist into his face, delivering two more brutal punches until blood poured from my father’s broken nose.
Austin bent forward with a menacing scowl, speaking almost inaudibly. “Nobody fucks with my pack.”
Lorenzo slid the loop of the belt over Nelson’s head and tightened the strap around his neck. And just like that, Lorenzo took the man who raised me away. The man I no longer called my father and one I never wanted Maizy to understand was hers. A man who’d threatened her life, betrayed my family, and who held no value to the beautiful life that once belonged to my older brother.
I never saw Nelson Knight again.
Austin peered over his shoulder; Prince had the Mage under control. The next thing I knew, he leaned in and slid his arms behind me, helping me up. I held onto his neck as we traded places and he pulled me into his lap.
“Whatcha doin’ here?” I said weakly, trying my best to smile.
Austin whispered something in my ear, a single word that made all my pain disappear.
“Shift.”
Chapter 29
I didn’t think I’d ever get used to coming back into consciousness after shifting. It was disorienting, like a night after partying where I could only remember snippets of what happened.
But the sting in my arm had vanished and the only evidence remaining that I had been shot were smears of crimson across my flesh. I awoke on the front porch, naked, and Austin slid a knee-length T-shirt over my head. I robotically put my arms through the sleeves and turned around.
“You okay?” he asked.
But my mind was elsewhere. A sheet covered the body of the Mage, blood soaking through the white fibers, especially around the head. Prince stood before him, yanking up a pair of jeans I recognized as one of Austin’s because of the hole in the knee.
His arms swung at his sides and he approached Denver’s wolf, who was shielding Maizy. Prince wiped the blood from his face and chest with a wadded-up shirt as his pack looked on. In a commanding voice, he said, “Back away, and let me have the child.”
I shivered at the authority in his voice. A feral growl rose from Denver and Prince shouted his order once again. This time, everyone in his pack lowered their heads submissively.
Prince bent down and lifted Maizy into his arms. He softly hummed a melody, taking a seat in the chair on the porch. She relaxed, coping as most little children do. She stopped sucking her thumb and patted her hand against her leg to the rhythm of his song.
Silent tears wet my cheeks.