“No need,” Austin said. “Let me get you a beer.”
“Sounds good,” he rumbled in a loud voice. He wasn’t yelling; he just spoke at a volume that demanded your attention.
They walked a few paces to the right until they reached the bar just inside the living room. It was simple and seated three, with a black granite countertop and a canister of cashews. I glanced over at Austin’s brothers who were watching with interest. Two I didn’t recognize, but I could see they were identical twins.
Almost.
Austin strolled around the bar and pulled a few cold ones from a short fridge.
“Can we have privacy?” the man requested.
“Boys, out!” Austin bellowed. “You too, Lexi.”
“Uh-uh,” I protested. “Sorry, Austin, but this is my sister and mom we’re talking about. You’ll have to wrestle me off this stool if you want me out of here. No offense, mister,” I said, taking the seat to the man’s right.
He chuckled warmly. “She can stay.”
“I’m Alexia Knight,” I said, offering my hand for him to shake. He looked at it and Austin shrugged, setting the beer in front of him.
“My name is Prince,” he replied, lightly shaking my hand.
“Prince? As in the artist formerly known as?”
“That’s my name.”
“Oh,” I said with a growing smile, “I bet Maizy just loved that.”
I wanted to ask if his last name was Charming but decided my humor might not be well received.
Austin popped the caps off the bottles and they clicked across the polished surface of the bar. He sat on a stool across from us, offering our guest a look of gratitude. “I appreciate you bringing us the girl. Where did you find her?”
Prince leaned on his forearms and tilted the green bottle. “She was wandering around on the side of the highway, dangerously close to the shoulder. A truck ahead of me nearly clipped her, so I pulled over. She refused to go with me because I wasn’t in a uniform. My apologies,” he said, looking at me. “I had to pick her up and put her in the car by force. It was the only way to get her off the road. She finally told me her name, so I made a few calls. That’s when I got wind she was on the bulletin. Didn’t find the woman. Didn’t look.” He took a long sip of the frosty beer, appreciating the import with a glance at the label.
“Did Maizy say how she got there or who took her?” I asked.
He shook his head. “All the little one said was that her mother left the house with a man and then they came back for her. They argued in the car and then the man pulled over, walked her to a sign, and forced her mother back in the car before they drove off.”
I covered my face. “Oh my God.”
“What kind of sick animal would do a thing like that?” Austin growled, pushing away from the bar.
Prince shrugged. “Sounds domestic to me. No signs of a struggle in the house and she didn’t mention seeing a weapon.”
“Did she say what he looked like?” I pressed.
He traced his finger over his left eyebrow. “Charlie Brown.”
All the blood rushed from my head and I became dizzy, blinking a few times.
“Lexi?” Austin rose from his stool and touched my arm.
I looked up and drew in a deep breath. “What if it was my dad? He’s bald. Maizy doesn’t remember him, and Mom stuffed all his photos in an old shoebox. She wouldn’t have recognized him.”
“Why would your father leave his little girl on the side of the road?”
“I don’t know!” I said louder than I should have. “He left all of us, and I still can’t explain that. Apparently, there are a lot of things about that man I’ll never understand. Who else would be kidnapping my mother, Austin? She works a part-time job and stays home with Maizy almost all the time. She doesn’t have a computer, so it’s not like she’s hooking up with strangers online. This just isn’t happening.”
Austin leaned forward on his elbows, staring at his hands pensively. “I picked up your father’s scent in the house but I didn’t make the connection. I was so focused on the unfamiliar scent that I tuned out all the ones I recognized. Damn.”
“People are asking why you’re protecting humans,” Prince inquired in a private voice.
“They’re part of my pack,” Austin countered. “I grew up with them and anyone who fucks with them… fucks with me,” he said in stone-cold words.
Prince looked at me and dragged his eyes back to Austin, nodding slowly. “I respect that, but she’s not human.”
“How do you know?” I asked. This whole Shifter thing didn’t make sense. First they couldn’t tell, now they could. What was I to believe?
“Because I’m an alpha, and I can smell a bitch about to go into heat.”
His words weren’t meant to be rude, and when I noticed Austin walking around the bar to confront him, I hopped off the stool and wedged between them.
“Don’t, Austin. Let it go. He saved Maizy and we owe him.”