Jrue calls out a greeting and the two iron filigree pieces with the pack insignia swing wide to accommodate us.
A figure swims through the shadows on the other side and resolves itself into familiar lines in another few thunderous heartbeats.
My father looks exactly the same as he did when I took off with RJ and Aimee all those weeks ago. I’m not sure why I expected him to be the one who changed.
A dark slash of a mustache hides the sternness of his upper lip. Scruffy facial hair follows the line of his jaw though he’s always been fastidious about shaving. It’s a chink in his armor, a red flag in the face of his control.
And much to my surprise, when he stops in front of me, he pulls me from Jrue toward his chest in a crushing embrace.
“Where have you been?” he breathes into my hair. “We’ve been worried sick about you.”
Guilt is an anchor and shame is worse. The two of them obliterate even my worry for Grayson as the search party and several new wolves surround him, their proverbial hackles raised.
He says nothing. Smart.
Dad finally releases me but there’s no time to breathe easily when he glares at Grayson. Recognition flares in his brown eyes before he turns away, his nose lifted.
“Take our visitor down to the pens for the evening. I’m not sure how he’ll react to the full moon and we don’t want his change to impact the rest of our young. Make sure he’s comfortable.”
Dad adds the last part as an afterthought for me alone, his disdain clear. Grayson is bitten and he knows it. Jrue is pureblood, born. Better.
“I’ll be fine,” Grayson assures me as Iziah and Morg lead him off toward the house we use for the unruly. Or the killers. “It’s only for a night. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I wish I had half of his cockiness, his confidence. My mouth is dry and my vision swims when Dad turns us in the opposite direction toward home.
“You have to treat him kindly. You can’t just throw him in there without any food or water or anything,” I hurry to say, tripping over my words and my feet. “He helped me. He’s the only reason I’m in one piece.”
“I will, Mandi.”
“In fact, I should sit with him to make sure he’s comfortable.” If he changes in the pens with the guards there to see him, if the moon madness really does take him, we’re done.
I’mdone.
My wound prickles underneath the gauze and the ring of marks from his teeth throb with their own heartbeat. By tomorrow morning it should be entirely healed and any evidence of Grayson’s loss of control gone with it.
We’re balancing on a knife’s edge.
“Absolutely not. Your mother is frantic and you belong at home with us.” Dad stares sideways at me, regal, powerful. My pack leader instead of my father. “Your little friend will be fine until the morning and then we’ll reassess the situation. This is for his own good.”
The argument is finished before it begins.
Jrue falls away with the rest of the search party and their orders. His attention burns a hole between my shoulder blades before Dad turns us up the front walkway toward the house.
The moment the door closes, the mask comes off. His eyes gleam as he pulls me in for another hug.
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” he grumbles. Then, louder, “Laura! Holly! We’re home. We found her.”
A stampede sounds from the kitchen before my mother and younger sister make the turn through the arched doorway. Another round of hard hugs and tears later, I’m being passed between them like I’m being checked for ticks.
My tongue knots itself again, untimely and inconvenient, before Mom shepherds me into the dining room and the spread waiting there.
“I knew they’d find you,” she says, more for herself than for me. “I knew Jrue was the best person to lead the party. What happened, Mandi? Where did you go?”
I open my mouth to answer as Dad chimes in.
“She was wandering in the woods. The vampires had a hold on her, if Jrue’s to be believed. He said they hurt your arm?”
I tuck my arm onto my lap. “Grayson is the one who saved me.”