I jerked my head back. “You couldn’t get him to wake up? Did you use your alpha voice?”
My father pulled out a hard pack of smokes from his shirt pocket, and even though the cigarette was bent, he lit up and took a drag. He held a look I couldn’t discern as he released the smoke in a cloudy breath. “Your friend woke up, but he refused to heal.”
“Why? I don’t understand.”
He squinted as if he were trying to read something written on my forehead in small print. “When a Shifter goes to battle for something he believes in, it’s his right to keep the scars. I can’t force a man to heal if his life is not in danger. It’s his choice, and he chose to keep his scars for honor.”
“Honor? Who cares about honor? He might have brain damage!”
When a distant chuckle sounded from my bedroom, I knew right then and there that Tak was going to be okay.
Chapter 27
Tak grimaced when he turned his head and something ice-cold flopped onto his shoulder. Eyes still closed, he grabbed the ice pack and pitched it across the room, embarrassed by all the coddling.
Can’t a man suffer in peace?
He’d woken up twice before. Once when Hope had snuggled up next to him, which was a slice of heaven. And the other time, he awoke to some asshole barking orders at him. Not someone from Tak’s tribe—this guy had a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his arm. Tak had a vague memory of telling the man to fuck off.
A bitter taste settled in his mouth, and he slowly opened his eyes to a bright room. A suncatcher of a hummingbird hung high in the window to his right, and Tak furrowed his brow, certain it used to hang in the kitchen.
What time was it? What day?
“Sleep well?”
Startled, Tak snapped his gaze to a man sitting by the door in Hope’s working chair. He looked as though he’d been there for a long while—slouched low, legs wide, a short cigarette between two fingers. Tak noticed his skull-and-crossbones tattoo. This guy was also Native American, but not from the Iwa tribe, based on his features. In fact, he kind of looked like…
“You’ve been asleep for twelve hours,” the man said. “Hope crushed up one of those little pain pills by hand and sprinkled it into your mouth like feeding a baby bird. Said she couldn’t stand to see you suffer. Before I ask you why Hope is so concerned about your well-being, let’s first address your having the balls to tell me to fuck off.”
Tak tried to sit up but fell back when a sharp pain lanced through his shoulder. “Who are you?”
“Lorenzo Church,” he replied, taking a slow drag from his cigarette. “Friends call me Enzo, but you can call me sir.”
Just like Hope, he had long straight hair. They also shared the same frown line between their eyes, only his was deeper and menacing. Alpha power rippled off him in waves, so Tak threw a little of his own back.
Lorenzo’s eyebrows popped up. “You’re brazen to do that, considering your condition. I’m well aware that you’re an alpha.”
Tak closed his eyes, trying to focus on anything but the pain searing through his neck and shoulder like fiery claws.
“Maybe what concerns me most is the necklace that you’re wearing,” Lorenzo added.
The man must be crazy.
“My daughter’s had that necklace for a long time—longer than the store has been around. It was how she first became familiar with Shikoba’s stones. They were a gift from her mother to do with what she wanted. Hope made that necklace and told me it was for her mate. When I saw her put it up in the store, I assumed she’d given up on finding one. No father wants to believe that his child has chosen a loveless life, so maybe I’m curious as to why I came in this morning and found that necklace around your neck.”
Tak’s eyes snapped open, and he looked down in surprise. He hadn’t even noticed the weight of it. Lorenzo had distracted him so much that Tak hadn’t realized the squash blossom necklace he’d admired in her store was around his neck.
Damn if his wolf didn’t want to howl.
He reached up with his left hand and touched the turquoise stones. It was a handsome piece, and he wished he could stand in front of a mirror and admire how it looked on him. But his right shoulder was on fire all the way down to his fingertips. Aside from that, he was certain his head might explode if he so much as sat up.
“Anything you want to say to me?” Lorenzo asked.
Tak turned his head to meet his gaze. “I love your daughter. I’d die for her. And when I’m strong enough to stand, I’ll get down on one knee and ask for your blessing.”
Lorenzo stared at his cigarette. “What’s the point if you’ve already courted her?”
“She doesn’t know how I feel,” Tak quickly said, his throat parched. “Not really.”
