“I love you too, daddy.” She turned to me. “He can’t stay?” I could hear the hope in her voice, and it broke me.
I shook my head. “I don’t have that power, my love.” She nodded and turned back, but Carl was already gone. I watched her deflate a little.
“I miss him so much.” A tear fell, and I pulled her into my lap.
“I know.” I hugged her. “You are going to miss him every day of your life.” I pulled back to look down at her. “Some days it will be easy, a flicker of love in your heart and a tiny piece of you calling for him. And some days, the ground will shift out from under your feet and your entire body will ache with your love for him. The need to see him will make your bones burn.” I ran a hand down her head. “Grief is something that changes you forever. But I will say, the longer you go, the easier days come more and more, and the bad days, they feel easier to deal with when they come farther apart.”
“You lost someone you loved.” She wasn’t asking. She could tell I knew the feeling.
I nodded. “I lost my pup.” I smiled at her and I could feel the tears in my eyes. “You make it easier to deal with, though. The days that are bad, you make them a little lighter.” I stood with her and she wiggled down.
“You make my days easier, too.” She smiled up at me.
Toya stepped out of the back door. “It’s dinnertime.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Iwalked into the office early the next morning. I was still exhausted, but I had things to do. Alannah stood with a shout. “Amy! You’re back.” She ran over and hugged me. “I was so worried when I hadn’t heard anything from you.”
“I just spent some time with my mom on an island off the coast. Cell service was bad.” I sniffed her. “You smell good.” I pulled back, patting her back. “I like the perfume, what is it?”
She looked a little confused for a moment. “It’s vanilla.”
I smiled. “It smells great, but I can tell it’s wearing off. You might want to add a little, so it lasts all day.” I winked at her as understanding entered her eyes.
“Good idea. I’ve been running around all morning, so I was really sweaty.” She turned around and went to her desk, pullingthe bottle from her purse and spraying herself. She turned to me expectantly. “How’s that?”
“Perfect.” I looked around. “Is Rick in?”
She shook her head. “He left early yesterday after his meeting with the Alpha. I think he wasn't feeling well.” She sat down at her desk. “He left instructions on your desk on the slim chance you came back.”
“Thanks Alannah.” I winked again and turned into my office. I hung up my coat and purse and sat at my desk, booting everything up. I pulled my laptop out of my bag and set it up next to my work computer. The newly installed privacy screen protected what I was doing from the camera and any looky-loos. I booted both computers up as I grabbed the instructions.
There were a few maintenance pieces to handle, and then the last instruction caught my eye.‘After you’ve completed everything, I hid a Trojan inside the main mainframe. You have eight hours from the moment you boot your computer up to purge it from the mainframe or else everything is lost. Good luck.’
“Fuck.” I swore, but in reality I was ecstatic. Now I had a reason to poke around the entire system. I dropped the paper and looked at both screens. My work computer had a timer visible on the bottom screen counting down the eight hours. I stretched to get to work, but my laptop screen was flashing.
I hadn’t had time to check my computer last night. I crashed hard after porch wine, and explaining my captivity for the last week.
I still remember Toya crossing her arms.
“So you just hung out in a jail cell?” Toya looked at my mom and Wendy. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
I scratched my head. “Okay, before you judge me, there were a few reasons. One, I was weak from the draining. I needed to rebuild our strength before we ran away. Second, I needed to find a way to stop the drain. And last, Vince was talking. In the few days when he came in, he talked a lot. More than he realized.”
“How much could he have said that was more important than Carly?” Wendy’s voice was soft, but it hit me like a sledgehammer.
“Nothing is more important than Carly.” I shook my head as I took a swallow of wine. “But they revealed Lycans were still alive.” Everyone perked up at that, my mom in particular.
“That’s impossible.” She shook her head. “I remember the devastation of the clans.”
“Clans?” Wendy turned to look at my mom.
She nodded. “Lycans stayed in clans. Much like the wolf packs, but a different title, with a different rule. Plus, depending on the clan, it gave you standing.” She turned to me. “You must have heard wrong.”
I shook my head. “They chased the living Lycans into the mountains and lost the trail. They even hinted that the Goddess was keeping them safe.”
My mother sagged against the railing. “They might still be alive.” Tears trailed down her face. Her eyes danced to mine. “Our family might still be alive?”
