“I’m not eating his heart. Or liver.” I waved off the suggestion. “Or any other parts.”
Bette frowned at me. “You won’t have to eat anything.”
I glanced at Doc.
My father nodded his approval. “You’ve earned the right to choose, baby girl. Whatever you want, I support you.”
Damn it. He got me right in the feels. “Thank you, Dad.” It was the first time I’d used the word on him. It felt good.
“Oh! She called him dad.” Chav clutched her chest. “I’m not crying. You’re crying.”
I looked at my grandmother and shook my head. “I’m good with who I am.”
“I understand,” she replied. She stood up and pulled the small sword from William’s head, and held it out to Doc. “Do you want the honors?”
He took it without hesitation and walked over to his father’s corpse. With blurring speed, he brought the sword down, lopped William’s head from his body and kicked it aside. “We’ll take that with us and bury it somewhere far from here.”
“But not Peculiar,” Chavvah said.
Doc shook his head. “Not Peculiar.”
“I’ll make sure his body is buried in a place surrounded by moonstone deposits,” Bette joined in. “It should trap his soul in place so that his ghost will never escape his rocky tomb. He’ll never know a moment of peace.”
“Which is still more than he deserves.” I walked over to my father, my real father, and wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you for coming to help me, even though I didn’t ask you to.”
He patted my back and kissed the top of my head. “You’re my daughter, Etta. I will always come for you.”
It had been pure chaos, and in the fight, I’d forgotten about the other wolves. “Hey, there are four other guys.”
“Not anymore,” Chavvah said. “I took out the two in the house. And the two in the woods took off when Jo Jo killed that War guy.
My dad leaned back and gave me an appraising look. “You’ve made a strong match.”
“Yeah, I have.”
As if he knew we were talking about him, Jo Jo came around the corner of the house at a slow trudge. He took in the scene with William’s decapitated body on the ground.
His face screwed up for a moment before he asked, “What did I miss?”
I let go of Dad and made a beeline for my coyote. He took me in his arms and held me like he’d never let go. I prayed he never would.
* * *
Jo Jo – Fate is a fickle bitch, but sometimes she gets it right.
We’d madeit back to the cabins, and Bette had stayed with us to help Doc heal our injuries and, I think, because she wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Not even for the night. She had her son back, and the man who’d caused her so much misery was finally gone. I, for one, was happy to see his sorry ass on the other side of this life.
For my part, all I wanted was to take my place next to Etta. As far as I was concerned, it’s where I planned to stay for as long as she’d have me. I stretched as a bone-deep weariness took over. Tomorrow we could make plans. Tonight, or what was left of it, called for sleep.
“It’s after midnight,” Chavvah said. “Happy birthday, Etta.”
I smiled at my beautiful non-wolf wolf. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
Doc gave her an aw-shucks head tilt. “You made it, baby girl.”
“We sure did,” Etta agreed. “Thank you all. I’m just glad I didn’t have to face him alone.”
I turned my hand over, and she took it. I kissed the back of her hand. “Never alone.”
