“Maybe it was what you’ve been missing, too,” he said motioning to the door where her father undoubtedly stood.
El gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and smiled.Ryan was right, she had been waiting for this, not so much as someone to be there when her dad tried to bully her, but just someone to be with.She didn’t get just one, though, she got four.If someone would have told her this would be where she was a year ago, she would have laughed and told them they were crazy.Now she couldn’t imagine not having four mates.
“Let’s go welcome your father, huh,” Ryan said, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Okay,” she replied.
Ryan led the way and opened the door.Instead of the typical arrogance that surrounded her father, he looked shaken.
“Oh, El, thank God you’re okay,” he said relief evident in his voice and eyes.
“Yes, of course.What’s wrong, Dad?”El asked.
“Come inside,” Ryan intervened, ushering her father inside.
“You’re going to think I sound crazy,” he told her.
“I doubt that,” El huffed.Crazy for her anymore was hard to find, it was practically normal.
“I had just finished up an afternoon meeting, and I went into my office to do some work, and I must have dozed off, only I wasn’t overly tired, and I have never slept at work,” her father rambled, dragging his hand through his hair, which was another thing El had never known her father to do.The man in front of her now was a version of her father she had never seen before.It made her alarms go off, and both of her beasts were on guard.
“I agree, you’re not one to sleep at all, let alone the middle of the day,” El agreed since he still hadn’t continued his story.
“I know, that’s why it makes no sense, but it had to have been a dream, El.She was there.She was right in front of me, and she was talking to me like she had never walked away.”
“Who was, Dad?”El asked, looking at Ryan, who looked as on edge as she felt.
“Your mother.She told me that you were in trouble and that I needed to get you away, anywhere but here.She warned me that I couldn’t put it off another second, or I might be too late.”
“Did you ask her why?”
“No, I was just stuck there.I mean, it had to be a dream, right?It was just my subconscious because of your visit and all the talk about your mom.I’ve been stressed about it, and worried about you, on top of things at work.It’s just stress.I must have fallen asleep.”
Her dad was rambling on and on, but El wasn’t sure she should interrupt him.He seemed to be relaxing with every word he spoke.It was as if he was convincing himself that it had been a dream and he hadn’t just seen his mate for the first time in years.El was fine with letting her father believe that it had been a dream, but there was something about his story that had El’s beasts clawing away inside her.Her mother had been there.
El looked at Ryan, and she could tell he was thinking the same thing.She didn’t want to talk about it in front of her dad, which Ryan seemed to pick up on as well.
“Dad, can I get you a cup of hot tea?”El asked.
“I— um— sure I’ll take some tea,” he agreed reluctantly.
El led her dad into the living room and then excused herself to go make his tea.Ryan stayed with her dad, even though she could feel his eyes boring into her back as she walked out of the room.Trip and Shawn were still in the kitchen, talking when she walked back in.
“What does dear old dad want today?”Shawn asked.
“He said my mother came to visit him, only he now has himself convinced he must have just fallen asleep at work.He’s stressed which is conjuring up hallucinations,” El told them.
“Oh yeah?”Shawn replied.
“I don’t think he fell asleep though or hallucinated at all.I think my mother was really there.He said she warned him to get me away immediately.Hence why he showed up here looking rung out.”
“Your dad looks rung out?”Shawn scoffed.
“Yeah, he’s really shook up.You should go see him.I don’t know that I’ve ever seen my dad so disheveled, and I lived with him.I mean, his hair’s a wreck and his eyes are wide.His clothes even look a bit rumpled.”
“Maybe he did fall asleep then,” Trip hypothesized.
“My dad averages a couple hours a night; he’s definitely never taken a nap, let alone in his office,” El replied.
