After I quickly chugged the rest of my decaf coffee, Brock and I walked out onto the lawn and faced him. As an unusual hybrid, maybe I was more like a mutant than human. Maybe all I needed was a badass superhero costume. I pushed my fantasy away and forced myself not to let my amusement show on my face.
One look at the seriousness on my dad’s face and all amusement ran away. Why did the Akuma and the underworlders keep screwing up my life?
“Energetically, we are going to give Evie power over the land again, just as I once had,” Dad said. “But it will weaken your alpha power, son.”
Brock and I collectively winced. This land was everything to him, to his pack. Without it, they didn’t have a home, the pack didn’t have a purpose. Territory was the single most important thing to a wolf.
Regardless, Brock nodded. “If it helps Evie…”
I looked at him with wide eyes. “Are you crazy? No. You’ll weaken.”
Brock shrugged, looking nonplussed. “If it helps you, I’ll be fine.”
Something dawned on me. “Wait. Brock made me a member of his pack—”
I couldn’t even get the words out before my father leaned forward in his chair, rushing to spit his words out. “He what?”
I winced. “Was that bad?”
My father took a few steadying breaths. “Kitten, when your mom and I had you, we knew it was risky mixing bloodlines like that. For you to then go and have a child with a werewolf and to then become part of his pack…” He blew through his teeth. “It leaves a lot of unknown variables.”
Brock looked at me nervously. “Well, it’s too late to change any of it now.”
Truth.
My father nodded. “You’re the alpha. It may be that we transfer the land’s power to Evie and you can still harness it through her, but I just don’t know. What I do know is that the Akuma are looking for her and they will come. When they do, I want her at full power and on red alert.”
We both nodded in resignation. My dad was kind of like a drill sergeant; he was definitely running this show while everyone else slept the day away.
“Take me to the gate,” he said.
The terrain was rough across parts of the pack’s land, and so my father’s nursemaid Cho hovered his wheelchair across most of it. She set him down twenty feet away from the gate to the underworld, amid a cloud of colorful sprinkles of magic. The witch didn’t even look tired from the effort, and I wondered how powerful she might be to have aligned with my father.
“It’s so strange not to sense the gate anymore,” my father said, staring ahead through the dim light of predawn.
Brock and I, who’d been staring in the direction of the gate, turned to face my dad. My father’s stoic face was blanketed with grief, though I didn’t think he realized it was so apparent. When I raised my brows in question, his shoulders slumped.
“Just being here reminds me of all I’ve lost. I miss the magic, but mostly I miss your mother … and I regret all the time I missed out on with you.”
Shit. As difficult as it’d been for me to grow up without parents, he’d had to watch his wife die. He’d had to live on knowing that I was still out there, just out of reach. Thanks to the fucking Akuma. My face hardened in resolve at the same time his did.
He waved a hand in dismissal. “Let’s get to it. The sun will soon rise, and we have to be ready. Evie, my girl, you have to shift.”
“I’m on it,” I said, but then hesitated when I realized that meant I had to get naked in front of my dad unless I wanted to shred my clothes and then be naked after I shifted back to human. “Um,” I started, but Brock was already leading me behind a copse of trees.
“You can shift here. I’ll watch your back.” His amber eyes sparkled with mischief.
“You just want to see me naked,” I whispered, overly conscious that my dad was within hearing range if we didn’t keep quiet.
Brock shrugged. “Hey, can you blame me? I’m smitten.” He smiled, and my heart did a flip flop. He moved closer, all but pressing himself against me. His hands hovered around my body. “I can’t help but want to be naked with you,” he whispered, and I batted his grabby hands away.
I flicked my head in the direction of my father and his nurse, and he threw his head back and laughed. “You’re all flustered. I like it.”
I playfully shoved him away. “Move it. Let me get undressed already and on with it.”
“As you wish,” he said, but didn’t give me much space, his gaze pinned on me, prepared not to miss a moment of my disrobing.
Thank God I wasn’t shy—at least not normally. I placed my katana on the ground with care, then pulled off my shirt and bra, boots and pants, all the while holding Brock’s gaze, enjoying the way it heated with every new inch of bare skin I exposed. Even with my little potbelly baby bump he thought I was sexy. Then I shot him a wicked grin that promised we’d take this up later, and closed my eyes.
