Beneath a Blood Moon (66 page)

Instead of the anger I expected, Desmond grinned. “Wendy wanted frozen yogurt, which apparently is far different from ice cream. She informed me until I managed to get it right, I wouldn’t welcomed back into the room. My daughter enforced my eviction with her gun while your brother laughed.
He
gets to stay. She informed me I should invite Sara over to share her bounty. I thought you would enjoy a walk to find some frozen yogurt, only to discover you weren’t in the room. Nicolina’s adorable when she’s trying to hide something from me.”

For a brief instant, I burned with jealousy.

Nicolina and Lisa had a mother and a father who loved them. I had a father who wanted my mate dead—and a father who had, unless Richard was wrong, killed my mother in his madness. All my mother had done was obey my father, which had made my running away so much more difficult.

In order to save my mate, my father had to die. All I would have left of my parents would be graves, and one of them would be empty. I burst into tears.

Richard gave me a gentle push in Desmond’s direction. “I will go wake Sanders and recruit Nicolina to acquire frozen yogurt. I’d rather not have to explain this more than once.”

Catching me in a hug, Desmond pulled me to him. “Did you make her cry?”

“No, but I know who’s going to die for it,” Yellowknife’s Alpha snarled, storming in the direction of my room.

“Sorry,” I choked out, burying my face against Desmond’s shirt.

“You have this infuriating habit of apologizing when you haven’t done anything wrong,” he replied. “What’s wrong?”

Before I had a chance to reply, my mate strolled out of our room, and wiggling in Desmond’s hold, I reached for him. Sanders wiped my cheeks with his thumbs before wrapping his arms around me, claiming me from our Alpha.

Richard sighed, leaning in the doorway. “Think Wendy will accept a slight delay? Nicolina wants to hear what’s going on.”

“I think Wendy will completely forget about it, and if she doesn’t, I’ll deal with a few of her bites,” Desmond replied.

I plucked at my mate’s shirt, struggling to control my sobs, but the harder I fought them, the stronger they became.

“Those aren’t ‘I want frozen yogurt and can’t have it right this instant’ sobs,” Desmond pointed out. “I’m going to take a wild guess it’s not the pregnancy hormones talking.”

“I wish. I could deal with those,” Richard grumbled.

“Will you be okay?” my mate asked, ducking his head to nibble on my neck. There was something soothing about the way he pressed his teeth to my skin, and I sniffled, but managed to choke back most of my tears.

“Let us in your room, Desmond, before the various guards decide to come out and shoot us because they think we made her cry,” Richard suggested.

Holding out the key to his room, Desmond arched a brow at Richard. “Lisa would feel bad if she killed her mate’s precious big brother.”

Sighing, Richard grabbed the key and opened the door. “Don’t shoot me, Lisa—and your father’s off the hook for the moment.”

“Richard? What’s wrong?” Wendy’s tone was full of concern.

“Make space on the couch for Sara and Sanders,” he ordered, holding the door open. “Alex, did you bring your gun with you?”

“No, I figured Lisa armed was enough for the both of us. Why?”

Nicolina emerged from our room, pausing to stare at me. She frowned, and my wolf identified the concern in her scent.

Scowling, Richard leaned into the hallway to stare at his mate. “We’re going to go kill some people, Alex. You will need a gun. Nicolina, may I please borrow your gun?”

“Get your own.”

“Richard!” Wendy spluttered.

Sanders tried to herd me into Desmond’s room, but I dug in my heels and hid my face against his shirt. Crying in front of Desmond and Richard had been bad enough.

“It’s more embarrassing if you stand in the hallway,” my mate pointed out. “No one is going to make fun of you, Sara.”

“Stop using logic on me.”

He laughed, once again wiping my tears from my cheeks. “If you want to stand in the hall, we can, but the couch is more comfortable, and I can hold you like you deserve.”

“Fine,” I mumbled, although I didn’t make a move to walk towards the door several feet away.

Sanders’s solution to my reluctance was to pick me up and carry me. “I think you just like when I carry you.”

I did, but instead of answering, I leaned my head against him, taking a deep breath. Worry marred his scent. He dropped onto the couch without letting me go.

Propping his feet up on the coffee table, Sanders adjusted his hold on me and sighed. “What happened?”

“Your mate is a sneaky little bitch and a little too good at seeing the stupidly obvious things we tend to miss because we’re so used to complex intrigue,” Richard said, sitting on the floor next to his brother. “She is what she is, and I wasn’t going to tell her she couldn’t do her part. So, we went to have a talk with Joseph.”

“With Joseph,” my mate echoed, tensing beneath me.

“I’m satisfied she doesn’t hate him. She was a little nervous around him, but relaxed quick enough. I’m satisfied he genuinely didn’t mean her any harm. She was satisfied enough to allow him near her after he figured out she’s pregnant,” Richard reported. “We found out who the primary conspirator is. It’s Arnold. Sara asked Joseph if he had spoken to her mother in addition to her father.”

“Shit,” my mate hissed through clenched teeth.

“Mr. and Mrs. Watson went to Seattle a month prior to Mary’s death. Only one of them returned home. Joseph realized Arnold had come from New York, and arrived in Seattle around the time Sara made a run for it. If Mr. Watson is like any other male Fenerec, he likely pressured his wife into also becoming a Fenerec. If he’s rogue-born, it’s possible he wasn’t aware of the risks. So, if I had to make a guess, since Arnold knew how to do the ritual properly, Mr. Watson brought his wife to Seattle and killed her attempting to make her his true and proper mate—as a Fenerec.” Richard drew a deep breath and growled.

Sighing, Nicolina sat beside her mate. “Well. I’ll reconsider my position regarding your use of one of my guns on the condition I get to help.”

“Of course. You’re a better shot than I am. I’ll probably need you to save me as usual,” Yellowknife’s Alpha grumbled.

“Were you on good terms with your mother?” Wendy whispered.

I shrugged. “She did whatever my father wanted.”

“But she was still your mother.”

“But she was still my mother,” I agreed.

“We’re going to put an end to this once and for all,” my mate promised, tightening his hold on me. “And I think my first plan of action is to take care of Arnold.”

“We’ll take care of Arnold,” Desmond corrected.

My wolf’s rage dulled my grief, and her thirst for blood filled me. “I want him.”

My mate’s worry became full-fledged anxiety. “He’ll be dangerous.”

“Not a good idea,” Nicolina stated, staring at me with wolf-yellow eyes. “I know you want him, but let your mate take him down for you. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be the next best thing.”

Sighing, Sanders rested his chin on top of my head. “I’ll find a way so you can help. Don’t listen to the little black pot over there. She went behind her mate’s back and killed herself a pair of sorcerers instead of asking for help a few years ago.”

Nicolina flushed. “Sanders!”

“Give it up, Nicolina. They’ll just start listing every single time you’ve gone and done something absurd,” Lisa said, grinning at her sister. “Knowing Dad, he’ll start with your entire relationship with Richard. Sanders has a good amount of dirt on you, too. You’re not going to win.”

“Kettle,” Nicolina hissed. “You went behind Father’s back with Alex, and don’t you forget it.”

“You’re both still required to have a formal wedding entirely for my benefit,” Desmond replied. “Alex has already acknowledged my reign as his father. You’re next, Richard.”

“Richard and Alex had parent issues almost as bad as yours,” my mate informed me in a whisper. “Wendy and Desmond had been treating them like their own puppies long before Desmond clued in Richard had taken Nicolina for his mate.”

“Excuse me? I took Richard as my mate, thank you. It’s true. I wasn’t letting my sister steal him.” Something about the way Nicolina stuck her tongue out at Lisa made me laugh.

“I had it figured out right from the start,” Wendy murmured, smiling at Richard. “The instant Nicolina saw you, I knew there was going to be a murder, a marriage, or both. Of course, she’s my daughter, so she tried murder before she settled for marriage.”

“Long-term stay of execution.”

“I still can’t believe you hid it from me, Wendy,” Desmond grumbled.

“What? I assumed since you always act like you know everything that you had figured it out on your own, dear,” she replied.

“Enough playing,” Richard scolded. “There’s no way we’re putting either you or Wendy at risk, Sara. You will not act as bait, and you will not get anywhere near the fight should there be one. In fact, the only place you’re going is somewhere nice and safe, perhaps a luxury resort somewhere in Europe. I don’t want either of you on the same
continent
with these assholes until they’re dead.”

I scowled, as did Wendy. My Alpha female growled, long and low. “Richard. You do not get to make that decision.”

“Hawaii counts. Come on, Wendy. If anything happens to either one of you, they’ll lose it. With Seattle’s pack backing them, it’ll be a miracle if I can rein either one of them in. You two
must
be kept safe. This isn’t going to be a walk in the park.”

Lisa flopped onto the floor and used Alex as a footrest. “Why not let Nicolina and I handle it? She’s an ace of a shot, and I know what I’m doing. We’ll take Amber along as security. Give me a list of names. In a week, if they aren’t more than a bad memory, I’ll be surprised. Of course, Dad will want to either isolate the guilty pack members from the rest of the pack or exile them before we make the hits.”

“That might work for some of them, but for some reason, I don’t think it’ll work on Sara’s father,” my mate grumbled.

“Her father knows she’s pregnant. He’s a dominant male, if not already an Alpha,” Wendy pointed out. “He’ll come for her and her puppy no matter what we do. Desperation will make him dangerous. Haven’t we already learned our lesson? He
will
find a way to surprise us. She wants to help. Let her. I want to help, so let me, too. He won’t have time to make up an elaborate plan at this point. All he wants is her. We just need to be ready when he comes and deal with him with excessive force.”

There was a long, awkward silence.

“Mom, you’re being really vicious today, and it’s terrifying,” Lisa complained.

“Deal with it,” Wendy snarled.

My mate fell asleep holding me while I watched Wendy and Desmond bicker. With each hurled insult, Desmond’s pleasure grew while Wendy’s rage strengthened. Richard leaned against the couch behind me.

“All of this time, I thought Nicolina had gotten her temper from her
father
. Apparently, I was wrong,” he murmured.

The woman in question was sound asleep, curled beside her sister and Alex on the floor.

“I’m amazed they haven’t woken up from all the fuss.”

“Nicolina and Lisa have been worrying themselves sick about their mother. Even after she turned up they were fretting, although they turned a great deal of their attention towards you. Alex is Alex. With so many anxious people around him, he was strung tight as a wire.”

“And you?”

“Enforced napping on my mate’s part ensured I am refreshed and capable of standing guard,” he admitted with a grin. “Sanders is so used to listening to Nicolina, Desmond, and I bicker he’s probably not even aware there is a fight going on.”

I sighed, wiggling on my mate’s lap so I could watch him sleep. “I don’t understand why we can’t just lure my father right into a trap. Tell everyone what happened, with the exception of those who are traitors. If Sanders’s pack cares so much about him, why not use them? We know who is responsible. We can confirm it by cross checking phone records to make certain there aren’t any extras. Pack justice.”

“That’d definitely limit the damage caused by the sudden removal of certain pack members, Arnold included. Of those who were feeding your father information, how do you tell the loyal ones from those who are in your father’s pocket?”

“I may have changed my mind about sparing them,” I replied. “Joseph stays. Mine.”

“Oh?”

“He comes across as honest. He did something stupid, but I think he does care for Sanders.”

Richard sighed. “He does. They’ve been friends a long time. He’s very protective of your mate. It’s a case of shit roads and good intentions.”

“So, why can’t we identify who the conspirators are, tell the rest of the pack what they did—or tried to do—and lure my father out using me and Wendy as bait? And I only suggest Wendy because if I don’t, she’ll wipe the floor with me.”

“I don’t like it,” he grumbled.

“Of course you don’t. You’re not supposed to. What’s disturbing is how happy Desmond is when she’s on the verge of tearing him a new ass. He’s not even remotely afraid of her; he’s loving every minute. I don’t even know what they’re fighting about.” Shaking my head, I watched the way Wendy snarled at her mate, her cheeks flushed red. “Maybe we should stop them.”