The Half-Breed Who Found His Other Half (15 page)

“Don’t,” Chantay said in a berating tone. “It’s not your fault. That warlock is the one to blame, and he can no longer hurt us.”

Isaac scanned Chantay’s face and took in the emotions coming through their connection. Chantay truly believed what he was saying.

He really didn’t blame Isaac for any of this.

Taking a deep breath, Isaac hugged his mate tightly. “I swear I’ll make it up to you, baby. I won’t allow anyone to separate us ever again.”

“You really shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” someone said behind him. Isaac turned, instinctively shielding his mate with his own body, even if he already knew who he would find there. His father loomed over him, a stern expression on his face. For the first time, Isaac realized the room was filled with guards who were all staring at him with various degrees of apprehension and loathing.

The elder wolf nodded at a couple of Sidhe soldiers. “Take him and lock him down,” he ordered. “He needs to be detained right now.”

Isaac couldn’t say he didn’t understand the reason of his father’s actions, but if he was parted from Chantay now, he didn’t know what he would do. It hurt like hell that his own parent would separate him from his mate, but what could he say? In the end, it was true that he had hurt Chantay and nearly killed Winter Tomacelli. He would be very lucky if he was given the chance to explain his actions.

At his father’s side, his mother stood, her eyes shining with heartbreak. She also seemed resigned to his fate. Isaac tried to come up with something, anything that would allow him to stay with Chantay. He failed, and he expected the guards to jump him any moment now.

To his shock, no such thing happened. Instead, a new voice spoke out from behind his father. “That won’t be necessary, Elder Wade. I believe you should meet someone and hear what he has to say.”

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Isaac’s father seemed surprised, but not more than Isaac himself as he registered the clear relief on the other man’s face. The elder wolf obviously didn’t want to imprison Isaac or anything like that. It brought Isaac a measure of comfort, although he realized all too well he wasn’t out of the woods yet. King Sterling had every reason in the world to want Isaac locked up, especially since Isaac had attacked his nephew.

But oddly, Sterling’s expression was clear and open as he looked at Isaac. “We should seek privacy for this particular conversation, Elder Wade,” he said in a gentle tone.

Taking the Sidhe king’s cue, Elder Wade started ushering the guards out. Most seemed reluctant to leave their leaders alone with a man they obviously deemed dangerous, yet they didn’t have a choice but to obey. On the other hand, Corbin and Winter seemed into a very heated debate with regard to whether they should stay or not. In the end, both men leaned against the wall farthest from Isaac, with Corbin wrapping a protective arm around Winter.

Realizing he was still collapsed on the floor, Isaac struggled to his feet and helped his mate up. Somehow managing to keep his discomfort in check, Isaac sat on the bed and waited.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait for long. No sooner had the guards gone than Skylar and Byron Cunningham entered the room, followed by a man Isaac didn’t know.

“This is Noah Hall,” Skylar said. “He’s been telling us some very interesting things.”

“Interesting how?” Isaac prodded.

“Let me begin by saying that the guilty party behind your predicament is a man named Tyrell. Tyrell Hall. My father. Sadly, he is also a tyrant and rules the warlock coven with an iron fist.” Noah sighed. “I attempted to break his hold over our people, but it only resulted in additional deaths.”

“How so?” Chantay tilted his head inquiringly.

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“You probably remember Tyrell as a child. He was here before, when he contributed to the attack in Paris. However, as you can imagine, and as you probably know, Isaac, he had an adult body once.” Noah’s expression turned pained. “I’m not proud of what I did.

He is my father, after all. But at the time, it seemed like the only way out.”

Given what Tyrell had told him and what Noah was sharing with them now, Isaac could easily realize what the young warlock meant.

Obviously, Tyrell had died at his son’s hand and had used the child’s body to remain alive.

His suspicion was confirmed moments later when Noah added,

“In spite of my actions, he coaxed a couple in the coven to sacrifice their child to them and transferred his soul into that body. It was a loss my people should have never had to bear, and I don’t want any more blood spilled.”

Other than a gasp from Annabelle, the statement registered no reaction from the people in the room. Isaac was struggling to control his anger, but he couldn’t say he felt surprised at the information. It made sense, especially given what he’d seen and heard. But what kind of monster would do such a thing?

“Tyrell is very powerful, gentlemen,” Noah continued. “He used you, Elder Wade, used your dislike for magical creatures to get you to think Chantay Arceneau was a bad match for your son and to urge you to send him into that trap. The plan was to have Isaac to kill Prince Winter, and he probably would have succeeded, if not for the bond between you two.”

Isaac attempted to process everything Noah was saying. He’d already known some of it, but it seemed like he’d become the center of a conspiracy against their very world. He was so very tired. He just wanted to be with his mate. Was that too much to ask?

“He’s just going to come back over and over,” Noah warned. “He believes shifters are animals and need to be wiped out. He suffered a
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defeat today, yes, but he’ll regroup soon, and his next attack will come just as swiftly and unexpectedly as before.”

“We don’t have the luxury to doubt ourselves right now,” Sterling said. “I believe Isaac has no blame in this. I believe he did not intend to hurt Winter. I don’t think it’s necessary for him to be imprisoned.”

Isaac looked toward Corbin and Winter. He’d known Corbin forever, and he felt that he had failed his friend terribly in attacking the lynx’s mate.

“I appreciate the trust,” he said slowly, “but I’m not sure it’s justified given what I nearly did.”

A few moments passed while Isaac met Corbin’s gaze. It seemed to take forever, but at last, the lynx took a step forward. Winter was by his side, a small smile on his face. “We believe in you, Isaac,” he said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Isaac slowly got up and, together with Chantay, met the two men halfway. Still uncertain, he went with his instinct and embraced the lynx, just as he had many times in the past.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Corbin hugged him back.

“One more chance, Isaac,” he whispered in Isaac’s ear. “I would kill anyone who ever tried to hurt my family, but you’re like a brother to me. I know you wouldn’t do that on purpose, so I’ll try to let it go.”

Corbin’s embrace turned tighter. “But if anything like that happens again, all bets are off.”

In that moment, Isaac realized something else. Corbin had said family, not just mate. Through his connection with Chantay, he found the answer. He fell into self-flagellation again when he understood Winter was pregnant. Apparently, Chantay had known for quite a while about Winter’s condition, but their own problems had kept the half fae from sharing it with Isaac, even through their bond. God, just thinking about what he could have done made him sick to his stomach.

“It wasn’t your fault, Isaac,”
Chantay insisted.
“You couldn’t
have known or done anything about it.”

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As if echoing Chantay’s feelings, Corbin added, “Don’t worry.

We’ll figure something out. Thankfully, nothing happened.

Otherwise...”

It was honestly more than Isaac had expected. If Corbin loved Winter only half as much as Isaac loved Chantay, the lynx would be entitled to demand retribution from Isaac. But there they were, offering forgiveness and a new chance.

Oh, Isaac knew it wouldn’t be easy. Everyone had seen him in his monstrous form, and what he’d nearly done to Winter must have spread all over the mansion by now. It wouldn’t be long until today’s events completely sabotaged almost every friendship he’d ever made.

Isaac broke away from Corbin and nodded. “I understand,” he said serenely. “But you don’t have to worry. I’ll never allow this to happen again.”

There was still a measure of doubt in Corbin, but Isaac didn’t blame the man. In fact, Corbin was being much stronger than Isaac could have been in the lynx’s place.

The whole thing was sobering, and as he looked at the group, Isaac realized that, no matter what happened from now on, his life would change forever. His family would still love him, yes. Isaac could see it in his mother’s eyes and in his father’s expression. But his friends would not treat him the same, and the comfortable obscurity he’d lived in would most likely be replaced by the limelight reserved for a pariah.

But Isaac didn’t have time to be depressed for this unexpected and undeserved destruction of his normal life. Chantay took his hand and squeezed it tightly.
“No matter what happens, Isaac, I’ll always be
with you,”
the half fae whispered through their bond.

Just like that, Isaac realized that he didn’t need to return to his previous existence. He had a new goal now, to stop Tyrell Hall from hurting anyone else. He had new allies, as was obvious in Noah Hall and King Sterling’s intervention on his behalf. And he had a new family, one made out of the most supportive mate ever. What more
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could he ask for? Yes, he’d been granted another chance, not only by Corbin, but also by life itself. Isaac planned to use it to the fullest.

But first, there was something very important he needed to know.

He hadn’t forgotten about his brother and the other people who’d been left behind to burn by the warlocks. “What happened to Brody and the rest of the group?” he asked his father.

“Everyone survived, some more injured than others,” the elder wolf replied. “The Sidhe tell me that they should make a full recovery once the silver and, respectively, the iron leave their system.”

Isaac silently fumed to himself. It was yet another thing Tyrell had to pay for. Renewed decision coursing through him, Isaac inquired,

“So, now what? What’s our next step?”

King Sterling grinned and shared a look with Byron Cunningham.

“I was hoping you’d ask that,” he replied with a smirk.

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Isaac studied the file in front of him, humming under his breath. It was correspondence from the vampire elder. According to Kaname Yamamoto, Tyrell Hall had been spotted in Tokyo, accompanied by a woman Noah had identified as his mother and Tyrell’s wife.

In the Japanese metropolis, it was not easy to find one particular group of persons. Kaname had eyes and ears everywhere, but Tyrell seemed to be strangely elusive. All the reports Isaac received on the man reached him too late to do much good, and every intervention he sent out barely managed to offer him scraps of information. Prisoners were out of the question.

A knock sounded at the door, and Isaac bid the person at the other side to enter. Winter peeked in, a smile on his luminous face. “Hi, Isaac. How are you?”

“Hey, Winter,” Isaac greeted the Sidhe prince. He got up as Winter made his way inside, as graceful as ever in spite of the now very visible lump in his belly. “I think I should be asking you that question. How’s the champ?”

In the past few months, Winter’s pregnancy had become increasingly obvious. Slowly, his relationship with Isaac had calmed down, until the incident a few months back had been all but forgotten.

Well, at least on Winter’s part, as it seemed. Isaac’s pack hadn’t been so forgiving, and while his parentage made it impossible for them to banish him, they had made his life hell on the one occasion he’d returned there. Isaac’s father had stopped trying to separate him from
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his mate, obviously realizing that Chantay had, essentially, saved Chantay’s life. But these days, his parents’ guilt irked him, and while he was thankful that they had accepted him and Chantay, he had decided they all needed a break from each other.

As such, he’d quickly given up on the idea of living in the pack and returned to LA, where thankfully, the Cunninghams had lent him and Chantay a hand. Normally, Isaac wouldn’t have liked to take advantage of the kindness of others, but Skylar and Byron were like family due to Isaac’s close friendship with their sons. And of course, staying here had the added advantage that he could be a full, integral part of the operation to capture Tyrell.

As the Sidhe prince, Winter had also offered his assistance in this mission, but once his pregnancy had advanced, he’d started to focus more on his family and less on outside problems. Recently, he had revealed that the most recent addition to the family would be a boy, which he and Corbin had decided to name Lamont, after Winter’s dead father. Therefore, whenever Isaac saw Winter, he asked about baby Lamont, and now was no different.

“As energetic as ever.” Winter caressed his swollen stomach with a dreamy look as he spoke. “But he’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Isaac arched a brow at the Sidhe. “What did you want to discuss, then?”

“Actually, Corbin and I decided to leave for a short period to live with my uncle, at least until Lamont is born. We’ll be taking some of the Sidhe troops with us as escort.”

“I see.” Isaac rubbed his chin. “Well, I’ll double-check it with King Sterling and make sure everything is arranged for a safe journey for you and Corbin. We should be fine with the people we have here.

What we don’t have, Mr. Cunningham can bring in.”

“All right.” Winter smiled. “Just wanted to give you a heads-up.”