The Werewolf Meets His Match (Nocturne Falls Book 2) (21 page)

The poor kid must miss his mother beyond words.

Hank had only known Ivy a few days and already couldn’t imagine being away from her. How much worse was it for a little boy with Clemens looking after him?

As soon as they deplaned, Hank rented a car from the lone rental agent and got them on the road.

“It’s a little tricky in the dark. Country roads aren’t well marked either.” Ivy plugged the address into the GPS and went quiet again.

Occasionally, she’d glance at her engagement ring, then frown and stare out the window for long uninterrupted periods. Mostly she seemed lost in thought, her mouth bent in a permanent frown.

Whatever was going on in her head made him hurt for her. He glanced over, wishing there was something he could do to help. To fix things. “You all right?”

“No. But I will be.”

“Once we get Charlie.”

She nodded and rubbed at her eyes.

“You want to give me some recon? What are we walking into here?

“My father is a mean SOB who believes his word is law.”

“Is he armed?”

She glanced at Hank. “It’s Tennessee.”

“So yes.”

She stared through the windshield. “He prefers his fists.”

Hank could handle a little hand to hand. He nodded. “It’s going to be okay.”

She barked out a harsh laugh. “I wish I could believe that, but I know better. I’m a Kincaid. I know how these things play out.”

“Except this time, you’re not on your own.”

Ivy put her hand on the door handle and turned to face him. “Hank, if I don’t get another chance to tell you this, I just want you to say that you’re the best man I’ve ever known. Thank you for everything.”

That sounded like goodbye. Hank stared at her. “What do you mean if you don’t get another chance—?”

“Hank, my father is a conniving, manipulative man. In place of his soul there’s an empty, black pit.” She was shaking. “There is nothing good in him, and there never will be. I only left Charlie with him because he forced me to.”

“Just like he forced you into this marriage. I get it. But I did a tour in Iraq and a tour in Afghanistan. It takes a lot more than an alpha werewolf with an overblown sense of importance to scare me.”

“Well, he scares the hell out of me. Has for most of my life.” She turned away and stared out the window. “But I’m done with that now. Done with his threats. I don’t care what he does to me, but if he’s hurt Charlie—”

“You really think he would hurt his own grandson?”

The sharp, bitter laugh came back only to be choked off by a sob. “You have no idea what this man is capable of.” She bent her head. “Or what he’s capable of getting others to do.”

“You think he was behind the Jenkins boys?”

“No. Getting me married off to a Merrow was his number one plan. Killing me would ruin everything and leave him stuck with Charlie.” She sniffed and took her hand off the door handle.

“Stuck? With his grandson?” Hank’s hackles went up as he followed the GPS instructions to turn right. “What aren’t you telling me?”

She swallowed and a single tear spilled down her cheek. “I’m really, really sorry, Hank.” Her voice had the soft, deflated tone of guilt. “It was never my intent to deceive you, but my father said he’d leave Charlie out alone in the middle of the woods on the night of the full moon if I told you the truth. I couldn’t risk my son’s life for the feelings of a man I had never met.” She glanced at him. “I wouldn’t risk my son’s life for anything.”

“I can understand that.” His hatred for Clemens grew a notch. Arranged marriages weren’t untypical in pack life. Hank’s jaw tightened. “But not how your father could threaten his own grandchild. That makes him more of a monster than I’d imagined.”

“You’re starting to understand.” She seemed small. Like she was trying to pull away from him.

“Why didn’t you take Charlie and run?”

“Too dangerous. My father would have hunted us down and made an example out of us. No one shames Clemens Kincaid. It’s bad enough that Charlie…” She swallowed the rest of her words and went quiet.

Hank wanted to touch her, but kept his hands on the wheel. “Bad enough that Charlie what? I know you’re keeping something from me. There has to be more. Like why leaving Charlie alone in the woods on the night of a full moon is such a threat. Whatever it is, I’m not going to be mad. Just tell me.”

“I don’t want to. Because I don’t want you to hate me.”

“Would you rather I hear it from your father?” He couldn’t guess what she thought was so terrible.

She clasped her arms around herself and retreated against the door, cringing a little as she spoke. “Charlie…can’t shift.”

The words punched Hank in the gut. A kid who couldn’t shift? He knew immediately why she’d pulled away from him. Why she’d kept this from him. Clemens must think he was really about to get one over on the Merrows. Hank kept his voice calm, even though that wasn’t what he was feeling inside. “I thought you said Charlie had gone through his first turning.”

“No. You asked if he’s just had his first moon. I only said that he had, right after his May fifth birthday. Not that he’d actually turned.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I didn’t want to lie to you, Hank. I thought a vague answer was better than a lie.”

“Except I took it to mean—never mind.” Ivy didn’t need him adding to her guilt. He understood her reasoning and her deep-seated desire to protect her child. “Why can’t Charlie shift?”

She shrugged, her eyes bleak with misery. “I don’t know. His father was a wolf. There’s no real reason. It just happens sometimes.”

“It does.” It was rare, but it occurred every few generations. In the old days, those children were considered cursed, a blight on their packs. They were turned out. Left to the elements. Which was exactly what Clemens Kincaid was threatening if he couldn’t pawn the child off on the Georgia pack. Hank looked through the swath of light created by the headlights, embarrassed by the history of his kind and barely able to control his anger. This wasn’t something a mother should have to deal with.

“I get that this changes things,” she said softly. “I’m really sorry to have led you on, and I want you to know I understand why you won’t be marrying me. I have no hard feelings toward you. I just hope you don’t hate me.”

He felt her hand on his leg. He looked down from the road. Her palm was on his thigh, face up. Her engagement ring squarely in the middle.

“Hate you? For something your father forced you to do? I’m in love with you, Ivy. Don’t you know that? Put that ring back on.” He glanced at her. “It’s time to get Charlie.”

Her eyes rounded. “You…don’t care…that Charlie can’t shift?”

“No. I mean, I care, but only because it must be making the kid’s life miserable. Especially with Clemens for a grandfather.”

“But it means you’ll never be able to be alpha. Not with a firstborn son who can’t succeed you. It means you’ll be known as the father of a…
mutt
.”

Anger stirred within him. The slur held more derogatory meaning than any other a were could be called. “Anyone calls Charlie a mutt in my presence, there’s going to be hell to pay.”

He pulled into the driveway at her parents’ house and turned the car off. The place was big but artless. The goal of the house seemed to be size, not class. It was a two-story brick monstrosity with white columns and arched windows and a front porch that ran the length of the house. Sort of a plantation manor without the charm. He twisted on the seat to face her. “Do you care if I never become alpha?”

She gave him a strange look. “Of course not, but don’t you care?”

“No. I can live without it.” He realized he could. He already had a great life. Being alpha wasn’t going to change that. “So long as I have
you
, that is.
And
Charlie. Okay? I love you.”

Eyes liquid with emotion, she nodded. “Okay,” she whispered. “I love you, too.”

He nodded, feeling the fire in his belly building to a dangerous crescendo. “Good. Let’s go get our kid.”

Ivy stood on her parents’ front porch, Hank at her side, wondering what she’d done right in her life to end up with a man like this. If she let herself think about it too much, she’d probably break down and have a good long cry, but there wasn’t time for that. Not when Charlie needed her.

Hank rapped his big fist on the Kincaids’ front door. The brass knocker, a wolf’s head, was in need of polishing.

“Patsy, get the damn door.” Clemens’ shout reached beyond the house walls to scrape down Ivy’s spine like the tines of a sharpened fork.

Hank reached out and squeezed her hand as Ivy’s mother answered the door. She looked gray and worn. The smell of roasted meat and vegetables wafted out.

“Hello?” She dried her hands on the apron tied at her waist. “Oh. Ivy. I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Where’s Charlie?” Ivy asked. The time for pleasantries was long gone.

Patsy’s eyes went blank with fear. “He’s-he’s on restriction.”

“Where is he?” Ivy repeated. She was past being gentle with her mother. Ivy loved her, pitied her, really, but if Patsy wasn’t going to protect her grandchild, then she was as bad as Clemens.

Patsy glanced inside the house.

Ivy was done waiting. “If that man did anything to hurt him—”

Hank stepped forward. “Mrs. Kincaid,
where
is Charlie?”

She dropped the apron. “You must be the Merrow boy.” Her gaze flickered from Hank to Ivy and back to Hank. “Never thought we’d see you.”

“Well, here I am. And I want to see Charlie. Now.”

Patsy leaned back into the house. “Clem, you better come here.”

He answered with another shout. “Why the hell for?”

“Ivy’s here,” Patsy yelled back.

Ivy shook her head, disgust coating her tongue with a sour, familiar taste. “Nice way to stick up for your daughter, Mom.”

“Ivy, hush now before your father—”

Clemens stormed up to the door, nudging Patsy out of the way. He had a can of beer in one hand. “What are you here for? I see you brought your new boyfriend with you.”

“Charlie,” Ivy repeated.

Clemens’ broad grin revealed his yellowed teeth. He shoved his free hand through his too-long salt and pepper hair and ignored Ivy to talk to Hank. “Come to meet your new kid, huh, Merrow?”

Hank nodded. “Where is he?”

Clemens stared at Hank for a second, maybe hoping to intimidate him. When Hank didn’t respond, Clemens’ smile faded. “He’s out back in the shed. I locked him in there for lying to me. Rotten little mutt.”

Hank turned to Ivy, rage simmering gold in his eyes. “Shed. Now.”

She shot a curse at her father, then ran for the backyard, Hank on her heels. Clem’s laughter echoed through the trees as they looped around the pool. She pointed at her father’s storage shed at the edge of the tree line. “There.”

Hank barreled past and ripped the door off.

Charlie screamed. He was curled in a ball near the back, his skinny arms over his head, clothes grimy from the dirty floor.

Ivy rushed into the dark, damp space and cradled him in her arms. “It’s okay, baby, Mama’s here. It’s all right now. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He wept against her, clinging to her and mumbling
Mama
over and over. She picked him up and took him out of the shed, her hand covering his little head. “Shh,” she murmured in his ear. “I’ve got you, baby.”

Hank looked like he could chew nails. “Is he all right?”

“Charlie, are you hurt?”

He lifted his head, eyes wet, nose red, and sniffled. There was a bruise on his cheek.

Ivy wanted to vomit. Memories of her own childhood came boiling up. She asked a question she already knew the answer to. “Did Granddad hit you?”

Charlie nodded, his wary gaze landing on Hank. “Who’s that man?”

Hank lifted his hand. “I’m Hank. You and your mom are going to come live with me now.”

Charlie clung to her. She kissed his temple. “We’re going to a great place, kiddo. You’re going to love it.”

Clemens lumbered out of the back of the old brick house. The beer was gone. He stood on the edge of the pool deck and called out to them. “You better be taking that kid with you.”