Thomas (19 page)

“
I’m to understand that
these wounds made by a leap leader will not heal. Right, Maribel?”
She told her yes. Linyah nodded as she looked back at Hannah. “If
you tear out his heart, if he even has one, the only thing you’ll
do is quicken his demise. Let him up. And every time he looks in
the mirror he’s going to know that to fuck with you is going to
hurt. I personally would kill him, but you will do better by making
him suffer as he’s done to this family for years. Don’t you
think?”

Hannah didn’t move. Misha moved to
stand next to Hannah, but he didn’t touch her. Maribel thought
about putting her gun away because she knew there was no way she’d
fire it now. If she did, she’d hurt one of her family, and she
wasn’t going to chance that. But she held it up, aimed at Andy. If
he fucked up, she was going to kill him.

Hannah moved back, and so did Linyah.
Misha moved to his mate, but he was careful to keep his eyes on his
father. But when Andy stood up, he lunged at Linyah. Maribel never
thought, never considered what she was about to do and fired twice.
Andy Lanning dropped to the floor like the dead weight he’d always
been.

~~~

Thomas watched his father’s body being
taken out. The police had been there for five minutes before he’d
been able to get to the house. The frantic call from Misha had him
dropping everything and racing to the house. And now all of his
family was there, including his new in-laws. Misha had asked if he
could take Hannah up to their room as soon as Thomas had arrived,
and the police had let him. She had thrown up twice and the police,
the shifters anyway, knew she was pregnant.

“
This man, he was your
dad?” He shook his head at Nildale. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought he
was your father. I apologize.”

“
He wasn’t our father, but
he did help create us. It was his total contribution to our
existence. My mom raised us and took care of us. He was simply the
thing that gave us to her.” Nildale nodded and looked around the
room.

There were more police in this room
than he’d seen on most missions they’d gone on. Jackson, the
household cook, and Mike were handing out coffee and food like they
were working for the Red Cross. Thomas noticed that not one of the
cops said no. Linyah walked up beside him and he pulled her into
his arms.

“
I should like a word with
you both when you have the time. It’s not important…well, that’s
not entirely true. It’s very important, but it can wait. For a
bit.” Nildale laughed. “I’m mucking this up, aren’t I?”

“
We can talk now. Linyah
can’t leave just yet, but I’m sure that Misha won’t mind if we use
his office.” Nildale was shaking his head. “Would you like to do
this at our house?”

“
No. If you wouldn’t mind,
at my home. I know it’s a great inconvenience and all, but it is
important that we do this correctly.” He looked at Linyah as he
continued. “It’s time he was brought into the family.”

When she nodded, her dad walked away.
Thomas looked at her, waiting for an explanation, but she only
shook her head and said later.

As the cops began to exit and the
ambulance moved out, his mother sat down on the couch. He was glad
now that Linyah had taught her how to use a gun. It more than
likely saved all of them from being seriously hurt. Especially
their mom.

“
That nice policeman
talked to me before he left. He said that…he told me that I’m not
being charged.” They all sat around, and drinks and snacks were
brought to the big living room. “It was self-defense and I’m not
going to be charged with anything. I guess when Hannah had me file
that report the two other times he was here, someone had put out a
restraining order.”

Everyone looked at Rider. He smiled as
he leaned back on the couch with his glass of tea.

“
I had to do something. If
it came to this, and I’m not saying I hoped it would, but we needed
to have something that said he was a problem.” Rider sat his glass
of tea on the counter and took a plate overflowing with cookies.
Thomas noticed that Linyah eyed them greedily but didn’t take any.
He thought he’d find out about that later. “I still want to know
why on earth Hannah was covered in blood.”

So did he. But his mom only shrugged
and said nothing. Linyah too was being very quiet. And since Hannah
wasn’t in the room, it was hard to ask her. But they moved on to
more important things. Like what to have for dinner.

“
We’re going out.” His mom
spoke up from the couch, then flushed. “I know that it seems
strange now, but I’ve been looking forward to this luncheon thing
all day. I’m not going to let some old poop head ruin it for me. If
the girls are still willing, that is. But I think getting out of
here is the right thing to do.”

“
I’m more than willing.
I’ve been excited about having an all the way pizza since Nic told
me what it was. And a soda. Do they call them sodas in this part of
the country? Not that it matters, but I want a root beer.” Sina
stood up as she continued with her plans. “Also, I’d like to have a
cherry turnover. I’ve no idea what they are but I want one. And I
know that Kendra would be ready to go as well. She is so excited to
try something new. Linyah? Do you think you can tear yourself from
your male to go with us?”

“
Yes. I’m ready when you
are.” Misha and Hannah entered the room just as they were trying to
figure out how to go and ask Hannah if she wanted to go. Thomas
laughed when she nearly knocked Misha down to get ready. As the
women left, Linyah pulled him aside to speak to him.

“
My father…you might want
to talk to him before tomorrow.” He nodded, and she kissed him on
the mouth with a quick peck. Thomas pulled her back and deepened
the kiss until they were both breathless. She was out the door
before he could ask her why he needed to talk to her
dad.

As they were seated in the living room
again, Misha told them what happened. Not the version that they’d
given the police, but what had really gone down. The police thought
he’d come into the house and hurt Hannah, and his mom had defended
her. The claw marks, all made by Hannah’s cat, were explained away
by Maribel by saying he’d had them when he got there. Where on
earth, she’d asked the first officer, would she have gotten
something to hurt him like that? Thomas was quite proud of his
family all in all. They’d seen a problem and fixed it. It was a
shame that someone had to die over it, but his father had never
been much of a man, and he’d nearly hurt his mate. Thomas might
have ended up killing him anyway if he wasn’t already
dead.

It worked, of course, with a little
help from Linyah and her magic. She’d made it all look like it was
a simple case of protecting their own. The blood, all of it except
what was from the gunshot wound, was gone, as were the splinters in
the floor from when his mom had shot at him the first time. But the
police were satisfied with the story, and that really was all that
mattered. Additionally, they no longer had to worry about Andrew
Lanning lurking about every corner ever again.

Rider got up to answer his phone and
returned almost immediately. He didn’t look all that happy, and
Thomas stood up to get ready to go out again. But he sat down, and
the rest of them watched Rider as carefully as he did. Thomas
wasn’t sure how much more he could take today.

“
Hannah’s grandparents are
on their way here. I have a buddy of mine watching them and as of
ten minutes ago, they boarded a plane for here. They have hotel
reservations at the hotel downtown for one night. They have also
put in a flight plan for their trip home and included one more
person…a Hannah Little.” Misha said nothing, but Thomas could see
his mind working as Rider continued. “I have sent a message to
Linyah to let her know to watch; not that I think they’ll suddenly
appear, but maybe she can prepare Hannah for them.”

“
She’ll be just fine.”
Thomas thought so too, but he was glad to hear Misha say it. “After
today, I’d not want to fuck with her. She needed this. I never…when
we got upstairs I thought for sure she was going to fall apart, but
she was giddy. Not for hurting him, but because she’d stood up to
him. I think we have Linyah to thank for that.”

Thomas nodded. She’d been encouraging
both Hannah and their mom for weeks now on how strong they were.
Even Kendra, who one would think was strong, was listening to her
little sister about matters of court. Thomas started to ask what
Nildale wanted, but Misha spoke again.

“
We’re not going to stress
over this. He’ll try to take her or make her do something she
doesn’t want and she’ll rip his throat out.” Everyone laughed but
Misha. “She’s a good deal stronger than she was a month ago, and
even stronger today than she was this morning. She’ll be just fine.
I, for one, am not worried about my mate. In fact, I think I’m more
concerned with how this guy is going to react when she tells him to
fuck off.”

Thomas thought he was right. After
talking a little more, he finally cornered Nildale. The man was
laughing at something that Carter was telling him, and Thomas
waited. He knew whatever it was, he’d give the man. He was in love
with his daughter and had him to thank for that, in a small sort of
way. When Carter left them, Thomas finally asked him what he
needed.

“
Linyah is a princess. You
know that, right?” Thomas nodded, not sure where this was going.
“You’re a prince.” Thomas waited for the punch line. Something that
would make this a joke. But the longer he stood there staring at
him, the more Thomas realized he wasn’t kidding.

“
No. No. That can’t be
right.” Nildale nodded. “I’m just her male, her mate. Not a prince.
She’s…she’s a princess, yes, and always will be, but I’m only her
mate. She never said anything about me being a prince of
anything.”

“
I’m sorry, son, but you
are a prince.” Thomas was still shaking his head when Nildale had
him sit down. “You’ll have duties, as you know. Not all of them are
as boring as some. But you’ll have your fair share of those too.
There is a ball coming up, but that’s—”

“
I can’t be a prince. I’m
a leopard.” Nildale leaned back in the chair and watched him.
Thomas felt slightly stupid. “I’m a leopard, a member of the
Lanning Search and Rescue team. I’m mate to Linyah Lanning and
brother to the leader of our leap. I’m so not prince material. I’m
controlling and never on time for things. I have things in my life
that I’m not terribly proud of and things that I am.”

“
Yet here you are, mated
to a princess, which has made you a prince.” Nildale laughed. “I
think you’re going to be a fine prince. Once we get you in that wig
and pantyhose. Oh, and the heels that we have to have you fitted
for. They’re a bitch to learn how to walk in, but you can get it
sooner rather than later. What do you think of raw oysters? They
have to be eaten before every dinner. Just to keep you in line with
the rest of us.”

Thomas stood up and then sat twice
before he realized that Nildale was making fun of him. He growled
low and waited another five minutes for the man to stop laughing.
He was still wiping at his face when Thomas finally had
enough.

“
You are so not funny.”
Nildale laughed again, and Thomas leaned back in his seat. “You had
me going there for a minute. I thought for sure you were going to
tell me that I was going to be crowned and some sort of ceremony
was going to take place.”

Nildale said nothing, and Thomas felt
a finger of fear run along his spine. He waited and waited for him
to tell him that too was a joke. Needed him to tell him it was all
a big prank against him. But he only snapped his fingers, and a
small round crown was in his fingers. Thomas only stared at
it.

“
It’s not like the king’s
that will grace the family someday when Kendra takes a male. His
will be…well, bigger. Yours is much smaller and has less diamonds
in it. The ceremony is simply a large gathering. No one is expected
to bring you homage or anything like they would for a king, but
there will be hundreds of guests.” Thomas could only stare at the
crown and barely heard what Nildale was saying. “I’d like to get
this finished soon. The people will want to meet you. I’d expect a
few of them to hit you up for some kind of favor.”

“
You’re not kidding at
all, are you?” Nildale shook his head. “I’m really a prince.
I’m…I’m going to be wearing that thing and people are going to…what
are people going to expect me to do? Christ, my brothers are going
to love this.”

“
They’ll be very proud of
you, I think. And well, for starters, they won’t take too kindly to
you calling it a thing. It’s a crown. And you must stop telling me
this is a joke. It’s not.” Nildale handed him the crown, and Thomas
stared at it. “You might as well take it to see how it feels.
Sooner or later I’m going to set it on your head.”

“
Will my family be there?”
Nildale nodded. “Can they not be? I mean, this is going to really
give them a great deal to make fun of me about. Not that they don’t
have plenty right now. They think I’m a nerd. And for the most part
I think I am as well, but this? This is going to make me a laughing
stock in their eyes. So if you could, I’d rather they didn’t see me
fall on my ass and have to go chasing this thing down.”