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“I’m in Beaufort these days,” I corrected him, then went to Dill to shake his hand. “And don’t be shy about dropping a line.”
Dill eyed Regina. “Don’t mind if I do.”
“Sorry, boys,” Regina said as she grabbed my bicep. “This one is mine.”
My gut shook with laughter.
It felt good to climb into my truck as the chuckles tapered off. Regina casually draped her hand over my right thigh. She toggled with the radio. She pointed out how the sky was clear all the way from Georgia to South Carolina. Signs pointed to the coast, quickening the way back to Hayden-Bravecrest pack lands.
Everything seemed alright for a moment. It was just a regular trip with a regular woman who was talking my ear off about how the law of exchange actually counts for more than just magical folks. She animated her explanation by waving her hands in different ways made me smile.
My face ached with those smiles by the time I pulled into my driveway. On the porch, Kiara waited for us, her smile set to country politeness while her body language indicated a hint of irritation. Plus, her arms were folded over her chest. That meant she had been in a thinking tank while waiting for us to get back.
Reality snaked its way back into my brain. This wasn’t some nice vacation I had taken with my girlfriend. It had been a business trip, one that made our relationship end as soon as it was over. Though I was unwilling to let a lot of it go, I knew I had to open myself up to a conversation with my daughter.
Mate or not, I had to make sure the one woman in my life who had stuck to my side wasn’t going to be disappointed with my choices. I couldn’t handle another round of that. I didn’t want to experience another betrayal, another loss.
My heart wasn’t built for it anymore.
I put on my best grin as I stepped out of the truck. That wasn’t hard, considering Regina was right next to me. But just when I thought my daughter would come running, she was practically tackled onto the porch by GG. Giggles echoed from the women as they talked a mile a minute about everything they hadn’t discussed on the trip.
Didn’t Regina do that texting thing everyone did? I thought she would have reported every single move to her best friend. Maybe I had missed something or taken up all of her time and attention while we were in Georgia.
Either way, I was glad to be back in familiar territory where Teresa didn’t exist.
As I approached the porch, the women repositioned themselves, turning their profiles to me as they became absorbed by details.
“Cold, dark tunnels,” Regina blurted, “and humans openly feeding vampires. Can you believe that?”
Kiara paled. “I thought that was outlawed.”
“Apparently, it’s fine as long as it’s considered performance art. I looked it up.” Regina waved her phone. “There are about ten pages worth of updates recently accepted by the Council of the South.”
Kiara sighed with aggravation. “I can’t keep up with all the councils. Do we really have to be diced up like this? Does it only apply to that one specific club?”
“It’s set for Georgia specifically, but the South Carolina councils are unsure about allowing that sort of thing here.”
“Yeah, I’ll say.” Kiara offered me a tight grin. “Hey, Dad. Everything okay?”
It hurt to look into my daughter’s eyes. She reminded me of Teresa. And thinking of Teresa made everything very much not alright.
Regina and I had barely touched the topic of the attack last night. We had no clue why Teresa was after the amulet, or how the hell she found us at the cottage. After thoroughly covering our tracks as best we could, we hightailed it here, and now I had to look at my daughter and lie to her.
Because that was for the best.
An easy smile slid right into place over my lips. “Yeah, sweetie. Everything is peachy. We delivered the box, and all is well.”
“That’s good to hear.” She cast a hesitant glance at her best friend. “So, how long are you planning to stick around?’
“I figured I’d feel it out as I go.”
Kiara raised an eyebrow. She got that from me. “Oh? You’ve like never done that before. You’re always the hyperplanner.” She laughed rigidly. “But I guess there’s not much here for you since you got your own place.”
“I thought I could help here for a little bit.” Regina played with her lavender hair. “I mean, maybe the pack needs more services from a witch, right? Y’all don’t really have your own witch on hand.”
“Right. Yeah.” Kiara didn’t bother hiding her feelings now. Her whole face was crunched up with confusion, regret, disdain. Then, out of nowhere, a smile cropped up. “It’s not like you believe in the whole mates thing, right? You aren’t moving in with my dad or something.”
Now, that was crossing a line. While I endorsed my daughter speaking freely, I didn’t appreciate her shooting down something she just didn’t understand. She didn’t have a mate. She rarely had a boyfriend most days, and she didn’t have any business sticking her nose in my business.
