He nodded. Perhaps he couldn’t understand why I didn’t just mate with her now and get done with what I could control in the moment. “I know, son. Just don’t lose sight of the entire pack in the midst of this business with Castro.”
“I understand time is of the essence.” I was telling the truth, but even my wolf knew instinctively that protecting Liza was the main order of business. “The safety of my mate comes first.” If we were mated and anything happened to either of us, it would be the end of both of our lives.
When one mate of a fated pair was lost, the surviving partner usually suffered in ways that went above and beyond normal grief. The remaining wolf fell into a deep depression, and their desire to live disappeared. Eventually, the wolf faded away from a broken heart. I had to protect us both, and right now, while Castro remained an unknown, it meant delaying the matingceremony, even though it was the singular most important thing my wolf and I wanted.
Dad gave my shoulder a squeeze, then moved to stand in front of the darkened fireplace. “I know this is difficult for you, son. Your mate comes first, but you also have an obligation to the pack. And to me. Don’t forget that.” I’d been raised hearing any number of variations of the same speech. It was tattooed on my soul. There wasn’t much chance I would ever forget it.
I nodded. Before he left the room, Dad looked back at me one last time. “Your concern for Liza’s safety is all the more reason for us to be determined to deal with Castro for good this time.” He leaned against the doorframe and took a deep breath. “I remember what it’s like to be with your fated mate, wanting nothing more than to protect the future mother of your children. You have a heavy load on your shoulders, son. Don’t think that I don’t understand.” When he spoke to me like this, he wasn’t just my alpha, he was my father. Unfortunately these times were coming to an end. I wanted to remember everything about the moment.
He paused, and I caught a glimmer of something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. “Your relationship with Liza matters to me, too. I’d like to become a grandfather sooner rather than later.”
My body tensed at his words. Dad didn’t know Liza was an omega, and I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to share that information with him. After everything that had been revealed about our family, our pasts, and our secrets, I had decided it was best to keep Liza’s identity a secret between her, her family, and myself.
Dad walked away when he saw the deer-in-headlights expression on my face. He probably thought I was scared of having children, but I’d suddenly remembered that Castro knew what Liza was.
Fuck.
Remembering how important it was to keep the omega information away from the general public only added more justification for me to find Castro and deal with him swiftly and appropriately. Heaven forbid the knowledge of what Liza was got into the wrong hands. That would be a whole other can of worms I didn’t want to be popped open.
34
LIZA
“Liza? Where are you?” Dad’s panicked voice made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. He didn’t often lose his cool, so when he did, I noticed.
“I’m in the bathroom, Dad. It’s okay.” My voice cracked on the lie. Everything wasn’t okay. It would never be okay again.
Castro was alive.
I’d replayed those words in my mind over and over again, but even hearing them in my own head, in my own voice, somehow, I was struggling to believe it. He was supposed to be dead, but he’d pulled some kind of fucking Houdini act. He’d faked his own death and walked out of the hospital alive, unbeknownst to everyone involved in his medical care. No proof, no trail.Nobodysaw anything? It must have been a cover-up.
And all I could think was…what the fuck?
I couldn’t sleep, could barely eat, knowing that Castro was waiting to strike at any given moment. But he wasn’t impetuous. He didn’t act without forethought. Deep down, I knew he was smarter than that. Everything he did was calculated and perfectly timed. He wouldn’t move until the most advantageous moment—advantageous for him.
My parents had been made fully aware of the situation as soon as we’d received the letter. Despite my pleas for any other solution—I was even willing to consent to packing heat—Ty had insisted that I stay with my parents while he tried to get to the bottom of everything with his dad’s help.
It wasn’t that I didn’t have faith in him. He wanted this to be done as much as I did. I only wanted to be a part of the solution.
My own father hadn’t let me out of his sight for the last twenty-four hours. He’d even insisted I take his place in bed with Mom while he sat guard by the front door.
All night long.
Every night.
He got a bit of sleep during the day, but Dad’s eyes were bloodshot, and he’d consumed so much coffee that there was a good chance he would drop dead from a cardiac arrest, or—and this was the preferable option—possibly just fall over asleep at any given moment. My father’s lack of a good night’s rest was just another thing on a long list I wanted Castro punished for.
My parents were scared, and with good reason. Castro was the perfect combination of psychotic and genius. He knew what he wanted, and unfortunately, that appeared to be me.
I washed my hands and walked into the living room, interrupting an intense conversation between my parents. They stopped speaking and stared at each other.
“Liza’s back, so why don’t you run it by her?” Mom was using herI-told-you-sotone as she gestured in my direction. “I bet I know what she’ll say, though.”
Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good. I didn’t have to be a genius to know that they were arguing over whatever this was. And I hated it. Partly because I always hated when they argued, and partly because, undoubtedly, this argument had something to do with me. They hadn’t talked about anything other than me since Ty dropped me off here.
Dad turned to face me, his five o’clock shadow making him look ten years older. “Sweetheart, your mom and I”—argument or not, they were coming together as a unit—“think it might be best for the three of us to pack some things and leave town for a while.”
He held up a hand before I could respond. There wasn’t a person in this room who didn’t know what my answer would be. I wasn’t a damn runner. I shook my head and answered anyway. “Absolutely not.”
