“What do you want, Elijah?”
“To see the report,” he replied as if that was fucking obvious. Coming over and crouching down, he picked it up off the floor.
I stood up, taking a long drag on my cigarette, trying to fight the agony that was ripping through me. I walked to the window, staring out at the shadows that had settled over the pack grounds. The sun was gone from the sky.Will my family ever be fucking safe?
“Don’t blame yourself for this.”
“Fuck off. I left her that day…” He sighed, and I could sense his irritation.
“Alejandro, you didn’t have much of a choice. You made the right choice. Now, Kataleya is safe and back with us.”
“Yeah, but the mental damage of being fucking tortured and abused doesn’t go, does it?” I could hear the pain in my voice no matter how much I tried to conceal it.
“No, it doesn’t, but with love and care, she will be okay. She’s a Rossi as well as of Westwood blood. All we can do is stay strong and continue to be that wall of strength and support for the ones we love. No matter how hard it gets, or how hard that wall is battered on… if we stay strong, then so will they.”
What do you say to that? He was right; I knew he was, but what happened when that shield had failed? I allowed her to be taken…
“You will need to ask her what happened, but perhaps it’s better to do that when Kiara is awake. Do it together,” he added quietly.
“Yeah.”
“Well, pizza should be here soon. Get back home. I’m sure if Kiara wakes up soon, she will want to see that ugly mug of yours.”
“Yeah? Well, she fucking loves this mug,” I shot back cockily.
“No fucking idea why,” he replied, equally fucking arrogant.
“I could list a few things if you’re ready to hear exactly what she loves about it.”
“No thanks,” he growled as he held onto the file, opening the office door. I was sure he got the fucking hint. I pushed past him, smirking slightly. Yeah, if only he knew what his daughter liked about this face, or better, where.
My smile faded as I smoked my cigarette. Sometimes you became friends with the most unexpected of people. Although I was closer to Elijah’s age than Kiara’s, he was her fucking dad, but he was still my closest confidant after Kiara, the only one who saw the demons I tried to hide…
We walked in silence through the pack grounds, heading towards my mansion. One day soon, I hoped everything was back to normal.
“Any updates?” After a moment, he spoke,
“They are looking for leads on the curse, along with the witches, too. The only problem is that Delsanra is affected. She could have proved vital in finding answers.” I frowned. That was fucking true…
“Yeah? Well, we are going to have to find a way to fix that shit without her, and we will.”
Over a Slice of Pizza
Alejandro
We returned to the mansion and entered the living room. I looked around at all the kids playing. The three girls were sitting on the carpet with Kataleya in the centre. I could tell by the way that the girls were fawning over her that she was being taken good care of by them. Goddess, even the fucking pups knew when something wasn’t right. I sat down next to Dante, running my fingers through his hair and ruffling it up.
“So, not getting fucking bored, are you?”
“Nope. Besides, I get to watch TV, and there’re so many episodes I’ve been wanting to catch up on, so why not do that now? I haven’t got anything better to do anyway. No schoolwork, no training, just chilling.”
He gave me a grin, but I could tell from his eyes that he wasn’t okay. For me, he was fucking trying. That was what I had done. Now my fucking pup, who was only eight years old, had to pretend that things were okay when they fucking weren’t.
“Yeah. Make the most of it for now, because once you’re better, you’ll be catching up double time.” He nodded. The spark in his red eyes returned for a moment, and I fucking promised that I’d make sure he was back to normal soon enough. Whatever the curse was, we would find a way to break it.
The doorbell rang, and I knew it was probably one of my men with the pizza.
“Daddy, it’s the pizza,” exclaimed Azura.
