Page 16 of Winter Break

He’ll be back. He’s not going to release her so easily. But he’s also not going to get any help from the local sheriff, if that’s what he thinks. He spoke of contacting the authorities a dozen times.

Cora is a grown adult. She doesn’t need her stepfather’s permission or consent to move out of his home and into mine.

There were two people in town my pride brothers and I quickly made nice with and befriended as soon as we bought this logging company—the town doctor and the town sheriff.

We occasionally need the help of a physician, and it’s easier if the man or woman is familiar with lion shifters and our needs. We also wanted to reassure the sheriff and his deputies that we are a peaceful group that means no harm to the community. He isn’t going to listen to the ranting tantrum Vincent Jones is sure to bring to his office over the calm reassurances we have always provided him.

That’s not to say we are altogether nonviolent. We can and will eliminate anyone from this planet who dares to fuck with one of our own—including our mates.

I have a strong suspicion this situation with Jones will not end well for him, which means I will need to find a way to eliminate him that won’t cause eyebrows to raise in the sheriff’s office.

It can be done. We’ve done it before. No one will ever know there was a connection between Brea and the asshole who tried to traffic her. That poor fellow made the unwise decision to go hiking in the mountains in the dark and met his untimely demise by falling off a cliff. As far as the sheriff is concerned, Mitchel was nothing but a stupid fuck. And we like it that way.

Nothing is impossible.

Chapter Six

Cora

I’m groggy and warm as I become aware of my surroundings. It takes only a moment to remember where I am because Orion is holding me and smiling.

My heart lurches as I recall everything that’s happened today, right up to the point where I took a bottle in this man’s arms. Apparently, I also fell asleep here, and he’s still holding me.

Something is in my mouth, but when I lift my hand to touch it, Daddy stops me by gently circling my wrist. Instead of allowing me to remove the strange object myself, he does it for me.

Tingles race over my skin at his odd gesture and the realization that I was sucking on a pacifier. My face heats.

“Do you feel better, Little doll? You needed that nap.”

I nod, glancing around. Do I feel better? I’m not sure. I’m worried. There’s no way Vincent will let me go easily. He’s probably ranting so hard right now that he’s punched a hole in the wall. The thought makes me cringe.

I grew up in that house. I hate to see it destroyed. Until my mother met and married Vincent, it had been just the two of us. My childhood was a happy one. I was a normal kid who went to school in town and had friends. I went to birthday parties and had sleepovers.

My mother worked as the school secretary. She took me with her in the mornings, and we left together after school. It was a happy time.

Then she met Vincent. At first, he was nice enough, though I never was fond of the way he upset my idyllic life. For a few years, we coexisted without much friction. My mother married him, he moved in, and life changed.

It didn’t have to be bad, but there were undercurrents of animosity from him even from the start. He would shoot me a glare when my mother wasn’t looking, snarl at me under his breath often enough that I grew uncomfortable.

And then my mother got sick. She had cancer. It slowly killed her, forcing me to grow up too young. She was so grateful that I wouldn’t be left alone in the world, that Vincent would take care of me after she died.

Little did she know that her husband was a monster who got worse with every passing day. As soon as she was in the ground, he used his threats to destroy my life. Until today, I never dreamed I would ever be free of him.

Am I lucky? I’m not sure yet. Depends on whatever else Daddy launches at me in the coming hours and days. I suspect it will be a lot.

Still cradling me in his arms, Daddy rises from the chair and carries me to the bedroom and through to the master bath. “Let’s get you bathed, Little doll. I want to wash the smell of smoke off you.”

He crouches down and eases me upright onto my feet.

I hold on to his shoulders as I get my balance.

“Any dizziness, Little doll?”

“No, Daddy.” I feel pretty good. Groggy still but the room isn’t spinning. When I flex my wrist back and forth, I find that it barely hurts. It’s still sore but nothing like earlier. Whatever he injected in me when he bit me is working miracles.

He bit me!

I stiffen. “Am I going to be a lion shifter now?”