AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He slides my mom off his lap, getting to his feet. “Isn’t that Mason’s job?”
“He’s got something going on with Norah today.”
“Let’s go, then,” Dad barks eagerly, slinging an arm around my mom’s shoulders and pressing a kiss to her temple. “You good here, babe?”
Mom rolls her eyes, pushing him toward me with a laugh. “Have fun, boys. I’m gonna go find Avery, see if I can get more dirt out of her than I got from you,” she says, waggling her brows at me.
“Good luck with that,” I murmur. I pull open the door, my dad following me outside. “So how long before Mom convinces Aves to take her to the complex so she can try out that VR simulator?” I ask as he closes the door behind him.
“Oh, ten minutes, max,” he laughs as we start toward my Jeep in the driveway. “You know if the hunters do show up, there’s no way she’s sitting this one out. Your mom’s got a warrior’s heart. It’s frustrating sometimes, but I love that about her.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” I grumble, rounding the Jeep to the drivers’ side. “You’re fated mates, so she’s perfect in your eyes.”
“Well yeah,” he agrees, opening the door and sliding into the passenger seat.
I get in and fire up the engine, glancing over at him with my hand on the gearshift, sensing there’s more on the tip of his tongue. My dad never misses out on an opportunity to impart wisdom. “But?” I ask cautiously.
The corner of his mouth lifts. “But it’s not always smooth sailing. Just because we’re fated doesn’t mean we don’t have our fair share of disagreements.” He shrugs a shoulder, staring out the windshield in contemplation. “Your mom drives me crazy half the time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love her with everything I am. Love isn’t easy, son, but I can tell you that it’s worth it.”
“I don’t even know what love is,” I mutter.
“I think you do.”
I shoot him a side-eyed glare. “If you start with that shit, I’ll leave you here with Mom,” I warn.
He chuckles softly, holding up his hands in surrender. “Fine, I won’t push. But if you ever do wanna talk about it…”
“I know.”
I shift the gear in reverse, backing out of the driveway.
My dad and I have always had an open line of communication, but this isn’t something I’m ready to discuss with him. Hell, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be. I suck at owning up to and talking about my emotions, and Sloane’s return has them twisted up beyond recognition.
As the two of us head out to take care of business, I’m hit with a wave of nostalgia. It feels like old times when I was under his wing, learning the ropes of how to be Alpha from the best one I know. With my dad at my side, I already feel more level-headed than I have in a while- like his calm, cool demeanor is rubbing off on me.
It’s exactly what I didn’t know I needed, and I hope to fuck it lasts.
16
“Okay, this tech is sick,” I gush, taking the VR goggles off and blinking as my eyes adjust to the change in light.
“Right?!” Lo grins proudly. She takes the goggles and gun from me, setting them on the table below the large TV on the wall. The room we’re in used to be storage at the complex, but IT recently commandeered it and had it emptied out to use for the VR training modules.
“It’s so realistic!” I exclaim, still blown away by the system Lo rigged up. “It really felt like I was out in the woods shooting.”
“Well good thing you weren’t, because your accuracy was only thirty-eight percent,” Avery mumbles, turning the tablet in her hands toward me so I can view my stats. “And you took four hits, baby girl. We need to get that number to zero.”
I nod determinedly, spinning back around to face Lo. “Alright, gimme that gun back, I’ll go again.”
“Easy, killer, let’s see where you can improve first,” she chuckles, waving Avery over.
She crosses the room to Lo, and the two of them peer down at the tablet, reading through my stats thoughtfully and pointing out different numbers to one another. As I watch them, I can’t help but notice how freakinggorgeousboth my friends are. The two leggy blondes almost look like they could be sisters, and as a short brunette, sometimes I feel woefully out of place amongst them.
“Shit, I didn’t realize it was almost eight, we’d better get over to the conference room for the squad leader meeting,” Avery rushes out, switching off the tablet and sliding it onto the table behind her with the rest of the VR equipment. “You’re coming, right Sloane?”
“Should I?” I ask hesitantly, glancing between them and worrying my lower lip between my teeth.
Avery cocks a brow. “I mean, you wanna be a squad leader, right?”
