Triple Dog Dare

  He’d head back out tomorrow and do some more scouting. Maybe he could follow her around enough to catch her alone.

  Chapter Five

  Micah barely stirred. He’d considered getting out of bed and warning everyone that Lina and her guys were on their way up the drive. Then he figured since they were as good as family, it wouldn’t matter.

  It certainly wasn’t worth crawling out of his comfortable bed, where he was curled around Jim.

  He let out a content sigh. He still found it hard, in some ways, to think of Jim as his mate, yet every cell in his body breathed the fact.

  Mine.

  As simple an idea as inhaling and exhaling. Jim was his, and he was Jim’s. Why? He hoped that, one day, he would learn to give up that question. It didn’t matter why. Kael and Zack were a perfect example, even though they already knew they were gay when they got together. So he wasn’t gay, and neither was Jim. It was becoming increasingly easy to wrap his mind around the fact that he now had a man as a mate.

  He damn sure wasn’t complaining.

  Out in the living room, he heard the commotion as Lina and her posse arrived and they were introduced to everyone. At one point, he dozed off.

  He wasn’t sure what awoke him a while later. He didn’t know how long he’d been asleep, either, but now he was wide awake, all his senses attuned to the noises in the house.

  He heard people quietly talking in the living room, but wasn’t sure who was still awake. That’s not what had roused him.

  Sitting up, he closed his eyes and focused. That’s when he realized what woke him up. Someone, on foot, walking up the drive.

  A male wolf shifter. An Alpha. A stranger he didn’t recognize.

  Micah scrambled out of bed and grabbed a pair of shorts. Jim, disturbed by Micah’s sudden departure, groggily asked, “What’s up?”

  “Get up. Now.” He tossed Jim a pair of shorts. “Someone’s coming.”

  By the time Micah ran into the living room, the stranger had almost reached the front porch. Everyone looked at Micah when he emerged from the hallway at a dead run, but he didn’t have time to explain when they heard the knock on the front door.

  Ain must have sensed something was wrong from Micah’s reaction. He jumped up and ran to the front door, beating Micah there by steps. “What is it?” he quietly asked Micah.

  “Shifter. Don’t know who. It’s a guy.”

  Lina waddled over and pushed the men out of the way. “Hello, Micah. Open the frickin’ door, for chrissake.” She threw it wide open and smiled at the newcomer. “Well hello, Liam. Glad to see you made it here safely.”

  The man standing there and holding a battered knapsack looked startled to see her. He warily eyed Micah and Ain standing close behind her. “Hi, Lina.”

  “Liam?” Ain asked. “As in Liam Pardie? Elain’s father, Liam Pardie?”

  Lina nodded. “Yep.”

  Micah gasped. “Liam Pardie?”

  “Yep,” Lina said with another nod.

  Carla walked over, a look of utter shock on her face. “Liam!”

  “Hello, Carla,” the newcomer replied.

  Lina grabbed the guy’s hand and dragged him inside. “Okay, see? Identity confirmed. He’s not dangerous. Now back up and let him in.”

  * * * *

  Elain stood, stunned to see the man from the steakhouse standing in their foyer. The man in the picture.

  Not just any man, she reminded herself. My father.

  Unfortunately, all that came out of her mouth was, “What?” She had countless questions to ask, things she’d thought about throughout the years. Unfortunately, she couldn’t recall a single one of them through her emotional shock.

  Lina waved her over. “Come here, Elain.”

  Now unable to feel her feet, Elain walked over and stared at the man. Identical to the picture Maureen included with the letter, with him once again standing in front of her, she realized he looked like he’d barely aged from when it had been taken.

  Ain, Brodey, and Cail tried to insert themselves between Elain and the stranger. Lina wouldn’t have any of it. “You guys stop it. He’s her father. Back off.” She shoved the men out of her way and pulled Liam through the throng and into the living room. “You know, Liam, I started to think you were never going to get here,” she said with a smile.

  Elain and Carla followed. “You knew he was coming?” Elain asked.

  “I can’t believe it!” Carla said, looking at him. “You’ve barely aged at all!”

  “That’s because he’s a wolf,” Lina explained. She turned to Ain. “Haven’t you guys filled her in on what’s going on? She is Elain’s mom, after all.”

  “She just got here a little while before y’all did,” Brodey said. “We didn’t have time to finish going over everything.”

  “Wait a minute,” Elain said. “Back up. Lina, how did you know he was coming?” She decided to focus on the smaller bits of the puzzle, the more easily digestible facts, before trying to take a big honking chunk of a bite out of the overall picture.

  “Simple. I told him to get his butt in gear and get here,” Lina said.

  That made even less sense to Elain. “What?”

  “Zack and I took a little side trip after we went to Seattle a few months back. We flew to Bolivia and tracked him down.”

  “Bolivia?” Rick, Jan, and Kael all exclaimed together, shooting nearly identical dark looks at Zack. That was news to them, apparently.

  Zack held up his hands. “Hey, the Goddess rules, dudes. You know the gig. I was sworn to secrecy by her, so don’t yell at me. It’s the Goddess of Snark’s fault.” He pointed at Lina. “Blame her. She’s the Head-Incendiary-Deity-What’s-in-Charge.”

  Lina waved her hand to shush everyone. “Yes, I had a vision, knew I had to find Liam, blah, blah, yadda yadda, we went to Bolivia, found him, and flew home safely. Now he’s here.” She pointed to Elain. “For her. Among other things.”

  “What other things?” Ain asked.

  Lina didn’t answer. She shushed him.

  Elain couldn’t take her eyes off Liam. He smelled so familiar…

  The jacket. It finally hit her. The leather jacket still hanging in her closet in the Venice house had belonged to her father. It was the only thing of his that she owned. It still held the very faintest scent of him in its deep recesses. When she was little, she used to sit in her closet with the jacket draped around her and pretend it was her father hugging her.

  All the while she would wish he’d come back for her, marry her mom, and the three of them could live happily ever after.

  “Are there any other bombshells you want to drop on us, lovely?” Jan snidely asked Lina.

  “Nope. Not right now. Nothing concrete that I can tell you.”

  “Great,” Rick muttered under his breath.

  “I heard that,” Lina said.

  * * * *

  Micah cleared his throat. “Well, since y’all don’t need us, we’re going back to bed.” Jim, who’d stood at the end of the hallway and watched everything, turned and sleepily followed Micah back to their bedroom.

  “Who is that guy? And who are those other people?” Jim mumbled as he climbed back under the covers with Micah.

  Micah snugged him tightly to him. “A new complication, apparently. Not our concern. Not tonight, at least.”

  * * * *

  Elain wasn’t sure how many more surprises she could take. The past couple of hours had stretched her nerves to the limit. Which said a lot, considering how much they’d already been stretched over the past several weeks. She stepped forward and stared at Liam for a long moment before throwing her arms around him and hugging him.

  “I missed ye so much,” he whispered in her ear. “Please, I hope ye can forgive me for leaving.”

  Unable to speak, she nodded. They stood like that for a couple of minutes until Elain finally released him and stepped back. “I guess we should all go talk,” she suggested.

  He nodded. “That’s
a good idea.”

  “Do you want some time alone with him?” Ain asked her.

  She thought about it. “I do, but not right now. I think I’d rather get all the other questions I have answered.” She nodded toward Lina. “She seems to be the lady to answer them.”

  “That’s me,” Lina said. “Goddess, Seer, and snarkalicious supernatural information desk with incendiary powers.”

  With everyone introduced and settled in the living room, all attention focused on Lina.

  She laced her fingers together and rested her hands on her belly. “Well, isn’t this nice?” she cheerfully asked. “Everyone together in one room. All we need is Blackie, Callie, Wally, and the rest.”

  “Who are—never mind,” Elain said. “I don’t want to know.”

  “How are Blackie and Callie?” Brodey asked. “I haven’t talked to him in a couple of months. How do they like living up in Maine?”

  “They’re doing good. He went with us to Brussels. I sent him back to Maine when we landed in Florida tonight. We’ll see him soon enough.” Lina offered a smile to Elain. “Prepare for craziness to ensue.”

  “Who is Blackie, again? And I thought we were already in Crazy Town,” Elain shot back. “If it gets any crazier, I think I’ll need to be sedated.”

  “Oh, no, this isn’t crazy,” Lina said with a broad grin. “This is just the intermission.” Her smile faded and she looked at Brodey. “Fat Boy’s back.” She tipped her head toward Elain. “He’s already seen her. At least once. I had a vision about it.”

  Elain closed her eyes and wearily rubbed her forehead. “Who is Fat Boy? And what visions?”

  “He’s an older guy,” Lina said. “It’s a long, long story. He’s the guy we were telling you about earlier, the one who helped kill Kael’s family.”

  “Do I even want to know anything else?” Elain opened her eyes again. “I’m beginning to think maybe I’m better off not knowing.”

  “Wait a minute,” Brodey said. “When did he see Elain?”

  “Cail took Elain shopping at a farm supply store.” Lina looked at him. “You two were in the parking lot, petting a horse in a stock trailer.”

  Cail nodded. “Yeah. A couple of weeks ago.”

  “He was standing across the street and watched you two.”

  Elain spoke before thinking. “You mean Mr. Creepy?”

  All three of her men looked at her and spoke together. “Who’s Mr. Creepy?”

  Elain felt her face redden. “Oops.”

  Ain cleared his throat. “Is there anything else you want to tell us, Elain?”

  She shook her head. “Um, no, I think that’s all.”

  “How many times have you seen this Mr. Creepy?” Ain asked.

  “Oh. Um, the night we went to the steakhouse and I saw him.” She pointed at Liam. “We went to Publix after dinner to get groceries. I saw Mr. Creepy there. I also think I saw him when Cail and I went to the diner once.”

  “And,” Ain said, “just why didn’t you tell us that before now?”

  She grew defensive. “Because I was afraid you’d flip out. Like you’re doing now.”

  “I’m not flipping out!”

  “Yeah, but you want to keep me locked up now for my safety, don’t you?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “See? You can’t do that.”

  His face darkened. “Watch me.”

  She jabbed a finger at him. “You try edicting me like that, and you’ll have one unhappy mate on your hands, buster.”

  They glared at each other for a few seconds before Ain gave in first with an unhappy sigh. “You’re going to be the death of me yet, you know that? Please, let’s discuss this and figure out a way to keep you safe.”

  Lina cleared her throat. “If y’all are done, can we get back to him?” She pointed at Liam.

  Liam had quietly sat and listened to the exchange. He’d looked back and forth from Elain to Carla. Elain felt a little guilty, like she should be showering him with affection and attention. Quite honestly, she felt too numb to do any of that at this time. Like she was several steps behind everyone else in absorbing all the new facts they’d learned in the past couple of hours.

  She also had some questions for her mom, but those could wait. Her brain could only handle so much at one time.

  * * * *

  Cail carefully watched Elain. He suspected she was near or at the breaking point. He couldn’t blame her. He’d nearly reached it himself.

  “Let’s stop for a moment,” he suggested. “I want to hear Liam’s story.”

  All eyes swiveled to the newcomer.

  Liam swallowed. “Well,” he softly said in his Irish brogue, “where do ye want me to begin?”

  “Begin where you want,” Cail said. “As long as it all gets told.”

  He nodded. “When we found out Maureen was expecting a girl, we panicked. I worried the Abernathys would track us down if they knew. All my life I’d lived with that damn blood oath over my head. I resisted looking for a mate because of it. I didn’t want to hand over any child to the Abernathys.”

  He looked down at his hands and clasped them together. “I didn’t tell Maureen about the blood oath when she claimed me. I was so shocked when it happened, I didn’t have time to react. After the fact I told her, but I wouldn’t let her swear to it.”

  He let out a deep sigh. “The day after we found out from the doctor that Elain was a girl, we ran. I didn’t know where to go first. I knew I couldn’t go to my brothers. I told them about Maureen when we first mated, not thinking straight that I shouldn’t have. I didn’t say anything to them when we found out she was pregnant.”

  Cail cleared his throat. “I hate to be the one to tell you,” he softly said, “but someone recently murdered their mates. And the mate of one of our cousins. Beheaded them.”

  “Bloody Abernathys.” Liam stared at the floor for a moment. When he started speaking again, his voice sounded hoarse and full of emotion. “It’s all my fault,” he quietly said. “I never should have told my brothers about Maureen. They weren’t Alphas, but they were sworn to the blood oath in case any of their heirs were eligible.”

  “Are you actually related to the Abernathys?” Ain asked.

  Liam shook his head. “No. Our family’s blood oath is with them, but I’m not related to them except through the past and that damn oath.”

  “I have to ask,” Ain continued. “There are rumors you were tied up with the mob.”

  Again Liam shook his head. “No. Probably a story the Abernathys spread about me to isolate me from anyone I might seek help from. Is that fecking bastard Rodolfo still alive?”

  “Unfortunately,” Ain said.

  “Damn.” He looked at Carla. “I didn’t know where else to go when all this happened. When Maureen was grabbing things to take with us, she found yer address in Tampa. I…I didn’t know what else to do. We couldn’t risk going to any of her family. Surely couldn’t go to my family for help. I remembered hearing rumors about Charles and Ellie and what they did for people. I thought that was the Goddess’ hand on our fate. That we could go to Florida and ask for their help to hide. At least, to hide Maureen and the baby. Elain,” he corrected himself as he looked at his daughter. “Maureen loved Carla like a sister and trusted her. She knew Carla had no knowledge of shape-shifter business.

  “I took Maureen to Carla’s and we showed her what we were. Then I left and tracked down Charles and Ellie and called them. I didn’t tell them what it was about over the phone. They agreed to meet with me. I told them everything, but I didn’t tell them where Maureen was, or about Carla. I told them about the blood oath and they said they didn’t care about that, that they’d help us hide.”

  He paused for a moment to compose himself. “They asked me if I’d been followed. I said I didn’t think so. That’s when they told me they thought they might have someone watching them. That over the past couple of months, it felt like they’d been followed, but they weren’t sure if they were, o
r even who was responsible. I was supposed to go back to the hotel and wait for them to call me. They were going to talk to ye and yer brothers the next day, in person, so they could confirm the arrangements. Then they would call me for Carla’s information so they could have someone else contact her about where to go. They wanted to be extra careful. They weren’t sure if their phone was tapped or not.”

  Cail felt old anger bubbling over inside him. “They died the next day.”

  Liam nodded. “When I didn’t hear from them, I panicked. I couldn’t wait. I called their house and the police answered and told me they’d died.” He choked back a sob. “Another pair of deaths that’s my fault.”

  Cail watched as Elain started crying, too. She stood and went to kneel beside Liam, putting her arms around him and holding him.

  * * * *

  After a few minutes, Ain cleared his throat. “We don’t hold you responsible for our parents’ deaths, Liam.”

  Liam looked up from where he and Elain still embraced. “Thank ye. I doubt I could be as charitable if I was in yer position.”

  “What’s important,” Ain said, “is that you’re here for Elain now. Both of you are here,” he said, meaning Carla. “And family is what’s important. We take care of our own. And as far as I’m concerned, you’re both part of our family. Our pack.”

  Liam looked at Carla, who sat on his other side. “I can’t begin to thank ye enough for all ye’ve done.” He let go of Elain with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Carla. “Thank ye for being her mother and taking such good care of her.”

  That finished Carla. She started crying, too, and that’s when Ain decided the three of them needed some time alone. Silently, he motioned to everyone to file outside to the lanai to give them privacy.