17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The evening was drawing in when we pulled up at Rosie's. Ben and Roan were still unconscious and it hurt to carry them into the café as if they were a sick dog. Maxwell was behind the counter. As soon as he saw me he grabbed one of his fire elementals to take over and hurried towards us.

‘He's on fire,' Dad said faintly. ‘There are flames on his head but he doesn't seem upset about it.' He sounded mystified.

‘This is my birth cousin, Maxwell,' I said gently. ‘They're fire elementals, remember?'

‘You did say,' Dad agreed. ‘But it's somewhat different seeing them.'

I remembered how hard it had been for me to acclimatise and I shot him a sympathetic smile. I'd spent several days coming to terms with the knowledge that werewolves were real, let alone anything else .

‘It's so lovely to meet you,' Maxwell said warmly to my parents, brushing aside my dad's awkward comments. ‘I'm just sorry it's under such difficult circumstances.'

‘Thank you,' Mum replied and smiled at him. ‘And thank you to you and your family for taking Lucy into your hearts. I know it means a great deal to her.'

‘Muuum,' I moaned. She was so embarrassing. ‘Come on, let's get you somewhere safe until your adoptions have gone through,' I said.

‘It feels odd to be adopted at sixty,' Dad muttered, but he followed me into the heart of Rosie's and up to the guarded apartments above the cafe. Once we were in the suite of rooms, he trundled straight to the kitchen and started opening and closing the drawers to see what cooking equipment he had to work with. Dad cooked for fun and for therapy.

‘Is he going to be okay?' I asked Mum quietly.

‘I'm sure he'll be fine, darling,' she assured me, but her strained smile didn't reach her eyes. She watched my father start pottering in the kitchen and a grimace stole across her face before she could hide it.

‘Is he struggling to adjust?' Maxwell asked in a low voice. ‘It is highly unusual to introduce someone to the Other so late in life.'

‘I know,' I sighed. ‘He was trying his best to do denial, even after seeing a human shift to a wolf, but then Jacob strolled in with a full set of wings. That was the last straw. Dad's been shoved into the Other realm but I don't think he wants to be here.'

‘It'll work out,' Maxwell said confidently. He hesitated. ‘Nonna is here with Jason. She asked if she could visit with your parents, but if it is too much…'

‘No, it's fine! Maybe it'll help distract Dad. Send them up.'

Maxwell nodded and disappeared to do just that.

I'd brought Jacob and Tristan with me to guard my parents until the adoption papers went through. They had already checked the footage from the mantelpiece's monitor. At around midnight, the party in the dining hall had moved into the pack's living room; that told me that the Domini spy was most likely someone charismatic, someone who could persuade the whole party to move from the dining hall to another location. I had my fingers and toes crossed it was someone from the Council. Plenty of them had still been going strong at midnight and had caroused into the small hours. Unfortunately, though, so had a lot of my pack and the Devon pack too.

For all our machinations, we were still basically at square one. I could cross off a few people from my list but not many. Thea hadn't made it into the living room, nor had David or Finley. Toby from the Devon pack had, but Matt and Henry hadn't. Of the Councillors, Aitken and Walker had both kept on partying but they'd been with King, Cooper, Morgan and Kearns. Apart from myself and Greg, virtually every other member of my pack had been there, including Elena, Archie and Liam.

It was making me feel sick. I wished to hell that Liam hadn't been there. I trusted him but right now the Domini situation was need to know, and he didn't need to know. If he hadn't gone into the room I could have told him, but now I couldn't risk it. The circle of trust was small, very small.

My Nonna Helena burst into the room with a screeched, ‘Luciana!' She bustled over and peppered me with kisses. Jason trailed behind her and gave me a half-smile and a nod – my young cousin was too cool for hugs and kisses. When Helena released me, I gave him a light slug in the shoulder. ‘Hey, cous,' I greeted him, surreptitiously checking him over for any signs of upset after his kidnapping a few weeks earlier.

‘Hey,' he responded laconically.

‘You okay?'

He nodded and moved into the sitting area, flicked on the TV and let out a loud belch. Yes, he was okay .

Mum offered Helena her hand but Nonna blithely ignored it and pulled her into a hug with lots of exclamations of ‘ Grazie mille !' as she covered my poor mother with kisses.

‘Thank you,' Helena said finally as she drew back enough to let Mum breathe. ‘Thank you for raising her and loving her so well. Grazie mille .'

‘You're welcome.' Mum smiled at me. ‘She's very special.'

I left the two women to talk and mooched over to Dad under the pretence of making a cup of tea. I flipped on the kettle. ‘Okay, Dad?' I asked softly as he started weighing out the flour he'd found in the cupboards.

He gave me a slightly frayed smile. ‘Yes, of course. What's not to be okay about? Fiery heads, wolfy bodies, chaps with wings? This is all totally normal.'

I grimaced and focused on the tea. Hopefully he just needed some time, but the problem was that I didn't know how much time I could give him. My gut said the shit was about to hit the fan and I was going to get covered in dung.