Chapter 32 Sydney

Chapter 32 Sydney

 

 

Refusing to show an ounce of fear, I glowered at the man. “Yes, finally,” I returned. “Now we can end this once and for all. I kill you, or you kill me. I’m so tired of seeing your face.”

He chuckled. “God, I like you. Have I told you that already? The balls on you are bigger than any of my fellow soldiers.”

“You’re not soldiers. You’re all cowards, going after shifters for no reason.”

He moved fast, grabbing me by the neck before I could block him. Of course, I knew I was no match for him, but I still had to put up a badass front. I struggled until I was in the position to jam my heel into his foot. He grunted, and his hold on me loosened. I shoved him, and his arms flailed before toppling down the stairs. Unfortunately, he’d grabbed a handful of my shirt and carried me with him.

At the bottom of the steps, in pain and winded, I tried crawling away from the man. But he snagged my foot and pulled me closer. With my back to his chest, he wrapped an arm around my neck and squeezed. The more I struggled, the tighter he held on.

Burning pain pierced my right side. Something warm bloomed in the area. Alarmed, I realized I’d been stabbed. I immediately stopped moving, hoping that would lessen the blood loss.

“That’s right little half-breed, stay still.”

He rolled me off him and shuffled to his knees. The hunter loomed over me, smirking. I hated that his face might be the last thing I saw before my death. “You’ve surprised me, Sydney Elliot. For a half-breed, you turned out to be my hardest target yet.” He trailed a finger over my cheek. “You’re impressive, and although I have to kill you, I sincerely mean that.”

I shivered under his touch, wanting to at least deck him, but I was so weak. Clearly, I’d lost a lot of blood.

“I heard your mother didn’t put up as good a fight as you did. Your aunt didn’t either.”

Fueled by rage and my surfacing wolf, I growled and reached for him. However, he shoved me back down and raised his hand. The evening sun reflected off the shiny blade. As he lunged at my chest, I instinctively reached out to my mate. I knew the moment he felt my terror—knew that he was on his way. But he’d be too late.

The hunter’s hand stopped midair before he toppled over and dropped with a grunt. Unable to move, I watched a shadowy figure approach. I only saw black boots when I heard a man say, “I’ve finally got you, Philip.”

So that was my arch nemesis’ name. Philip. Such a normal name for a psychotic killer. The stranger kneeled beside me, and his face slowly came into focus.

“My sweet little girl, what did he do to you?”

“Benjamin,” I whispered. It was the man from the diner. He was dressed similarly to the hunters, and he’d killed Philip. Did he call me his little girl?

His expression was twisted in pain. “I can’t lose you, too,” he said, pressing his hand to my side. Glancing around, he said, “I have to get you help. Your friend from the diner. She’s a witch. She can help.”

“How do you know Macy is…” It took too much energy to finish.

He smiled. “I’m an expert at identifying supernaturals. I used to be a hunter, after all.”

“Get away from her,” came a low growl.

My eyes widened, and my heart jumped with elation as Adam staggered toward us. He looked pale and weak, but at least he was alive. I wanted to burst into happy tears.

“She’s my daughter,” Benjamin barked at Adam, keeping pressure on my wound.

Adam looked just as stunned as I felt.

“You.” Adam’s lip lifted in a snarl. “You killed her.”

Seeming to understand what Adam meant, he shook his head. “I’d never hurt your mother. He turned to Adam. I know you’ve been after me, but I’d never hurt you, either. I’d never hurt Sophia’s son.”

I barely knew the man, but there was something in his eyes that told me he wasn’t lying. And he really was my father. I didn’t want Adam to hurt him.

“Adam, please,” I whispered.

His gaze jumped to me, and the murderous rage in them vanished. Hobbling over, he dropped beside. “Goddamnit, Sydney. Don’t you dare die. We haven’t even had our first sibling quarrel yet.”

I laughed, but it came out as a grunt. If I survived, I’d enjoy spending time with Adam.

“Sydney!” The sound of Cole’s voice sent relief surging through me. At least I’d get to see him one last time.

He took one look at Benjamin and went on the defensive. “Get your hands off her.”

“It’s okay. He’s my father. He helped us.” He’d saved Cole’s life, too. Now I knew it was his arrow that had stopped Philip from killing Cole earlier.

“We need to get her inside. Macy is on her way,” Cole said. He gave me a once over, saw my blood gushing through Benjamin’s fingers, and swallowed hard. There was sheer terror in his eyes that he didn’t bother to hide. “Please, stay with me.”

I nodded, but right after that, everything went dark.

***

The sound of a beautiful male voice lulled me to the surface. I felt as if I’d been floating in darkness for a while, unable to find my way back to the land of light. That voice, though, it was so melodious, so soothing. I held on to it until my eyes opened. I winced against the light flooding my sensitive half-wolf retinas. Immediately, the light switched from bright to dim.

It was Cole who reached over to flick the lamp’s switch. He sat in a chair, with one hand holding mine. When gazes locked, the first thing I blurted was, “Holy crap, you can sing?” That rock star voice wasn’t something I’d expected from the hard-ass Alpha.

He blinked and then laughed.

I smiled, liking that I could always say something silly to shift his ever-somber demeanor, even in a serious situation.

“It’s my hidden talent, and it stays between us. Got it?”

I smiled harder. “Got it. What were you singing?”

“A lullaby my mother sang to me as a child. It always soothed me.”

Staring at him, I realized how tired he looked. His hair was in disarray, his eyes bloodshot, and his jaw more stubbled than usual. His clothes looked rumpled, too. “You look like hell,” I joked.

“I bet. You’ve had me on edge for days.”

I groaned and tried to sit up but winced when the pain hit me in the side.

“Don’t,” Cole said. “You can’t overdo it. You were stabbed with a silver blade, and you don’t heal as fast as a full-shifter. Recovering is going to take a while.”

I groaned, going back over the horrors of the shifter-hunter battle. “The baby?”

“She’s fine.”

I gasped. “A girl? You’re not disappointed?”

Leaning forward to kiss my forehead, he said, “Never. I can’t wait to meet her. Two girls to keep me on my toes.”

My smile faded. “How bad is it?” I asked. “Violet? Adam? Everyone else?”

Cole searched my face. “We don’t need to talk about any of that yet.”

“I need to know.”

He sighed. “Violet is fine. She healed quickly. Adam is too. Damian, Alex, Stephan, and Dominic are okay. They’ve all been worried about you.”

I blew out a relieved breath. “And the other members of the pack?”

“We lost a few,” he said sadly. “And of the five elders, only Simon is here.”

“I watched Jasper die. He was trying to protect me.”

Cole squeezed my hand in comfort. “Caleb and Anton are dead, for sure. But no one has seen or heard from Victor since the battle.”

My eyebrows furrowed. “How long was that again?”

“A week.”

“I’ve been out for an entire week?”

“Yes, and I was fucking stressed, Sydney. So, don’t ever almost die again.”

“I’ll try not to,” I said with a grin. “Where’s my father… Benjamin.”

“In one of the prison cells.”

Horrified, I tried to sit up again. “What, you kept my father in a cell. He’s not a prisoner. He saved my life and yours.”

“Sydney, relax.”

“What is going on in here?” Macy burst through the door. “Cole, I warned you not to upset her with any news of last week’s events.”

“She insisted on hearing.”

“Macy, I’m so happy to see you,” I beamed.

She smiled. “And I’m happy to see you awake. You can’t jostle your wound too much. Okay?”

I nodded. “I won’t.” Glancing at Cole, I said, “I want to see him.”

“Maybe in another day or so.”

“No. Now. I’ll find him on my own. You know I will.”

Looking skyward, he sighed. “Yeah, I know. Fine, I’ll get him.”

When Cole disappeared, I caught Macy’s smirk. “What?”

“How does it feel to have the big bad Alpha wrapped around your little finger?”

“I do not.”

“Uh huh.”

I pursed my lips to hide my smile. Knowing that my mate not only accepted me but adored me was amazing. I loved that he had the biggest soft spot for me, too.

***

It was hard to focus on a conversation with two pairs of eyes glued to Benjamin and me. Cole and Damian stood on opposite sides of Cole’s office, glowering at Benjamin. I suspected if he even breathed threateningly in my direction, he’d be a dead man.

He didn’t seem too afraid, though. Instead, he eyed both shifters with amusement. “At least they’re not thirsty for my blood as Adam is,” he mused.

Sighing, I said, “I’ll talk to him.” By that, I meant to plead with my brother for mercy on my father. I knew with a little groveling, I’d get Adam to stand down for a bit.

Benjamin shrugged. “I understand why he wants me dead. He thinks I killed his mother.”

“But you didn’t?” I stared at the man, wishing I could see through him.

He raked his fingers through his hair. “No. I loved Sophia. I left her for a bit to tell the organization I wanted to resign. I fell in love with a shifter, and saw that most of them were no threat as the hunter’s organizations had led me to believe. They retaliated. By the time I got back to Sophia, they’d—” He swallowed, and his expression twisted with pain.

A lump of emotions clogged my throat, so I couldn’t speak.

“We planned a life together. When you were born, I knew I couldn’t continue with an organization that hunted shifters. The woman I loved was a shifter, and my child would be half. We wanted to get Adam and disappear to live our lives far away as a family.”

“She was really planning to come back for me, then?”

I almost panicked when I saw Adam in the doorway, but he didn’t look agitated. Apparently, he and Cole were moving toward becoming great friends if he could show up at the compound anytime.

Benjamin held his gaze. “She never planned to leave without you. Sophia wanted you and Sydney to grow up together. But your father didn’t want to let you go.”

“So, you would have accepted me?” Adam asked.

“Yes. You’re a part of the woman I adored. Why wouldn’t I?”

Adam’s shoulders relaxed. “Who killed her? I want a name?”

Benjamin shrugged. “I’ve been trying to find that out since the night I found her dead.”

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Adam blew out a long breath. He’s spent years going after the wrong man. Justice was just ripped out of his grasp. When he turned to walk away, I called him back.

He turned back around.

“Please don’t just disappear. I want… we haven’t spent any time together.”

His expression softened. “I’m not going too far. I just need some air.”

I nodded, relieved.

After that, Benjamin told me everything. When he found Sophia, he assumed I was dead, too. He was in hiding for seventeen years, tailing the hunters, and trying to find out who destroyed his family. That’s how he got wind of the hit on me. He’d been following Philip, and that was how he ended up in New Orleans, where he found me in Macy’s diner. He wasn’t stalking me but watching over me. Benjamin had been afraid to tell me who he was, fearing I wouldn’t believe him.

Easing back into my chair after the entire story, I sighed. “Finally, I have all the pieces to the puzzle.”

Benjamin’s gaze roamed my face. “You look just like her.”

“Is that why you stared at me like that at the diner?”

He laughed. “Yes. I’m sorry if I scared you. I miss her so much.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

Again, I wanted to cry. Pregnancy hormones were running amok. “That we lost seventeen years.” Benjamin reached for my hand across the table, and I held on to him. “Will you stay?”

He glanced at Cole and Damian. “Well, if those two decide to set me free, you’ll find me at the apartment building you once lived in. No way am I leaving this city now that my kid is here. And I want to meet my grandchild.”

My heart almost burst with relief. Tuning to my bodyguards, I asked, “Well?”

“We should keep him a little longer just in case,” Damian said.

Gasping, I looked at Cole. “We can’t keep my father prisoner.”

“No, we can’t,” he said.

Damian scoffed. “Why the hell not?”

“He helped us,” Cole replied. “He saved my life and Sydney’s.” His eyes danced with humor that was so unlike him. “Besides, he’s my father-in-law now. I can’t hold Pops prisoner.”

I snickered.

Damian’s eyes bulged. “Sydney has really rubbed off on you,” he muttered. “You even have a sense of humor now.”

Cole smirked and winked at me.

***

Four months later…

The elder, Simon, stood at the top of the steps, with Cole one step below. “Cole, you choose to keep your position as the Alpha of the Moon Guardians?”

“I do.”

There was a collective sigh of relief from the crowd. The pack had still been on edge about Cole possibly resigning his role. Everyone realized the need for a wise leader like Cole with the hard times ahead. The threat of hunters and rival packs still loomed.

They’d been apologetic about the way they’d treated him and me. After a long discussion with me, Cole stayed on as Alpha since the pack had accepted me. All it took for me to gain their trust and respect was bravely offering to sacrifice my life for them.

Since then, I’d spent more time at the compound getting to know everyone. A few shifters, especially the females who’d had their eyes set on Cole, still gave me dirty looks, but that was the least. I had the spitfire, Violet, to watch my back.

Now that Cole had re-accepted his Alpha title, it was time for him to say “I do” to me. Wearing a huge grin, I walked between the columns of chairs at the center of the compound. I wore a long white flowing dress and a crown made of flowers. Although I looked like I’d swallowed a beach ball at eight months pregnant, I still felt pretty.

What made me happier was that everyone had put their differences aside to support Cole and me. Benjamin walked me down the aisle—after I’d begged Cole to allow it. Adam was present, and so was Macy.

As soon as I reached Cole and Benjamin handed me off, a silly boyish grin spread across his face. “You look incredible,” he said.

“For a fat pumpkin ready to burst?”

“You’re my fat pumpkin. That’s all I care about.”

My giggles floated around the compound.

The ceremony started, but I had mentally jumped way ahead to the part where Cole and I lived happily ever after. Everything had fallen into place. I was part of a pack—the Luna, no less—and had a family.

It felt good to finally be at home.

 

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