Chapter 9

While Ares wanted to shout, “ Hell yeah I’ll be your dad , ” he knew it wasn’t his place to say such a thing.

Poor Charly looked as if she’d expire of embarrassment. Her face turned beet red as she stammered, “Uh, that is, um, no, Ares is not your dad.”

“But you’re in the same bed just like a mommy and daddy,” Greta explained.

“We had a sleepover,” Charlotte replied in a strangled voice.

Barely slept, huffed his wolf.

“Can I sleep over with you both tonight?” asked the innocent little princess. “We can make a bed fort.”

Ares wanted to laugh at Charly’s expression. Time to save his lover. “You don’t want to sleep in my room. I snore like a bear, remember? And so does your mom. We’re just sharing a bed so you could get a good night’s sleep for the big day we’ve got planned.”

“Oh.” But Greta, being a kid with no filter, added, “Where did your pajamas go?”

“It was too hot,” Charly squeaked.

“Tell you what, princess. Why don’t you get your coat on and I’ll be down in a second so we can go fetch some fresh eggs for breakfast?”

“Chickens. Yay!” She scampered off, and Charly pulled the covers over her head, muttering, “That was awkward.”

“And we handled it. Although we might want to think about putting a bell on her to give us warning.”

Charly peeked at him and scowled. “Not funny.”

“It worked with the cat we used to have. Saved many birds that way.”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep with you,” she grumbled.

“But it happened, and I, for one, enjoyed it.”

A mate belongs with her male.

Ares totally agreed.

Charly paused in the process of finding her clothes to toss him a soft smile over her shoulder. “I enjoyed it too. Although, if we’re going to be sharing a bed, we should probably start making sure we put on pajamas.”

“Deal!” He’d have agreed to anything to have her by his side.

“Speaking of dressing, you’d better get moving, or she will be back.”

“On it.” He hopped out of bed and threw on some clothes. He found Greta by the front door, pulling on her boots. Together, they entered the heated coop with the clucking hens, who cooperated with the raiding of the nests.

“Ares, look at this big one!” Greta held up a super-sized egg.

“Nice! I’ll bet it makes good eggnog.”

“Make?” Greta squished her nose. “You buy eggnog in the store.”

“I like mine fresh. Later we’ll make some with the eggs we gathered, and we’ll milk Lottie the goat.”

“Ooh, can I try that?”

“Of course, princess.”

Hand in hand, they entered the kitchen, only to find Charly on her phone, looking pale.

“Look, Mama, so many eggs.”

Charly smiled weakly. “That’s awesome, munchkin.”

“Why don’t you put the eggs in the container.” He pointed to the tray his mom kept on the counter. As Greta went off with the basket, he sidled close to Charly. “What is it?”

Charly gave a panicked look in Greta’s direction. He caught the hint. “Hey, Greta, I’m in the mood for strawberry jam. I’m gonna see if the pantry has any.”

“Mmm. I love jam,” Greta exclaimed, clapping her hands.

“Charly, can you help me find it?” he asked, even as he tugged her into the room and let the door swing close. Only then did he whisper, “What’s wrong?”

She held out her phone. “I just got a call from my landlord. Apparently, my house was broken into last night.”

“Fuck.” The expletive slipped out. “Did they take anything?”

“He couldn’t tell but said they trashed the place.” Her lips trembled. “Who would do such a thing?”

“Assholes who probably heard about the evacuation because of the fire,” his easy reply. “I’ll check out the damage after breakfast.”

“No, I’ll go. I’m going to call in sick to work. Can you hang with Greta? I don’t want her seeing the destruction.” She clutched the phone so tight her knuckles turned white.

Good point, only he didn’t want Charly dealing with this alone. With Selene and Mom gone, that left him with one option. “Let me call my sister Athena.”

“We can’t impose?—”

He cut her off. “This isn’t imposing. This is a family emergency, and before you say you’re not family, I will disagree.”

“Just because we had sex?—”

“Made love,” he corrected, to which his wolf added, Mated. “And it’s more than that. Even if we weren’t lovers, I’d still consider us friends. And friends help each other.”

“She won’t mind?” asked in a little voice.

“Let’s find out.” Before he could call, Greta poked her head into the pantry. “What’s taking so long?”

He grabbed a jar of jam and held it up. “Found it! I have to phone my sister, but would you mind toasting me two pieces of bread?”

“With jam?” Greta asked.

“Heck yeah. Butter first, then lots of jam,” he said with a wink.

“On it,” Greta chirped.

“I’ll help.” Charly followed her to the counter with the toaster while Ares stepped into the living room and called his sister.

Athena answered after the second ring. “Good morning. Kind of early to be calling, though.”

“I need a favor.”

Without hesitation, she replied, “Sure.”

“A strange one.”

“Okay.”

Had to love his sister. No questions asked, just ready to help. “I need you to watch Greta—she’s my friend’s kid—while her mom and I check out some damage caused by some overnight vandals at her place. They’re staying at the farm right now because a neighbor’s place caught on fire and they need to inspect the townhouse unit for damage.”

“I know,” she stated.

“How?”

“Mom, duh. Because it’s not like my only brother ever calls.”

He cleared his throat. “I was busy.”

“I’ll bet you were. Anyhow, as to the kid, I can watch her but, rather than bring her to my place, meet me at the Arnprior fire station.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because they’re having a Christmas celebration thing for all the firefighters’ kids. Derek volunteered to help. Grams baked a whack of stuff for it. Rumor has it Santa is supposed to show.”

“Shit, that sounds awesome. Let me run it by Charly.”

“Run what by me?” she queried, having entered the living room.

“Athena wants to know if Greta can go to the Christmas party at the firehall. Her boyfriend, Derek, is helping out with it, and it’s gonna have activities and stuff.”

“She’ll keep a close eye on her?” Charly chewed her lower lip.

Athena heard. “Tell her I will bite anyone that lays a hand on her kid.”

He changed it to, “Says she’ll guard Greta with her life.”

Charly nodded. “Okay. What time does it start?”

“Ten,” Athena replied. “But we’ll be there before nine setting up.”

“Okay, we’ll do breakfast and get dressed then head over.”

Greta was quite excited not only to attend a party, but also to meet Ares’ other sister. On the ride over, Charly handed her phone over to her daughter with instructions to call Ares if she got scared or uncomfortable.

Greta, in true kid fashion, which foreshadowed her teen years, rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mama. I’ll be fine.” Greta might be, but Charly was a wreck.

Her expression remained wan when she met Athena. Her smile forced when she said goodbye to Greta and told her to have fun.

As they drove over to the townhouse, he held Charly’s hand tight.

“It will be okay.”

“Not really. We already had so little.”

“You’re not alone,” he promised as he squeezed her fingers.

“Thank you for coming with me. I feel so discombobulated right now.”

“Holy big word. And let me say, you’re doing better than me. I would have probably gotten drunk.”

She snorted. “Such a guy solution.”

“Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.”

The moment they pulled into her place the damage was visible. The front window smashed—from the inside, according to the shards on the front lawn. Rudolph had been utterly destroyed, its head torn from the body and then stomped.

The interior looked as if someone had taken a bat to everything. Not a single piece of furniture remained intact. Ceramic and glass shards littered the kitchen. The fridge had been left open, and the little food inside tossed to the floor. Cupboard doors ripped off. The Christmas tree had been knocked over and…

Someone marked the tree.

No way. He took a second sniff. His wolf was right. Some fucker had pissed on it.

It wasn’t the only thing soaked in urine. Charly stood staring at her bed, which had a pile of shit in the middle, along with soaked sheets. She turned deathly pale when she entered the bathroom and saw on the mirror, written in lipstick, Whore.

Charly uttered a whimper.

Protect! Wolf insisted.

“We’ve seen enough,” he stated, tugging her by the hand.

“I can’t go. I have to clean up and?—”

“Everything is trash,” he said, more harshly than necessary. Blame his impotent rage at the vandals who’d hurt his Charly.

Her eyes brimmed with tears.

“Don’t cry,” he said, softening his tone. “I didn’t mean to sound like an asshole. I’m pissed at whoever did this. Who the fuck destroys someone’s home?”

“I can think of someone,” her soft murmur.

He stared at her. “Wait, you think this is your ex?”

She shrugged. “It’s possible. I mean, why would a random stranger be so mad?”

This went beyond mad into vindictive and cruel.

Before he could reply, they heard a man holler from downstairs, “Ms. Dawson, are you here?”

“Yes, Mr. Rodriguez. Coming down.”

Ares followed Charly to the main floor to find her landlord standing with his arms crossed. “This place is uninhabitable.”

“I’m sorry. I obviously had no idea this would happen when the fire marshal told me to leave until they checked the structure.”

“Not your fault, but this…” Mr. Rodriguez waved. “This is too much damage. You can’t live here anymore.”

Her mouth rounded. “But my rent is paid.”

“I will reimburse this month and return your last month’s rent,” her landlord insisted. “This will take weeks, maybe months, to fix.”

“He’s right,” Ares murmured softly. “The whole place needs to be gutted.”

“It’s only days before Christmas. Where am I supposed to go?” Charly’s voice broke.

“Do you really have to ask?” he replied.

Her eyes shone with tears, and her lips wobbled. “It’s too much.”

“No, it’s not. I’ve got you, Charly.”

Indeed, he held her up, as her whole body appeared on the verge of collapse. It didn’t help that the intruder left nothing intact. The meager clothing she’d not taken with her, ruined. Not just torn, but also pissed on, and by more than one person. Three by his count. The presents she’d tucked in her closet? Trampled and destroyed, which left her shaking. He didn’t need to ask to know what she thought.

What will I have for Greta on Christmas?

What would she tell Greta?

Not the truth. A child that young would be traumatized by something this violent.

They exited the townhouse, his arm holding her upright, her head ducked, but his remained high and alert, which was how he spotted the rental car a few doors up. Someone slouched in the front seat.

Could be a coincidence, but the raised hairs on his nape—and his wolf’s growled Enemy— said otherwise.

While he couldn’t confront them, not in front of witnesses and most especially Charly, he could take precautions, such as making sure they couldn’t follow. Luckily, Charly was too overwrought to notice the circuitous route he took to lose their tail. It helped he drove them out of Arnprior into Kanata.

When he pulled into the Toys R Us parking lot, she finally lifted her head and muttered, “Why are you parking here? We need to go get Greta.”

“We will, right after we make sure she has presents under the tree.”

“What tree?” her bitter reply.

“The one we’re going to cut down this afternoon and decorate.”

She blinked at him.

“It won’t be Chevy Chase-sized, but I have a nice one that will look great in the living room. I know where the ornaments and lights are. Although I’m thinking we should get Greta a new decoration, something special she can hang. Oh, and we’ll need to get her a holiday hat. We’ve got a couple at the house, but I’d like to get her a pink princess one.”

She kept staring.

“What? You don’t like the idea of a pink one? I guess we could do traditional red or green elf.”

She flung herself at him and mashed her mouth to his, whispering, “What did I do to deserve you?”

“Ever think it’s the other way around?”

“I’ll repay you,” she promised.

“Oh shut it. This isn’t about money. I have plenty in the bank. This is about making sure that little girl has an epic Christmas. You in?”

Finally, a real smile curved her lips. “Yes.”

They did some serious damage in Toys R Us. When Charly would have gotten the cheap generic fashion doll, he insisted on the fancy name brand Barbie Special Holiday Edition. When she would have stopped at three gifts, he laughed. “My princess is getting spoiled.” And so was her mother; she just didn’t know it yet. Although he didn’t have much time. He kind of regretted now telling Selene to go on that cruise. He could have used her as his Secret Santa shopper. At least he had Athena, who would probably roundly curse him if he sent her out last-minute gift scrounging, but she’d forgive him when she heard why.

With what happened at the townhouse, he couldn’t leave the girls alone. He’d already sent Athena a text with instructions to not let Greta out of her sight with a quick explanation. Essentially, Someone is after Charly and princess. Trust no one but family.

Her reply, a wolf’s head.

Whoever messed with Charly had fucked up bad, because if there was one thing you didn’t do? Touch a wolf’s mate and his pup.

Yes, his.

Because one thing had become crystal clear in the last few days.

Charly was the one.