14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

We screeched up to my parents' house as the sun was still rising. Both cars emptied hastily and we ran up the path. Greg took point and knocked heavily on the white PVC door.

‘Just a minute!' Mum called from inside and I heard her fiddling with the locks. The door swung open and she blinked at the coterie of men on her doorstep. ‘Goodness,' she said faintly.

Seeing the triangle of the Other on her forehead took some getting used to, so it took me a moment to note that her eyes were red. She looked like she'd been crying. ‘Mum?' I asked. ‘What's up? Are you okay?'

She offered me a watery smile. ‘You'd best come in – but perhaps not all of you?'

Ben grabbed Noah's hand, silently asking him to come in. Greg was obviously coming with me, so I nodded to Archie and Liam. ‘You two, stand guard out here.'

‘You got it.' Archie gave me a salute with a trace of his previous spirit.

‘Tristan,' I called. ‘Inside.' Tristan was one of the few that knew the truth of the situation with the Domini, so I might as well keep him fully informed.

He gave me a businesslike nod, but I saw a flash of pride in his eyes and his shoulders straightened a little more. Tristan and I were finally making progress. I gave him a small smile and turned back to my mum.

She was visibly upset, so naturally Greg had a weapon in his hands. ‘Oh!' she said, eyes wide. ‘It's okay, hon. Nothing like that.'

Despite her assurances, he went room by room to clear the house and check for intruders. When he came out of the kitchen, his gaze met mine. His eyes were solemn and sympathetic. ‘Anything?' I asked.

He grimaced. ‘Nothing is here to hurt your parents,' he said carefully. But that wasn't the same as saying ‘nothing'.

I slid him a sidelong glance and plunged into the kitchen to see what he wasn't saying. My dad was humming happily, his back to me as he kneaded bread. ‘Dad?' I called. ‘Everything okay?'

‘Lucy!' he said brightly, far chipper than I'd heard him sound in weeks.

He turned to give me a kiss hello and I froze. His forehead was unmarked.

I swallowed. Maxwell had promised that he would call me if and when he took my parents back into Common so that I could arrange further protection for them. He hadn't called.

Greg and I had hypothesised that because my parents had no magic of their own their need to return to the Common would be infrequent or perhaps non-existent. The brethren did have low-lying magic; it made them a little faster and helped them live a little longer. Their magic wasn't showy but it hummed through them constantly, which was why they had to recharge like the werewolves. Though my parents had been adopted by an Elder dragon, they were brethren in name only and magic-less. There was no need for my father to be in Common right now.

A dreadful suspicion curled in my gut. I licked my lips. ‘Dad… What happened to Ben a few weeks ago?'

He frowned and looked confused for a moment before his expression cleared. ‘Dreadful business. Imagine a stray dog getting in our house like that! Thank goodness the beast was destroyed. I'm not usually in favour of destroying an animal, as you know, but we couldn't risk that beast hurting someone else. Ben nearly died!'

I swallowed hard. ‘And my job, dad. What do I do? '

‘Are you feeling all right?' Concern lined his face. ‘It's not another flare-up of that horrible illness you had?'

‘No, I'm fine. Answer the question, Dad.'

‘Well, I don't see why. You know your job as well as I do.' He slid me a curious look. ‘Becoming a caretaker for a mansion is a bit of a strange career move, but you know I support you. You have to make your own life choices. Just know that I'll always be here to pick you up if they turn out to be a mistake.' He kissed my forehead, right on the triangle tattoo like the one that he no longer bore.

‘Thanks, Dad,' I said faintly. He would support my decisions as long as he didn't have to know about them any more.

It was undeniable: he'd had himself cleared and all traces of magic had been wiped from his mind. He was wholly Common once more.

I knew that Dad had been struggling to come to terms with the existence of magic; every time I'd tried to talk to him about something Other, he'd changed the topic or simply walked out of the room. When Mum and I spoke about anything werewolf related, he'd escaped into the kitchen to bake. I knew that he'd been running away from his new reality, but I hadn't realised to what lengths he had run. He'd arranged to have hunks of his memory altered rather than accept me as I was. The betrayal – the hurt – ran deep.

I'm sorry, Lucy, Esme said, her voice mournful.

Me, too , I said as grief almost choked me. Dad had chosen not to know me or Ben properly ever again, and it was a bitter pill to swallow. My dad had always been a pillar of support in my life and I'd expected that to continue when he knew what I truly was, but it had all been too much for him. I was too much for him.

I left him to knead his bread, wishing it didn't feel like my heart was shattering into a million pieces. It was odd to feel betrayed by your parent. It wasn't his fault it was too much to accept – especially at his age – yet no matter how much I told myself that I couldn't help taking his decision personally. It felt like he was rejecting not just magic but me , who I truly was. He'd seen into the soul of me and he hadn't liked what he'd seen so he'd wiped it from his memory.

When I walked out of the kitchen, Greg's arms were waiting.

‘What?' Ben asked, as I buried myself in Greg's reassuring love. ‘What happened?'

I took a shuddering breath and lifted my head from Greg's shoulder for a moment. ‘Dad got himself cleared. He doesn't remember anything about magic any more.' I hid my face in Greg's calming scent again as he rubbed slow circles on my back.

‘Not a damn thing,' Mum confirmed, looking as heartbroken as I felt. ‘I didn't know he was planning to do that, darling. I would have stopped him if I had.'

She took a shuddering breath, ‘We did talk about it in the beginning. Once he found out that clearing minds was a thing we discussed it at length, but I thought we'd put it bed. I knew he was struggling to accept magic – he couldn't see it as a gift, like I can. But…'

She trailed off hopelessly then shook her head as her eyes filled. ‘I really thought he'd turned a corner. I guess he was just masking it, hiding his plans from me so I couldn't stop him from interfering with his own memory.'

‘It's his life, his choice,' I said dully.

‘It's my life, too – and yours! He took away our freedom to be open as a family without even having a proper conversation first.' She shook her head. ‘I won't forgive him for that.' Her jaw clenched. ‘The first I knew of it was last night when he walked in after work with no triangle.' She pressed her lips together. ‘It soon became clear that he didn't remember a damn thing, not about the werewolf attack, the magic, you as the werewolf alpha Queen – nothing. I'm so sorry.'

‘Not your fault,' Ben said. After a beat he added ruefully, ‘Not really his fault, either.'

‘Mine?' I said a shade pugnaciously as I stepped out of Greg's arms.

Ben's eyes softened. ‘Not yours, love.'

‘Then whose?' I demanded.

‘Let's blame the enemy,' Noah suggested. ‘The ones that started all this. The Domini.'

Iglared a little at Ben as Noah named the secret organisation. The Domini were need-to-know and only Greg, Jacob, Tristan and I were supposed to be aware of them. Harden had been there when Ramsay had spouted off about them, but he'd dismissed them as children's tales and had said that Ramsay was just trying to disguise who he was truly working for. Noah wasn't supposed to know of their existence.

Telling my brother about the Domini had apparently been a mistake because he'd seemingly gossiped right to Noah. I still felt like Ben had deserved to know who was responsible for changing his life, but maybe I wouldn't tell him anymore secrets if he couldn't keep his mouth shut. He had quit his job as a lawyer and now he was the pack's solicitor, not to mention he now had Roan –Rohan – in his head, all because the Domini had wanted to teach me a lesson I had refused to learn .

My dad had been a victim too, but in a different way. He'd been resistant to the idea of magic from the start and now he'd walked away from all things magic. I should have seen this coming. Dad hadn't wanted magic to be real, and I'd forced him to see it. Now he had his ignorance back, but I couldn't help but think that ignorance wasn't bliss. But to each their own, I guess.

I rubbed my eyes; they were gritty and sore. I hadn't had a good sleep with Greg absent from my side, and then I'd been woken abruptly by Operation Wing-It, which actually seemed to be working out well. The birds had alerted me to the fires and prevented a great deal of destruction. We'd lost some lawn and bushes, but that was it. It could have been far worse: I could have lost Nina. The thought filled me with dread.

The mansion had a host of runes, including anti-fire runes, so the fire-elemental intruder couldn't have burned it down even if he'd tried – but Nina and the gardens? They were vulnerable. ‘We need to get Nina runed,' I said abruptly.

Greg nodded. ‘I'll ask Amber to put a team together and get out there today.'

‘Thanks.'

I looked at Noah. ‘You're right. It's time to dig into the Domini and take the fight to them. '

Ben snorted. ‘Easier said than done. They're called a secret society for a reason.' Yes, and I'd be having words with my brother later about blabbing about the secret society, because if he wasn't careful he'd get himself killed. But that was a private conversation for later, between siblings.

‘They'll have left breadcrumbs,' I said firmly. ‘And we're going to find them.'

‘We have another problem,' Tristan said.

‘Oh goodie,' I responded sarcastically. ‘That's exactly what I want to hear.'

‘You kissed Manners in front of all and sundry. You may not have formally announced your intention to mate but your actions said it quite loudly.'

My skin reddened and I avoided meeting Greg's gaze. ‘So?'

‘So, Alpha Elliott saw it too. He's got designs on you. If he wants to disrupt your plans, he's going to challenge Manners.'

I went cold. I hadn't even considered that. ‘Why would he not challenge me ?'

‘Because you transformed your head into a wolf's and slayed your challengers with little visible effort. You've established yourself as a badass, and challengers are going to think twice before throwing down the gauntlet. Manners, though … he's just a wolf, and a beta one at that. Elliott is going to think he can take him.'

Fuck.