Chapter 14 - Robyn

Cliff landed on the back of Bill's long and scraggly neck made of gray mange and wet fur. What Bill did could only be described as an angry bull realizing he was being used as a plaything that would soon be struck down. He didn't have long—and he knew that.

Some foul jerk had taped my mouth, so I couldn't shout his name. The Latin had come naturally for how much I ended up practicing this round of the ritual. Sydney was safely posted inside the house with her Auntie Jilly wearing headphones so neither of them had to deal with the horror of what was happening here, now.

I clasped my fist and slammed it into the nearest fleshy face. Thud . Blood and spittle went raining in the other direction while I shot my leg out from under me. Wheeze . There's nothing like the sound of a guy getting his throat knocked for putting his hands on me. When I shook the two men loose, I got to my feet and ran toward the street.

Bill was on his belly now with his maw hanging open and his one eye on the sky. A whitish gel coated his marble eyeball that shimmered like fish scales when I got closer. I stood near him with my hand extended, testing the waters. "Bill?"

His pupils turned to points as he bared his teeth. But the growl that vibrated from his throat was hardly threatening at all. It was actually quite sad.

I held my hand to my chest as I dared to approach him.

"Robyn, wait!" Cliff slid off Bill's back. "Wait, don't touch him. He might—"

A long hiss sizzled next to me as Bill shrank from his demonic wolf form to his human form. Though his eyes were cloudy, his jerky movement was clear—he wanted us to sit with him.

I swallowed hard as I folded my legs under me next to the man who had been my Alpha since I was a kid. I rested my hand on his shoulder. "Just breathe."

"You…could have…saved me…" Bill licked his cracked lips, looking up at me with puffy eyes. "You…could have…been my…mate…"

I frowned. "We're not mates, Bill. Even if we had done the ritual and bitten each other, you would have still been possessed. You were past saving."

Red flushed his face, then faded into his neck, then disappeared entirely from his body. He was growing pale, thin, and fragile. He was fading. "I'm sorry."

Oh, how I burned with indignation. "It's not fair. You weren't even given a chance to—to—" I dug my nails into my palms as I bowed toward him. "It's not fair."

"Forgive me."

I gazed into his fading eyes, the ones that truly belonged to him, the intense green that would capture anyone's attention. Those eyes looked livelier the more he melted. Parts of him were starting to go, and the back of his head was beginning to cave. He was going to ooze that weird lava light soon like the others.

I grabbed his hand. It was soft and squishy, shrinking three sizes under my grip. "I forgive you."

He turned his pained gaze to Cliff. "You won. Fair…" He gasped. "Be better…than me."

His head slumped.

And that was it.

I stared at his unmoving face for a long time while the world around me exploded with silent life. People moved past me with grim expressions. A couple of women helped me to my feet, turning me into a weightless ghost who floated with whoever held my hand. There was Sonya at first. Cliff took over at some point. I watched them carry Bill away. I watched them shuffle listlessly in the street, a funeral parade unfolding without much haste.

It wasn't real. It couldn't be real. I couldn't believe it.

And then, all the world went white.

***

The smell of alcohol pinched my nostrils. I breathed deep, sat up from the bed, and stared ahead of me until I could get my eyes to blink, my vision to clear up. Cliff materialized in front of me with Sydney. My daughter gasped and wiggled right out of Cliff's grip like a slimy bug, shooting up onto the bed and pouncing in my lap like she hadn't seen me in years.

My heart lurched. Oh Goddess, don't tell me I was in a coma .

I hugged my daughter. "Sweetie, are you okay? What happened?" I frowned while holding her still in my lap. "Hey, why am I here?"

"You fainted," Cliff explained as he stood next to the bed with a plate. "Sonya said you did a lot of chanting."

"I did my best." I rubbed my forehead. Bill . "Is he…?"

I bit my lower lip. Tension began in my throat and spread to my back, my legs, my feet. I wanted to scream and cry. I wanted to run. I wanted to howl to the skies that my Alpha was dead— long live the Alpha .

Bill was dead. I would never see him again.

"Robby?" Cliff extended the plate.

And that was when I smelled the pancakes that were piled on the plate Cliff held out to me. I snatched it up so fast that I would have dropped it if I weren't so focused on getting one of those delicious, fluffy, syrup-soaked things into my mouth. After I munched down a couple of them, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

Cliff was staring at me.

I glowered. " What? "

He grinned. "Want some milk?"

Sydney squeaked and then did her famous flop and wiggle off the bed to get to the other side of the room. Since the excitement of waking up was over, I studied the rest of the room, noticing the drab grayish-green wallpaper with dark blue lines and the beige drapes. Scuffed tile that had seen better days surrounded a pristine white hospital bed. There was an IV in my wrist and a blood pressure cuff around my left arm. I yanked the mess off before it could squeeze me like a snake.

I turned back to Cliff when I was ready. "Am I okay? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, you're okay. I think it was just a huge shock."

"Yeah, a shock." Sydney crawled onto the bed and rested her head on my thighs. She stuck her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes. The poor girl looked ragged. "I have complicated feelings about it."

"Wanna tell me about them?"

Do I?

The world felt scary suddenly. I played with my daughter's hair as her breathing pattern indicated she was falling asleep. "Bill…would have tried to force me to marry him if you hadn't intervened."

Cliff growled possessively.

I nodded. "I think maybe he thought that would have saved him or something."

"Like you said yesterday, he was past the point of saving."

"Yesterday?" I huffed once out of pure amusement. "Wow, did I sleep for that long?"

Cliff pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down. "You were tired."

"What about you?"

"I feel better than ever. I've been spending time with…" His eyelids fluttered briefly. "Sydney—My daughter—My Sydney."

I smiled bashfully. "Yours and mine."

"Have you told her?"

"Not yet."

His smile faded slightly. "Can we do it together?"

Sydney stirred, lifting her head to reveal a line of drool trailing through a swollen red outline of the blanket on her cheek. I chuckled while sitting her up and brushing her hair out of her face. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Yep!" She yawned and then smiled, blinking dreamily. She turned to Cliff. "Funny Man made pancakes."

"We both made pancakes," Cliff corrected, "and we both, uh…" He looked at me for help.

"Oh, you mean now." I gaped at him. "Like right now ."

"Yes, right now."

I looked at my daughter who was none the wiser about the topic of discussion. This had been something I pictured a million times but under way different circumstances. I imagined Sydney as a highly intelligent teenager with a great sense of style and a good head on her shoulders, asking about her father's personality, health, background, and the important stuff that every doctor would need to know. And I pictured it as me telling Sydney about the woes of men who didn't know how to grow up.

That just wasn't the case.

Thank the Gods for that.

"Sydney, I want to tell you something," I started carefully, "about your father."

She perked up. "My daddy?"

I smiled at Cliff. "Yeah, your daddy is…" I took her hand. "Your daddy is Cliff. The Funny Man. He's your father."

She gasped with an expression of wonder. " Oh, wow ." Then she hopped right over my legs and bounced into his lap.

The three of us fell together then, all snug together, all tight-knit and affectionate like we should have been since I got pregnant. Tears stung my eyes as I realized my life was about to change significantly. Bill was gone. And though my complicated feelings remained, I knew the demonic threat was gone with him.

I got him with that chant. I got them all.

Now, I had to focus on keeping my family together.

***

Later in the morning, when the sun trickled through the living room drapes, I balanced a plate of grapes and cheese on a plate while instructing Sydney to grab the paper cups from the counter. We were headed for the living room, where Sonya, Cliff, and Larry were seated around the coffee table.

"I say we should get that witch to come back and do a land cleanse," Larry suggested, "because we can't risk another exposure. We won't survive it."

Sonya elbowed Larry. "You really think you're the one to make that call?"

Larry's cheeks bloomed like red magnolias. "Oh, my apologies, Alpha. I didn't mean to…"

Cliff beamed. "Don't worry about it. I appreciate your pack-focused, solution-based approach to this scenario. I agree; we should hire two witches to do a cleansing."

Sydney stumbled into the room and held up the cups. "The Funny Man is my daddy!"

Laughter filled up the living room, my house, my heart. I stood in the doorway of the kitchen and watched as my little girl wobbled over with the unopened bag of cups. She set it on Cliff. That was her thing ever since this morning when we told her about Cliff being her daddy. She liked sitting things on top of his lap, including Mr. Charles, who seemed to have earned a permanent seat on Cliff's right knee.

Those two were an instant pair.

Cliff held up his hand and snapped his fingers. "Robyn, could you get me a notepad and a pen? I want to take notes." He snapped his fingers again. "Actually, could you take the notes? I see a desk over there…"

I sighed as he dove into a conversation with Larry about what kind of witch to hire. He knew so much about them, with his sister being one. I headed for the desk after setting the plate of snacks on the coffee table. I walked between words, it felt like, and headed for the desk where I could write things down.

The moment my bottom was in the chair, I realized I was getting snapped at again. I glared at Cliff from across the room. Why does he keep doing that? Instead of looking at me to say what he needed, he spoke to Larry instead. I sat still for a minute, trying to figure out what to do.

"What was her name again?" Cliff asked Larry.

Sonya raised a hand. "I think it was Angora."

Cliff nodded. "Robby, can you write that down?"

"Yeah, let me get right to it," I snapped as I grabbed a pen. I fought the urge to be sarcastic. I wasn't exactly a fan of being treated like his secretary.

He was acting like my mother.

"Oh, can you get the lemonade?" Cliff asked.

Sydney slid from his lap. "I'll get it."

I shot up. "Wait, Sydney—it's too heavy for you!"

Sonya jumped to her feet and scampered after me to help me with Sydney. My smile must have conveyed relief because Sonya touched my shoulder like any mother might if she recognized her daughter was having a bad time.

I took her hand. "I'm just tired."

"Something is bothering you." She nodded her head back to the living room. "You should say something."

"No, it's nothing."

She eyed me like a bird of prey, wise eyes turning to slits. "Whatever you say, Robby ."

I puckered my lips with a sense of defeat and then exhaled loudly. "Okay, fine, yes . Something is bothering me. I'll say something."

Sonya smiled with such approval that it made my heart hurt yet again to feel it coming from her. "Please, don't wait. An unspoken pain becomes a resentment."

I tried not to chew on those words for too long. It was Cliff's first day as Alpha. Maybe I needed to cut him some slack. Everyone was under stress with his new leadership, and we were adjusting to our freedom again. I had to handle one thing at a time.

So long as it didn't become a resentment first.