“Is he still looking into who helped Gafton get to the island?”
“Yeah. But he texted me earlier saying he thinks he found something. I haven’t had a chance to reply yet.” Because Clove promptly pulled me into the nest after he messaged and I didn’t prioritize replying after we finished.
“It wasn’t Alpha Nick,” my dad confirms. “But he’s definitely Clove’s father.”
I’m silent at that pronouncement. Not because I’m shocked. I’m just… angry. I really hoped to learn that it wasn’t one of our wolves that raped her mother. But after everything with Alpha Kin, it doesn’t surprise me.
“Sorry, I should have softened that.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just deciding what to do with the information,” I admit, palming the back of my neck.
“It’s technically my responsibility to assign punishment since it happened under my rule. However, I’m willing to hold back my judgment if you would prefer to be the one to handle it,” he offers. “They are unique circumstances.”
“I would prefer to handle it.” I need the clan to decide how they want to respond.
I vote for death.
Volt will vote for disembowelment.
Caius will vote for death.
But Clove’s vote will trump all of ours.
“Consider it done,” my father replies.
“Thank you.”
A short silence falls between us, ending with my dad saying, “I’m proud of you, son. Your mother and I are looking forward to having you home. Well, the whole clan is. The pack, too.”
I smile. “We’re looking forward to it.”
There’s some murmuring in the background, causing my father to muffle the phone a little. He chuckles and comes back on the line. “Your mother wants to know if she can help decorate the nursery.”
I blow out a breath.
Of course they saw that housing request come through. All I asked for were a few minor items to make Clove comfortable during the pregnancy process.
But nothing escapes my mother.
“I’ll have to ask Clove when she’s more capable of coherent sentences,” I reply.
Which causes them both to chuckle.
“Stop talking to us and go see to your mate,” my mother chastises, but it’s a playful chastisement.
“Speaking of seeing to mates,” my father says, his voice low. “How about we—”
“Right. Good talk. See you soon,” I interject, ending the call. Because I have no desire to hear the rest of that statement from my father.
His clan is notoriously affectionate.
Much to my chagrin.
Yet they somehow kept the pregnancies to a minimum.
It’s a magic I’m going to have to ask about because otherwise Clove is going to end up pregnant every year.
An irony that’s not lost on me considering how concerned we were about her ability to go into a proper heat.
I should have taken my own advice and listened to my wolf that first knotting.
Oh well.
We’re where we need to be now.
A complete clan.
Preparing for the future.
And ascending to our rightful place in the pack.
We’re free, I tell them all via the mental link. The Elders lifted my sentence. We can finally go home.
We are home, Volt replies, his voice low and content.
I walk into the room to see him happily knotted inside a dozing Clove.
He’s right.
Clove is our home.
Our heart.
The center of our clan.
Our love.
It isn’t until much later that I finally reply to Alpha Dirk.
He sends me a series of surveillance photos from Wolfe Island with the date of the attack.
They all show Gafton talking to a pair of guards, one of whom is that dick Jack that tried to drown Clove.
The photos are clearly from a video camera, but Alpha Dirk cleaned up the imagery to make them clearer.
I show Volt and Caius, who both snort.
“Leave this with me,” Volt says. “I’ll have a nice chat with Jack and let you know what I learn.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to deny him.
But he missed his last assassination assignment—something that infuriated our client. Fortunately, Caius knew exactly what would shut him up—so Volt is due another kill.
“All right,” I agree. “But don’t bring his balls back for Clove. I don’t think she would appreciate the present.”
“No balls,” she murmurs, half-asleep between us. “Or heads.”
Volt frowns. “What sort of trophies should I bring home then?”