Chapter 174

SAINT.

I looked at the clock on my wall as I quickly brushed my hair.

I had only been away from my mate for nineteen minutes and thirty-two seconds, and every single one of those seconds was personally offensive.

My lips still tingled from her kiss, and my body was wound so tight I could barely stand still long enough to get my keys off the nightstand. Every time I tried to focus on moving faster, my mind went straight back to her and the sounds she made when I touched her in the right places, in that voice that had stripped every functioning rational thought I had left completely clean out of my skull.

All that was on my mind now was going to see Meryk to know if I can touch my mate and be with her without consequences.

Because spending another second with her alone in that room without finding answers yet was not something my self-control was equipped to survive a second time.

My wolf was restless. He wanted her. We both wanted her.

Want was an understatement. We fucking needed her.

Since I walked out of her room, I felt like I had been torn apart from my life source, and now, I was desperate to return to her.

I picked up my phone and my keys and headed downstairs.

But the sight of the person I saw pacing my living room like he had the right to wear out my floor with his problems, was the very last I wanted to see right fucking now.

"What are you doing here?" I asked casually, as I reached for my lighter on the isle of the mini bar.

My father turned to face me. "Saint."

I didn't answer.

"Are you out of your mind?" He asked as he came closer to me.

"The reason you're still standing with your teeth not falling off to decorate my floor just yet," I said, facing him fully now, giving him every inch of my attention, "is because I am not out of my mind." I paused just long enough for it to land. "Yet."

He scoffed, shaking his head. "I heard about Eve. The elders. Your conversation with Meryk." He gestured outside the window like Meryk was sitting somewhere outside my balcony, "What the hell, Saint?"

I didn't answer. I tucked my lighter in my pocket and turned to leave.

"Don't walk out on me!" He yelled from behind, "I am still your father!"

That stopped me cold.

I finally turned, giving him my full attention, "You didn't come all the way here just to remind me of the sour truth of you being my father, did you?"

The kind of pause that settled between us was the kind that tells you a man is choosing between what he came to say and what he thinks is safe to say.

"What you did to Eve..."

"Choose your next words carefully," I said quietly. "I mean that."

We held each other's gaze as I let the silence do what silence does when I am the one holding it — press, and press, and press, until the person across from it remembers exactly where they are standing and who they are standing in front of.

He finally broke the silence with a tone a bit higher than I would have normally liked.

"How the hell did you turn out this way?" The frustration in his voice was genuine, and I enjoyed every note of it.

"You can't recognize the monster you created?" I paused, holding his gaze. "Dad?"

His jaw tightened so hard I heard his teeth meet. He chose to ignore the point I was driving at, which told me everything about how well it had landed.

"Eve was just a girl. She was supposed to be your sister," He said.

"But she wasn't," I replied, completely calm. "And never will be."

It infuriated him further.

I could see the fury climbing through him — the frustration and the helplessness of a man who has lost the authority he once had over something and cannot accept the loss.

"How could you do something so cruel to her? You pushed her so close to the brink of death, Saint!" He yelled.

I couldn't help but smirk. Not because it was funny. God, no.

But because there was something almost beautiful about the irony of this man.

"You're not in the best position to lecture me about cruelty, Alpha Rollins." My tone dropped, "Not when you brought me up on three square meals of cruelty for the better part of my teenage life."

I took a step toward him.

"Whatever you see standing in front of you today." Another step. "Whoever this monster is." I stopped close enough that he had to hold his ground or step back, and I watched him choose to hold it, which was the bravest thing he'd done in years. "You built him. You fed him. You shaped every single edge of him with your own hands." I tilted my head. "So stand there and enjoy the beauty of your work, old man. You earned the view."

He swallowed, and I saw the moment he decided yelling wasn't going to fix anything.

"My son..." He called, and the word grated on my nerves, "The elders. What you said to them. Saint, you cannot simply..."

"Cannot?" I tilted my head. "That's an interesting word to bring into my house."

He sighed, "You have to think this through." He reached to touch me, but one glare from me stopped him mid-way.

"The pack laws can't be changed. You and Kyrie can't both have her." He added.

"So, why must I be the one to let go?" I asked.

"Because he has already marked her. He's made her his. Backing out is the wise thing to do," He explained, like I hadn't already heard it a thousand times.

I scoffed, "Eve is mine. And nothing can change that. Not even the pack laws can change that. The only thing waiting to be changed now is the fucking law." I tilted my head, "And I'll do it myself."

"The people will rise up against you," He said quietly, shaking his head slowly.

"And I will put down every single person who rises up," I said. "Without losing sleep over it."

His eyes widened, and the look in them told me his brain needed an extra second to fully process what I'd just said.

He held my gaze. "You're sick."

I smirked, "That's the best compliment I've ever gotten from you, Dad."

"Saint." He called, his voice almost inaudible, swallowed by whatever combination of horror, grief, and confusion that was moving through him. "You need help."

"Funny you should say that," I chuckled and threw both my hands open. "I was on my way to getting help before you interrupted." I took a step back, "So, if you'd excuse me..."

I turned and began walking toward the door when I heard him speak again.

"The elders will fight you," he said.

"Good," I replied, pulling my door open. "I haven't hit anything today."