Chapter 138 - Inseparable

Daphne

Bella’s sweet innocent face was framed on my tablet. Now and then, my nephew popped onto the screen to give me a toothy smile and try to grab Bella’s laptop with his pudgy little fingers. Bella patiently pulled him back and snuggled him until he grew impatient and toddled off to play again.

“There’s been no news from the bears,” Bella was informing me, her brow wrinkling with concern. “Byron thinks no news is good news, but Wyatt thinks it means they haven’t been able to track down Kodi yet, and they don’t want to admit that they lost her.”

I shifted uneasily in my seat. We weren’t even sure exactly where they had taken Kodi, only that they were moving her to a very remote family group where she was supposed to be kept under heavy security far from any human settlements. I hated to think of what kind of danger Kodi presented to people and shifters alike.

“Alright, enough about that, tell me what’s new and wonderful in Canada?”

“Well,” I swallowed. I was a terrible liar. I wasn’t even that good at keeping secrets. “There have been some, um, fascinating developments…”

Bella’s eyes narrowed. “Daf… what are you not telling me?”

“So, when are you guys going to come visit?” I asked cheerfully.

“Daphne!”

“Okay, look, there are some things... I think it would be better if we discussed it in person!”

“I can’t wait that long!” Bella leaned toward the screen anxiously. “What’s going on?”

“Well, it's about my mates.”

“Nash?”

I cleared my throat. “Mates. Plural.”

Bella gasped, “Nash has a brother?”

“Noooo.” I coughed a little. “It’s someone else, someone unrelated. To Nash.”

“Oh,” Bella looked perplexed. “That sounds… complicated.”

“You have no idea,” I laughed a little. “But we’re going to work it out.”

“Well, I’m happy for you, Daphne. You deserve all the love in the world. So, tell me about this guy!”

“Um… he’s… a little older, very tall, handsome,” I pictured Louis in my mind and continued to describe him, “he has the most beautiful eyes. He’s kind, and considerate, and very gentle to me, but he has this sort of fierce dark side too.”

“Wow,” Bella sighed a little, “It sounds like you are already totally smitten.”

I smiled for real this time, “Oh yes, I think I am. It was unexpected, for sure, but wonderful.”

“And what does Nash think of the other man?” Bella asked cautiously.

“Well, like I said, it’s a bit complicated. But I think he is warming up to the idea.”

“Well, I can’t wait to meet him. When I tell Byron and Wyatt that you’ve got two mates, they will definitely want to move up the trip to come visit you–”

In the background I heard Wyatt, “When you tell Byron and Wyatt what??”

“Oops,” Bella flushed and gave me a guilty look, “Sorry Daphne.”

I groaned and waited for the inevitable moment when Wyatt’s face crowded the screen. “What’s this, Daphne?”

“Um… Oh! Look at the time! Lunch hour is over! I’ve got to run now! Talk to you later, love you all!”

I ended the call just as Wyatt started to swear.

Well, I was halfway to the truth, at least. But I wouldn’t be able to avoid it forever. I debated if it would be better to wait and tell her in person, or if I should give her a proper forewarning before she saw her father plant a kiss on me in public?

At some point, I had stopped thinking of Louis as Bella’s father.

He was just Louis. He was my mate.

But I wasn’t sure that Bella would be able to put it out of her mind.

And my brothers.

Oh Goddess help me. They were going to freak. Not that they could do anything about it, but they were sure to give us all a hard time.

It seemed that it was my destiny to be surrounded by strong,stubborn, over-protective men.

I put my laptop away and checked my watch. I had fifteen minutes left before I saw my next client, the one client I was dreading seeing.

Pilar Larkin.

I wandered out of the office, down the hospital corridor, down to the entrance to the garden. The summer heat was bearing down, surprisingly intense and oppressive considering how far north of the equator we were. I found a bench under a small tree and sat in the shade, breathing in the intense scents of all the flowers in bloom. The cheerful sound of the water splashing in the fountain almost seemed to cool the hot, midday sun.

Many windows faced into the garden, but the reflection of the sun and all the trees, bushes and flowers made it hard to see clearly into the building, almost giving the illusion that beyond the windows was just another garden with more plants. I relaxed back on the bench, and tried to clear my mind, but a movement in a window caught my eye.

That was Dr. Conway’s office. Dr. Conway had stepped out for lunch, but perhaps he had come back early. Except that the figure I saw was not that of a bent old man, but of a decidedly curvy woman.

I could swear that was Pilar’s silhouette.

I jumped off the bench and hurried back into the hospital. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a door that opened directly from the garden into Dr. Conway’s suite of offices. I pushed into our waiting room, and found Dr. Conway’s next patient was sitting in one of the chairs flipping through the magazine. He was a big, broad-shouldered man, definitely not what I had seen. I hurried to Dr. Conway’s door and turned the handle, frowning when it opened easily.

Hadn’t he locked it when he went out? I wasn’t sure.

I pushed the door open and checked the interior, but it was empty. Everything looked normal, except that the bottom drawer on his desk was slightly ajar, but perhaps the old man had left it like that.

Shaking my head, I shut the door again. “Hi,” I greeted the big man that was waiting for Dr. Conway. “You didn’t see a woman come out of this office, did you?”

“Nope.” The guy didn’t look up from his magazine.

I’m getting paranoid, I thought, as I fished out my keys and unlocked the door to my own office. Maybe I didn’t see anyone after all. Maybe it was just a trick of the sunlight and the reflections.