Chapter 29

Kitty.

As it turned out, there were two recently-bitten wolves in the basement of the farmhouse when my father and I arrived at Homewood, and Chase had his hands full with them. The two women weren’t in the jail cells the entire time, but he only let them out when he could supervise them. A few times, Squatch went out into the woods to help Chase with them, so my father and I could talk privately.

Daddy had brought the ingredients to fix all my favorite foods. Part of me wanted to be the little princess, certain this meant her father did, indeed, love her. However, the cynical parts of my psyche just saw it as him trying to get on my good side, trying to get me to let my guard down.

And every time he poked at Squatch and tried to start an argument, it reminded me my father couldn’t be trusted.

At some point on the second full day, I think Daddy figured out that he looked bad, being an asshole to my boyfriend, and my boyfriend looked like the good guy by not allowing himself to be dragged into the arguments my father tried to start.

Things got better, but I still didn’t trust it.

I did, however, listen carefully while my father taught me the things he thought I needed to know — the rules of wolf society, how to address the royalty of certain species of shifter, and other ways to camouflage myself if I’m out somewhere when my hair hasn’t been dyed, or if I don’t have contacts with me.

He also took me to the Homewood outdoor range and gave updated lessons on how to shoot a wide variety of weapons.

On the sixth day, Squatch asked me to go with Chase and the new wolves out into the forest, so he could have lunch alone with my father.

* * * *

Squatch “Do we eat or fight?” I asked him. I’d had sex with his daughter every night, but I’d kept it to just sex. The night before, she’d needed more, and I’d spanked her and used her. When we’d wakened that morning, I’d given her a morning spanking.

I’d forgone part of our morning routine all week out of respect for what Kitty and her father were trying to do, but she’d needed me to take charge so badly the night before, I’d told her to choose between my hand or belt after she’d given me my morning blow job. When she chose the belt, it confirmed what I’d already figured out — breaking our routine hadn’t been good for her. She needed the stability of our mornings, so I gave it to her.

Vincenzo hadn’t said anything around Kitty, but I could sense how tightly he was wound, and how careful he was being to keep from losing his shit.

He walked out of the kitchen, across the huge screened-in porch, and out onto the clearing beside the house.

I took my shirt off, left it on a table on the porch, and followed him outside.

“We stay in human form,” I told him. “If you shift, you forfeit the fight. No knives, no guns.”

“No weapons besides our fists and feet,” he agreed.

I shrugged. “Knees, elbows, other body parts, but yeah. Human form, no weapons.”

I expected him to attack first, and he didn’t disappoint. I was ready, so I easily blocked his first volley of fists and kicks, and didn’t wait for him to retreat before I lobbed my first offense. No way was I giving him even a second to recover.

Usually, fights are over within two or three minutes, but we were too evenly matched for that, so ten minutes later, we were still going at it, landing an occasional punch or kick, finding it difficult to get through the other’s defenses once we learned each other. Blood ran down one side of his face where I’d connected with his eye. My face was okay, but I was pretty sure he’d cracked a few ribs with a kick I hadn’t seen coming until it was too late to dodge or block. I’d weakened one of his knees, but he was doing okay on it, despite the pain I could scent on him.

I was bigger and stronger, but he was faster and sneakier.

He lobbed another fast offense, moving in and back out, in and back out, and I finally recognized — not so much a pattern as a method. When he came back in, his foot was headed at my face, and I was ready for it this time despite his speed, so my hand was already in place, waiting for his calf. I grabbed, squeezed, leaned back, and held on tight as I swung him in a large arc by his foot. Around once, twice, and I let go so he slammed into a large tree hard enough to break his spine and hopefully a few ribs while I was at it.

I was beyond ready for the fight to end, and we were too evenly matched for me to be moderate. I could keep from killing him, but I needed to hurt him badly enough I knew he wouldn’t jump back up.

His ribcage slammed into the huge tree and he bounced off, landing hard enough on the ground it made me wince for him. He landed bent and broken, and it was obvious his spine was damaged. He gasped for air and I scented blood — at least one lung was punctured, possibly both.

And then he exploded into a million golden glitter-sparkles, and his tiger was lying on its side, no longer bent the wrong direction, but not completely whole.

The tiger took several long seconds to come to its feet, and I stood my ground. I’d thrown him thirty yards, so we were still that far from each other. I’d hidden a Kimber forty-five caliber handgun under the steps of the screened-in porch, and I’d go for it and shoot him if he came after me in tiger form.

But he didn’t. He took thirty seconds to catch his breath after he made it to his feet, and then he glitter-sparkled back into human.

And then he just stared at me from thirty yards away.

After a full minute, I figured someone needed to break the silence, so I said, “I love her. You messed up the way she thinks about sex. It doesn’t make much sense for you to get pissed because she needs it rough in order to enjoy it.”

He still didn’t say anything, so I crossed my arms and told him, “Damn, I’m glad wolves don’t do that motherfucking glitter-sparkle thing when we change.”

He shook his head. “As much as I want to point out that dogs don’t do fancy, I find that it feels more important to give you credit for winning the fight.”

I shrugged. “I think we both knew we’d need to take the measure of each other at some point. I’m just glad we could do it without Kitty here to see it.”

He looked around him, gathered up the pieces of his clothes that’d scattered around him when he burst out of them, and walked to me, naked.

“I’ll change clothes, shave my head, and put new contacts in, and then we should eat lunch, wolf.”

* * * *

Kitty I knew something was up when the wolves and I came back to the farmhouse, but both Squatch and my father seemed to want to play it off as if nothing had happened, so I didn’t push. We had to get through one more night, and then breakfast the following morning, and we’d be done with this week. I’d enjoyed spending time with my father, but I’d have been happy to say goodbye after three or four days. A full week of him was too much.

Squatch went for a walk in the woods so my father and I could have a nice meal together alone. I didn’t ask him to, but he told me it’d been planned ahead, and that it was important.

My father and I sat down to steaks, twice-baked potatoes with extra cheese, fried squash, a mess of greens cooked in bacon fat with a big ham hock, and chess pie for dessert.

Halfway through our meal, I had to know. “If you’d won, I think you’d be gloating, or at the very least, a lot cockier. You aren’t, so I’m going to have to assume Squatch kicked your ass.”

He sat back and glared at me. “We’re pretty evenly matched, but yeah, he won.”

“I don’t smell any damage on you. I assume you changed?”

The tiniest of nods. He did not want to talk about it.

Part of me wanted to push it and insist he give me details, but I decided not to.

“I love him, Daddy. I’m going to give the Ambush three or maybe four babies, but after that, any babies I have will be mine and Squatch’s, and if you want to keep up a good relationship with me, you’re going to have to accept all of my children as your grandkids, and Squatch as the father of the ones we parent.”

“I read the agreement we signed.” His voice was biting. Annoyed.

“You aren’t listening to me, Daddy. You may one day have a human grandchild, or a wolfen one. Squatch is being patient with you now because he’s trying to help me make this work, but if you snub our children? The gloves will come off, and you have to know that.”

He rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think I can make you any promises, Val, but I love you, and I look forward to seeing you as a mother.”

“And you hope my kids are tigers?”

“No, actually. Our legends only recognize golden tigers as the fruit of two purebred golden tigers. If you give birth to a golden tiger born of a wolf...” He ran his hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. “I understand what you’re saying about the genetics of it, but we must follow our own law in this. I will love him or her as a grandfather, but even as Commandant, I won’t have the authority to declare them a golden tiger. So long as you’re careful to keep your children hidden if they look like one of us, and I know you will be, I won’t follow the laws that say the child should be killed, but I can’t promise others of our kind will look the other way.”

“You disappoint me, father.”

“You’ve disappointed me in ways I can’t begin to list, princess.”

I shook my head. “Clearly, I’m not your princess anymore.”

“You will always be my princess, Val.”