––––––––
Lacey flopped back down in her chair, suddenly overwhelmed by everything she’d learned. She was staring at the floor in front of her when Frank leaned forward on the couch and touched her knee with his hand. “I’m sorry to drop all of this on you so suddenly” he said softly.
Lacey jerked her leg away from him so that he couldn’t touch her. She was still angry and confused about him. “What did you mean when you said that you’re of no use to Branson anymore?”
Disappointed that she didn’t want his comfort, Frank sat back on the couch and rubbed the back of his head. “My brain doesn’t work the way it used to. Two years ago, I was shot in the head while trying to outrun Branson’s men when they tracked me down to a small town south of Atlanta. Apparently, the guy who shot me was new to the team and wasn’t aware that Branson wanted me alive. He left me bleeding in the middle of the street and ran off. Pedestrians found me and rushed me to the hospital. When I woke up from a coma a month later, I discovered I couldn’t move things with my mind anymore. The doctors had to remove a small part of my brain in order to save my life. Whatever caused the telekinesis is no longer here” he said and pointed to his head.
“So now that you don’t have powers anymore, they think they can continue their study using me?” Lacey asked.
“And your daughter when they find out about her.”
Lacey narrowed her eyes at Frank. Her nostrils flared as the mother wolf inside her began to surface. The need to protect her young was fierce and all consuming. “If Branson or anyone else steps one foot on this mountain I’ll rip them apart with my bare hands” she threatened.
Frank leaned forward once more and rested his elbows on his knees. A serious look covered his face. “Lacey, I didn’t come here to warn you so that you could fight Branson. I came here to help you get your family to a safer place.”
Lacey jumped to her feet and glowered down at him. “Look, if you thought you were going to come here and find the same scared, vulnerable little girl that you left behind two decades ago, you better think again. I’m not that person anymore. And I don’t run from danger. I face it head-on. Anyone stupid enough to threaten my family or friends will quickly find out how big of a mistake it is to piss me off.”
A long awkward silence stretched out between them until finally Lacey let out a deep breath to calm herself and resumed her seat.
Then Frank spoke again, “After my ordeal with Branson, I learned to be a pretty good reader of people. I can usually tell a lot about a person and their intentions within a few minutes of meeting them. It’s a talent I was forced to learn in order to survive” He paused, “Your husband, Cole, stands out to me. While I can tell he’s very protective of you. I sense that he’s also very dangerous. There’s a shadow in his eyes that warns he’s a man with a dark past.” He sighed as uncertainty and maybe even a little fear filled his eyes. “Is he like your friend from Carol Springs? Like the man Branson has locked up?”
Lacey narrowed her eyes at Frank as she thought about her mate and whether or not she wanted to talk about him. The tension in her face eased as she made her decision. “If you’re asking if Cole is one of the wolf people your friend told you about, then the answer is yes. But that is the extent of the similarities between him and Trevor.” Not wanting to disparage Trevor despite the fact that he had never really been her friend and had disagreed with her on many things, she added, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Trevor is a good guy, but he’s nowhere near being the kind of man Cole is.” Her eyes lit up as she thought about the man who made her heart skip a beat with just the sound of his voice. “Cole is much stronger, faster and unbeatable than Trevor could ever be. But the biggest difference between them is loyalty. Cole never would have revealed my location to anyone the way Trevor apparently has...no matter what was done to him. He would have sacrificed himself if it meant keeping me safe. I know. He’s done it before.”
Lacey frowned as she thought back to the day Cole had pried her hands from his wrist when she tried to help him after he fell over a cliff while fighting with his twin brother, Jesse. Exhausted from the use of too much her powers, she hadn’t been strong enough to pull them both up and was slipping over the edge herself when Cole made the decision to give his life to save hers. The image of him falling into the water at the bottom of the cliff still haunted her. And it reminded her of how close she had come to losing him.
A tender look settled over Franks face as he listened to Lacey talk about Cole. “Then I’m glad you have him in your life to keep you safe” he said with an approving smile. “I don’t know anything about all this wolf stuff and to be honest, I’m not sure if I want to know anything about it, but as long as Cole is good to you then I’m proud to call him family. And I’m very thankful that he’s here to protect you. It’s an evil world we live in and it can’t be easy for a vulnerable human woman like yourself to live among people you have nothing in common with.”
Lacey raised her brows at Franks description of her. If there was one word she would not use to describe herself...it was vulnerable. She was an alpha wolf with the mental power to level a small city if she wanted to. “What exactly did Trevor tell Branson about me?” she asked with curiosity.
“Other than confirming that you do have telekinesis and revealing your current location...nothing. What else is there to tell?”
Instead of responding to his question, Lacey asked another of her own. “Exactly how long where you outside watching us earlier?”
Frank looked confused. “I was in the tree maybe fifteen or twenty minutes before your friend with curly brown hair and massive arms knocked me to the ground. Why?”
“Just curious” Lacey replied. “I like to know when I’m being spied on, that’s all.”
Now that she knew he wasn’t aware that she too was a wolf or that her son was also, for some reason she didn’t want to reveal that part of her life to him. At least not until he had earned enough of her trust to deserve to know more about her. In the back of her mind, a slither of fear worked its way into her thoughts of the possibility that learning the truth about her might make Frank run away from her again. She pushed the unwanted feeling away.
When the silence between them returned, Frank became frustrated with his inability to keep her engaged in conversation. He ran his hands down his thin face and sighed heavily. “Lacey, I know I’ve already apologized but I want to do it again. I’m sorry for not being there for you when you were little. And I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to you. Just please let me be here for you now. I want to get to know you again. And I’d love to meet my grandkids.”
Lacey didn’t hesitate with her response. “I don’t want to hear any more of your apologies, Frank. Because honestly, it doesn’t change how I feel. I’m allowing you to stay here now because you’re in danger and need protection from Branson. Whether or not I let you stay after all of this crap is over will be determined at a later time. And for now, I’d prefer that you not tell my kids who you are. When they get here, I’ll introduce you as an old friend and until I say otherwise, that’s what I want them to think.”
Sadness flitted across Frank’s face as he reluctantly nodded. “Alright. If that’s what you want. But I do hope you’ll give me a chance to fix things between us.”
Lacey lowered her head and looked away. “Some things just can’t be fixed.”
She had just finished her sentence when the door of the cabin opened and Cole walked in carrying the twins. He held one in each arm as they slept with their heads rested on his shoulders. The cool night air wafted through the open doorway. Lacey went to shut the door but stepped back when she noticed Cole hadn’t returned alone. Jeremiah, Scotty, Dean, Kindal and Mira entered the cabin and stood by the wall near the door.
“I’m going to put the kids to bed” Cole said and headed toward the room in the back of the cabin.
“So this is the man responsible for the dysfunctional way Lacey’s mind works?” Mira said from across the room and pointed in Frank’s direction as he stood from the couch. “I’m not sure if we should thank him or drag him outside and beat the hell out of him.”
“Mira” Jeremiah growled her name in warning and glared at her from the corner of his eye. “This is not the time to see how far you can push Lacey with your sarcastic comments.”
Lacey shot Mira a narrow-eyed look that said she agreed with Jeremiah.
Cole came back into the livingroom and stood beside Lacey. “Frank, you’ve already met Jeremiah and Scotty” he said and motioned toward the two men across the room who looked like massive nightclub bodyguards as they stood near the door with their arms folded over their broad chests. “And that’s Kindal, Mira and Dean. They will all be standing guard outside our cabin tonight” Cole continued.
Frank raised his hand in greeting but with the exception of a quick nod from Jeremiah, no one else responded to his attempt at being friendly.
Lacey turned her attention to Cole. “Why are they staying here?” she asked.
“Because I’m not taking any chance’s when it comes to the safety of my family” Cole responded. “I have at least thirty men spread out over the mountain from the base upwards. They’ll be keeping a lookout for any trespassers during the night. No one is going to set foot on this mountain without them knowing about it. And if they find anyone, we’ll deal with the intruders our way.”
Cole’s voice was calm and level but Lacey saw the rage in his eyes and she knew exactly how he planned to deal with anyone who threatened them - a beating to within an inch of their lives. But for some reason that didn’t seem to be enough for her. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was about what they needed to do.
Years ago, she would have hated the thought of Cole reverting to the man he used to be. The man who had been filled with so much anger and hatred that he’d killed hundreds of humans without mercy for decades before she came into his life. But now that her family was in danger, she had no problem with him breaking the promise he had made to her years ago. It seemed like forever since he vowed to never kill again. And as much as she loved the gentle, tender man he now was, she needed the old Cole to return.
She locked eyes with him and spoke in response to what he’d said. “No. We’ll deal with them your way. Every last one of them.” Her words were firm and deliberate and Cole knew exactly what she meant.
He was momentarily caught off guard by her statement. “Are you sure?” he asked and studied her face intently to make sure there wasn’t any misunderstanding about what she wanted him to do.
Lacey thought about her kids as memories of her time spent at the hospital her stepdad, Todd, had committed her into when she was a teenager flashed in her mind. Just the idea of anyone ever treating her babies the way she had been treated made her so mad that every muscle in her body instantly tensed. She’d rather be responsible for the deaths of a hundred humans than face the possibility of ever losing one or both of her children. “Yes” she said in confirmation to Cole’s question.
He pulled her to him and wrapped his strong arms around her then kissed the top of her head. The fact that she had just asked him to go back to being the man she once feared showed how worried she was for their family. “I’ll do whatever needs to be done” he whispered near her ear.
Completely oblivious to the deadly conversation that had just taken place in front of him, Frank looked at Lacey and Cole. “What exactly are you going to do?” he asked and settled his gaze on Cole.
Instead of answering him, Cole left Lacey to speak with her dad alone and he joined the others by the front door to discuss what he wanted them to do.
Guilt twisted in Lacey’s chest as she looked at Frank. The thought of killing anything even animals had always been hard for her to accept. But if everything Frank said was true then she truly felt like they didn’t have a choice. Especially considering that Branson had already captured Trevor and Tonya. She couldn’t risk anyone else being taken. “I’m sorry, Frank. But anyone who steps foot on this mountain, will not make it back down alive. We have to protect our own.”
Frank suddenly seemed scared. “Lacey, you don’t understand. I may not know what the people here are capable of or how they defend themselves – even though I do have a pretty good idea – but I do know what Branson is capable of. He will send enough people here so that you can’t handle them all with your telekinesis. You may be able to incapacitate a handful on your own but even with the uniqueness of your abilities, your mind isn’t strong enough to take them all on.”
Before Lacey could respond, Scotty chuckled from across the room as he raised his brows, shook his head and smiled in Franks direction. “Pops, trust me, you have no idea what your daughter can do with her mind. But we do...” he said and turned toward Cole, “which is why I don’t get why everyone is so worked up. Lacey is more than capable of taking care of anyone dumb enough to come near this place.”
Without responding to Scotty’s comment, Cole opened the door for everyone to leave. “Don’t hesitate to come get me if any of you detect even the slightest scent of anyone who doesn’t belong here” he said as Jeremiah pushed the others outside.
“We’ll check in with you in the morning” Jeremiah said as Cole closed the door behind him.
Once everyone but Cole and Frank were gone, Lacey no longer wanted to be in the room. Frank kept staring at her and his attention made her feel uncomfortable. She kissed Cole goodnight and started toward the twin’s bedroom – where she planned to spend the night - when Frank spoke to her again. “Lacey, is what your friend said true? Is your telekinesis strong enough to protect everyone here?”
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Let’s just say I’m a lot stronger than I was the last time you saw me.” Before he could ask her more questions that she wasn’t ready to answer, she stepped into the kid’s bedroom and shut the door.
Suddenly alone in the room with the father-in-law he never thought he would meet, Cole made himself comfortable in the chair that Lacey had sat in earlier. He had no intention of going to sleep until he was certain his family was safe. So he decided to spend the rest of the night getting to know the man who looked completely devastated and heartbroken as he stared at the door Lacey had just closed.