“You have a grandfather,” she started. “And thirteen years ago, he kicked me out of the tiger streak because I was pregnant with you.”
Chapter 14
Alanna rolled out of bed early the next morning. She stretched sore muscles that tensed again as soon as she let her arms down. Sleep had been elusive and she doubted she’d gotten more than a wink after Atticus told her to go to hell and slammed his door in her face.
She hoped letting the kid-friendly version of events sink in overnight would bring him around to not loathing her entirely. She could withstand annoyance and irritation, but outright hatred from her own cub wasn’t something she was prepared to handle.
But now he knew everything. He knew why Wyatt hadn’t been around and who orchestrated that happening. The aftermath, the shunning, and why she’d tried to shield him from the ugliness of her family were out on the table.
Now they just needed to clean up the fallout.
She dressed for the day and made her way across the apartment. “Time to get up. You don’t want to miss your first day back—”
Alanna cut herself off when Atticus’s door swung open at her soft knock. He sat on his bed, fully dressed, with a backpack next to him. He looked up as the door cracked, then fixed her with a glare.
“Well, I’m glad you’re ready to go.”
He didn’t say a word as he stood. He reached for the knob and swung the door shut, all while keeping resentful eyes locked on her until the final inch closed.
Alanna leaned her forehead against the wood. “Atticus, I know you’re upset. You can’t ignore me forever.”
Silence.
“Why don’t I drive you to school this morning?”
Silence.
“Do you want anything special for breakfast?”
More silence.
The morning routine passed without a single word uttered by her usually mouthy cub. He didn’t even appear for breakfast when she called, instead choosing to slink out the front door at the exact time he needed to get to his bus stop.
Cursing, Alanna rushed to the door. “Atticus,” she called to him. He stopped halfway down the stairs, but didn’t turn around. “Come to the bakery after school.”
He shrugged his shoulders and kept walking.
Dazed, she finished readying for work and made her way to the bakery.
Alanna stayed quiet as the day began. She clocked in, threw her apron over her head, and stumbled into the wide chest of Charles blocking her way to the front.
Charles wrapped her in a tight hug. “Ginny told me what happened last night,” he said gruffly. “I know I can’t stop you from doing anything, but you don’t worry about us, understand? We’ll figure something out without you putting yourself in danger.”
“I just wanted to help,” Alanna admitted. Wanted and failed and probably made an even bigger mess of things.
She hadn’t heard from her father, but radio silence was better than more demands or an angry uproar. Alanna doubted he’d stay quiet for long, especially after his choice of suitor suffered such an embarrassing defeat.
Still, she wouldn’t be the one to immediately suffer. She’d have to sit back and watch others take the lashes for her.
Charles stepped back with his hands on her shoulders. He fixed her with a stern look that said he knew exactly where her thoughts were heading. “You have a good heart. Don’t let anyone take that from you.” Charles cleared his throat. “That wolf is okay in my book, too, I suppose.”
Alanna blinked rapidly to clear her eyes of the sudden watery feeling. “Does that mean you approve of him?”
“You don’t need my approval for anything. I just want you to be happy.” He nodded to the storefront. “Now get on out there before Ginny accuses me of being mushy.”
With a final squeeze, Charles let her loose and Alanna set to work.
The morning rush came and went, followed by the smaller afternoon business. Alanna kept a close eye on the clock as the end of the school day approached. No phone call from the front office was promising, though she couldn’t rule out some long-term plan for trouble. If anything, she felt she needed to expect it. Atticus was half Wyatt, after all.
When he didn’t appear a half-hour after he should have arrived, she started to worry.
Between customers, Alanna picked up the phone and dialed her home line. “Atticus,” she said once the answering machine picked up. “You don’t even need to talk to me. Just pick up so I know you’re home.”
The long beep of the machine cutting off drove a stake through her heart. She tried twice more, each with the same result.
“Still nothing?” Ginny asked from her side.
Alanna shook her head.
“Go on,” Ginny shooed. Her lips pursed with her own worry. “We’ll call if he shows up here.”
“Thank you,” she said, and rushed out the door.
Alanna barely saw the roads as she hurried to their apartment. Every last possibility of what happened to him worked through her head, each one worse than the previous vision. Her tigress prowled through her head, ready to pounce on any attacker.
“Atticus?” she called as soon as she threw open the door.
Silence greeted her, but the sound of it was different than that morning. Then, at least, there had been a warmth to the quiet. A solid feel of another person in the room.
The apartment felt hollow.
She went from room to room, checking against her senses. His scent was old. He didn’t appear around any of the corners she took. He was just... gone.
Alanna’s blood ran cold. She dialed the bakery, but Ginny still hadn’t seen him. The school was just as useless, confirming he’d arrived that morning and left at the end of the day.
Dreading the call, Alanna punched in Wyatt’s number and babbled as soon as he answered. “Atticus hasn’t come back from school. I told him this morning to come straight to the bakery.”
“Slow down, Alanna. What’s going on?”
Her hands shook. “Wyatt, please tell me Atticus is with you.”
One heartbeat told her all she needed to know.
“He’s not here,” Wyatt confirmed. “I’m coming to you.”
Alanna sank to the floor as the air rushed from her lungs. Her son was missing. The room spun. Her tigress roared with pain, fury, and every combination between.
She didn’t stay still for long. She couldn’t. Not when she didn’t have any answers. Hopped up on anxious worry, Alanna dialed the bakery again, then another check with the school. When neither of those turned up anything, she started hounding his friends.
Sharp knocks on the door brought her out of her mechanical work. Alanna raced for the door. Hope laced through her that it was Atticus and he’d forgotten his key, or something as equally, blindingly stupid that she could forgive immediately.
Wyatt stood on the other side, his jaw set in a tight line.
Alanna fell into his arms. Her entire body trembled under the weight of worry. Wyatt held her firmly and rocked them back and forth.
“It’s going to be okay,” he murmured. “We’ll find him.”
Seeing him there flooded her with the conclusion she hadn’t wanted to face. Atticus wasn’t at home. He didn’t go to the bakery. His friends last saw him leaving school, alone. If he hadn’t gone to Wyatt, there was one more hideous place he could be.
“What if my father has him?”
Chapter 15
“You’re sure this is how you want to play it?” Jensen asked.
Wyatt met the eyes of the men across from him. Neither dropped their gazes. “I didn’t want any of this.”
Fuck, he hadn’t even wanted to ride into Redwater. That one turn marked a difference in his life. He’d been on a road to destruction before. One fight after another, broken up with too many drinks and crimes beyond count, that was who he’d been. Alanna called him out on that even before he’d been able to see it. He’d changed. He had a purpose.
For whatever reason,
the gods and fates conspired to give him a second shot at a good life. He couldn’t let it slip through his hands.
“He has my cub,” Wyatt continued. “He’s trying to take my mate. This ends tonight.”
Jensen dipped his chin to his chest. “Then we’ll do it.”
Wyatt reached across the bar to seal their agreement. Jensen gripped his hand firmly and Wyatt dragged him closer. “And after? If things go south?”
“They’ll be safe,” Jensen said in an equally low voice. He blinked slowly and let his hand fall. “I wish you’d let us go with you.”
“This is my business to finish. And I know Alanna. She’ll want to fight. I wouldn’t be able to think straight with her in the middle of things.”
“To the sweetest distractions.” Jensen raised his shot glass. “May they tempt us away from our worst impulses.”
Wyatt threw back his shot of tequila and set it on the bar with a thud. Jensen’s whiskey and Ellis’s bourbon followed.
They were his pack. They’d been his pack since they broke from the Vagabonds and wandered aimlessly to the little town on the edge of Yellowstone. They’d fought next to one another, brawled with each another, and come out on the other side together. He trusted they’d carry out his wishes if he fell.
He rapped his knuckles against the bar and turned toward the door just as Noelle and Alanna swept in from the back room.
Fuck. He’d hoped to be gone by the time they emerged. He picked up his pace because there was nothing to discuss. He had to save their cub. He didn’t have to put her in danger to do it.
He was on his bike by the time Alanna tore out of the bar and into the parking lot. She called his name and waved her arms, but he didn’t meet her gaze as he spun out and sped down the road.
Jensen and Ellis followed, then Noelle. He had to hurry; he didn’t know how long those two could hold out against two angry mates.
He flew out of Redwater and gunned it once he hit the open road. The tiger streak made their mark outside the town’s limits, where they had ample room for their own sense of law and control.
Wyatt parked about a mile outside of the tiger streak territory, in the same spot he’d hidden himself to wait for Alanna so many times before. He’d been her ride to school as soon as he got his license. Didn’t matter if he planned to show up to class that day or not, he was there for her.
He had to be there for her now. Their cub was in danger.
The cold fury he’d kept locked down while scheming with the pack surged to the surface along with his wolf. The beast prowled under his skin, brushing fur against his head. Fangs pressed against his gums and claws darkened the tips of his fingers.
Fucking hell, the urge to cut through the entire tiger population of Redwater had ridden him hard since the night before. He wanted to start with that fuckface at the bar and end with Harris Ayers, taking out every last one of the accomplices that didn’t say boo to taking a child from his mother.
He moved from tree to tree in the darkness, following a path ingrained in his memory. The first patrol he came across didn’t even see him before he wrapped a thick arm around his throat and squeezed until he passed out. His wolf growled when he didn’t finish the job, but Wyatt wouldn’t give Harris the satisfaction of turning murderer. Not yet. Not until he had his shot at the old man himself and his cub safe. He’d already paid for the false accusation and the tiger didn’t need any more ammunition against him.
Two more patrols were dropped and left behind trees before the lights of the streak house shined through the night.
The deck and trellis against the two-story home hadn’t changed, though new flowers grew instead of the ones he remembered. The climb to the last bedroom on the right was an easy one to make, even with his adult weight.
The only trouble was, he didn’t know exactly where Atticus would be. In Alanna’s old room or another bedroom upstairs? A dungeon underground? Or some shed deep within the territory where even the rest of the streak couldn’t hear him scream?
Wyatt’s wolf snarled at the imagined possibilities. For their sakes, he prayed Atticus remained uninjured. There would be no stopping his inner wolf if any harm came to his cub.
A prickle of unease shivered down his spine as he watched. No new patrols paced around the house. Strange to have them around the perimeter and not hold them close. Wyatt cocked his head and listened, but no one approached.
Trap or not, he had to get Atticus out. Then he had to finish the Harris problem once and for all.
Wyatt dashed across the lawn and pressed himself against the house. He listened closely, wolf at the ready to explode from his body and take down anyone who tried to stop him, but no one shouted for him to stop. Not a single flutter of clothes or step of paws or feet trailed after him.
He wanted to growl even as he shoved the wary feeling to the back of his mind and started to climb to a familiar bedroom.
Wyatt paused right below the window sill and peeked inside. The curtains were thrown open. All the posters and trinkets had been removed from the walls and dresser. He didn’t know what he expected, but nothing of Alanna remained.
Except for the boy lounging on the neatly made bed.
Wyatt tapped lightly on the glass.
Atticus jerked upright and looked around wildly before directing a scowl at the window. The boy fiddled with a lock and threw open one side. “How did you get here?” he asked with shock stinging his scent.
Wyatt climbed through like he’d done countless times before. Then, he’d simply been looking for a few minutes alone with the most beautiful girl in the world. Forbidden love made the kisses she’d given him even more sweet.
He made a face. Not the details their child needed to know. “Come on, punk. I used to make this trek twice a week to sneak around with your mom. Let’s go.”
Atticus sat back on the bed. “I’m staying.”
Wyatt whirled around. “You’re what now?” he asked in disbelief.
Atticus folded his arms over his chest and met his eyes. “I’m staying. I don’t want to be fed any more lies about where I come from.”
“Is this where we have to talk about the birds and the bees? You know where you come from. Your mother is worried about you. Let’s go. You can yell at her when you get home.” He touched fingers to Atticus’s shoulder to get him moving.
Atticus jerked back. “I’m not going anywhere! I came here to get answers and I’m staying. Grandpop is the only one who hasn’t lied to me.”
Wyatt wondered briefly about simply dragging the boy back out the window. Too much noise when he wanted the kid to get out undetected. And there was no guarantee he’d run on his way. Fucking hell, cubs were complicated. “I know you’re upset with your mom, but he’s not a good man, Atticus—”
“And you are? I know what you did. You killed someone!”
Well, shit. Not just over his words, but also the shout the still rang in his ears. Atticus was going to call down the entire streak on their heads. “That’s not what happened,” he reasoned calmly. In a growl.
“You’re lying. You killed someone and then you ran and that’s why you weren’t ever around.”
“Smell me. Do I smell like I’m lying to you? I was framed. Harris set me up to keep me away from your mother. Ask yourself why he hasn’t reached out to you in all these years. He’s doing this now because he wants something, not because he’s trying to be your loving grandfather.”
Atticus chewed on his lower lip. “You just believe what you’re saying. You don’t know any better.”
Wyatt resisted the urge to pass a hand down his face. The words might as well have come from Harris’s own mouth. He slid a glance to the door, shoulder blades prickling. His wolf prowled through him and readied to snap. “I swear to you, Atticus, your mother only has your best interests in mind. The longer we stay here, the bigger the danger we’re all in. I don’t want to see you get hurt. I don’t want your mother to hurt. Let’s get somewhere safe where we can figure eve
rything out.”
“No more lies?” Atticus asked.
“Not a single one,” Wyatt swore.
Atticus nodded. The fight left him as he approached the window.
The door burst open with Harris leading the charge. “Get your hands off the cub.”
Motherfucker.
Chapter 16
“Wyatt Dawson, you’re to be tried for the unauthorized slaying of the tiger, Navid Cruz.”
Wyatt laughed. Same bullshit, different year. Harris pulled from the same bag of tricks to get rid of him. Hell, with his supposed past crimes, one more body was believable.
He almost felt bad for the poor fool. Someone, somewhere, probably gave a shit about him, and he turned up dead in a ditch because Harris needed a convenient body.
Too bad neither of the victims Harris tried to pin on him had actually met their ends by his hand.
“Damn, where did he go wrong for you, Harris? Was it smacking the kid around? Or because he couldn’t keep your daughter in line?” Wyatt shrugged. “To be fair, you couldn’t keep her in line, either. Guess you should probably go hang yourself.”
“Take him,” Harris ordered.
His men swarmed over Wyatt. Hands grabbed his arms, his chest, his hair. So many shoved and dragged at him that he lost sight of Atticus. He snarled at the separation, his wolf heaving forward with all the pent up aggression Wyatt held back until that moment.
They wouldn’t take his cub from him and live.
One way out. He held on by a fingernail to the plan he wanted to set into motion. Words rough with his inner beast, he shouted, “I challenge you for alpha!”
The mood in the room chilled. The hands on him ceased their shoving. Some even backed away. Everyone focused on him.
Harris chuckled, but his eyes darted nervously. “A madman’s request. You’re just trying to delay your sentencing.”
Tequila and Tigers: Book Two: Shifters and Sins Page 10