by Rosko, Mandy
Garret came back quickly. He was cleaned up, in fresh clothes, hair slicked back. He looked as though he wanted to be professional. As though he wanted to look imposing. That wasn't hard for him to do, but she imagined it would be a little more difficult for him to try intimidating Dennis.
It seemed almost nothing could make Dennis weary, but Garret was going to do his level best to try.
Katie was still avoiding looking at Anna. Though she stayed close, and Anna realized why when Jax went to her after dealing with the rest of the house, making sure all the windows and doors were locked.
He reached for her, and Katie let him take her hands. Jax leaned in, pressing his mouth to hers, whispering something Anna couldn't make out because she was just that shocked.
When exactly had that started? After she'd been taken by Dennis?
Was this part of the reason why she could never get Jax to look twice at her before?
She shook her head, turning away from the pair when Katie leaned in close to whisper something back to him. Whatever was happening in their relationship now, when it had started, how long they'd had feelings for each other, it wasn't even close to being her business. She didn't want to know.
The only thing that mattered was the look on Jax’s face when he touched Katie's hands. He was clearly where wanted to be. Where he belonged.
And she was happy for him, and for Katie.
Katie had seemed like the sort of person who would always be alone, who would never want to be with anyone after what happened to her, so it was good to see her with someone who could make her smile, even if that smile was a weak one.
Because of Anna, and who she was bringing home for dinner.
It was so awkward. Why do things have to be this way? Why couldn't she just have a normal mating? Instead, she was getting ready for the Inquisition with her new mate, and her brother was there to watch.
No.
To interrogate.
If things don't go smoothly tonight, Anna might be without her mate before she had the chance to even really have him.
She prayed that wouldn't be the case.
“In there,” Garret growled, pointing a clawed finger to the living room.
Anna felt almost as though she was a little girl again, getting caught stealing cookies from the kitchen passed her bedtime, or lying about failing a test in school.
Garret always got that tone of voice whenever it was something bad, but this was multiplied by about a thousand. She had to remind herself that she wasn't about to let Garret treat her like a child.
That included letting him make her feel that way.
She held her head high as she walked into the living room, holding Dennis’ hand tightly in her own.
Derek growled a little at Dane as he passed him by, but Joey stayed close by.
Anna had to wonder what that was about. Maybe they'd become friends since Derek had been here? She hoped so. She wanted Derek to have a friend here. She wanted to be his friend, too, but it would help if it wasn't just her.
Anna directed Dennis and Derek to one of the couches to sit, she on one side of Dennis, and Derek on the other. Her brother snarled and growled the entire time. He really didn't like this. He even paced in front of them before sitting in the chair opposite them. Miranda came to stand at his side, to support him, though the look on her face suggested she didn't know if she should be there.
Garret didn't send her away, though, so that was something.
Anna glanced back to the entrance into the living room. Dane stood there, arms crossed. Lois wasn't too far away, though Anna doubted the bear shifter wanted his mate near here just in case something happened. If a fight broke out, there was no doubt in Anna's mind that Dane would do whatever he needed to protect Lois. However, things had been when Anna had been taken, they were clearly in a better place now if the way Lois touched Dane’s arm was anything to go by.
It seemed a lot had happened since she'd been gone.
Garrett, meanwhile, seemed to be having trouble getting himself under control. His knee twitched up and down, as though he was too hyped up on caffeine.
“What are your intentions with my sister?"
Anna blinked. “Garret, please don't do this.”
“No!” He slammed his hand on the coffee table in front of him; a low growl worked its way up through his chest and throat. “He took you. He took you from your home. Where it was safe. Do you have any idea how I've worried for you? I thought the worst. And now you come back to me, telling me he's your mate? There is no way you can possibly think I would believe that.”
“It's the truth.” Anna held onto Dennis just a little tighter. From the corner of her eye, she could see Derek looking at her in shock. She ignored him. Anna had to keep all of her focus. This wasn't the same as a challenge, but there was something about this that made her feel deep down inside that if she was going to get her brother to believe her, she would have to be stronger than she ever had been in her entire life.
Garret growled again. He stared at Dennis as though he wanted to leap across the room and rip his head right off his shoulders before smashing it against the wall and eating what dripped out.
"What did you do to her?"
Dennis lifted a brow him. "I didn't do anything."
“Bullshit!” Garret slammed his fist onto the coffee table again. He was going to crack it in half.
Miranda jumped a little. Anna flinched, and Derek looked as though he wanted to get up and run.
No one moved.
“You’re a fucking liar. I know you did something. You're doing this to get back at me!”
“No, she's just my mate.”
Garret looked sharply at him, but before he could go on the attack, Miranda reached out and grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.
Barely.
“Maybe we’re all just a little too tense?" Miranda said, looking very much as though she wanted to be anywhere but there. "Garrett, this is your sister. She's not a little girl, and she hasn't been with him long enough for him to manipulate or trick her, right?”
“He did it. He did something!”
Despite the way Garrett growled at him, Dennis barely moved. He watched the other man in a way that probably pissed Garrett off real bad. At least there was that. At least there was one more thing Anna didn't have to worry about.
Not that it felt so good for her brother to not trust her like this.
"Garret, would you please just relax? I promise you, if he was doing anything to make me feel uncomfortable or unsafe, you would be the first to know, but this is real. I can feel it deep down inside. He's not doing this to hurt me.”
Garret shook his head, unwilling to believe. “You don't know what you're saying. He killed our father! It's always been him! He's always been there to cause trouble, to hurt people. And now he's trying to do this to you. He just wants a stake in the land.”
“I don't want to live here, and I haven't for a long time,” Dennis said.
“Oh, fuck off,” Dane snapped. “Yes you have, that's why you've spent the last couple decades fighting with us over it.”
Dennis growled back at the bear shifter, but he didn't talk to him. His hand held tighter to Anna's as he addressed her brother. The man he used to be best friends with. “I love her.”
Anna's heart clenched.
Garret really did look as though he wanted to destroy Dennis. Even though that was important, Anna could hardly focus on Garret when Dennis just dropped a bomb like that. He said it. Out loud. She knew. Of course she did. Finding a mate usually meant there was going to be love involved at some point.
He'd risked everything to protect her, and now he was saying the words.
And they had her shell shocked.
Garret pointed a clawed finger at him. “Don't you fucking say that to me.”
“It's true.” The calm in Dennis’ voice was really pissing Garret off. “She is my mate, and I love her. I want her protected as much as you do.”
“Stop.”
“I know you don't want this.”
“You better fucking believe I don't want it!” Garrett kicked the coffee table hard enough that it flew over their heads and across the room.
Anna and Derek ducked their heads. Lois screamed a little as the wood shattered against the wall.
Dane sounded pissed. “Garret! What the fuck?”
Garret looked at the other man, his nostrils flaring before he glared back down at Dennis. Then, as though realizing what he'd just done, he turned and looked to Miranda, who stood a few steps back from his chair, her hands over her mouth.
Anna felt the tension in the room sweep away, like steam being released from a pressure cooker. The change was immediate.
“Baby.”
Miranda stepped back before Garret could touch her.
Anna's heart hurt for the woman, but there was nothing to be done for it now.
Garret dropped his hands, then looked up to the ceiling. He seemed to catch his breath before finally looking back at Anna and Dennis. “Anna, you're sleeping in my room tonight.”
That took her aback. “What? Why?”
“Because I want to keep an eye on you. The boy over there, whatever, fuck it. He can have a room, but Jax will be watching him. Dennis, fuck you to hell and back, you are not mated to my sister.”
“Uh, huh.” Dennis looked to Derek. “Since my son is being offered a room, I assume you're not kicking us out?”
“You are not a guest here. I'll deal with you in the morning.”
Anna didn't like where this was going. “Wait, where is he going to sleep?”
Garret growled. “Where all prisoners in this house sleep.”
22
It wasn't the worst thing in the world that had ever happened to Dennis. At least now he had the chance to see where his son had been staying while he been out protecting Anna.
And he didn't like it.
Dennis surveyed his surroundings. He could smell his boy all over this place. And he was pretty sure that was a spot of blood over there in the corner.
He growled a little under his breath. The dirty blanket on the floor was hardly a thing to look at. Had they even been feeding him?
“Shut up,” Dane said. “It's not like we were torturing him.”
“You sure about that?” Dennis ignored it when Dane shoved him on the shoulder, pushing him farther into his new prison.
“This place is probably a luxury compared to where he grew up. Consider yourself lucky.”
Dennis hated to admit it, but the bear shifter was probably right. It wasn't much in here, but in all the years when Dennis had no territory of his own when he had been forced to search for places to sleep at night, abandoned factories, abandoned houses, barns that had been unused by the elderly owners, this…really wasn't that bad.
Hell, the place he'd been forcing Anna to sleep in those first few nights was worse than this.
At least it was warm in here, which meant the heater worked. But that didn't mean he was going to forgive whoever it was who had put those bruises on Derek’s face.
“Will you at least tell me who hurt him?"
Dane rolled his eyes. “If the bastard hadn't tried to get away, or fought us every step of the way, then he wouldn't look like that. Now shut up, I have to get out of here.”
“Upstairs to clean up after the temper tantrum of your alpha?”
The other male growled at him.
Even though Dennis was now mated to the princess of the pack, so to speak, he had to admit, he still liked to rile things up. And the bear shifter’s angry stare sure did get Dennis in all the right places.
Warmed him right in the cockles of his heart.
Dane growled, shoving Dennis's shoulder harder, knocking him inside. Dennis didn't fight it, and he stumbled a little, embarrassing himself, but he decided not to make anything of it. He just sneered at the man.
Dane pointed a finger at him. “Don't push your fucking luck. If it wasn't for Anna insisting that you belonged to her, I’d turn you inside out for what you did.”
“And if it wasn't for the fact that my son was upstairs with no place to go, I'd rip your spine out through your asshole.”
Dane actually seemed a little taken aback by those words, and, shockingly, he started to laugh. “Whatever. Fuck you. Sleep tight now.”
“Great.”
He hadn't been bound or beaten, but when Dane left Dennis alone, the door screaming as it slid shut behind him, Dennis knew he would be here for a little while. There was going to be no getting out of this. At least not for the next few hours. If he was really unlucky, maybe for the next couple of days.
He heard the locks of the door sliding into place. Then he rolled his eyes when the lights went out.
“For fuck sakes.”
Great. Now we had to wait for Garret to get down here and beat the shit out of him in the dark. Well, whatever. At least he and Garret could have a proper fight, man-to-man, without needing to worry about Anna being nearby, seeing it, or getting hurt.
Until the prick got down here, Dennis passed the time by walking around his new little prison. He ran his hands along the cold walls. Even though the heat was on, it seemed a basement was still a basement, and concrete walls were going to be cold.
Had his son been cold down here? He hadn't been here for a long time, but it was long enough as far as Dennis was concerned.
At least Derek would be with Anna.
Derek didn't know her, but Anna knew how much Derek meant to Dennis. It was clear her asshole of a brother wouldn't want to keep to his promise, but with Anna up there watching over things, she would be able to make sure that Derek stayed safe.
Maybe she could even explain a few things to him now that they were in this position. She could do a better job of warning him then Dennis had been able to do in the few minutes they had together.
Dennis clenched his eye shut at the memory. He'd been able to hold his son for maybe a minute, and then he had to come down here and wait.
“Don't worry, Dad. I'll get us out of this,” Derek had said quietly before they had been torn apart.
Dennis’ heart had swelled.
Derek was such a good kid. Dennis was a shit parent, but Derek had turned out all right despite everything. Not that Derek would be able to do anything, but it was sweet that he thought he could try.
No. It was better this way. Better that Derek learn what was happening in the outside world right now, and that he was prepared for when he was finally released into it.
Garret was a bastard, and Dennis still didn't entirely believe that the man had no ill intent, but whether he had some sinister plan or not, at least he was going to let Derek stay the night.
Dennis could be in here locked in this room, and he could still rest easy knowing Laurence wasn't out there and wouldn't be hunting his boy.
And if Garret really was using this to his advantage?
Anna would keep him safe.
She and his son were some of the few people he would be able to trust in this house. That was a lot more than some other people had.
Only a few minutes passed, but Dennis turned all of his focus towards the door when he heard the locks clicking and sliding. Hyper-aware, his body tensed as he waited for the fight. Garrett sure as hell didn't waste any time.
“You want to come in here and fight me, you better get in here soon. I'm not about to wait up all night for you.”
The door screamed a little as it slowly opened, but as soon as Dennis was able to sniff out the person on the other side, he jerked back.
At first, the light from the outside hall blinded him, but he was still a wolf and an alpha. It took seconds before he knew who it was, and Dennis wished with all of his heart that it was Garret come to fight him. He would rather that than this.
Dennis choked. "Katie?"
Oh, God. He hadn't seen her since… What was she doing here?
Dennis found himself standing a little straighter. He ba
rely had any clothes on at all after his recent transformations. His leg had been bandaged and he been given a dirty pair of jeans that smelled like they belong to Jax, but at least he wasn't covered entirely in blood anymore.
Still, he wished he was a little more presentable.
As though he was getting ready for a visit from the queen.
She reached back to the wall outside the space they inhabited, and the lights flicked on.
Dennis didn't blink. He pressed his lips together, trying to hold his shit together while, deep down, he thought he was going to lose his mind.
“You came to see me?”
“Obviously.”
Everything about her was defensive. From the way she stood, to the way her eyes scrolled up and down his body.
She clearly didn't want to be here.
“You wanted to talk to me?”
Katie took in a breath. She hesitated, but only for a second. “I was talking to your son while he was in here. It's strange to see you in his place now.”
Dennis nodded. “Yeah, I imagine it is.” He looked at her, knowing he didn't have a right to ask her anything. “Was he scared? Those bruises on his face—”
“He was more defensive than anything else. He was strong. I think he was trying to make you proud… He spoke of you a little.”
“He did?”
Katie nodded. “Yeah, he didn't seem to know much of what happened…back then.”
Dennis flinched. “He knows a little. He knows Garrett and I used to be friends. He knows I was responsible for a death in the pack.”
Katie watched him, a knowing look in her eye. “But he didn't really know about me, did he?”
Dennis shook his head. “No, I didn't want him to have to carry that sort of burden. To know someone in your family was responsible for something like that, something so terrible…”
Dennis stopped himself before he could say anything else. He figured he shouldn't get into any more details. He was talking to the one person who knew better than anyone what had happened. Of all the dick moves he been responsible for over the course of his life, reminding Katie of what she'd gone through might be right up there with what he'd done to her all those years ago.