Chapter Nineteen
My grandmother was amazing. And she took nonsense from nobody. As she said to me on the drive home after the pack meeting, “I’ve been alive several times as long as that newbie alpha, and he can bite me if he thinks he’s going to make me roll over and expose my belly.”
“Gigi, are you a member of the pack? I’ve been assuming you were a guest because you didn’t live nearby, maybe belonged to a different one or something?”
“I’m a member.” She bit out the words with little joy. “But I left when Samson’s father, that ass of an alpha, ’ took the office. He was not someone I could follow in good conscience, so I took my family and moved.”
Her family. My dad… “So, when I moved here and asked to join?”
“You’re a legacy. I never gave up my membership and neither did my children, so you were already a member.” Children. Sometimes I forgot about my aunt. She had never been in our lives, and, honestly, I wasn’t sure if she was dead or just living somewhere in another country. But this wasn’t the time, I didn’t think, to get into it. First we had to save Virginia and make sure there were no more kidnappings.
“Tell me more about the Crystal Lake pack. And this Opal?”
“A piece of work, that one.” She steered violently around a bag of animal feed someone had lost in the road before overcorrecting and nearly putting us into a ditch. “What the hell is wrong with people? Can’t they tie down their loads?”
I clung to the dashboard. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive? I-I know the roads better, especially if we’re going to be running into obstacles.”
“Obstacles?” She gave a brisk shake of her head. “If you want to call them that. Back when I was your age, we had a lot worse to deal with. The roads weren’t even paved and—”
My phone chimed, and I picked it up, intending to glance and maybe ask my grandmother just how old she was, anyway. Was it rude? I didn’t care. But the text ended the line of dialogue or any other but one. “Virginia is home. Turn around. We need to get back to the alpha house.”
Gigi’s U-turn slammed me into the door and had the rear tired skidding before the car shot off in the direction from which we’d just come. “What next?”
If I didn’t know better, I’d have said she was unhappy about the good news, but when we arrived and followed Samson into Virginia’s parents’ home, I no longer considered it 100 percent good. The girl lay in a near coma on the sofa, while Wendi argued she needed to come to the infirmary where she could care for her.
Virginia was dirty and scratched up, her face was bruised, with two black eyes and a bloody swollen lip. Her clothes were ripped, and her feet were bare and pretty ripped up.
Her mother stood over her, arms spread wide as if she could protect her from anything that might happen to harm her again. “No. I’ve just gotten her home, and she’s not leaving again. What if someone takes her again? I couldn’t bear it. She is not leaving my sight.” Her wild eyes and a drop of spittle decorating her lip showed just how close she was to the edge. Not that I could blame the poor woman.
“Clara, it’s not—” Wendi tried again, but the mama’s flailing arms caught her on the cheek, and she stumbled back.
A snarl brought my attention to the corner to see Escher there, reacting to the violence to his mate. If someone didn’t act soon, I didn’t know what would happen. Escher wouldn’t likely get physical with the female, but Virginia’s dad was right here, too, and I could see it getting ugly. Also, if our alpha had to get involved, nobody would be happy in the end. He’d have to punish them all.
Before I could act, my intrepid, overall-wearing grandmother stepped between Wendi and Virginia’s mother. “We can argue all day, or we can do what we need to to help Virginia. She’s drugged out of her mind, her breathing is suppressed, and I think we need to get one of these big, strong men to carry her to the infirmary. Escher? Can you help?” She waved him over. “Now, we don’t want a big crowd, but we want her to feel comfortable when she wakes up, so I think Clara should stay there, too. All right, Wendi?”
Wendi still had a hand to her face, but at the cue, she let it drop and offered a weak smile. “Perfect. Let’s get this show on the road.”
“And my granddaughter.” Gigi pointed to me. “I’ll take the car and go home and bring her some things for overnight or a day or two. That would be best.”
“And when you get back…” Samson’s “alpha voice” carried over the rest of the mutterings going on. “When you get back, I would like to talk to you about the Crystal Lake pack.”
“I haven’t had dealings with them or with Opal in decades,” she protested. “I don’t know how much more help I can offer.”
“Let me be the judge.
It took some time before Virginia woke up. Wendi had her installed in a nice room on the second floor of Moss’ old place, now the pack infirmary. There were twin beds there, so her mom could stay with her all the time, which was enough to mollify Clara. She didn’t want any visitors, an understandable request, but Wendi deputized us in a way, making me her assistant and ensuring I’d already missed three days of school, calling in sick…but if I didn’t show up soon, I’d have to drop my
