Chapter 78
JOSH Watching all the rogues disappear from the street, my wolf and I looked around to check on everyone. We were all alive, including Leah’s friend and her mum. My eyes locked on Tala in the house doorway with Lucy behind her. Considering she hadn’t had any training, she and Leah were magnificent. The way she killed anyone who went near Lucy’s mum and even saved her best friend was all amazing. I couldn’t wait for Jenny and Carson to see her. She will make one hell of a luna. Shaking my head, a mind link came from through. “Lost them,” Lucian muttered, breathing hard. “They all went in different directions.” “Come back,” I said, looking through my wolf’s eyes at Lucy’s mum. I never saw a human fight like a raving lunatic with a branch in her hand. I helped her when a rogue tried to jump on her from her behind, but she took him out with one swipe. She had a good swing. “Damn, your mate is impressive,” I blurt out, which only caused Lucian to laugh. “Damn straight.” The mind link closed while a hand went to my wolf’s fur. He looked up and nudged her leg. It was Lucy’s mum. “Don’t scare her,” I muttered. My wolf rolled his eyes at me but said nothing. We watched as she knelt in front of me. “I knew something was up when Leah returned, but I never would have thought you were all werewolves. We need answers, and I promise not to freak out.” “Give her a nod. She deserves to know everything.” My wolf did what I said and nodded. Lucy’s mum stared at us for a moment before she continued. “If you are that woman’s lover, I applaud you. No man would ever help a woman’s child with another man like you just did. Maybe there is more to you and her than I thought and was told.” I stared at her, wondering what the hell she meant by that. Anger from my wolf swept through, not liking what she had said, and pulled away. A low growl rumbled as we stared. Lucy’s mum surrendered. “I didn’t mean any harm with what I said.” Her eyes darted to the house, which made me look to see what she was looking at—Tala. “That kid went through hell. I only started helping when I saw her father struggling one day. He was sitting on the front step of the house, crying.” Hearing that made my heart sink. A man losing it by crying would never happen. It was unheard of in our kind, but it takes a lot for something to bring us down like that with humans. “The man lost his job and needed money, so he took some odd jobs with a local firm, but it wasn’t what he thought it was,” she muttered, causing us to look back at her. Her eyes locked on us, and she sighed. “He never told me what exactly, but it scared him to cry like that. He wanted to get out whatever was happening.” Did the wolves get to him before? “He left something for Leah in my house, which she needs to have. It’s a letter. He wrote it a week before his death. I received it when her mum took her away. His lawyer gave it to me.” There was nothing to say to that. “I take it all three of you will need a change of clothes. I have some menswear here. They belonged to my brothers when he stayed here last month.” My wolf gave her a nod as he watched her move up. “Mum!” Lucy ran over to her and hugged her. I needed to get away, which I did. I headed toward the house but sat near a tree. Opening a mind link to my mate and Carson needed to be done. “Josh wants to go on, is everything—” 1 I didn’t let my mate continue. “We were ambushed.” A gasp slipped past the link, but Carson spoke next. “Leah, is she—” “She’s fine and also helped.” There was the pride slipping through hearing my words. Carson had already fallen head over heels with Leah, but he would have to wait till she was of an age for her to be his. This could be hard since he is an alpha. “Where my parents there?” Jenny asked, anger slipping past at her question. “No. Just rogues.” “Now that’s interesting,” Carson muttered. “Why wouldn’t they be there? They were hellbent on having her killed, or better yet, getting involved with the gamma.” That part was true. Everything we learned over the last few hours and days was that they were all against Leah. They didn’t want to have anything to do with her, not even as grandparents. It was like a switch flipped. The worst part was when they fingered her; she was human. “Wait till they learn she is not,” my wolf murmured. That part would be hard even for Jenny to swallow, not being there for her first shift, hearing Tala tell her why she did what she did to protect Leah, and even more. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it must be said. I am all for my mate and always will. But how she dealt with everything back then hit hard when she explained what happened to us, what she was expecting from Leah, rainbows and daises. Shaking my thoughts away before either of them knew I was getting agitated. It had to be with the attack we went through. “I need you to tell me what happened,” Carson muttered, so I did. I explained everything in great detail, only leaving out Tala. I told him about her friend and her mum being involved. It seemed these rogues knew who the girls were, which would be hard but not unheard of. “Humans helped you,” he said, sounding surprised. “When you leave, you will need to bring them with you back to the pack.” My mate said nothing, even though I could sense her through the link. That part got to her, and I knew why. She would have to face Lucy’s mum. “Sure thing, alpha,” I said. “But if we got attacked, I think the pack will too.” “I think the same,” he said, sounding angry. “I will let you know when to come back home. Get rid of the dead bodies and stay inside.” “Sounds like a reasonable plan.” Carson left the link, leaving me and Jenny. “Babe, I don’t think—” “Jenny,” I said, cutting her off and knowing where she was going with her next sentence. “Lucy and her mum will come whether you like it or not. They helped in the fight and saw us shift. Any human sees such a thing. You know it’s the law to bring them into the pack.” Jenny was quiet, but I continued. “You should be happy that there were people here who love her and helped her,” I muttered. “I will talk to you later. I have some dead bodies to get rid of.” Closing the link to my mate before she could speak was all I could. I didn’t want to hear her complain or even think about herself for once. She needed to think about Leah instead, and that part I could do. I needed to. Knowing Jenny, she would beat herself up about everything, like before, but now she had to deal with it and get over whatever guilt she had. We have three kids now, and I wouldn’t let her sink lower than she has. Leah had no one, only me and the ones here—Lucian, Lucy, and her mum. We needed to be here. “Here!” someone said, dropping some shorts and a t-shirt to the ground in front of my wolf. We looked up and spotted Lucy’s mum. She gave me a nod and walked away. My eyes went to the doorway, where I spotted Leah, who had now shifted back into herself. Sensing I was looking, Leah turned to face me and gave me a small smile. “Leah mentioned her wolf said you and her uncle will take care of everything,” Lucy’s mum said, making me look at her. “I mean, the dead bodies.” My wolf nodded. “Well, when you have finished, you and he can come to mine since you have no furniture over there, and I have a hot, running shower, even food.” She stopped and stared at me momentarily before saying what I knew was coming. “Lucy and I need answers,” she said. “You and that oversized ego jackass need to tell us what the hell is going on.” The oversized ego jackass was a new one for me, but thinking about Lucian was like that. He deserved it. My wolf agreed, even chuckling at what she had said. But the woman was right. They deserved to know, and once we took care of all the bodies, we would do that.