Dannika Dark - Seven Years

Austin bent forward with a menacing scowl, speaking almost inaudibly. “Nobody fucks with my pack.”

Lorenzo slid the loop of the belt over Nelson’s head and tightened the strap around his neck. And just like that, Lorenzo took the man who raised me away. The man I no longer called my father and one I never wanted Maizy to understand was hers. A man who’d threatened her life, betrayed my family, and who held no value to the beautiful life that once belonged to my older brother.

I never saw Nelson Knight again.

Austin peered over his shoulder; Prince had the Mage under control. The next thing I knew, he leaned in and slid his arms behind me, helping me up. I held onto his neck as we traded places and he pulled me into his lap.

“Whatcha doin’ here?” I said weakly, trying my best to smile.

Austin whispered something in my ear, a single word that made all my pain disappear.

“Shift.”

I didn’t think I’d ever get used to coming back into consciousness after shifting. It was disorienting, like a night after partying where I could only remember snippets of what happened.

But the sting in my arm had vanished and the only evidence remaining that I had been shot were smears of crimson across my flesh. I awoke on the front porch, naked, and Austin slid a knee-length T-shirt over my head. I robotically put my arms through the sleeves and turned around.

“You okay?” he asked.

But my mind was elsewhere. A sheet covered the body of the Mage, blood soaking through the white fibers, especially around the head. Prince stood before him, yanking up a pair of jeans I recognized as one of Austin’s because of the hole in the knee.

His arms swung at his sides and he approached Denver’s wolf, who was shielding Maizy. Prince wiped the blood from his face and chest with a wadded-up shirt as his pack looked on. In a commanding voice, he said, “Back away, and let me have the child.”

I shivered at the authority in his voice. A feral growl rose from Denver and Prince shouted his order once again. This time, everyone in his pack lowered their heads submissively.

Prince bent down and lifted Maizy into his arms. He softly hummed a melody, taking a seat in the chair on the porch. She relaxed, coping as most little children do. She stopped sucking her thumb and patted her hand against her leg to the rhythm of his song.

Silent tears wet my cheeks.

Austin crouched on his knee and held one of my braids between his fingers. “How did you know to come here?” he asked Prince, but his crystal-blue eyes never looked away from me.

“I have a scout,” Prince replied, pointing up at a red-tailed hawk perched in a tall tree. “That’s not in violation of your territory; you don’t have control of the sky.”

“Why did you feel the need to have someone on my place?” Austin asked apprehensively, looking over his shoulder.

Prince considered this and stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. “I made an agreement to help find the man who took her. We knew he was back in the city, but once again, lost his trail.” Prince tipped Maizy forward and closed the rip in the back of her shirt. “You should take care to keep this mark covered,” he said in a low voice. “They sell makeup which will camouflage it for a young child who doesn’t understand the dangers.”

He shared a private look with Austin and I crawled over and brushed my hands through her hair. “You okay, Maze? Bad guys are gone now and won’t be coming back ever again.”

“Why did he do that?” she asked in a sad voice. “He hurt you.”

“No, honey. He missed. See?” I showed her my arm. “Don’t you worry about me, little Maze. I’ve got that big-sister magic going on.”

“Magic?” she asked.

“There are very bad men in this world, child,” Prince began. He grasped her attention as she looked up into his pensive eyes—one sapphire and one brown. “But there are also men who will protect you. Always remember that, and surround yourself with only those you trust. You are but a fragile human, and there are things in this world you can’t comprehend.”

Maizy suddenly hopped off his lap and went inside the house. Austin finally sat down beside me, stroking my back.

“That advice goes for you too,” Prince said, lowering his sharp eyes to mine. The hair he once had in a tight ponytail now fell free across his shoulders. “I hope whichever pack you choose, you keep the little one with you. She is a special child.”

“I’m aware of that,” Austin said. “She’s staying with me. As long as her mother wants to remain with my pack, then she’s welcome to, even if Lexi goes her own way.”

Denver appeared, pulling a white T-shirt over his head as he walked barefoot across the hot gravel in a pair of jeans. He stopped, bent over, and brushed the soles of his dirty feet.

Prince stood up and slowly stepped off the porch. “My work is done here; the fiend has been brought to justice. I hear you’re moving,” he added, looking over his shoulder. “You still have my alliance. Let me know if you run into trouble with any of the packs out that way. I have pull.”

He strode away with the confidence of a man who had been leading a pack for decades, if not longer. As he passed Denver, Prince showed respect for his bravery by touching his shoulder as he looked down at the corpse.

“My hero!” Maizy cried out, bounding toward the two men.

Denver grinned from ear to ear, but the light in his eyes dimmed when Maizy ran up to Prince and smothered him with a hug. Prince patted her head as she waved for him to squat down to her level. Denver stepped aside and turned his back, wiping the dirt off his jeans.

I went to say goodbye to the man who saved my sister’s life.

“You all right?” I asked Denver.

He shrugged off my question and messed with his blond hair. I was about to hug him when he bent over and brushed a few pebbles from the bottom of his foot.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Maizy open her tiny hand and say, “Shhh.” She placed a small, glittery stone in Prince’s hand. A diamond.

“What’s this?” he asked, watching it sparkle in the light.

“That’s for my ring, silly.”

“What ring?”

“The one you’re going to give me when I grow up.”

Prince furrowed his brow and I stooped down to her level. “Maizy, where are the rest of these?”

“I hid the treasure,” she declared.

“Tell me where they are, honey.”

“I don’t want the bad guys to get them.”

This was going nowhere. Maizy once hid a bag of licorice I brought home from the store. She refused to tell where, even when mom took away all her dolls and movies as punishment. We found the candy seven months later inside a pair of old loafers in the hallway closet. A trail of ants led us to the scene of the crime.

Prince rose to his feet and stared at the diamond in the palm of his cupped hand. “Here,” he finally said, extending his arm toward me.

“No!” Maizy cried.

Tears sprang from her eyes and he immediately palmed it and bent over. “It was only in jest,” he said with a warm smile. She pouted, as if he had made fun of her. “I promise to keep your treasure safe and return it to you someday, little one. You have my word.”

That was all she needed, and Maizy shyly turned away. Denver had walked off several paces, staring at the cars that belonged to my father and the Mage. They would have to dispose of them. Maizy tugged on the hem of his shirt and he peered over his shoulder at her. She watched him patiently until he mashed his lips together to suppress a grin.

“C’mon, Peanut,” he said. “Let’s go home.” She held up her arms and without a word, Denver bent over and lifted her up as he walked barefoot down the road.

“Lock up tight,” Austin yelled out to him. “We’ll stay behind and clean up.”

* * *

Maizy must have told a doozy of a story after Denver took her to the new house, because when my mom called to check on me, she was in a state of panic. It took a while to calm her nerves and assure her it was all over. I changed into a fresh pair of clothes and sat in the maroon recliner, staring at the black television screen. Two Breed lawmen had arrived to collect the body and interrogate us. Because the crime took place on Austin’s territory, he was within his rights to protect his pack and his home. Austin covered for Prince for reasons I didn’t understand.

“Why don’t you shift again,” he suggested, walking into the living room and looking down his nose at me. A slightly crooked nose, because it looked like someone had broken it a long time ago and he chose not to heal. Or couldn’t.

“I’m fine. We went over this already,” I said, feeling despondent about the turn of events.

“You were shot, Lexi. You’re not fine.”

He had a point.

“I’m just shaken up a little, I guess. I’m not sure how to feel about what’s going to happen to my father.”

“Don’t hold on to a shred of guilt for a man who never loved you. He wouldn’t have blinked if your sister got hurt, and he sure as hell didn’t blink when he put a bullet in your arm,” Austin growled.

I tried not to notice Austin was still shirtless. Not to mention he had picked up a golden tan that afternoon. I looked away and closed my eyes. Austin knelt in front of me and pulled off my shoes so he could rub my bare feet. God, his warm hands felt exquisite against my sensitive skin.

“Stay with me, Lexi. I’m asking you to choose my pack and make it official. You can have all the freedom you want, no strings attached. We’ll look after you, and my brothers will help you get started with the business. I’ll even let you have first dibs on any room in the new house.”