“She’ll have some surprises still up her sleeve, so hope it’s enough.”
He hesitates, studying the document in his hand. “Did this soothe Ella’s beasts?”
“Don’t feel bad for calling me. She has no idea you did,” I say instead of answering, since Ella’s beasts aren’t screaming for dominance the way she thinks they are.
I’m not going to admit what has her beasts pacing. At least not yet. Not to him.
He blows out a frustrated breath. “I didn’t really understand your purpose in my daughter’s life until this moment, but she almost went to try and dominate a dragonite king on her own,” he says quietly, and I hide my fist at my side as it forms. “She’s too young to her power to understand her limitations, and honestly, so is her mother, but Ella is fighting an internal war the best way she knows how. An internal war too different from my own for me to help her. I could help Alyssa,” he goes on, sounding...
I can’t do this.
Not now.
And again, sure as hell not with him.
“Now that you’re indebted to me, I want to see Gavin,” I tell him, and he blinks out of whatever fatherly conundrum he’s struggling with.
“If I let you in a room with Gavin, you’ll kill him. And I assumed helping Ella wasn’t much of a favor to ask, considering you do that freely and often.”
“This was different. I save Ella from act
ual danger, and for all we know, she might have dominated him. She’ll always let me dominate her.”
His eyes narrow on me, and my lips twitch.
“No pun intended,” I add.
I think he actually thinks I’ve already taken his daughter. And for whatever reason, I’d rather him think that. Mostly because I’m a dick like that.
“You wouldn’t have done it if you weren’t worried,” he argues.
Leaning up, I put my elbows on his desk, holding his gaze. “I betrayed her, while all of you, including her, try to go on pretending the inevitable isn’t bound to happen. She’s going to eventually be unable to fight back her true nature. Ready or not, she’s not going to stay in the shadows the way you want her to. I’ve just helped you delay that.”
He looks weary when he drops to a chair. “I don’t know what to do, but now isn’t the time to figure it out,” he says as he runs a hand over his mouth.
“Shit changes. Quit sending her on meaningless errands and start putting her in more important positions. Think like lycans. Think like wolves. Think like every beast inside you. Stop thinking like a man.”
“Lycans and wolves battle themselves to the top,” he growls. “Regardless of what you say, she won’t—”
“She won’t have a choice,” I say, finishing the sentence differently than he wants me to. “Continue to suppress her, and she’ll eventually be forced to challenge one or both of you. She’ll never live with herself if that happens.”
He flings everything off his desk, panting for air as he leans on it.
“When you’re finished with your tantrum, take me to Gavin,” I tell him again. “Trust me when I say I’ve earned this, because you have no idea—”
I stop talking, unable to go back and look at Ella’s eyes in my memories, but I blow out a breath as I pinch the bridge of my nose and allow my eyelids to lower for longer than it takes to blink.
Ella’s screaming into the air, her body shifting as her eyes go from silver to black. She’s been at this for two days, still in Alaska. Her body shifts when she’s on the brink of the madness, then she does it all over again in a pattern.
Shifting so much in such short intervals, while fighting with your own mind has to be excruciating. Her next scream as she shifts back has me opening my eyes, even as my heart thuds in my ears.
“She’s trying to get control. She’s doing all this alone,” I go on, a slight growl to my tone as I sit up, then lean back again, feeling antsy.
“I guess it’d be nice if she had someone who’s already gone through all this to help her out, wouldn’t it?” Kane asks a little bitterly.
My eyes narrow on his.
“Tell me you want me to be the man your daughter ends up with for all eternity. I dare you,” I scoff.