Chapter Fifteen
Cricket sat out in the garden that evening after dinner, her feet dangling in the koi pond she’d had put in. It was large and lush, big enough for a variety of creatures. The koi were extravagant, including the golden koi fish who always seemed to be wherever she was around the pond, but the turtles were her favorite. They sat around her on the edge, staying close enough for her to touch them every now and then. They always congregated around her.
Her toes made ripples across the pond, encouraging the fish to swim around her feet, their tails brushing along her skin in welcome. That was how Radley found her some time later once the stars came out in the sky. He took one look at the creatures around her and hummed low in his throat.
“Animals are fond of you,” he commented.
“It’s a fae thing,” she shrugged, dismissing it as anything odd.
Radley raised his brow and came over to the edge. The turtles moved away from him, clustering around her other side as he took a seat. The creatures were as unafraid of him as they were of her, but they didn’t get as intimate with him, as if he was a different beast altogether. He didn’t take it personally; he was a predator, after all.
“No, it’s not,” Radley countered. “I’ve seen fae that animals run from.” He glanced at her. “There are never animals near your father.”
Cricket frowned, surprised he’d made the connection. “It came from my mother actually. There were always animals around her. The yard was full of birds attracted to her brightness.” Sighing, Cricket glanced up at the stars above her, at their twinkle. “The day she died, so many of them never came back. It took me awhile before I realized I had the same gift because I stopped going outside. Once I finally did, the animals came back.”
“I see. I suppose I’m just another animal in your orbit then,” he murmured.
Looking over at him, Cricket studied his profile as he watched the stars, as he dipped his own toes in the water. “How did you know my father doesn’t have the same gift?”
He looked over at her. “How much do you know of the debt I owe your father?”
Pursing her lips, Cricket shifted in her seat. “Nothing actually, only that you owe him a life debt.”
“Ah, yes,” Radley grunted. “But only one life debt despite him helping to save three wolf cubs.”
“Wait, what?”
Radley nodded. “He didn’t consider it as three lives because they were so small, which is great for my debt, but insulting to the three lives in the balance that day. A fae decided he wanted to collect wolf pups and stole them from the Clan. Our security was good but apparently not good enough for the fae that came creeping in. He was old, powerful, and when the mother woke up to find her children missing after he knocked her out with sleeping powder and her husband badly beaten to near death, she sounded the alarm. The entire Clan went hunting for the fae, but in the end, your father swooped in once we found the location and ‘rescued’ the wolf cubs for us before the other fae could skin them for their pelts. The pups were safe, but if I didn’t agree to the debt, your father claimed the pups belonged to him since he’d saved them. I knew it for the manipulation it was, but I remember staring at the frightening wolf cubs and their mother crying behind me, and I would have agreed to anything to reunite them. Your father knew that and used it to his advantage.”
“The cubs?” Cricket asked, watching him closely as he told his story.
He met her eyes. “The three of them are adults now. The oldest is married with cubs on the way of his own. They took some time to address the trauma, but all of them turned out okay. The youngest, he doesn’t go around the fae at all. Lisa, the middle cub, will one day be an alpha of her own.”
Cricket sighed. “It says a lot about you that you gave the life debt without hesitation despite knowing what he was doing. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“It’s not your fault.” Radley shrugged. “It’s the way of the fae. Debts and favors and tricks.”
“Still,” she continued. “I’ve always thought it foolish for fae to collect favors for simply doing the right thing. Why hurt someone when they’re already hurt?”
Radley tilted his head, studying her, as if they words didn’t make sense coming out of her mouth. “Well,” he finally said, his voice soft. “When you take over the Snapdragon family, maybe you can change things.”
Sadness filled her at his words, and she shook her head. “I can’t take it over.”
Radley frowned. “Why? You’re the heir.”
“I’m female.”
“So? There are female alphas in wolf clans.”
Cricket kicked her toes gently in the water, making the koi fish swirl around her. “Fae families are old fashioned. Males take the mantle. Females are expected to marry for better connections.”
“But there’s no male heir to your family.”
“Precisely, which is why I must marry and find someone suitable that can one day take over the family I should be taking over. If I’m lucky, maybe they’ll allow me some say in how things are run, though that’s unlikely.” She sighed and looked down, but despite not looking at him, she could feel Radley’s gaze on her, as if he were trying to read her soul.
“That’s why you’re racing, isn’t it?”
Cricket glanced at him sharply, surprised he’d made the connection so quickly. “It seems you’re very good at digging for secrets, Alpha Whiteclaw.” She sighed. “Yes, I’m attempting to prove that I’m worth more as I am so I won’t be married off. I’m great at marketing and have proven myself in the business side of things but my father still thinks it will benefit the family more if I marry someone with their own empire to bring into the Snapdragon fold. A month ago, he handed me a folder full of approved potential suitors and told me to pick from them.”