Chapter 20: New Year's Eve

“Get ready to leave on my signal,” I told everyone. “Someone is inside.”

“Who is it?”

“Alpha John Petersen, your brother.” Oh fuck.

“Do a walk-through, Brent, see if there are any other surprises.” I looked back at our group in the parking lot. “My younger brother is in there, and I don’t know why. Stay in the cars until I give the all-clear,” I said to them.

“He’s HERE,” Liv asked, her face showing her panic.

“Get back in the car, please. We may have to leave quickly.” She went around to the other side of the truck, leaving Vicki strapped into her booster. “Dad, you are in charge if anything happens. Get them home at any cost.”

“I’ll take care of them,” he promised.

“Alpha, he moved from the bar to a table with Alpha Todd and his Beta. I don’t sense any hostility. The three are the only werewolves here.”

We outnumbered them eighteen to three, and we were in a public place. If we were going to out ourselves, it might as well be now. “Position yourselves at each end of the bar, we’re coming in.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

I went over to the other cars and explained what was going on. “Show of force on neutral territory around humans,” I said. “I can’t wait to see their faces when they get a whiff of Vicki.”

“You sure you want to do this,” Larry said.

“Better odds here, and less likely to be a problem than at the Memorial. I need to figure out what my brother is up to.” Everyone got out of the cars and formed up around Liv and Vicki. “We’re just family and friends out for dinner,” I said. “Keep it cool and follow my lead, and make sure Vicki is surrounded.”

I led the way inside; there were shouts and greetings as we arrived, mostly for Liv. It took us a few minutes to make it to our table, at the side of the room near the back of the restaurant. I kept an eye on the three werewolves as we walked in, watching their reactions. Todd and his Beta looked at me with contempt, while John looked at me with a mix of sorrow and regret. It was when Vicki walked through the room that everything changed.

Todd’s eyes got wide, and he looked at me as he took a deep sniff. “The fuck,” he whispered to his Beta. “She’s got a MANTLE!”

John’s reaction was more puzzling. He started to cry as he looked at her, and his wolf let out a low whine. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as he watched his daughter walk with the group to the large table. His hands gripped the table until they were white, and I could see his wolf was barely holding on. He excused himself, walking out the front door before he shifted in front of everyone.

It didn’t make sense. Why would John act like that, if he wanted her dead?

Following my wishes, Liv and Vicki were sat in the center of the long table, on the wall side, flanked by their guards Brent and Anita. I sat on the same side of the table, at the end closest to the threat, while Larry and Donna sat at the other end. The rest of our group filled in the remainder of the table. Our waitress greeted Liv eagerly, then took our drink orders. “I’ll take my usual, Sam Adams and king cut medium rare with potato, salad with ranch no tomatoes,” I told her. As she moved on, I looked over at Mike and Anita. “I forgot my phone in the truck, I’ll be right back,” I said.

“I’ll go with you, I’ve got to wash up,” he said. We left the table, but instead of going back towards the rear exit and the parking lot we were in, we headed towards the front, passing the other werewolves.

“What is going on,” Todd whispered as I approached their table.

“The Miesville Pack is having dinner,” I whispered back as I passed. “You should have the formal notification shortly.”

“Oh HELL no.” This pissed my former Beta off, and his own Beta had to hold him in his chair. I’m sure his Beta was talking him off a ledge, reminding him they were in public and among humans. I turned my back to him, a reminder that I didn’t consider him a threat to me. I had the Mantle, he did not, and if we fought this time? I would have something to fight for.

I waved at the owner and shook Mike’s hand at the bar as we passed, then went out the front door into the winter night. It was just below freezing, yet John was leaning against the building in his shirt sleeves. “Watch my back,” I told my Beta as I walked to my brother. I opened the link to my Pack members, except Vicki, so they could listen in.

“You’re looking good, Leo,” John said as I got close.

“Why shouldn’t I kill you here and now,” I asked him. “Vicki is your damn DAUGHTER!”

“YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT?” He started to shake, then looked at the ground. “I can smell my mantle upon her, the mantle promised to my mate and our children.”

“What did you do, brother?”

“I fucked up, Leo. And now, I don’t know what to do about it.” He told me the story; his own rejection, the arrangement he had with Brenda, and how pissed off she was that another had the Mantle. “She wants the Mantle for our eldest child, and she will stop at nothing to get it.”

“How did she find her?”

“Brenda didn’t. I did.” He slid down the wall, sitting with his head in his hands. “I know I told her to abort the baby. I know I didn’t talk to her, support her, or help her. Biologically, she is my daughter. She carries my Mantle, and I’m not worthy of it. I was trying to help her, dammit.”

It hit me. “You hired those idiots to kidnap them.”

“I’ll deny it, and you can prove nothing, but getting them out of harm’s way would have been worth it. Brenda is furious, and she hired private investigators to find Olivia and Vicki so she could have them killed. I was going to spirit them away, let them start a new life somewhere far from all this. The idiots couldn’t even wait until the two were home alone, they just barged in there and killed the grandmother.”

“I’m glad I killed them,” I said. “Vicki is my pack, my heir. You have no claim on her, and Marengo Lakes will not get the mantle back.”

“I don’t want her to get the mantle back. I will not see my child killed so Brenda gets to pass on the Mantle to one of her own.”

I slid down the wall next to him. “The FBI knows about you, we told them.”

“I know, as soon as they approached my house, I ran. When the time comes, it will end with me. I have proof I ordered the kidnapping with me; the confession will ensure the FBI closes the investigation. It will harm no other Pack but my own.”

“What are you doing here? The FBI will be looking for you, and I can’t let you near Vicki or Liv knowing you’re responsible for her grandmother’s death.”

He nodded. “I’m no longer Alpha at Marengo. I broke my mate and Pack bonds with Brenda before I left, so she wouldn’t be able to use the bond to track me.” He winced as he tried to stand up. “I’m getting a hint at what you went through, although I never loved Brenda at all. It was a business arrangement. Now that the failed kidnapping is in the press, she knows who the girl is and where she is. She’ll be here soon, and I’ll be waiting for her.”

“What happens when she gets here, John?”

“She gets killed, or I die protecting my daughter. I couldn’t come to you after what happened, so I went to Todd to buy his help. He turned me down.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think Todd likes me, or my new Pack,” I said.

“Protect her. If Brenda and I die, her mantle can’t be taken away.” He looked over at the entrance. “Todd knows it’s better to ingratiate himself with another Pack Alpha than to associate with a disgraced lone wolf. Watch out for him, Leo. He’s always been an opportunist.”

“I’m not weak anymore,” I said.

He nodded his head. “I love you, Leo. I’m sorry it ended up like this. I’ll grab my coat and go; you guys enjoy your dinner.”

When we got back inside, John went to the coatroom and I walked back towards my table. Todd and his Beta were staring at me. I walked right up to them and sat in the chair across from Todd. “Long time no see, Alpha Todd,” I said.

“You’re banished, Leo. Nobody will deal with you anymore.”

“I’m back. My birthright remains, my mantle intact, and I’ve gathered the required number to get recognition. Nobody is going to care that a weak Alpha kicked me out of his Pack, even your own Pack members. Isn’t that right, Beta?” His Beta was looking at me with wide eyes, knowing I’d just gotten him in deep shit. “I hope you’ve been treating my old Pack members well. Once they know they have an option, we’ll see how many you keep.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Actually, I can. Your Alpha order only lasts as long as they remain in your Pack.” I pulled out my phone, sending a group text. I waited until the Beta’s phone dinged; he looked at it and his eyes got wide. “There. Every member of your Pack now knows that I am back as Alpha of the Miesville Pack, and I’m accepting new members.”

“You son-of-a…”

“Quiet, we’re among humans. As you can sense, I not only have the Mantle, but I have an heir with one as well. I know what you’re thinking, that Marengo will reward you for helping to kill her. Understand this, Todd. If you harm her or assist Marengo to do so in any way, there is nothing in the world that will keep me from killing you. I will make it slow and painful, and kill your family in front of you before I let you die.” I stared into his eyes, my wolf forward, his strength backing up my words. “I don’t need your help, Todd. Stay the hell out of this, and you just might live past the weekend.”

He got up, tossing money on the table and pushing his Beta ahead of him. I got up and went back to my group. My beer, a Sam Adams, was waiting in my place. I took a few of the crispy bread pieces while I waited. “Sorry about that, I had to do some business,” I said.

“What did he want,” Liv said.

“He wanted to catch up, but that won’t happen tonight,” I said.

“He’s my daddy, isn’t he,” Vicki said. Liv’s eyes got wide, and it took me by surprise as well. “You talk, and I can hear things.”

“He’s my brother and your father. He was mated when he met your mother, and that kept him from claiming you as his own. It’s nothing you did, Vicki. He loves you, but he has to leave you with your Uncle to protect you.”

“Leo, will I ever get to be with my father?”

“I don’t know, Vicki. He’s done some bad things, and he might not have the chance.” I didn’t want to go on; how do you tell a girl that the father who abandoned her mother also was responsible for her great-grandmother’s death? I started on my salad as the awkwardness continued. The silence went on for a few minutes.

Liv finally broke the quiet. “Leo, do you do anything special for New Year’s Eve? Any family traditions?”

“I go and get prime rib if it’s Tuesday, watch the ball drop in New York at eleven, call it good and go to bed,” I said to laughs. Carts rolled out with our food; I’d warned Mike that our group ate a lot of rare and medium-rare beef, and he was ready for us. The plate-size slab was almost two inches thick, smothered in mushrooms, with raw horseradish on the side. I looked down to where Vicki was chewing her first piece of prime rib. “How’s your dinner, Sharkbait?”

She smiled as Liv cut her regular-size prime rib into cubes for her. “Regular” size meant it was only an inch and a quarter thick and maybe twenty ounces. “I love it, Unky Leo!”

“She’ll never eat this,” Liv said and she finished cutting it up. “I eat the regular cut for three meals, and I’m three times her weight.”

“I’ll bet you she finishes her slab off and comes after yours,” I said.

Thirty minutes later, she was cutting cubes of her leftover steak and scraping them onto Vicki’s plate. “I have no idea where she’s putting that.”

Anita just laughed. “Her metabolism has changed, and she’s using up a lot of calories.”

“Who wants dessert,” I asked.

Liv rolled her eyes when Vicki raised her hand and said, “ICE CREAM!”

I had my turtle cheesecake as Liv wondered where it all went.