20 – Fathers and Fiends and Flowers

Grey could feel Rex listening from somewhere outside the cells, but only because Azer helped him.

“I’m almost used up,” Azer said, his voice echoing stronger than it had before, so that Rex could hear. “Soon he won’t be able to get anything more from me unless he has me killed.”

Grey knew what he was supposed to say. He would play his part for now. “He can’t kill you?” he said out loud, also projecting the thought in ruhi, wanting to be sure Rex heard it.

“No, only an agent of Rhen can kill me,” Azer boomed.

“How?” Grey said, wondering how anyone was supposed to believe he was still an ‘agent of Rhen.’

“With my daughter’s pendant.”

“Then I guess Khain will never get what he wants,” Grey intoned.

Azer laughed and his tone twisted. “Unless he makes you kill me.”

Grey laughed, too. Why not, it was all preposterous, right? He felt Rex wanting to bolt, to run and tell his master what he’d heard. Sit tight, Rexie, I guarantee you it’s going to get better.

“What happens if you die?” Grey boomed, really getting into it.

Azer didn’t speak for a beat. Chastising him? Or adding dramatic flair? That was the problem with angels, you never could tell, even when they thought they were being obvious.

“If I die, the demon gets that power he keeps stealing from me permanently. You know, the power to transfer to the Ula without being tracked by the felen, and without the earthquakes he makes now.”

Damnit. Grey had wanted to say one of those lines. He only had one left. He would make it count. “Meaning the wolves will never have any idea where he is or what he’s doing?” Grey intoned, in his best James Earl Jones voice.

“YES.”

Grey couldn’t tell if that was true or not. No, he decided. It felt like a half-truth to him. But which half?

What did the angel know, that none of the rest of them did?

***

Troy thought about his mate while he shaved Blake’s wolf’s furry chest. Trevor had left the room to make some phone calls, but Remington and Conri were still there, discussing. For some reason, he couldn’t get his mind off his mate’s father. The angel.

Troy finished, eyeing the clock, wondering if he were still going to the speech therapy appointment that day. Maybe he should cancel it and stay with Blake. How often did he have to say a word with W in it, anyway?

Go, his wolf whispered.

Troy thought of before, of the times when his wolf had been wrong recently, and he almost argued. His wolf leaned in closer. Go, came the command.

“Fine,” Troy barked into the room, making Remington jump.

“Sorry,” Troy said, and he left the room to find his brother.

Trevor was just outside the front door, pacing on the porch, a throng of cats parting just enough that he wouldn’t kick them as he walked. He might have been trying to.

Trevor saw him, looked at his watch, then spoke into the phone. “Make it happen.” He hung up.

“Mac and Rogue are busy,” he said. “So I’m going to take you to your appointment.”

“I’ll stay,” Troy said, making his wolf growl at him.

“I’ve got patrol on their way. Blake will be ok.”

Troy nodded and they headed out for Trevor’s truck and hit the road, Trevor uncharacteristically quiet.

Troy scented his brother’s apology coming. “You don’t have to say it,” he said. “I know.”

“I shouldn’t have questioned your instincts,” Trevor said. “I’m sorry. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had known Blake was part-foxen any earlier.” He hesitated, then asked his question. “Do you know how much foxen blood he has in him?

“No,” Troy said.

“What have you decided about your mate?” Trevor asked carefully.

“Decided? Nothing.”

Trevor nodded, like he’d expected that. “Look in the back,” he told Troy.

Troy did. There was a bouquet of pretty flowers and a heart-shaped box of candy.

“After this, we go to Mugshots,” Trevor was saying. “We find your mate, you do your thing, and then we go from there.”

Troy eyed his brother. He twisted to grab the flowers and candy from the back. It was an ok plan, except for one thing. Those flowers had to go, and he would buy chocolate for his mate himself.

“Take me to my appointment,” he said. “I got the rest.

Trevor nodded, relieved. “I’ll wait and drive you over there after.”

No, don’t wait.

“You’ll walk?”

Sure.

Trevor pulled into a parking lot and stopped in front of the door of a doctor’s office.

Troy got out, tucking the flowers and candy under his arm, then turning around to face his brother. I got this, I’ll take care of it.

Trevor nodded at him. Call me if you need me.

He drove away. Troy watched him go.

Throw them away, his wolf said.

Troy turned around and headed for the building, stopping at a trash can just outside the door. He shoved the flowers inside it. Troy made to drop the candy inside the trash can also, but first he opened the cardboard heart and grabbed a handful, shoving them all in his mouth and chewing.

Troy hit the door, his mouth full of ordinary chocolate, his brain hoping his wolf wasn’t wrong again. As soon as he hit the waiting room inside, he knew his wolf had been right all along.

He scented his mate.