“Who the hell do you think you are?” Dad’s dark brown eyes narrowed, and his fists clenched at his sides. “You’re the one who took her away from us, and now you’re hugging my wife?”
“In all fairness, I was instructed to do that by the headmaster.” Cole threw both hands in the air like he was surrendering.
“Sorry, I didn’t know everyone was coming with me.” If I didn’t intervene my Dad might try to kill the annoying vampire. “Rage was coming originally, but the headmaster required that ding-a-ling,” I said as I pointed to Cole, “and my instructor to come too.”
Rage appeared next to me, taking my hand in his.
“Instructor?” Mom’s blue eyes raked scathingly over Damien. “First off, he’s a bear shifter and isn’t that old either.”
“Yes, I’m still a student, but I’ve helped other struggling shifters, so Isadora thought that I’d be the best fit for her.” Damien stepped next to me on my other side.
“And I came along because I’m her best friend.” Jess appeared next to Damien, her grin wide.
“If we are imposing on you, we can find somewhere else to stay.” Rage squeezed my hand.
“No, no.” Mom stepped back into the house and held the door open. “Of course, you’re all welcome to stay.”
Dad openly scowled at Rage’s and my joined hands. “But there will be a girls and boys room.”
“Of course.” Cole smiled and gave a quick glance in Rage’s direction. “I’m sure we’ll all follow that rule.”
“Let’s go in.” Cole was goading Rage, and now wasn’t the time for it. “I need something to drink anyway.”
Luckily, I could count on Jess to help me out. “Hell, yeah. I wanna see what your room looks like.”
“Excuse me?” Dad cleared his throat.
“I’ve got this.” Cole smirked at Dad. “She said, ‘hell, yeah …’”
“I know exactly what she said.” Dad crossed his arms, and a vein in his neck popped to the surface. “Although that’s not proper language from a lady.”
“Oh …” Cole waved his hands and shook his head. “Your first mistake was thinking she is a lady.”
“You jackass.” Jess placed her hands on her hips.
Cole leaned toward Dad as if he was telling him a secret. “See. My point is proven.”
I should’ve known Cole wouldn’t filter himself even with my parents. Honestly, that’s one reason why I loved him. He was who he was, and he wouldn’t be someone else just to please others. “So we’re here.” I walked into the house with Rage and the others close behind me. Dad finally entered the room as he stared all of us down.
The stairs were right in front of the door, but I turned left, heading into the living room. The television was on but muted. I headed to the worn, beige couch in the center as Rage and Damien sat beside me. Jess and Cole headed over to the matching loveseat while mom made her way to the recliner. Dad chose to stand, leaning on the wall behind mom’s chair.
“I’m sorry if we came off rude, but we weren’t expecting anyone else with Raven.” Mom smiled at my friends and sighed. “It’s overwhelming since we haven’t seen our baby in a while, and for her to show up with four other people … strangers…”
“Don’t worry.” Jess returned her smile. “We’ll make sure you get adequate alone-time with your daughter. I’m sure that the three bozos and I will find something to entertain us.”
“So you’re the one that my daughter is dating?” Dad frowned in Rage’s direction.
“Paul …” Mom glanced over her shoulder, giving him one of her infamous looks.
Luckily, I had warned Rage that my parents didn’t know that we were mates. I was afraid it would hurt his feelings, but it didn’t. He understood that my parents were already having a hard time adjusting to me being at Bloodshed, but he hoped that I’d tell them soon. I needed to and planned to do it on this trip, especially since they kept bringing up Greg every time we talked.
“You know y’all could’ve come to see me.” It upset me that they had refused to visit me on campus when they knew I couldn’t come home.
“Oh, we know honey.” Mom glanced at the carpet and picked at her fingernails. “But with you struggling so much with your wolf, we didn’t think it would be wise.”
I wanted to say, “Maybe it would’ve helped,” or, “Maybe if you hadn’t given me the necklace, I wouldn’t have struggled,” but it wouldn’t have changed anything. At the end of the trip, I wanted to have enjoyed my short two days stay here.
A knock on the door made the room eerily quiet.
“I’ll go get it.” Dad hurried out of the room like he couldn’t get away fast enough.
Mom bit her bottom lip, which was her tell, a definite sign for when she was unsure about something. Right as I was about to ask what was wrong, I heard an all too familiar voice.
“Hey, Paul. It looks like our special girl is back.” Jerry’s voice echoed all around the room.
If he was here, that also meant …
“I’d love a chance to talk to her when she has a second.” Greg’s tone was overly arrogant even from where I sat.
Rage tensed beside me. I squeezed his hand, trying to give comfort.
“Yeah, she’s right in here.” Dad appeared unsure, but he couldn’t refuse his alpha.
“I guess that vamp must have brought her here,” Greg muttered as they shuffled into the living room. Greg stopped in his tracks.
His dark brown eyes appeared black as he took in my hand joined with Rage’s. “What the hell?” His usual boyish good looks were a gave way to something darker.
“What my son meant to say is hello.” Jerry gave his son a warning glance and then turned to face everyone in the room. “We’ve been missing Raven badly. So, when we saw the red Audi parked out there, we just had to stop in.” Greg looked like an exact replica of Jerry when he was younger. “To be honest, we weren’t expecting a houseful of guests or we wouldn’t have barged in.”
“It’s no bother.” Mom laughed and stood. “We weren’t expecting a full house either, but I’m so glad they came. It’s nice to meet her friends.”
“How am I not surprised that you guys are together?” Greg scowled in Rage’s direction. “Let me guess. You guys started dating right after I left?”
The room became silent, but Rage met his eyes. “You will not talk to her that way.”
“Like hell I won’t.” Greg stiffened, and his eyes landed on me. “She will be mine again.”
That was all it took for Rage to come unhinged. “Let me be clear. She will never be yours.” He stood and quickly hurried over. He towered over Greg, staring him down. “You will respect her and realize you’ve lost her forever.”
“Hey now.” Jerry pushed his son a few steps back and placed himself between them. “You can’t come here and disrespect my son. This is our pack, not yours.” He turned to his son and pointed. “And you, behave yourself.”