Chapter 68

Gabriel found Jack on the porch, as if the man had known he would come looking. The afternoon had chased most of the snow away. White still lay in the deeper shadows beneath the trees and along the north side of the barn, but the yard itself had gone patchy, grass and mud showing through in places where boots and the thaw had pushed the last remnants of winter into the ground. Water dripped steadily from the porch roof.

Jack stood at the railing with his nearly ever-present mug in one hand, looking out over the yard in the same still, watchful way he looked at everything. He didn't turn when Gabriel stepped out onto the porch. Whether Jack had heard him coming or scented him first, he gave no sign.

For a moment Gabriel said nothing. He had not known exactly how he meant to begin this conversation. Anger had carried him home from town, but by the time he reached the house, the anger had melted along with the snow. It was still there though, simmering instead of burning hot.

Jack took a slow sip from the mug.

"Well," he said at last. "By the smell and look of you, I would say someone in town spilled the beans."

Gabriel stopped beside the porch post and looked at him. "You're talking about Kelsey."

Jack didn't respond. That was a confirmation all on its own.

Gabriel's fists clenched at his sides. "Grace at the diner thought I already knew."

Jack's jaw shifted once. He didn't seem surprised, only mildly irritated. "Grace has always been a blabbermouth."

"So is the whole damn town, apparently."

Now Jack looked at him. The two of them held each other's gaze for one long second, the years between them stretching taut.

Gabriel spoke first. "You let me believe it was a car accident."

Jack's mouth flattened. "It was a car accident."

"You know what I mean."

Jack did not answer immediately. He set the mug down on the railing with care, then braced both hands against the weathered wood and looked back out toward the yard.

"I told you enough for what you were able to carry at the time."

The words landed exactly where Gabriel had known they would. He hated them because they were true.

"I had a right to know."

"You had a right not to tear yourself apart again when it would have helped no one."

The answer came without heat. That made it worse. Gabriel's jaw clenched until it hurt.

Jack kept going, his voice steady and hard and unsoftened by apology. "You had barely come back. Barely." His eyes narrowed at the line of trees beyond the drive. "What exactly would've improved by telling you that boys laid a trap for her, dragged her into the woods, and used her as bait for a challenge while you were still one bad scent away from tearing through the barn and yourself?"

Gabriel swallowed. He wanted to argue. And for one blazing moment, he wanted to bite back with something cruel. But the words wouldn't come, because his father was right. Gabriel hated that he was right.

He looked away first and found himself staring at the yard, at the old oak, at the barn beyond it, dark now but no longer his prison. One longitudinal crack marred the wall where he had slammed into it, like a scar. Shame moved through him in a low, bitter wave. He had not been fit for the truth then. He knew it. His father knew it.

"If I had known," Gabriel said after a moment, quieter now, "I would have gone after them myself."

Jack gave a short, humorless breath. "Exactly. And you would've lost yourself. Completely this time." He paused. "You can't blame me for not wanting that for you. You can't blame your daughter for not wanting to lose you, either."

Gabriel closed his eyes for one second. There it was. The whole sickening truth of it. When he opened his eyes again, Jack was looking at him with that hard lupine honesty.

For a while neither of them spoke. Water dripped from the porch roof. Somewhere inside the house a cabinet door shut.

Then Gabriel said, "Tell me about the Greystone boy." He said it casually, too casually to pass unnoticed.

If Jack had expected the turn, he did not show it. Only one eyebrow lifted slightly.

"What about him?"

Gabriel kept his eyes on the yard because not looking at Jack made the next words easier to speak. "What was he doing there? Why did those boys target Kelsey to challenge him?"

Jack said nothing.

Gabriel's voice lowered. "I told her to stay away from him the moment I brought them here."

That got a small shift out of Jack at last. His eyes moved over Gabriel with the caution of a man tiptoeing his way through unstable ground.

"He was there because of duty," he said at last. "That's the truth."

Gabriel turned to look at him fully. "The whole truth?"

Gabriel held his gaze. Jack held it right back. There were other answers in the space between them. Both of them knew it. Both of them could feel it there, hidden under the clean, practical word 'duty'.

Gabriel took one step closer to the railing and braced both hands on it, hard enough that the old wood pressed into his palms.

"Duty doesn't explain why they used her to challenge him ."

Jack's expression did not change, but something in the air did. A small tightening. A fresh measure of care. He chose his next words like a man stepping barefoot over broken glass.

"No," he said. "It doesn't."

Gabriel let out a tired breath as he stared out toward the road beyond the trees. "I don't want her tied to a lupine," he said. It came out rougher than intended.

Jack didn't respond.

"Especially not a Greystone." He paused. "I brought her here... Both of them... Temporarily." He let out a tired breath. "This world is not for them. Our ways are not for them. They are too gentle, too human." He shook his head. "A challenge between males is one thing," Gabriel said. "But you know why I worry. If she gets involved with him, or any other male, and he marks her, you know exactly what would follow." Gabriel's jaw tightened. "You know as well as I do that Kelsey can't answer that. I don't want her near any possible situation where she might be coerced into it. I won't allow it. Not ever, under any circumstance." The words were simple, quiet, but fell like a silk handkerchief over a deadly blade.

Jack nodded with a slight frown as if he was considering Gabriel's words.

Then Gabriel turned his full focus to his father. "Besides, you know how Jason Greystone would react if his heir was implicated. He'd target her, he..."

"I have already spoken to Jason." Jack interrupted.

The tone of his voice was quiet, yet Gabriel felt it like a blow. "You spoke to him? When?"

"Shortly after the incident. Made sure he understood the grave importance of Kelsey's and Hailey's safety."

"And?"

"He extended his own protection over the girls in the entire valley." Jack paused. "Woods included."

For several long moments Gabriel was speechless. When he finally spoke, it was in a whisper. "Why would he do that?"

Jack took a sip. "Because I made my point clear. And because he's smart enough to know better than to poke a wasp's nest."

The words settled between them. Gabriel felt the weight of every single one.

Jack remained quiet for so long that Gabriel almost thought he would leave the sentence hanging in the air. Instead, after a pause, he said, "I understand your concerns, son. I had concerns once, too. That's exactly why I'm not eager to see you repeat my mistakes."

Gabriel went completely still. The words died in his throat. He turned his head.

Jack was not looking at him now. He was looking out into the yard again, one hand resting over the mug, the other on the railing, his posture calm enough to be mistaken for ease by anyone who hadn't known him for half a lifetime.

Gabriel's fingers tightened around the porch rail until the tendons in his hands stood out white. He wanted to deny the comparison. Wanted to say Kelsey was not Diane, Ethan was not him, the risk was different, the stakes uglier, the whole equation inherently more dangerous. Instead, he stared at the wood beneath his hands until the grain blurred.

From inside the house came the faint sound of Hailey laughing at something Elise must have said. The sound moved through him like a knife and a blessing at once.

Before either man could speak again, the low grind of an engine came up from behind the trees. Half a minute later, the car rolled into view through the thinning slush, tires bumping slowly over the ruts. The car stopped crookedly near the porch.

Gabriel looked it over. The mechanics had actually managed to return it to something roadworthy. It wasn't as good as new, the hood didn't sit straight, one headlight sat lower than the other, there were several dents they weren't able to pull out and the paint didn't fully match, but it drove.

Kelsey leaned over the wheel, cut the engine, and shoved the door open. For a second she sat there, gathering her bag, and then she stepped out into the pale afternoon. Her boots splashed in the melting snow as she came toward the house. She looked tired but whole. That alone eased something in Gabriel's chest.

As she climbed the porch steps, her eyes moved from Jack to him and immediately narrowed. She noticed everything.

"What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

Gabriel felt, rather than saw, the strain still running under his own body. He made his mouth move around a smile before she could catch too much of it.

"Everything's fine, pup."

The words came easily. Too easily, perhaps. He became aware only then that one hand was still clamped hard around the porch railing. He forced it loose.

Kelsey looked from him to Jack and back again, clearly not convinced. "Uh-huh."

Jack made a quiet sound that might have been amusement and might just as easily have been disapproval in another coat. Gabriel ignored him.

"How was school today?" he asked.

Kelsey shifted the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder and gave him a look that said she knew perfectly well she was being redirected and was choosing, for now, not to fight him on it.

"Same old lupine weird," she said, shrugging. "But manageable."

That got a real, small smile out of him before he could stop it. She smiled back then, just a little. She walked a few steps, climbed up the porch and paused, eyes flickering between her father and grandfather. "Can I ask you something? It's probably stupid. And a little embarrassing."

Eyes of both men narrowed onto her. She bit her lip, and for a moment Gabriel thought she might stay silent. Then, as if she realized she'd already gone too far, she blurted, "Do I smell any different to you lately?" A blush climbed up her cheeks and she diverted her eyes.

The question hit him so unexpectedly that his entire body turned to stone before his mind had even caught up with it. He had no idea what she was referring to, and by the puzzled expression on Jack's face, he didn't know either.

"Who told you that?" Jack asked, too calmly. Gabriel watched Kelsey's fingers tighten around the strap of her bag.

"Nell mentioned something about it the other day, but she wasn't sure," she let out a breath. "And then today I heard some girls mention it in the bathroom." Her cheeks were flaring red now but her eyes flickered back to him, as if she was checking for damage."I figured if anyone would know, it'd be you."

He clenched his teeth and forced his muscles to thaw.

"No." The word that fell out of Jack's mouth was simple but the look he gave Gabriel was anything but. It lasted only a second before he redirected it at Kelsey. Her palms were sweating now, the sharp scent of adrenaline bursting out of her pores.

He caught her shoulder a fraction of a moment before his mind caught up. It was to steady her, to calm her. Still her eyes shot at him before he could explain, scared and wide. He released her, stepping back.

"Pup. It's alright." He forced himself to sound calm. "It's just..."

"You're our blood. We don't sense your scent the same way others do." Jack cut in. "Never have. Should have probably explained it better." His eyes flicked to Gabriel again. There wasn't anger there, only weight.

Gabriel took it with a hard swallow. He was the one who was supposed to explain these things, yet hadn't.

He felt a sharp burn in his palm and realized the porch railing had splintered beneath his grip. He ignored it.

"When did this change occur?" he asked. "What did Nell say?"

Kelsey blinked. "I don't know. After I came back to school." Her fingers slipped down the backstrap. She looked away. "You know what, it's so embarrassing, forget I've said anything. It's not like it even matters. The school's okay, I'm okay, just, please forget I said anything." She moved to pass around him. He didn't stop her. Neither did Jack.

They both watched the porch door close behind her in silence.

Gabriel felt it there like weather, unsure whether the clouds were gathering close or pulling apart.

But for now Kelsey was home, alive and okay, and that had to be enough.

For now.