Page 19 of The Goblin in the Sink Drain
The crack of his palm across my cheek didn’t hurt half as much as it shocked me.
Hehitme.
Mydadstruck me.
He had never raised a hand to me in my life. Sure, he let others do it. But him? No. Not once. Until now.
Guess Mercer wasn’t the only one crossing lines where I was concerned today.
“Do you have no loyalty to your pack? To your family? Tome?” Dad twitched as his wolf prowled beneath his skin. “How could you attack Mercer? Not only that, you used silver.”
“He attacked Sloane, and I defended her.”
“I see,” he growled, dark hairs sprouting down his arms. “Mercer, you have your orders.”
I whirled in time to watch him kick the side of Sloane’s head like he was punting a football.
“What are you doing?” I charged after him. “Get away from her.”
“Get back here.” Dad clamped a hand over my upper arm, dragging me away. “You wanted to talk? Let’s talk.” No matter how deep I dug in my heels, I didn’t stand a chance against his brute strength. “Zoe, no interruptions.”
Zoe, who had thrown a rock through the front window of GSG and then raised the alarm, going so far as to cut herself and invent an attacker, granting Dad the excuse he needed to dispatch Mercer to fetch me home to him. Clearly, she had been rewarded for betraying me, since she was stationed at Dad’s side.
Violence thickening the air, Zoe ducked her head and affixed her eyes to his shoes. “Yes, sir.”
Hard fingers biting into my skin, he marched me into the house and straight to his office, where he flung me into the chair across the desk from his imposing wingback that had always reminded me of a throne.
Fitting, since the pack had always called me his princess.
Cheek smarting, I folded my hands in my lap like a good little girl. “The Walshes told me?—”
“They filled your head with nonsense, and you believed them. I thought I raised you to be smarter than that. They’ll say anything—do anything—to win you to their side.”
Hoping to gain a clearer picture, I played along. “To what end?”
“You’re a Sartori. My daughter. They could force an alliance with the pack in exchange for your safety.”
Had the outline of his hand not tingled on my cheek, I might have laughed at his self-importance.
“They’re dragons.Dragons. Do they really need an alliance with us or anyone else?”
That he didn’t even blink confirmed he had already known what they were and hadn’t told me.
“Have you seen them shift? Any of them? Even once?” He drummed his fingers, his nails elongating, on his desktop. “Have you seen an actual dragon at any point during your time with them?”
“No,” I said slowly, debating how much to tell him and deciding less was more.
“Then how do you know they’re telling the truth?”
A lifetime of self-doubt and insecurities swamped me, nibbling away at my earlier bravado. I didn’t know the Walshes were dragons. And, yes, okay, fine. I might be lending them credibility based on their ability to summon flame into their palms. Which other factions, witches and fae among them, could do as well. Even then, as much as it left me questioning my own sanity, I trusted Rían. And Fayne. Liam too, in areas excluding those pertaining to me and my future.
But, unless I wanted Dad’s head to blast off like a bottle rocket, I couldn’t very well tell him that.
“You want to believe them. It’s understandable. I can only imagine they preyed upon your insecurities as a latent.” He leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled at his chin. “Help me make sense of this betrayal, Peanut. You’re my daughter. I raised you, provided for you, loved you. I haven’t asked much of you. I understand your contributions to the pack are hindered by your latency. That’s why I fully supported you moving to Brentwood to start your own business and carve your own path.”
Uncertainty knocked on the door of my memories, tricking me into reexamining the past to determine if things had been as bad as I recalled, or if I was a spoiled child acting out as so many packmates claimed.
No.
