Page 131 of Conner's Luna

I stiffen while Bailey hisses a reprimand at her dad.

"No, Bailey, this needs to be said. I want this out in the open, absolutely fucking clear, understand?" Hank's eyes hold mine. Impressive for a human, I'm sure my wolf is showing through.

"My daughter is a genius with the world at her fingertips. I know those little bitches at school have been giving her a hard time-"

"You knew?" Bailey interrupts, giving her dad a sharp look.

"I saw the signs. Took me a while to put it all together," he says gruffly. "Then this one came along and he's not your mate, so I figured you must have been rejected. Asshole."

Bailey's mouth drops open in shock, "how do you know all this?"

"Same fucking story, different people," he grunts. "I spoke a lot with your uncle when we served together," he says to me. "All that scarring on his skin can't compare to the pain he felt inside."

I nod, then slowly stand and lift my shirt. The bruises have nearly gone, but there are deep scratches, scars, from the few times I couldn't stop my claws from digging in.

Hank nods, his jaw clenched tight. "Mates are everything to you fuckers, right? And Bailey isn't-"

My fist comes down on the tabletop hard enough to hear something crack. "She is my mate," the guttural words are torn from my chest, from my wolf. Mating venom wells, my canines digging into my bottom lip with the urge to Mark our female before she's taken from us.

Hank starts to rise to his feet, his fingers twitching as if he had his gun in his hands. Bailey stops him with one well-placed glare, before turning to me. "Conner Octavius Grim, sit down!" she orders sharply. I sit with a thump.

"Your alpha bugged our home," Hank points out. "He flew to Puerto Rico to talk to myMamiand grab this journal the same day I told Bailey about it." He taps a brown paper-wrapped package on the table. "You've already overstepped."

Fuck. I told Uncle Alex to remove the bugs. Of course he didn't, but what is this journal all about?

"It's the magic voice, thing," Bailey says quietly. "This is my Great-grandmother’s diary."

I lean over and kiss her cheek while her dad fumes, "you already told him about this?"

"I did," Bailey says quietly. "I thought he should know."

Her dad grunts, apparently too pissed off to speak.

I turn to Bailey, wanting to ease the tension for her. "I hope these middle names aren't an indication of what you want to name our pups."

"I'm having all girls," Bailey says smugly.

I smile at her, my wolf with a dopey expression on his face, "OK."

"No," her dad snaps. "You still don't have my approval."

"Dad! I don't need-"

"In this case, you do." Hank finally tears his eyes off of me to look at his daughter, his face softening. "You're in for a tough ride with wolves, peanut. I want you safe."

"I will never hurt her," I promise.

Hank snorts, "don't make promises you can't keep, boy. It's bad enough that I agreed to move to your territory, but don't think that gives you permission to sniff around my daughter."

"I give him permission," Bailey says hotly.

"That's your mama's side," Hank points at her, "stubborn and-" he chokes up, going pale. Tears form in Bailey's eyes, too, before she flings herself into her dad's arms, crying.

I meet her father's gaze over her shoulder, refusing to back down. I'll prove myself to Hank. I know how I feel, how my wolf feels. This has been a long time in the making.

Their table has three chairs around it. My poor girl is missing her mom. I reach over and nudge the bagel closer to my girl. She hasn't taken a single bite. "Eat up, honeygirl. I'm taking you somewhere special."

Bailey perks up as her dad's glower deepens. "Where?" she asks excitedly.

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