Come Out Swinging (Reach for the Moon Book 2), Sam Hall [leveled readers .TXT] 📗

said, holding it open for us to precede him, and with a little prompt from his men, in we went.

The inside didn’t look murdery either. A woman looked up from the open plan living room and kitchen area. She was in the process of making a drink and said, “I’ll bring some coffee through, shall I?”

“That’d be lovely, sweetheart,” Jake replied, walking over and planting a kiss on her cheek. She softened against him with a smile. “Let Oma and her ladies know we have guests.”

“Of course.”

All that sweet warmth leached from his face when he turned back to us.

“Come through to the media room,” he said and then started to walk down the hall.

The impression I got as we went was of history. Old sepia tinted photos were hung cheek by jowl with faded or not so faded colour ones. Stiffly posed formal shots contrasted with more casual, candid ones. I knew this—this was a record of a connection to a place, of a dynasty. With a surprising pang, it reminded me of the alpha estate in Lupindorf. The alpha stopped in front of one room and then gestured for us to enter.

Whoa.

“What have we got?” Jake asked a man sitting in front of an array of computer monitors. On them I could see image after image, video after video, of what had happened. Reassuringly blurry, though was this because the camera operator was running or due to deliberate obscuration on the alpha’s part?

“I’ve left the shitty videos up, and to be honest, the vast majority of them are,” the man replied. “The imminent danger thing meant few people got a clear shot.” He clicked on a few screens, enlarging images. “Some of the photos came out a lot clearer, which actually works in our favour. The fact the great wolf comes out looking semi-transparent means we can go with a PR stunt, a projection as the explanation. Our media team is working on a press release right now and will have it for your approval in fifteen minutes. Coupling that with a compensation package for the theme park is advised, so the budget people will be down with a proposed amount shortly as well.”

“Good man,” Jake said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Get the list of people who need to be coerced into forgetting about this event to the enforcers, but go lightly. A few people claiming to have seen a massive black wolf with moonlit eyes helps discredit the whole thing.”

“Of course, alpha.”

Jake straightened at this, looking me then Bridget over.

“Two Spehr girls and what looks like half of the Lupindorf enforcers have strolled into my city without even a by your leave. Your father cleared things with me when you first rocked up to town,” he said to me, “but there’s been no communication since, apart from some rather odd messages from Nancy Spehr.”

Jake’s arms crossed his chest, another long sigh escaping him as he frowned.

“Dad…?” I swallowed the resulting surprise and pain down, even though it felt like a peach stone stuck in my throat. “Dad died.” I met his eyes head-on, feeling the pulsing dominance there, but I forced myself to keep staring. “Nancy killed him, or at least that’s what we have reason to believe.”

“She’s being coy.” Bridget’s voice was sharp, precise. “I’m her daughter, Bridget, though I’m guessing you knew that. She told me what she did. Went full evil genius monologue as she and my dad beat me half to death.” Jake’s eyebrows jerked upwards. “Then she gave me over to a few of the local thugs to seal the deal. That’s why we’re here, why we just wandered into town. We were supposed to be keeping a low profile until…” Her eyes slid to me, seeking what? Acknowledgment? Or a promise?

“Well, that didn’t go to plan,” he replied. “You’re ulva?” he asked me, and I nodded. “But not both of you.”

“Oh, if you mean this harem thing that Paige is rocking, then yes, yes I am ulvasexual or whatever that means,” Bridget said with an enthusiastic nod. But her eyes slid to a less than impressed Gavin, who edged closer to my cousin, laying a hand on her shoulder. “Just putting that out there.”

“You’ve kept a low profile as a lone wolf,” Jake said to Zack. “Some of my boys scoped out your gym, said you weren’t likely to pose a threat. You’ve kept your place clean, no underground fights or anything, and then that changes. I need to know what the hell is going down in my town. Dragging shit in from Lupindorf or any other piss poor little shit hole is not gonna fly.”

The guys began to rumble in response, but I spoke over them.

“You want information? I’m happy to share because we need it too.”

“You want coffee in here or the meeting room?” the woman from the kitchen asked, having appeared at the door with a tray.

“Meeting room, love,” he replied. “I think this is gonna take a while.”

And it did. I started, telling the man my side of the story, the guys and Bridget jumping in at different times to flesh things out. We helped ourselves to coffee, Jake’s face schooled to smoothness until we got everything out, including what happened today.

“Father Wolf…” was all he said initially, leaning forward, his arms on the table.

“And why not?” Everyone’s eyes swivelled around to see some new faces and a familiar one. Margaret smiled tightly when she saw me. But it was her, an older woman with a long ponytail of iron-grey hair, her pale blue eyes taking all of us in. “I have told you often—”

“Oma, now is not the time,” Jake replied.

“Then when? You always harp on about keeping the peace in your city. He is coming. Anyone with any kind of sensitivity can feel that. He is rising, gathering in power, ready to wrest back his place by the Mother’s side.”

Jake’s eyes slid to me, looking me over more closely. “Because of her.”

“Because of the