Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“I love this one.” Rylee’s heart rate slowed as she continued to calm. The entire house smelled of eucalyptus now. It was wonderful.
Daddy carried her over to the living room and sat in an armchair, while Gavin and Molly joined them on the couch, keeping the blanket tucked around her mostly naked body.
Rylee rubbed her eyes. “I should have stopped him,” she murmured.
“No,” Molly said. “It’s not your fault.”
Daddy kissed her temple. “Listen to Molly, Little one. You girls cannot take the blame for anything someone else does. The burden will become tremendous if you do.”
Rylee sniffled. “What did you hear?”
Molly sighed. “I heard Thorn and Surge and two other bears busting into a shack where they found Drow having just murdered Firat. Apparently Drow and Firat had gotten into a fight. Drow had a plan to sneak up on our homes in the night and kill us off one house at a time. Firat argued against the idea, going against his friend, so Drow stabbed him.”
Rylee nodded and leaned her head against Daddy’s shoulder. “Now I know why I smelled death on Drow earlier.”
“Yeah.” Molly leaned into her Daddy.
Hayes held Rylee tightly. “You couldn’t know if that scent was something that had already happened, a precursor to the future, or even possible premeditation.”
“Maybe I should have said more to Thorn and Surge.”
Daddy shook his head. “Nope. I warned them. They knew something bad was on the horizon.”
Molly nodded. “They went directly to their council, gathered two more men, and spent the afternoon looking for Firat and Drow. Nothing you could have said would have changed anything.”
“Okay,” Rylee whispered. That was comforting. But what would happen next time?
“It’s over, Little one,” Daddy said. “You’ve had a challenging day. When you woke up this morning, you had no idea you had the ability to smell death or any number of other things. Now you know. I can’t say I’m excited about the prospect of you having to breathe in evil, but we’ll take things one day at a time.”
Gavin lifted Molly onto his lap. “I don’t like my Little girl having to listen to evil either, but it happens. You might have to do like we’ve done and shut the house off from the outside now and then. Molly sometimes wears earplugs to block all the voices. Maybe you could wear nose plugs when you need a break from all the scents. Seal off the house, too. We insulated ours. You could probably do something similar to keep the smells on the outside.”
“It’s a good idea,” Daddy said. “The good news for Molly and Rylee is that they don’t have to remain diligent at all times. It’s okay to block sounds and scents from the outside. As much as I hate that for Felix, the truth is Khloe has no control over her visions. Nothing blocks them. At least not as far as Felix has been able to discern so far. When something happens, Felix can alert us so that Molly and Rylee can open up a door and step outside.”
“That should work,” Rylee agreed. “And the eucalyptus is so amazing. Thank you for making that for me. Death isn’t the only nasty scent in the world. I can also boil the powerful potpourri when Isaac makes yucky foods for my friend Amber.”
Everyone chuckled.
“I bet you can’t wait for Amber to arrive,” Molly said.
“Yeah. She’s going to be so happy to find out we mated brothers. We worried our entire lives that we wouldn’t see each other again after we mated.”
Rylee smiled as she leaned heavily into her Daddy. She had a good friend in Molly, the amazing scent of eucalyptus, and the excitement about Amber arriving soon. All things to smile about.
They were right. Drow’s actions were not her responsibility. She needed to remind herself of that often. More days like today would come in the future. Some would be worse than others. Rylee would get used to taking the good with the bad. She had to. She was the mate of an Alpha Protector.
Chapter Twenty
Seven weeks later…
Rylee rose onto her tiptoes to hang a butterfly decal on the wall of the room that would soon be Amber’s nursery. She was so excited about the fact that her best friend in the world would be here in a few days.
Not as excited as Isaac, of course, but a close second.
Isaac had apparently not invested much time preparing for his mate as Hayes had over the years. Until a few weeks ago, he hadn’t started on Amber’s nursery.
One day he’d shown up at the house, wringing his hands together and asking Rylee for help.
She’d been delighted and had since spent a lot of time at Isaac’s house, helping him prepare for her friend while also answering a thousand questions.
Hayes spent a lot of time laughing about the nervous state of his older brother and making fun of him for acting like he wasn’t interested and not being prepared.