Wolves of Haven: Lone (9 page)

To maintain appearances, Seff
argued the terms of Beowulf’s release, stating they were an insult
to his client.

Beowulf simply sat there with a
small smile on his face as he watched his daughter in action. Akia
wasn’t vociferous or argumentative, Pierre and Seff were, and the
woman said very little as the two men argued, but when she did
speak, it effortlessly silenced the other two and caused Beowulf to
be flooded with pride that his little girl, his precious and once
broken daughter, was a strong woman that now demanded respect with
simply her presence. She spoke with conviction and finality, and as
if she could sense the argument before it could leave their lips,
she countered it with eloquently spoken words that instantly
silenced them.

Never had he seen anything so
beautiful, and he was so very proud to call her
daughter.

The comparison to Akia when she
left home to the woman in front of him now was as different as
night and day. When she left, she was weak and almost
fragile—mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically—and she
was flooded with shame, so much in fact that she couldn’t even say
goodbye. Her eyes were always on the floor, and she’d cower when
someone raised their voice, and flinched at every perceived
physical threat. The last year she was home she had started to come
out of the reserved shell she had always been in; Connell
speculated it was due to hormones leveling out and reaching adult
levels. Beowulf hoped that it was because Akia was finally starting
to trust those she called family, and that she would continue to
grow and mature.

Akia left before he could see it
firsthand.

Of course it’s a pleasant surprise
to see her now and in police mode. It amused him on some level
because when she was younger she had commented more than once that
she didn’t like law enforcement or guns. Now she was carrying a
sidearm and proudly wearing a badge, and it suited her, Beowulf
thought.

“That is enough,” Beowulf said,
interrupting Seff. He was tired, hungry and wanted to go home and
spend some time with his daughter. “The terms are better than the
alternative,” he said, giving his oldest friend a look, “and I must
rest. All of this excitement has taken a toll on my old body,” he
said with a chuckle.

Pierre glared at him. “Fifty is
hardly old,” he scoffed. “de Wolfe, I will be expecting a call once
you are settled.”

Akia nodded. “Of course, Sir. I’ll
meet you back here tomorrow morning to go over the latest findings,
and I’ll put together a profile for you and your Officers. Shall
we?” she asked, turning to the others.

Seff and Connell sat in the
backseat of Akia’s Jeep, and Beowulf sat in the front, next to his
daughter, his sole attention on her as she drove. He knew she was
irritated. She had yet to stop drumming her fingers on the steering
wheel, and as much as he wanted to pull her into him and hug her
tight, they had to maintain appearances since a cruiser was
following them home.

When they approached the tall, iron
gate marking the driveway to Verulfr Manor, Akia slowed. “Take care
of it,” she said, and Connell nodded then hopped out of the Jeep in
order to close the gate behind them, blocking the cruiser’s
entry.

Without another word, she drove
down the long, tree skirted driveway leading to the one place she
swore she would never return to. When she put the Jeep in park in
front of the three story stone and brick home, the urge to double
over flooded her, and beads of sweat dotted her
hairline.

Beowulf noted her physical change
and the trepidation flooding her. “We will join you inside. Let Fae
know that dinner will be served shortly,” he said, motioning for
Seff to take Connell inside to give them privacy.

Once the front door closed behind
them, Akia started, “Why in the hell didn’t you call me right
away?! After the first body?” she demanded without turning to
regard him.

Beowulf chuckled. “Because you were
busy with your life,” he said with a smile.

She glared at him from the corner
of her eye. “That isn’t funny, Father. You should have called me,
to let me know what was going on. I would have rearranged some
things in order to come back and help with the problem.”

He sighed contently.

“What?” she asked, finally turning
to regard him.

“It’s nothing,” he assured her with
a smile.

Akia gave him a look. “Father, I am
not in the mood. I am starving, just found out that my father was
arrested on suspicion of murder, there’s a Stray running around the
Island, one that is purposely targeting my family and father, and I
had to assist with an autopsy with a Medical Examiner that sings at
the top of his lungs while working… I cannot believe he hasn’t been
committed yet.”

Beowulf chuckled. “Give it time.
Connie is a special kind of creature, one that doesn’t allow the
darkness of the world to shadow him. He sings because it keeps him
from succumbing to the darkness of humanity that he must face on a
daily basis. You should respect him for being able to separate
himself from his work as he does.”

“I respect him as a very talented
doctor and M.E.,” Akia admitted. “But I cannot respect the way he
approaches his work. The childish antics were disrespectful to each
victim and their families. Death should be respected-”

“And life should be enjoyed,” he
countered warmly, with a smile. “We each deal with death in our own
way. You, sadly, have always embraced the darkness and shadow which
is death. Connie has always tried to illuminate those shadows and
darkness with humor and light. You cannot fault him for that. Come,
dinner will be ready soon and then we’ll catch up,” he said and got
out of the Jeep.

Akia softly growled under her
breath, well aware that he was trying to change the
subject.

Beowulf opened the driver side door
then offered her his hand.

She shook her head in resignation
and took his hand, and he pulled her out of the Jeep and into his
arms and hugged her tight.

“Welcome home, Daughter,” he
whispered.

Akia returned the embrace and
hugged him tight. “Thanks, Dad.”

****

“Huh,” Ulrik huffed, looking out a
second story window. “I was expecting more,” he commented, watching
the couple in the driveway hug.

Louvel shook his head, drawing the
curtains the inquisitive young man was looking out. “Leave them be.
Go see if Fae needs help setting the table.”

Ulrik groaned. “But I don’t want to
help Ginger Bear,” he whined. “He keeps threatening to tie me to a
chair so he can give me a makeover.”

The amused Frenchman chuckled.
“What would it hurt to humor your big brother? Fae only wants to
help you pick a color and stick with it… What do you call that mop
on your head? Blueberry, teal, turquoise?” he asked with another
chuckle, eying the questionable locks of hair standing up every
which direction on the young man’s head.

“I call it Smurf in a blender, but
the bottle called it Atlantic Blue,” Ulrik said, making a face, as
he walked with his uncle to join the others in the dining room.
“Can I get a tattoo?”

“No,” Louvel said. “Those adorned
with tattoos are questionable at best.”

Connell snorted, following them
down the stairs now that he had taken a quick shower. “I resent
that, Uncle,” he said, pulling a shirt over his head, concealing
the tattoos covering his chest, back, and arms to the elbows. “If
the kid wants tattoos, when he’s older you should support him. They
hurt like hell and might help put hair on his balls.”

“Hey!” Ulrik whined, spinning
around, punching him in the arm before he hurried the rest of the
way down the stairs, out of Connell’s reach. “Not cool. I have hair
on my balls. Unlike you, I don’t wax so I look like a Ken
doll.”

Louvel shook his head; why he
bothered he didn’t know.

Connell pulled open the front of
his sweat pants and looked down. “Don’t mind him, Boys. Kid is just
jealous that his balls haven’t fully descended yet.”

“And now it officially feels like
I’m home,” Akia said from the foyer with Beowulf’s arm around her
waist. “My brother is talking to his balls as if that’s an everyday
thing and no one is remotely surprised or put off by this.
Seriously, if he starts licking his balls in front of company, I’m
leaving.”

Connell looked up from his crotch
to his sister and smirked. “Aw, it’s just like the holidays!” he
beamed with a smile.

“Oh yes, because having to bust
Father out of jail is what kicks off every holiday get together in
this family,” she retorted.

“It should be,” he said before
sliding down the banister to the foyer, joining them. “Sis, you
look tired. Did you want to freshen up first?”

Akia gave him a look. “So you can
eat all the damn soda bread?” she scoffed. “No. I’ll take my
chances with stinking everyone out of the house before I let you
eat all of my bread, and yes, it is my bread. Fae likes me better
than you, so I know he’s been baking up a storm.”

Connell whimpered. “I hate how well
you know me. Hurry up!” he barked out with a smirk before hurrying
to the dining room.

Akia growled under her breath;
she’d be lucky to get two loaves.

“Fae won’t let him eat it all,”
Louvel assured her.

She nodded and gave him a half hug
since Beowulf wouldn’t relinquish her. “Uncle Lou, you look well.
How are you? Adopting again, I hear.”

Louvel smiled. “Yes. When a
precious gift crosses your path you mustn’t allow it to slip
through your fingers.”

Akia nodded, getting the underlying
meaning of his comment. “We’ll catch up later. At the moment I have
brothers plotting against me and silently trying to get me to play
with them, and I’m starving, tired, have to make a couple of phone
calls, and finish up a report for the irritable Inspector. Father,
you have to call in soon,” she reminded him.

Beowulf huffed, and it made her
chuckle; for being hundreds of years old, he still acted like a
child when he didn’t get his way.

“Go before I put you in time out,”
she warned, motioning towards the study on the other side of the
foyer.

He kissed the side of her head
before turning her over to Louvel.

“Some things never change,” she
grumbled under her breath, watching her father sulk across the
foyer like a scolded puppy.

“You changed,” Louvel said,
escorting her to the dining room. “Now I can clearly see your
beautiful ocean blue eyes, before they were always downcast towards
the floor.”

Akia groaned under her breath; she
didn’t take compliments very well. “I grew up, Uncle Lou. I just
needed to spread my wings some, I guess… Don’t you dare!” she
yelled when just before they entered the dining room movement from
behind the two caused her to spin around, but it was too late. She
pushed Louvel out of the way just in time to take the full force of
the three men trying to ambush her, knocking all of them to the
floor.

“Ow,” Akia complained from the
bottom of the pile, and they laughed. “When I can reach my gun, I
will start shooting indiscriminately,” she warned.

“Sis, don’t be like that!” Faelan
complained from directly on top of her, most of his weight and that
of his brothers being supported by his thick arms to keep from
crushing her. “We missed you!”

She gave him a look. “I talked to
you a few days ago, Smart Ass.”

The other two gasped. “You did?”
they asked in unison.

Faelan gave her a look. “Gee,
thanks. Now I’m never going to hear the end of it from these
bitches,” he flamboyantly complained before reaching back and
wrapped his thick arm around Rafe’s head then pulled the punching
man over him and into a headlock, effectively rolling off of Akia
in the process.

“Ow!” Rafe yelled, punching Faelan
in the sides, but the hulking ginger was impossible to
shake.

“Call me daddy, Little Man,” Faelan
taunted, giving him a noogie.

Connell stretched out on the floor
alongside his sister as they watched the other two go at it. “It
greatly amuses me that the one on bottom doesn’t remotely correlate
his bucking and attempt at giving Fae a wedgie as being beyond
homoerotic, which is even more amusing since Fae is as queer as
they come, and the apparent bottom in that relationship is adamant
that it says exit only.”

Akia chuckled. “Yet another
reminder that I’m home.”

“Blue hair off the top rope!” Ulrik
yelled before pile driving on top of the two on the floor and was
easily rolled up into a ball by Faelan. “Okay, I should have
thought that through better,” he admitted before yelping. “Ow,
dickhead! That hurt.”

“Let me guess, Kid?” she
asked.

Connell nodded. “You have to give
him credit; he’s fearless. Balls as hairless as a new born baby,
but they’re bald balls of steel.”

Ulrik glared from between his legs
since Rafe and Faelan had them locked behind his head at the
ankles. “They’re not bald. Get these assholes off of me, and I’ll
show you… I’m Ulrik,” he greeted with a smile before swinging at
his big brothers again.