“Please consider it.”
“On one condition. That you leave, right now. Just leave. No more questions, no more statements, no more useless banter. Just go, Levi. Maybe then I’ll consider it.”
Levi stood with his hands fallen by his sides like a scolded child. Then he nodded and took a few steps back. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. And I had no way of knowing. If I did…Well. I’ll see you around.”
She had a feeling she was going to be seeing him a lot more.
“And consider it,” he said as he turned away. “Like you promised.” Then he was gone.
Lyra took a deep, shuddering breath as he vanished into the distance, then she felt her entire body shaking with unidentified emotions. She went inside, banged the door shut, and leaned against the door, slowly dropping to the floor. Oh, that the earth would open up and swallow her and save her from the misery she felt. She had been having such a good life. Why’d he have to turn up out of the blue to ruin it? Why was he back? A few years ago, it had been her prayer every night—that he would come back. Now, she couldn’t think of anything worse.
“Mom,” Adam’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. He was still dressed in the exact clothing he’d came home in, only now one of his socks was missing.
“Who’s that man, Mom?”
Chapter 7 - Lyra
“Lyra, where are you?” Orson asked over the phone, his voice sounding groggy as he grunted.
“Dad? Dad, are you okay?” Lyra replied. “I’m at home, what is it?”
“Get the pack, come on down to the store, soon as you can,” Orson grunted. “I’m fine, but I need the pack together.”
Lyra quickly dropped the dishes, looking out the window to see Emma just pulling up in her car. It was just eight o’clock in the evening, and it was already dark out. Isaac and Adam were upstairs, playing video games. Jackson was in his room, talking to someone on the phone.
“We have to go, right now. Orson’s in trouble and he needs us,” Lyra said in a voice that was just loud enough for all of the shifters to pick up at once. Jackson quickly ended the call and began walking down the stairs. “Isaac, stay with Adam. We’ll be back soon.”
Emma quickly opened the front door. “Where is he?”
“At the shop. We have to go, right now. It doesn’t sound good,” Lyra added, calling Aaron. In a few moments, Aaron had made his way from the mosque, and was at the auto repair shop faster than all the others. As Lyra’s car pulled up, she could instantly see the damage.
The entire left side of the store looked as though something had been sent through the wall, leaving broken pieces of rubble and a large hole in it. The car in the garage, which had been suspended by a jack, had fallen face down, and was left pelted against the floor with its roof caved in. Lyra ran out of the car, spotting the slashes and claw marks on the table, roof and walls.
The pack quickly used their cars to block off the entrance to the store from the outside, so no one would see what was going on with a single glance, as the damage inside the store had taken out the doors as well, and they weren’t rolling down. Lyra saw Aaron next to her father, who sat behind an engine block, covered in cuts and slashes that ran deeper than any wound Lyra had gotten in all of her years. He was a bloodied mess, breathing heavily as his body’s healing factor kicked in, doing its best to keep him alive.
“Oh my God, Dad!”
“I’m fine, I’m fine…” Orson spoke, flashing a smile and grunting in pain.
“What the hell happened?” Aaron asked, finally able to shut the door to give them privacy. “Dragons, right? It was probably that Garret guy—”
Orson shook his head, “No…I don’t…I got a good look at all of them, that was why I asked for his entire pack to be there, and I saw them all. Whoever attacked me wasn’t from Levi’s pack.”
“Or maybe he didn’t bring everyone!” Emma exclaimed. “We have to get them back.”
“No, this isn’t the dragons. Or at least, it’s not the dragons we know. Levi’s an honorable man, and I know he wouldn’t do something so…stupid.”
Orson got to his feet, showing the extent of the damage to his body. Lyra gasped as she saw that his chest and abdomen had been clawed at. She had seen her father take beatings several times in her life, but ever since he reached Alpha status, he had been able to fend off most threats. “I didn’t see it coming, there was no sound or smell or anything. I was just working on the car and I turned around and got hit.”
“Emma’s right,” said Aaron, adjusting his glasses. Lyra liked that he didn’t need them, as he had better eyesight than the average human, but since he had worn them most of his life before he became a werewolf, being without them felt off, so he always kept a few on hand. “There’s a chance that there’s another member he didn’t bring that did this. I want to believe it’s Garret, but if he’s that angry, there could be others like him.”
“Levi isn’t one to lie, and if he wanted to do this, what changed? Why would he be attacking now?” Lyra asked, turning to the others. “He said something about a rogue dragon killing one of their own, maybe that’s what this is. One of the rogues acting out. But if there’s one thing I know, it’s that Levi isn’t the one to blame.”
“How do you know that?” Jackson asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Because he’s Adam’s father, and I know him better than the rest of you, so believe me when I say he’s telling the truth,” Lyra finished.
“Whatever the case is…” Orson began to speak as he took a seat and looked down at his midsection. Lyra watched as his injuries had begun to heal rapidly. It would take him a day to completely heal from the wounds, and another day or two to recover to full strength. The reason he had called for the pack was because he needed them to heal. The tight pack mentality gave a boost to his healing, making it faster and better. Just being around his pack made him better. “We have a dragon who attacked us, someone has declared war, and we cannot stand by. We are going to have to find out who did this, and fast.”