Knightly
Phoebe has been standing by the gate in the front yard for a long time now as if she were waiting for something. Something feels off, and I’m not sure I’m equipped to handle whatever is about to happen, at least not with the pups in the house. I’m going to have to stay behind to protect them.
“Is everything all right, Nathan?” my father answers on the first ring. “You never call me.”
“Something’s up with Phoebe.”
“It’s three A.M.”
“Yeah, and she’s standing at the gate. She’s been there a while.”
“Go get her.”
“Is it wrong to say that I don’t want to?” I clear my throat.
“Shit. That’s not Phoebe. Check the sensors. We might have an intruder. I’ll be there in-”
“And she just scaled the gate. The pups are asleep.”
“Fuck. Shifting now.” The line goes dead, and I watch my mate turn into a wolf and
take off into the tree line.
I shut my eyes and try to reach out to her, but there’s nothing when it’s Midnight on the receiving end. It’s not long before my father howls to let me know he’s found her.
“Daddy?” I turn around to see Ayrie standing behind me. “Je ne me sens pas bien”
“What do you feel?” I ask, going over to her. I lift her into my arms. She’s burning up. Okay, let’s go check on your brother.”
“Okay,” she curls into my chest.
She’s getting ready to shift. Fuck. Whatever is out there is probably setting them all off. I’m hoping it’s not a fucking vampire. When I get to their room, both beds are empty. I immediately panic.
“Aizen?” I set Ayrie down on the bed and start looking. “Buddy, where are you?”
I pause when I hear a low growl from under Ayrie’s bed. I rush over to him and lift the blanket to find my son under there.
“Daddy,” Ayrie calls out to me. I turn around to see her eyes turn bright red.
“Okay, Princess. Take a couple of deep breaths and try to relax. Don’t fight the ouchies. Just let them hurt,”
“Okay,” she says breathlessly.
Big tears stream down her face. She’s not relaxing. I pick her up and remove her onesie so she doesn’t feel constricted anymore than she probably already does. Her
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little sniffles are killing me. I run my fingers through her hair and gently hum her favorite song so it’s not too much on her heightened senses. She slowly starts to relax.
Aizen seems to like it as well, because he approaches slowly. Her skin gets warmer and warmer until she’s too weak to fight it anymore. The sounds she makes break my heart. It takes her a couple of hours to shift.
Even her little wolf is tired once it’s over. Aizen climbs over my leg to get to her, and they bundle together. I gently run my hand through their soft fur. His fur is a bit lighter than hers. They’re gorgeous. They’re fucking perfect. I love these little things.
I can’t help but think of the damage I inflicted on the three of them, believing I was protecting her. Things are different now. Arnold seems different. I can see something has changed and I don’t know how things got as fucked as they did. Every instinct in my body is screaming not to put my guard down. A part of me agrees with Phoebe. Except these bygones have left some pretty ugly scars.
“Come on, guys. Let’s see if we can see mommy on the cameras.”
At the sound of the word “Mommy,” they both jump up excitedly. I feel a sense of pride as they yip at one another and run around me. We get downstairs, and two of them growl in the direction of the door.
I crouch down to hold them back. I put my finger to my lips to keep them quiet before moving to the window. There’s no one outside, but there is something out there. Quietly, I motion them toward Phoebe’s study and lock us in.
access the security feed in my recording studio using her new tech table. There is no movement near the house, but a vampire is definitely out there. I look back to see the pups playing together. It doesn’t feel good to wait around while danger is outside. Especially knowing that I can take care of the problem myself.
I switch through the feed until I find the shiny silver coat of beauty. Midnight is just outside the gate, looking inside. Her body is flat against the floor, and I smile at how she’s got hunting prey down. Not too far behind her is my father’s wolf. Oddly, he’s letting her take the lead. I jump when Ayrie barks from behind me. I glance back at her to see her staring up at the screen with her tail wagging back and forth.
I lift her onto the drafting table. Aizen quickly scratches my leg so that I can bring him up. I lean against the table and watch as Midnight’s eyes scan her surroundings. The three of us tense up when she lifts her butt and coils her body.
“Holy shit.” I jump at the sound of Perry’s voice.
“Shut up,” I growl at her.
Midnight makes herself as small as she can. I count down from ten, and she bolts with an insane amount of speed. Perry takes over the feed and switches the footage just in time for us to see her pounce on a vamp.
She’s prepared for her. Midnight’s body hits her head, and the thing latches onto her
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fur. She spins around just as my father comes into view. With his teeth, he rips the
vamp off her. Midnight is able to bite down on her leg as my father rips into her head. The thing is torn apart in seconds.
“Let’s go, Baby.” I laugh, and the pups yip, just as excited.
“That was a clean break. There are two more. How long have you been under attack?” Perry asks.
“Phoebe fell asleep for a few minutes around ten after the pups went to bed, and five minutes later she woke up, checking all the windows. She was out there for a bit before she took off.”
“And you didn’t try to stop her?”
“Buddy would have surfaced, and who would have watched the pups?” I ask. “As you can see, they shifted because those things are out there.”
“They’re so cute, Knight,” she coos. “Are they as soft as they look?”
“Yeah,” I laugh.
“Holy shit, Knight. She’s taken such good care of them. Look at their coats. So shiny and well–groomed. Pups don’t always look great when forced to shift like that.”
“I know,” I say, reaching back for them.
According to training footage and pictures, I didn’t look great as a pup. I had bald patches, and it was hard to control my senses. However, they seem to have the hang of it with minimal training, just like her. There is no record of twin silverbacks, which means they might be brand–new spirits.
Midnight is as ancient as it gets. I understand how Phoebe has gotten a quick handle on things. She was named Midnight because every single one of her vessels was born at midnight on a full moon–records of her date back to the sixth century. None of them say she lived past her twenties, and she’d always die brutally.
It was because of the way she was raised and trained. By the time she came of age, she was a beast. Had Phoebe grown up with the Rizens, there is no doubt in my mind that one of them would have tried to destroy her long before she turned eighteen.
This life is a blessing for the two of us. It is a chance we never had before, a future we know nothing of, I look down at our pups and feel the joy they have brought to her and me. I have to trust her instincts, and I am struggling. I don’t know how to rely on others, which is why I was demoted as team leader.
“There she is.” Perry brings up the footage behind the house.
“How did they get back there?” I ask.
“I found your dead spot.”
“Another one? We just covered the back area.”
“It looks like someone has been tunneling back there. You’re going to have to check it
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out later.”
The pups jump down and run over to the window. I pull it open, loving how cute they are. We watch as Midnight plays with the vamp, likely knowing we’re watching. She goes for his face, ripping his head clean off his body in a very Arnold fashion. The pups bark excitedly as she kicks dirt onto the body. When my father appears, she pounces around him excitedly as if asking for his approval.
“That is the cutest thing ever.” Perry sighs. “That’s my sister. I’m kind of glad she was hidden away. Could you imagine what the Wraith would have done with that and a vessel with our mentality? He did a lot of damage with us in the lead. That thing would have been next level.”
