Toward the end of the night, everyone had calmed down, and the cleanup began. In spite of the
exhaustion and aching feet from standing on them all night, after the incident with my father, the night
turned out well. In addition to introducing me to many people, Valen made an official announcement to
the media at the end of the meeting.
Therefore, as everything was about to come to an end for the night, I was eager to crawl into bed.
However, I noticed Kalen lingered a little longer when Valen came over with Valarian asleep in his arms.
“I have people on the way to help with cleaning up; they will be here soon. Come home, I need to get him
to bed,” Valen said, leaning down. Valen pecks my lips when I looked up at him and I smooth down
Valarian’s hair when Kalen walks over to us.
“Actually, can I speak with you for a minute?” Kalen asked, and my eyes went wide. He wasn’t seriously
going to tell him, now was he?
“Ah sure,” Valen motioned toward a nearby table, but Kalen shook his head and reached for Valarian.
Valen watched him, staring oddly at his father while my heart beat frantically in my chest. Kalen handed
Valarian to me and I grabbed him; Valen’s brows wrinkled, and I could feel his confusion through the
bond.
“We can stay here for the night,” I told Valen, and he nodded.
“Fine, I will be up in a minute; just let me go lock my car back up,” he tells his father before walking off.
“ I didn’t mean right now,” I hissed at Kalen when Valen was far enough away..
“I need to get it over with; it’s time Everly. Besides, if I don’t do it now, I worry I won’t be able to bring
myself to do it,” he sighed. I chewed my lip, slightly worried about what would happen; looking toward the
car park where Valen went to lock his car, I sighed before nodding.
“I’ll get Zoe to watch him for me and I will be back in a minute,” I told him, before quickly escaping back
to the apartment. Zoe was also setting Casey down to bed when I walked in. Marcus was resting on the
couch with his head back.
“Fun night,” Marcus chuckled, while shaking his head.
“It’s about to get worse too,” I told him and he sat up, but I shook my head instead, quickly taking
Valarian to bed and stripping his shoes off and jacket before tucking him in. He would pitch a fit in the
morning about sleeping in his clothes, but right now I had bigger issues to deal with, like the explosion I
was expecting when the news of Valerie came out..
“Zoe, can you watch him for me for a few minutes?” I asked, her while walking back out to the living
room. She was removing her shoes and looked over at me.
“Of course, is everything alright?” she asked and no sooner than she said it, did Marcus jerk upright
when we heard a thunderous growl that was clearly an Alpha’s roar of rage. My heart skipped a beat as I
ran for the door. Marcus though, was faster beating me down the steps and he took off.
The door flung against the door with a bang and I cringed at the sound, hoping it didn’t wake the kids as I
raced across the gardens to the restaurant.
Horrified staff stared out the window at the parking lot and Marcus shoved through them and out the
doors. I gasped when I saw Valen punching into his father. Kalen was on the ground while Valen rained
blow after blow into his face.
Blood spraying everywhere and I pushed past my stunned workers and through the glass doors just as
Marcus grabbed him, ripping him away from his face only for Valen to slam his hands into Marcus’ s
chest and launch him, backward and into the side of a car. His body creating an outline in the metal as
Marcus shook himself out, looking dazed.
“Valen, stop,” I called out to him while racing over to him. He snarled and punched his father again, and I
grabbed his arm. Kalen didn’t even fight back and had his arms up, letting his son pummel him bloody.
Valen roared when I grabbed his arm and yanked it back, making me fall backward. My ass smacked the
ground, and I grunted at the impact. The hard ground caused my tailbone to ache.
“Valen stop,” I screamed, getting to my feet again and grabbing him. My grip on both his arms, however,
was ineffective. Having never seen him so angry before, I was afraid he would kill him. Despite my
minimal weight compared to his muscled
frame, I shoved him and was pretty sure that I injured myself in the process. I toppled on top of him and
he sat up, but I scrambled back and moved in front of Kalen as Valen launched himself at him.
In anticipation of the impact, I closed my eyes, but the crash never come when a ferocious growl
screamed from him and my eyes opened. The gasp that left me stuttered as I found myself suddenly
nose to nose with his wolf form that towered over me.
He lifted his paw in the air with claws extended, looking for a kill before they abruptly retracted as he
placed the paw on my shoulder. I could feel Kalen shaking behind me and Valen snarled, snapping his
teeth at his father’s legs. I grabbed his furry head and pulled on his ears to draw his attention away from
his father.
“Stop,” I said in a barely audible whisper after catching sight of his eyes sparkling with tears, and he
struck my hands down with a massive paw. He sat up, blood streaming down his face, and Valen paced
in his wolf form to find a way past me to reach his father. However, I knew he wouldn’t attack me to get to
him.
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