Page 14 of Wolf Crowned

I chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m used to it. There is a lot of back end stuff that needs worked out. It’s not as simple as slapping it up on the internet and calling it a day.”

She scooted closer and planted a soft kiss on my lips. “Remember, when you’re talking to us common folk, explain it to us like we’re five. I understood the last bit. What you’re saying is it’s not going to be a quick fix.”

She narrowed her eyes and tapped her lip as she cocked her head to the side. “You know, maybe Brandon could help you. He seems to know a lot more about this kind of thing than even I thought he did.”

I puffed out my cheeks and let out the breath slowly. “Couldn’t hurt.”

The few times I spoke to Brandon, he seemed to know what he was talking about, but I’d never seen him actually doing anything either. Knowing about coding and actually writing code were two extremely different things. There was also just because you knew how to write it didn’t mean you knew how to make it work.

I tapped my fingers on the lid of the laptop. “Let me try calling their customer support first. That’s going to be our fastest and easiest way to restore the website. If they’re agreeable, we’d be up and running today.”

She gave me another kiss. “I’ll leave you to that, then. I’m sure there are plenty of other things that I can find to keep myself busy.”

I knew she wasn’t saying that either. There was always something for her to do. I’d seen my dad run around like a chicken with his head cut off my entire life. But it never really clicked how grueling being an alpha was until Sloane had taken her father’s place.

Her fingers slipped out of mine as she stood up. She walked to the door, put her hand on the knob, and then looked over her shoulder. “Come find me when you’re done. Let me know how it goes.”

“I will.”

She gave me a tight-lipped smile before slipping out the door.

I dug my cell phone out of my pocket as I opened the laptop back up and searched for the customer service number.

I cursed under my breath. Only chat was open right now. It was probably just an automated assistant, which would be useless. The customer service lines didn’t open for another two hours. I guess that was one of the downfalls of being up at the crack of dawn. Nobody else was awake.

I stared at my phone screen. My fingers hovered over the keys. I knew my father‘s number by heart. It would be dumb to call him.

It didn’t stop me from dialing his number or hitting the send button. I blew out a breath as I lifted the phone to my ear.

The ring was shrill, like nails on a chalkboard. My pulse raced. My mouth went dry, and I considered hanging up, but just as I was about to pull the phone away from my ear, the line clicked on.

“Hello,” my father’s gruff voice answered. He cleared his throat and I had the feeling I had woken him up.

Well, there was no going back now unless I wanted to be a coward. I hadn’t really thought through why I was calling him, but, here went nothing. “Dad.“

The word sounded foreign in my mouth, and I hated how my breath hitched when I said it. Part of me felt like a kid and having to tell him I’d done something bad. Sure, he’d been stern, but he’d never been harsh, and I’d always known he loved me. I hated I had those memories. It made all of this so much harder.

Dad was quiet for a moment. “Lincoln.” His voice was oddly calm and almost surprised, loving even. I couldn’t really describe it.

The moment was short-lived. “Have you called to beg for your and the little slut’s life?”

Ah, there was the father I’d come to know.

I pursed my lips as I snarled. “Don’t call her that.”

I almost spit out a retort about his extracurricular activities, but then I didn’t know who all knew that my father was expecting another child and I couldn’t risk that slip up and put Sawyer in danger.

He grunted. “Well, whatever you want to call her, I guess I should be glad that we found out what a traitor you both really were.”

I massaged my temple with my free hand. Calling him had been dumb. What the hell I was I thinking? “You know it doesn’t have to be like this, Dad. It’s not too late for us.”

“Too late?” His voice rose a few octaves, and I could hear the anger shaking in it. “Why can’t you see the bigger picture, son? This is about protecting our family from anything ever happening again.”

I closed my eyes and gripped the phone so hard I feared it would snap. “You want to protect us by starting a war? You want to protect us by having other wolves plot against us? Dad that’s suicide.”

My dad barked out a laugh. “They wouldn’t be doing that if it weren’t for your traitorous lies.” He ahhed, sounding amused. “Is that what this calls really about? The website was finally taken down.”

My suspicions were confirmed. “You might have taken down the website, but it’s not stopping anyone. The war is going to continue and these wolves are not going to stop until you’re dead.”

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