Page 38 of Tucker's Strike

I peek around Tucker to look in the direction of the guy who was talking, and I see a man looking similar to Corbin. His brother, I’m assuming. Big Daddy, I knew, was their dad. I met him once when he came by with Corbin’s daughter. She’d been staying with Big Daddy, where Corbin knew she was safe until allmy troubles were dealt with. I couldn’t blame the man. If I had a child, I’d do the same thing.

Cyrus’s gaze shifts toward me, and he cocks a brow.

I quickly jerk back behind Tucker and clinch my fingers in the waist of his jeans.

I don’t know why I did something so chicken. Maybe it’s my nerves are on edge.

“Lake, come out here, sweetheart,” my dad calls. I know that tone. He used to use it anytime I would hide under the bed or in a closet. “We have to talk, and we can’t do that with you hiding behind your mate.”

“If she wants to stay behind me, she can.” Tucker grunts, sending waves of reassurance through the bond we share. “I’m not going to force her to move when she’s not ready. Enough has happened, and she needs to have at least one thing she’s in control of right now.”

“I get that,” Dad mutters. I could hear the hurt in his voice that he’s doing his best to hide. “Still can’t fix things with her if she’s hiding from me.”

“Lakey, come on, squirt, come out,” Uncle Rohan calls. “None of us blame you for what happened.”

“Nope,” Uncle Jair remarks. “You’re still our little spitfire of a niece. Now, come on and give your uncles hugs.”

“Back off and give her time,” Uncle Walker growls. “Can’t y’all smell her trepidation. She’s hurting because of all the bullshit.”

Uncle Walker’s right about that.

“We know that, asshat,” Rohan mutters. “Why the fuck do you think we want her to come from behind her mate? Hell, if her mate was anyone else besides the damn last tiger prince, I’d already have snatched her away.”

Tucker snarls at this, and I can’t help but giggle. Granted, I keep my giggle quiet. I know what my uncle is trying to do.

“Little Fae, I think it’s safe for you to come out, considering you’re laughing,” Tucker states gruffly.

“Are you sure?” I whisper.

“Yeah, baby, I’m sure. If you don’t, the five of them might gang up on me to get to you.” He snorts, reaching around his back. “Promise, if any of them upset you, I take my claws to them.”

Now, it’s my turn to snort. He knows I wouldn’t want him to do that.

I take a deep breath, place my hand in Tucker’s and allow him to pull me around in front of him. He lets my hand go, and his arm goes securely around my waist, holding me to him.

My gaze goes straight to my dad’s, and I see him taking in this action. Slowly, his gaze comes to mine, and he gives me the smile I’ve dreamed of seeing for so long.

He moves, coming close, reaching out a hand to palm my cheek. “You look like your mother did in so many ways.”

Tucker drops his arm, and I find myself moving without even thinking into my dad’s arms, mine going around his waist and I burrow my face in his chest. Tears I thought I’d never shed again come bursting from me, and I cry as I’ve never done. My dad’s arms clutch tighter around me, holding me close, shielding me away from the others.

I can feel my uncles moving in close, doing the same, not allowing anyone else to see me in a moment of weakness.

“I’m sorry I failed you, Lake,” Dad whispers. “But know this, you’re not to blame for anything that has happened. I would do it again in a heartbeat because you are and always have been my special little girl.”

“Is it because of what I am the reason you call me that?” I blurt the question, not knowing the answer I’m hoping to hear.

“No, Lake, it’s not because of your gifts or the power you carry that I call you my special little girl. It’s because you broughtyour mother to me. Helped her escape the hell she was living in. You saved her before you were even born,” he explains.

“But she died giving birth to me.” I didn’t understand.

“No, she didn’t,” Karsyn states. Her voice no more than a whisper as she steps through my uncles, Corbin right behind her.

“What do you mean?” Confusion mars Dad’s expression. “I was there. I saw her. I placed her body in the tomb myself.”

“You did, but she was not dead. Only in a deep slumber.” Karsyn’s gaze shifts, and she looks past them, yet at nothing that anyone else can see.

“What is she doing?” Uncle Jair asks.

---