Page 59 of My Pucking Family

He finally answers, but he sounds like hell, “Roman...we...were”—he coughs into the phone—“we...were...attacked.”

Oh my god.

Our voices mesh together as we try to talk to him at the same time, Roman asking, “What do you mean attacked? By whom?” and me asking, “Where are you?” but the line goes dead.

I cling to the window of the car and cry, “Slate, help! Where's your laptop? Do you have service? Can you find him?”

Slate darts behind the car to shift, thankfully aware of my still not being used to naked men everywhere, because I was so upset I wouldn’t have remembered to turn my head.

“I'm on it,” he grunts as he rummages through the trunk for his stuff.

“Andrei, hop out, let Slate in, in case he doesn't quite have service so I can drive farther to where he needs to be,” Roman commands. Though he doesn't even have to finish because Andrei immediately understands what he needs, and he swings his door open and steps out.

Slate gets in the car, and Andrei offers me a nod before closing the door.

I'm trying to keep my shit together and not cry AGAIN when Slate finally makes his sound that means “ah-ha, I got it.”

“What, where are they?”

“He's right on the edge of the forest of his pack lands,” he says while turning his laptop around to show us.

“That's so far away,” I cry, because I have no idea what to do.

“Eris, Dolos, Andrei, go back to the pack and gather Jeanine and a couple others to help. And supplies. Tell them we're taking a plane, and we're flying out in an hour,” Roman says with a stern nod that they return.

“Oh my goodness,” Miss Tilly says to herself.

I grab my phone and dial India’s number again, but I've called her five times now, and she's still not answering.

“Slate, check Khaos and India's locations. Are they still together?”

After a few moments of furious typing, he nods.

“What can I do? I need to do something!” I beg.

Roman turns to me, taking both my hands in his and says, “Leera, focus. It's going to be okay. You keep trying to call them. Can you do that for me?”

I nod.

“Slate, get that plane ready.”

“Already on it, Boss.”

46

We're in the air, and I'm trying to prepare Leera for what she might see, but I don't think she's truly understanding the severity of a situation like this. If Khaos was so injured that he sounded like that and had to call us for help, that means that something very bad has happened.

Khaos, while not one of my favorite people in the worlds, is almost as strong as I am. Coupled with our werewolf healing, and for him to be in that kind of shape means it's far worse than she understands.

Scenario after scenario of what could have happened plays out in my mind over and over again during the nearly two-hour flight to where his pack resides in Maine.

I'm also balancing trying to keep Leera calm while planningstrategy with the men in the event that the assailants are still nearby. Though I doubt anyone would expect that Khaos would reach out to me, especially if it’s my father that is involved.

I'm so fucking proud of my mate. She hasn't had a panic attack, and she's keeping her anxiety in control even with everything that's been thrown at her the last twenty-four hours. I don't know if finally uniting with her wolf has given her the additional strength or if it's just who she is.

Up to this point, I've been able to be the doting, hockey playing, lovesick pup for her, and I worry what she'll think when she has to see the other side of me. The commander of a royal military. The warrior who does what's needed, no matter the cost. The mate who will burn down the realms for her.

What if that side of me is too much for her?

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