Page 8 of Conri

The ring was a simple band that had a wolf’s paw print on the inside of the ring.There was a slit in it for someone to be able to shift and not lose a finger while doing it.He didn’t know why, but he had a feeling that Cass would like this ring over any diamond that he could give her.She’d not like cut flowers either, he thought.She would prefer plants over cut ones.

“I love it, Mom.Thank you very much.”She nodded once and then began to walk away.“Do you like her?”She asked if that was important to him.“Yes.She’s my mate, but I want her to be liked by the family.Especially by you.”

“I do like her.She’s very friendly but knows when to cut you guys off when she gets upset.She’s not an angry person either.Just calm and, like you said, not loud when she’s upset.I hope she allows you to claim her, son.I don’t want anything to happen to her either.”He said he wasn’t going to force her into anything.“Good for you.I do like her and hope that I can come to love her as much as you will be in love with her.There haven’t been any women around here for far too long now.It’ll be a nice change for her to be a part of the family.But I am worried about her sister.”

“I was looking her up.She’s been put away for murder.I didn’t see how long she was away, but I have a feeling that it was a few years.I also think that somehow Cass isn’t joking when she said she’s afraid of her.She’s scary.”Mom said she thought so as well.“Be careful when you’re out and about.She more than likely doesn’t know who you are yet, but just be careful.I couldn’t stand for anything to happen to you or any of the others.”

“I will.”She hugged him then, and it felt good.“I’m going to be in town in the morning for a couple of meetings.The two of you will need to get Cass settled someplace where she’s safe like her parents have.”

“Thanks again for the ring, Mom.I know she’ll love it.”At least, he hoped that she would.He didn’t know much about women and less about his mate, but he had a feeling that she was going to like the simpler things in life rather than her sister, liking to be the center of attention all the time.

Chapter 4

Howard answered his phone and immediately regretted it.It was Cynthia again.She’d left so many messages on his cell phone that he couldn’t get through them all without sitting down for an hour.And with each one of them, she got angrier and angrier.

She started out being angry with just Cass.Then, as the messages progressed, she was mad at him and Howie too.He never figured out what she was mad at her brother about, something about him being twenty-nine, but she was very clear on what Cass had done to her to piss her off.

“Where are you, Daddy?”He’d never hated a name as much as he did her calling him ‘Daddy.’Maybe if she was five or so, but not a forty-year-old woman calling him that.“I’ve been looking for you and Mother for days on end, and I can’t find you.You’re on my list now, Daddy.You don’t want to be on my list.”

“No, I’m sure that I don’t.Where are you, Cynthia?Have you decided to get back on your meds?You’d better, or you’re going to be sick again.You remember the last time, don’t you?How sick you got when you’d get those headaches?”She told him that she was never going back on them again.They made her feel doped up all the time.“That’s why you take them.They keep you calm.You need to be calm, and all the headaches will go away.”

“I don’t want to talk to you about medication, Daddy.I want to know what it is you’re going to be doing about Mother and Cass.They’re into things together, and I need for you to put a stop to it.”He asked what they were doing together.“Plotting my demise.Not really.I’m stronger than they are.Smarter too.I want you to divorce mother.That’s the only way to keep her out of my business.And Cass needs to be put down.”

“Put down?I don’t think I want to understand what you mean by that, Cynthia.And I will not divorce your mother.You do know that she’ll still be your mother if I were to divorce her, don’t you?”She told him that she was messing in her business.“I don’t think she’s messing in anything that you’re doing.I want to talk to you about your medications.You need to start taking them again.”

“Stop bringing up the fucking medications.”Her voice echoed in his mind.Her anger was almost palpable to him.“Now, what are you going to do about Cass?She’s dating, and I’ve not given her permission to do so.I’ve told her and told her that she’s not to date men until I don’t want them.Then she can date my sloppy seconds.After I’ve had them, they won’t want to downgrade to someone like her.Howie won’t get involved unless she starts dating the people he’s dating.That’s the point I’m trying to make with her.No one wants her after they’ve been with me, and that’s the way it has to work.”

She was making no sense.What did Howie have to do?Dating women?Nothing that she said was clear to him, and he was going to have to nail her down a bit to get clearer answers.Before he could, however, she was on again about rules that Cass wasn’t following, and somehow that was her mother’s fault.

“Calm down, Cynthia.You’re confusing me.What are you going on about with rules?”She was calm for the briefest of moments.“Now tell me what’s this about rules.I don’t understand which rules she’s breaking.”

“All of them.I have rules, and she’s not following any of them, Daddy.She’s supposed to be living here, and I haven’t seen her in days to explain to her about coming in late.She’s to not date unless I say it’s all right.”She growled low in her throat, and it made him think of a caged animal.A wild one at that.“I just know she’s seeing those Valley men and fucking them.There isn’t to be any of that either.Not until I’m finished with them.I want her to hand over her phone to me so that I can monitor her calls.She’s keeping me in the dark about her life.I won’t have it.”

“She’s a grown woman, the same as you are.I don’t even want to know what she has on her phone.Or if she’s…why do you care who she’s seeing?It’s frankly none of your business who she’s with.And the young man that she’s seeing is a nice man.”He knew his mistake as soon as the words left his mouth.“His name is Conri, and he’s going to marry her.Now, that’s going to happen and—”

“She.Is.Not to.Date.Anyone.Until.I say.So.Did you understand me that time?Do I fucking have to spell it for you next?Not anyone, and she will not marry before me.Christ, you’re off your rocker, Daddy.You’re lingering around is going to cause me trouble.I’m going to have to talk to your doctor about speeding up your death.I hate that too, but you’re messing things up now, and I will have to take charge.”He didn’t hear anything past her telling him she wished that he’d hurry up and die.

Closing his cell phone, he laid it as gently as he could on the table that was in the room they were renting.She wanted him to hurry up and die.And he had no doubt that she’d call his doctor if she ever found out who he was.And she’d tell him just what she said she would.She wanted him dead.When the phone rang again, he calmly picked it up and broke it in half.He wasn’t going to speak to her again, not without witnesses.He almost didn’t believe his own ears when he thought about what she’d said to him.

When Elizabeth came back from shopping, careful to never be alone in their own town, he told her everything that had been said and how she wanted Cass to be put down.She was just as shocked as he’d been.

“I don’t know what to do now.She needs to be put back in that asylum.Never to be let out—I don’t know why they ever thought it was a good idea to let her out in the first place.They were able to keep her on her meds.And that fool of a doctor said he could monitor from her cell phone.Obviously, that didn’t work.She’s back to being like she was only worse.At least then we could calm her down by just talking to her.”Elizabeth agreed with him, but he could see the worry on her face.“We’ll have to make some calls.Get her back where she was before she hurts someone or kills them.”

It took them nearly an hour to get back with the doctor that had taken care of her in the asylum.He was just as shocked as they’d been when the other doctor, the one who was supposed to keep an eye on her, was doing it from her cell phone.

“Where is she now?”They told him that she was at their home.“We’ll get with the police to be able to take her in quietly.I don’t want her to be harmed, nor do I want anyone else to be harmed.We’ll have to sedate her to bring her in.”

Arrangements were made to get the police involved and how they were going to do it.Howard felt terrible that it had had to be done this way and held onto his wife for support.They didn’t have a choice in the matter.Cynthia was a danger to herself and others.Next, he had to call Cass and Howie to let them know what was going on.Cass answered first, and then they brought their son in on the call, as well as Conri.

After telling them everything that was going on, including the phone call with Cynthia, they asked questions about how it was going to work.Conri said that he could have some of his pack there that would help the police if he wanted, and he was all for that.The more help they had, the better things would go, he thought.

“I’ve spoken to the police here in town.The doctor told them that it would be better to try talking to her in the morning.Before she has time to go over her notes.We’re going to meet them at the house at dawn to make sure that she’s at home.”Howard told Conri that she never leaves the house.“We just want to make sure that she stays there if she’s there or find her if she’s not.As you said, there is no way of knowing what she’s been up to while living there alone for the past week.I’m to understand that the staff has left, too.”

“The men are still taking care of the horses, but they’re far from the house.I don’t know that she’d go down there at all.She feels that the place is beneath her and dirty.The one and only time I know she’s been there was when she was looking for me.”Howard thought again about how she called him ‘daddy’ all the time and had to swallow a bit of his grief for what could happen out at the house tomorrow.“You’ll keep us informed, won’t you, Conri?And Cass, you and Howie should come hereto stay with us.I’d feel better if you were both here where I can watch over you.”

“I can be there, Dad.”After Howie spoke, Cass said that she’d be there as well.“Dad, you just make sure you are going to be all right, too.I don’t want anything to happen to you two either.”

“Thank you, son.I’m going to rest tonight.This has been so stressful for us all.I’m going to have to get me a new number and phone soon.I can’t stand to listen to her anymore.I broke my phone after the last time she called me.”Howard held onto his wife’s hands and told the kids how much he loved them.“Conri, you make sure that you’re not hurt either.You’ve only just become a part of the family, and I can’t stand for anything to happen to you, too.”

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