“I’ll be back to get you when she’s ready, then.”
As the vet left again, Lydia flopped back into her chair, tapping her toes, but this time she seemed less anxious, more impatient.
Mercer rubbed the back of her hand again as he returned to his seat. “See, it’s okay—Kat’s okay, and that’s what matters. We’ll double check our pill tops in the future. Everything will be fine.”
He’d put up sticky notes to remind himself. Set an alarm maybe. Whatever they’d done wrong wouldn’t happen again.
Mercer would make sure of that.
Lydia sniffled, but she nodded. A weak smile tugged at the side of her mouth. “Kat’s okay,” she repeated.
And Mercer almost believed her.
He squeezed her hand again. This time, she squeezed back.
They were okay—they were okay. He repeated it to himself a few more times, until his body finally started to understand, at least a little. Each inhale came easier. The aftermath of weakness and trembling filled his insides, but his muscles loosened. His mind let go of its stranglehold on Kat’s wellbeing.
Immediately, a new thought replaced it.
Lydia knew—was working for—Rahil.
Mercer still wasn’t sure how to feel about that. His impulse was to be furious at them both, her for traveling so far and getting a job behind his back, and Rahil for putting a strange kid toworkfor him. There were so many ways that could have gone wrong, so many ways Rahil could have taken advantage of Mercer’s daughter. But Mercer knew Rahil; he thought he did, anyway. And what had he said: that his own kids had done similar things?
Rahil hadkids.
They were probably grown now, at Rahil’s age, but he’d been a dad, and by the way Lydia had run to him when he’d fallen—this vampire she’d spent a mere couple of weeks employed by—he’d been agoodone. That made Mercer’s heart leap a little, soft and warm.
He glanced at Lydia, only to find her already staring at him. Her eyes narrowed. Then she asked the last thing he’d expected. “Are you dating Ray?”
“What?” Mercer balked, feeling his stoic expression slip into bewilderment. “Why would you ask that?”
She stared at him likeshewas the one concerned forhisstate of mind, then rolled her eyes. “Dude, you’re so oblivious.”
“I am your father, not your dude.”
Lydia shrugged. “Well, are yougonnadate him, then?”
Why would she even ask that? Did she not know Rahil was a vampire? No—no, she’d been doing chores for himbecausehis vampiric qualities made certain things harder for him to achieve, and besides, she could not possibly have missed his perpetually displayed fangs. And she just… she didn’t care. Lydia didn’t give a single crap that Rahil could use his fangs to end a life the same way her mother’s had been ended.
Huh.
Mercer didn’t know exactly what emotion that evoked in him, but it felt a lot like guilt. And pride. He was proud of her; proud of her for being the person he wasn’t, better and stronger and more compassionate.
“Well?” Lydia demanded.
“No?” was the best Mercer could do. No, he wasn’t going todateRahil. He’d specifically set outnotto date him. He didn’t need another person in his life, regardless of how peculiarly neutral Lydia seemed about the concept. Her neutrality didn’tchangeanything.
“Is that a question or a lie?” Lydia muttered.
“Now, hold up, Puck—” Mercer started, but before he could wrangle together a parental critique of her snark, his phone buzzed—he was vaguely aware that it had done that a few times before the vet’s announcement—and he tried not to look, but something twisted in his gut, pulling his attention toward it. A text from… Rahil? Oh, right, Mercer’s number was on the fridge for emergencies.
He swiped at the notification to find a tiny thread.
Unknown Number
Hey Merc, this is Rahil. You’ll want to see this. I found it inside a medicine bottle on the kitchen counter. Please be careful.
I know you’re probably busy with the dog, but I need to make sure you get this.
