Blood Heir (Aurelia Ryder, #1)(69)

“Was it moonlight?”

“Possibly.”

Christopher smiled into his tea.

“We were fine until the tide started coming in.”

I stared at her.

She shrugged. “There were no signs telling us where to go and the scent trails were confusing. We found a boat. It was leaking only a little bit, so we were completely fine. It was fun. We were going to paddle to the coast. Except Ascanio showed up and made us go back.”

“Then there was the minotaur,” Christopher said quietly.

Sophia sighed.

“I don’t understand how the kids keep escaping,” I said. “Was nobody watching them?”

“Shapeshifter children come with unique challenges,” Christopher said. “A certain degree of independence is highly encouraged.”

It made sense to some degree. An average shapeshifter toddler was stronger and faster than most human adults, and their regeneration kept them relatively intact. But they were still kids.

“Unfortunately,” Christopher continued, “when these six get together, they seem to develop an unshakeable confidence in their own abilities to handle things regardless of the reality of the situation.”

Sophia glanced at him. “Five, Father. JJ is too young. We don’t always invite him.”

JJ? “Tell me about the minotaur.”

“It wasn’t an actual minotaur, which was a huge letdown,” Sophia volunteered.

“No, it was worse,” her father said. “Most minotaurs are calm until they’re provoked. This was a buffalo shapeshifter gone loup. He’d taken off into the North Forest after massacring his entire family. The Pack’s herd leader was away at the time, and the decision was made to wait until Eduardo returned to avoid unnecessary loss of life.”

Dad would have gone in there by himself and killed it. I opened my mouth to ask why he didn’t and caught myself. Oops. Eh… “Why didn’t the Beast Lord take care of it?”

“His predecessor would have. However, Shrapshire is not that hands-on. The Pack has developed procedures and protocols to handle a variety of situations, like this one, and he doesn’t get involved until all other avenues have been exhausted.”

Interesting. That was always the problem with the Pack and Dad. He’d made the Pack, or rather it accreted around him, and he was the answer to all their problems. It wore him down. There were days when all he did was run around putting out Pack fires. It looked like Jim had installed a structure that had been missing. And this type of incident could get ugly fast. If the wolves or the cats killed a bovine shapeshifter, even one gone loup, it could open a big can of worms.

“One of my friends wanted to hunt the minotaur,” Sophia said.

I choked on my tea. I knew exactly which friend that was.

“When was this?”

“A year ago.”

Damn it, Conlan. “Sophia, how old were you? You should have known better.”

“It was perfectly safe.”

Clearly, that was her battle cry. Everything was on fire, and sharks and dragons were circling us, but it was perfectly safe. “How?”

“We hid in the brambles, the black kind with red thorns. He was circling around the bramble bushes, but he couldn’t get to us, because he was too big. He would have gotten bored and gone away, but Ascanio showed up. Again.”

I put my hands over my face.

“As I have pointed out before,” Christopher said, “this was less about hunting a minotaur and more about hiding from a minotaur, trapped, with no escape route, while your parents frantically searched the entire city for you since the lot of you left a note that said, ‘Gone on a monster hunt.’”

“Did he kill the loup?” I asked.

“Yes,” Christopher said. “Eventually. Ascanio suffered a broken femur in his left leg, two broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, but he did kill the loup. My guess is, he thought the children would die if he failed.”

“We helped! Towards the end. Well, Conlan helped the most.” Sophia grit her teeth. “Do you know what he did after? He cursed at us. An adult man. And then, when I told him that we could run away from him because of his broken leg and he should be nicer, he put us in loup manacles.”

“He what?”

“He’s part of the Pack’s loup rapid response unit. He always has loup manacles in his SUV,” Christopher said. “He manacled the children to one another and led them out of the woods like that.”

Sophia flushed. “Everybody saw. Everybody. I’ll never forgive him. He’ll get what’s coming to him.”

Oh my gods. He had to walk them out on a broken leg. And the ribs. Every breath would be fire.

“And now you know why my daughter isn’t a fan of the man who constantly saves her and her friends from themselves.”

Sophia opened her mouth.

Christopher looked at her. “It’s time for you to return home. Be careful, the roads are muddy.”

“Yes, Father.” Sophia rose. “Thank you for the tea. And for giving me another chance with Marten. I promise there won’t be any more escapes.”

“You’re welcome.”

She left.

“Ms. Ryder, if I could offer a word of advice?”

“Of course.”