Mae POV
Kieran pulls his T-shirt over my head and helps me to my feet. My legs are sore. It feels like I have been running for hours. I take a step forward, and my knee buckles underneath my weight.
Kieran grabs me under my arms and helps me back to my feet. "Are you okay?"
"My legs hurt," I admit. "But I will be okay."
"Hmm," Kieran hums. "I wonder if your first shift was too fast."
"Too fast?" I laugh. "It took forever."
Kieran chuckles a little as he wraps an arm around my waist to keep me steady. Slowly, we walk down the beach to the dock that leads to the beach house. The longer I walk, the more comfortable I feel, and the pain in my legs begins to subside.
Once we reach the dock, I pause. Nervous energy is buzzing through my body. Kieran tries to pull me forward, but I keep my feet planted on the ground.
"What's wrong?" Kieran asks me. "We need to get this over with."
"He is waiting on the porch," I say, not understanding how I know that information. "He has a gun."
Kieran looks toward the beach house, but the front porch is facing the other way. "How do you know that?"
"I don't know," I mutter. "But I am sure he is there."
"Okay," Kieran replies, but he doesn't doubt me. "We will be careful."
Kieran takes my hand and leads me through the soft sand to the house. We inch our way around the side of the house, and I shake my head in disbelief. My father is sitting on the front porch with a bottle of whisky in one hand and a pistol in the other.
He is tapping the barrel of the pistol on the arm of the rocking chair. Dad takes a swig of whisky and burps loudly. I cringe at his actions, but Kieran seems to find them amusing.
"He is drunk as a skunk," Kieran chuckles.
"Francesca!" My father shouts from the front porch. "Bring me my daughter."
"Let me go first," I tell Kieran.
"No," Kieran hisses at me. "There is no telling what he will do in this state."
"He won't harm me," I say. "I am his daughter."
"I am not risking it," Kieran growls. "I haven't done a great job protecting you this far. That changes today."
Kieran rounds the corner of the house quickly. I can barely keep up. Kieran approaches the porch. His claws are out, and he is ready to attack my father.
Dad squints against the morning light before he takes another swing of whisky. "You don't look like your sister," he finally says to Kieran.
"Don't speak about my sister," Kieran snarls.
"Where is my daughter?" Dad demands to know. "I need to know she is safe."
I round the corner of the house and keep my eyes on the gun in my father's hands. He is still tapping it weirdly on the chair.
"I am right here, Daddy," I say.
Dad jumps to his feet and tries to push past Kieran to get to me. Kieran pushes my dad back down in the rocking chair, and the whisky bottle falls to the ground and shatters on the porch. Dad looks down at the bottle, and tears form in his eyes.
"That was my last bottle, Asshole," he spits at Kieran.
Kieran is trying his best to hold back his laughter. Even with the gun in his hand, my father is doing a terrible job of trying to intimidate Kieran.
"Daddy," I say softly. "Can I have the gun?"
He looks down at the gun in his hand like it is the first time he is seeing it. "This gun?" He asks with a weird smile.
"Please," I beg. "I don't want there to be any more fighting."
Dad looks at Kieran and narrows his eyes. "I am supposed to kill his sister. It is the job I was charged with, but I am sure the guild wouldn't mind if I took out an Alpha instead."
Dad points his gun at Kieran's face, but Kieran doesn't move. I race across the front lawn and stand in front of Kieran. "You aren't killing anyone."
"No one is getting to the Luna Queen," Dad sighs sadly. "This is the next best thing. Move to the side."
"Daddy," I cry. "I love him. Don't take him from me."
"You aren't safe in their world," Dad tries to convince me of his actions.
I scoff loudly. "I am not safe with you either. You have done far more damage to me than Kieran ever has or will."
The drunkenness seems to seep from my father as the realization hits him. "I never meant to hurt you."
"You did," I whisper. "You have allowed things to happen to me that I can never forgive."
Dad leans back into the rocking chair and tries to fight the tears that are pooling in his eyes. A single tear falls from his eye and streams down his cheek. He wipes it with the back of his hand and looks at the gun that is still in his hand.
"I loved your mother more than life itself," he says mindlessly. "Make sure she knows that. Tell her I am sorry."
Confusion washes over me, and I don't understand what he is saying. "Daddy," I whimper.
I watch in horror as my father puts the barrel of the gun into his mouth. Kieran tries to push me to the side to get to my dad, but he isn't fast enough. My father pulls the trigger.
Kieran grabs my head and hides it in his chest, but I have already seen it. Blood is splattered on the wall behind him, and his head is tilted back.
I try to step onto the porch to get to my father, but Kieran doesn't let go of me. "You don't want to see that."
He tries to guide me away, but I pull against him. "Wait," I cry. "There is a vial of poison inside. We need to get it to see what it is."