Vale:
“Alright, now that we’re alone. What is it that you and Vale need to talk about?”
While he was concerned, I could tell that dad was relieved to see that Harly and I were there together. He was happy and that should have made me happy.
In any other case, it would have.
But not after what Harly had done.
“Vale has news.” When my little sister finally spoke it broke me out of the trance that I found myself in as I thought about where she’d been simple moments before joining us again.
“Okay,” replied dad, but I could tell that he sensed something was on my mind. “You alright?” he asked me.
I shrugged, not knowing how to particularly answer that question. If I was being honest, there was no positive way to answer that question. How could I possibly be okay?
Harly acted impulsively with what she did to Penny. I wasn’t sure of the particulars, but I knew that it wasn’t good. Now, I had to be concerned about what would happen to her next.
Regardless of her title, Harlyn committed a crime. How would dad take it? How would Toran? And most importantly, how would John MInken take it?
Still, I wasn’t sure that now was the best time to bring up the concern of what happened between Harlyn and Penny. It was Harlyn’s situation to report on. Not mine.
“I’ll be fine once all of this is over,” I finally said.
My father sighed, displaying his weariness as well. He was tired of fighting, that was visibly certain.
“Must be tiresome being an Alpha.” Fierya said in the back of my mind.
“I agree,” Said I.
“You and me both,” finally countered the alpha before getting back to the bottom of the situation at hand. “Now, what’s going on?”
“Yeah,” Toran added with concern. “What is it that you’ve found? Has it to do with Dronnigan?”
“No,” both Harlyn and I replied at the same time.
“But it is something of just as much importance,” added Harlyn.
“Okay. So what is it?”
“I know what happened to me,” I finally told them. Even in now knowing, it still took time to come to terms to. Even more was the idea of how my father and his best friend would react to it.
I dared finally face him, nervous about his facial expression. Was he shocked? No, he wasn’t.
I stared into the intense face of my father, wondering for a moment what this could mean, until a voice whispered in my ear.
He knows..
“Was it Agnes?” asked my father. “Did she…was she involved in your…” his words faltered on the word death. It seemed he couldn’t bring himself to say it. “In what happened to you that night?”
“Yes,” I exhaled. “In fact, I’m sure she was the mastermind behind it all.”
“That’s for sure,” Harlyn agreed. “Penny didn’t have the brains to come up with and even get away with it-”
“Wait, what?” Dad stumbled back. “No! No, no, no! Not her. Not Penny!” he said in shock.
He looked incredulously at Harlyn. I could tell his heart was broken by this news and as I looked at Harlyn I could tell that, despite her anger, she was upset by this as well.
“Unfortunately, it’s the truth, daddy,” replied Harlyn with her arms crossed.
Toran shot a bewildered look at the Alpha. “Alastair!” he exclaimed with shock.
“I know.” Dad dropped his face into his hands. “I know, Toran.”
“Good, because I don’t!” He hissed. “John’s daughter?! How the hell are we going to go about this? She’s all he has left! And now she’s committed attempted murder against the Alpha family, and an act of treason to boot! How? How are we supposed to handle this?”
“You know bloody well how we’re supposed to handle this, Toran,” said dad.
I could practically feel the newfound weight bearing down on his shoulders. This was a heavy burden to bear.
“Yes, I know, Alastair,” said Toran. “But this is different. You know that.”
“But it shouldn’t be! Everyone should be treated the same-”
“Harlyn,” he lifted his hand to stop her from talking. “Not now?”
“Are you bloody serious right now!?!” She exclaimed angrily. “She killed a daughter of the Wade family! A daughter of the Alpha family!”
“It was not known then that Vale was a daughter-”
“It doesn’t matter!” she snapped back. “She broke the law! Even as a human, touching her was illegal-if for no other reason than because she belonged to the Alpha family and her death was unsanctioned!”
“We all know that Harlyn!” Dad finally interceded the conversation with further logic. “It isn’t a question of rule of law,” he said. “Penny is all that John has left. In spite of her flaws, he would die for the girl.” He exhaled, shaking his head. “And to be honest, I can’t very well blame him as I’d do the same.” He eyed us both. “For both my girls.”
I didn’t have children; frankly, not so sure I ever wanted them, but I also could understand that a parent would do far more than one could imagine to keep them safe.
“He’s right, Harly.” I could feel her shocked gaze on me. “This is complicated.” I looked at her, and I needed her to understand that what she had done didn’t make things any better.
“And what you’ve done…I’m afraid it’s only made things even more complicated.”
Harlyn dropped her head anxiously, and then looked out of the window the small beach house office that we had temporarily stood in. Her brow furrowed for a second before she quickly looked away again.
“So then how are we going to go about this?” asked Toran.
Silence followed for a few moments before dad finally spoke again. “There’s no other way to go about this but the straightforward way. Doing it any other way would cause this situation to become far more sophisticated than it already is.”
“And what do you want us to do?” I asked.
“Nothing,” dad quipped. “This is already going to be a sticky situation. I do owe you thanks, however.”
“For what?” I asked.
“For not taking this into your own hands.”
As soon as he said this a dread spiked in the pit of my stomach. As much as I wanted to take it into my own hands, I didn’t. Unfortunately, someone did, however. It took all of my restraint not to glare her way.
“It wasn’t easy,” I muttered.
Dad parted his lips to respond when a loud murmuring began to sound outside. It was a panicked sound.
“What’s…going on out there?” Toran walked to the window, and saw everyone shuffling around.
Both Harlyn and I stared at each other, our expression not betraying the clear rise in tension. Then suddenly the door swung open.
“Talon?” Toran rushed up to him.
“Dad! Dad! There you are!”
“What is it?! What’s going on?”
“It’s Penny! She’s missing!”
“What?!”
It was almost immediately that dad and Toran shot a look at me and then Harlyn.
“Val?” He said to me,
I didn’t answer. I refused to incriminate myself, but in confessing that it wasn’ t me, I was almost sure that dad would zero in on Harlyn. She harbored far too much aggression to not be included as a suspect.
I simply shook my head. It was the only thing that I could do to respond neutrally.
I knew that this disappointed him. I had disappointed him. He turned around. “Fan out! Search the forest.”
“Should I alert Delta Minken?” asked Talon.
“Not yet,” said Alastair.
“But he’s good at tracking! He’d be able to-”
“We cannot afford to diminish security at the gate, Talon,” Toran said. “We’ll find her. Go!”
Talon reluctantly nodded, glanced at Harlyn as he never could resist doing. He then darted out of the door.
“I’ll go on ahead,” said Toran. He took one final look at me and then he darted out of the door as well.
Dad stayed back.
“Val?” he said to me. “Please…please tell me you didn’t.”
“Dad,” I sighed. “You have to understand-”
“No,” Harlyn interrupted. “She didn’t.”
I shot a look at her. “Harly. You need to stop. You don’t know what-”
Her hand lifted to silence me. Then she stepped forward. “I did.”
Dad was speechless at first. Mouth agape and eyes wide, he finally exclaimed, “Harly? Wha-what did you do?”
She nibbled her bottom lip for a moment, then finally said. “I guess, there’s something that I should tell you.” Harly shrugged. “Bout Penny…she might be dead.”