Page 17

17

House Call

Caspian

The last place I expected to be standing today is outside the Lark’s front door.

Dimitri is perfectly still beside me, hands clasped tightly behind his back as we wait. I appreciate his effort to keep me out of the mundane day-to-day incidents that arise, but I think I got my point across.

If it has anything to do with Annalise, I need to be notified immediately.

Footfalls on the other side of the door have a gruff sigh leaving me. I’ve had about enough of this particular family’s bullshit for a lifetime, but I’m here.

For Annalise.

The door opens swiftly at first, but the moment Mitchell Lark lays eyes on me , standing beside Dimitri, his expression fills with dread.

I smile, liking that he knows I’d have already killed him if I could have. The only reason there’s still breath in his lungs is my love for his niece.

“Good afternoon, Alpha,” he says, nodding in submission as he pulls the door back, widening the gap for us to enter.

“You said it was urgent,” Dimitri grumbles, ignoring Mitchell’s greeting as we step into the dreary foyer. The home is cozy, nicely decorated, but there’s a sense of lingering oppression.

“Right,” Mitchell says, swallowing as he prepares to speak. However, before he has the chance, Geneva bounds into the foyer, anxiously wringing her hands.

“Thank goodness you’re here, Alpha,” she says, stepping in front of her husband. “We weren’t sure what else to do, and you said to contact the High Chamber if we heard from Elizabeth.”

My disinterest fades when she mentions her daughter’s name. All at once, my thoughts are flooded with the memory of that fateful day—finding Annalise’s lifeless body in the woods, thinking I’d lose her. Anger surges within me, and my wolf is alert, ready to break free if I decide today will be the last day Mitchell and Geneva are allowed to live.

A third figure darkens the archway leading to the living room as Geneva begins to ramble. Still imagining how I’d murder Elizabeth with my bare hands, my gaze lands on Winifred. Her yellow dress makes her seem ridiculously overdressed, considering neither she nor her family have been permitted to leave the premises for quite some time now. So long that I’ve lost track of the weeks. She cowers as I glare in her direction, still uncertain of the role she played in Annalise’s attack.

“Elizabeth called today?” Dimitri cuts in, steering the conversation back on track.

Geneva’s mouth gapes with surprise when she’s cut off. “Well, no. Not today. It was… last night,” she admits. “But I did ring the High Chamber first thing this morning,”

Her rushed explanation doesn’t spare her my brother’s scornful glare.

“Were you instructed to call the next day if you were contacted? Or did we say immediately ?”

“I know, but?—”

“What did she say?” I cut in, needing her to stop with the fucking excuses. “And for your safety, might I suggest that you tell us exactly what was said.”

Her eyes flit toward her husband, then back to Dimitri and me. “First, she wanted to know that we’re well. Then, at least five times, she proceeded to say that she loves us. But something was wrong,” Geneva adds. “She seemed frantic. Worried maybe. I think she’s in trouble.”

She flashes a look toward me, like she’s expecting sympathy.

“Please, Alpha. You have to do something. If someone’s trying to hurt her?—”

“I wish them well,” I cut in, holding her gaze as her mouth falls slack with surprise.

I step closer, staring directly into her eyes when I speak. “For the record, the belief that anger fades with time is complete bullshit. I feel just as much rage today as I did the day Elizabeth betrayed Annalise. What your daughter did… it’s completely un-fucking-forgivable.”

Geneva places a hand on her chest, taking a step back when I move into her space. Her husband is wise, observing in silence instead of trying to intervene.

“Do you realize I was the one who found Annalise? Held her broken body in my arms?” I feel it the moment their wolves shrink away in fear. “I listened as your niece, your flesh and blood, gasped for breath. And you expect me to take pity on the one who caused it all?” I pause when the memory draws me in, causing emotion to swell within me like it was only yesterday. “If that’s what this is, an attempt to convince me to jump to Elizabeth’s rescue, you’ve wasted your breath, and you’ve wasted my time.”

Tears well in Geneva’s eyes, and Mitchell finally gets up the courage to move, placing a hand on his wife’s trembling shoulder. Having had my fill of this brood, and their futile antics, I turn, taking a step toward the door.

“We do love her, you know,” Geneva calls out, her voice trembling with a quiet sob. “You speak as though you’re the only one who has ever cared for Annalise, but how soon you forget that you only chose her because of her status, her last name.”

I spot Dimitri in my peripheral vision, glancing toward me with caution.

“After her parents’ death, we took her in when no one else would. You have no right to speak to us this way. Like we don’t care. Like her wellbeing doesn’t matter,” she says.

My heart’s racing, and the quiet rumble in my chest means that, soon, I won’t be the one in control of my actions. But to my surprise, Dimitri places his hand on my arm, and when we lock eyes, there’s a simple, unspoken message within the glance.

Don’t.

As I breathe, staring at him to settle my rage, I don’t think I ever expected to see the day that he’d be the one to stop me before going too far.

“Whatever you believe you’ve done for Annalise, I assure you, it was never out of love.”

There’s so much more I’d like to say, but thanks to my brother, I’m able to leave it at that.

When I turn to leave this time, the Larks don’t try to stop me, maybe knowing I won’t likely exercise as much restraint as before.

A guard opens the back door of the car, and I climb in, settling beside Dimitri. But before the driver can start the engine, a yellow poof comes racing out the Lark’s front door.

Holding the sides of her brightly-colored dress to keep it from touching the ground, Winifred bounds toward us. Her cheeks burn red, and it isn’t until she approaches my window that I notice tears in her eyes.

At first, I’m tempted to ignore her incessant knocking, but it crosses my mind that she might have information her parents failed to share. So, reluctantly, I lower the window, but don’t speak.

She swallows deeply, trying to muster the courage to speak, but her hesitance only frustrates me further.

“I know you hate me, and I know you think I was in on Elizabeth’s plan, but I’m not here to convince you otherwise.” She’s breathless, lifting her eyes toward the sky as tiny rain droplets begin to fall. “I just… I just want to know Annalise is okay. I mean, truly okay. I don’t imagine one simply bounces back from such a deep familial betrayal. What Elizabeth did was… deplorable,” she says. “And I need Annalise to know I would never participate in any act that would bring her harm. I need her to know that… I love her.”

Those words leave her mouth, and I can’t even blink, needing to stare into her eyes as deeply as possible to see if there’s malice in them.

“Please,” she says, choking out that single word as tears roll down her freckled cheeks.

But I’m not so easily swayed. Not anymore. I trusted members of this family once and it ended in disaster.

“You should get inside. A storm’s rolling in.”

With that, I raise my window, never giving Winifred confirmation that I’ll relay her message. Mostly because I’m not sure I will. She stands in the driveway, staring as we back out, taking our place within the line of dark vehicles that form the motorcade.

I’m not sure what she wants—closure, forgiveness—but there are far more notable things to consider where this visit is concerned.

With Elizabeth’s cryptic phone call, her urgent need to express her love for her family… is the faction planning another attack? Something that, when carried out, might cost its members their lives?