Page 24 of Hayes (Alpha Daddies #7)

Chapter Nineteen

“I’m sorry, Daddy.” Rylee couldn’t stop crying.

She’d held herself together for a long time while Daddy said goodbye to the bears and then to everyone else.

She felt bad for not speaking to her friends before they left, but she was so drained and couldn’t stop shaking.

Now that everyone was gone, she was a sniffling mess.

Daddy kicked off his shoes, came up behind her on the bed, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest. He kissed her cheek. “You have nothing to be sorry about, Baby girl. Nothing.”

“I keep trying to make sense of what I smelled, but I can’t,” she wailed. Molly wasn’t that far away. She knew her friend could hear her every word, but she didn’t care. She didn’t mean for her concerns to be a secret, but she had no way to explain them.

“Shh.” Daddy stroked her hair. “You don’t need to worry about it, Little one. Thorn and Surge know that Drow is not a good person. They will watch their backs. No matter what you scented, it’s not your responsibility to make sense of it.”

“What if he hurts someone?” she cried out, feeling helpless.

“Rylee, even if you could specifically explain what the scent meant, you wouldn’t be able to stop anything from happening.

You’re one small wolf shifter. You’re not responsible for the actions of a bear, especially not an evil bear.

You already knew he smelled like evil before he arrived.

I bet someone like him smells like danger and anger and sickness all the time.

It’s not surprising he would also smell like death.

He could have easily killed three small animals this morning for sport, Baby girl.

I bet if he murdered a squirrel, he would smell like death. ”

“Daddy…”

He chuckled at her back. “I know I’m being silly, but I’m also serious. Am I wrong?”

“No,” she muttered. “I guess not.” She focused on the memory of the scent. It wasn’t hard. It would never leave her. She’d remember that gross stench for the rest of her life. She shuddered at the recollection.

“Do you want to talk it through some more? I’m here if you want me to listen. Or you could take a nap. How about a bottle and a nap?”

“That sounds good, Daddy,” she murmured. “Will you lie with me?”

“Yes, Little one. I’d be happy to.” He kissed her temple. “Don’t move. I’ll get a bottle.”

She watched as her Daddy left the room and counted the seconds until he came back. It was easier than letting her mind wander to that icky bear. She hadn’t even seen him in either human or bear form, and yet she was still grossed out.

Daddy came back with a bottle in his hand. He set it on the nightstand, tugged the blanket off her, and helped her sit upright.

She said nothing while he removed her dress, leaned her onto her back, and slid her panties off.

She watched as he diapered her without a word.

This would be one of those times when he intended for her to obey his decision without argument.

She couldn’t blame him. She needed a good hard nap.

There was a solid possibility she would wet herself in her sleep.

“How about if I close the windows all the way, Little one?”

She shook her head. “No, Daddy. Leave them.” Something inside her told her she needed to remain alert even while she was sleeping.

“Okay, Baby girl.” After settling against the headboard, her Daddy cradled her in his arms and tapped her lips with the nipple.

She closed her eyes and suckled, but she couldn’t keep the restless feelings from continuing to upset her.

It seemed like every inhale filled her nostrils with that stupid scent of death.

It was gone now. It left with Drow, but it niggled in her head, taunting her as if it were a riddle she was supposed to solve.

Daddy was right. It could have been something simple like an animal Drow killed earlier in the day, but she didn’t think that was it.

If so, she would have scented the blood of the animal.

If Rylee was hedging her bets, she would guess that there was one of three possibilities: either Drow was planning to kill, he was dying, or he was in danger of dying at someone else’s hand or from an accident.

She couldn’t stop any of that. And why should she care? He wasn’t a good person.

When the bottle was empty, Rylee accepted a pacifier from Daddy and curled up in his arms. Sleep took a long time coming, and even then, she was restless.

Daddy rubbed her back and stroked her hair, never leaving her. He didn’t get up and close the windows either. He simply held her close and tried to soothe her.

At some point, she finally dozed off, though she didn’t know for how long.

Suddenly she bolted awake, sat upright, and dropped her pacifier from her mouth.

She inhaled deeply, shuddering as her nostrils filled with the distinct stench of death.

It was much stronger than earlier as if the earlier smell had been a precursor or a warning.

The previous scent a few hours ago had been difficult to understand.

Confusing. Hard to put into words. What she smelled now was actual death.

On top of that she could scent anguish and frustration.

The former was coming from Drow. The latter was coming from Surge and Thorn and two other bears she didn’t know.

The phone rang, and Daddy reached across her to answer it while she continued to draw in deep disgusting breaths.

He must have put it on speaker because she heard Felix speaking. “Khloe had a vision.”

This didn’t surprise Rylee. At the same time, she could scent Molly. Her friend was in wolf form and heading this direction. Gavin was with her of course.

The sound of Felix’s voice grew muffled as he continued to speak. “Drow killed Firat. Several of the bears are at the scene. They’ve taken him into custody.”

Daddy mumbled excuses to Felix and set the phone down. It wasn’t until he lifted Rylee into his arms and stood, rocking her, that she realized she was hyperventilating.

“Take a deep breath, Baby girl. Breathe with Daddy.” He inhaled long and slow over and over until she managed to join him.

She was aware of him grabbing a blanket off the bed and wrapping it around her. The next thing she knew, he was opening the front door.

Rylee cried out and plugged her nose, grateful that the door was only opened for a few seconds before he shut it and then moved around the house closing all the windows.

He never released her.

She sobbed into his neck, grateful that the stench was significantly lessened once the house was sealed off. There was no way to block it entirely, but it was better. She continued to plug her nose and breathe through her mouth, but she couldn’t stop crying.

She knew Molly and Gavin were in the house, and she sniffled and blinked at her friend when Molly set a hand on her back.

Molly’s brow was furrowed, but she nodded toward the kitchen. “I brought something for you.”

Daddy carried her toward the stove where Gavin was stirring something in a pan.

“Lean her over it,” Molly said. “You can let go of your nose, Rylee.”

Rylee stared at the steaming pot and released her nose. Her next inhale was such a relief that she smiled. As if she hadn’t breathed in an hour, she took several long deep breaths.

“What is that?” Daddy asked.

Gavin shrugged. “My mate is a genius. She made it.”

Rylee glanced at Molly to find her shrugging as if it was no big deal.

“I did a little research this afternoon and found this recipe. It’s basically like a potpourri of pleasant scents.

I meant to bring it over the next time I came, but when I heard what the bears were saying, I knew you would need it now . ”

Rylee continued to breathe in the delightful smells. “That’s amazing.”

“It’s basically eucalyptus, tea tree oil, and several other things combined. Strong pleasant scents that block icky odors. I made you several different types. One is citrus based. Another is peppermint. And there’s a lavender one. You can try them all and see what you like best.”

“I love this one.” Rylee’s heart rate slowed as she continued to calm. The entire house smelled of eucalyptus now. It was wonderful.

Daddy carried her over to the living room and sat in an armchair, while Gavin and Molly joined them on the couch, keeping the blanket tucked around her mostly naked body.

Rylee rubbed her eyes. “I should have stopped him,” she murmured.

“No,” Molly said. “It’s not your fault.”

Daddy kissed her temple. “Listen to Molly, Little one. You girls cannot take the blame for anything someone else does. The burden will become tremendous if you do.”

Rylee sniffled. “What did you hear?”

Molly sighed. “I heard Thorn and Surge and two other bears busting into a shack where they found Drow having just murdered Firat. Apparently Drow and Firat had gotten into a fight. Drow had a plan to sneak up on our homes in the night and kill us off one house at a time. Firat argued against the idea, going against his friend, so Drow stabbed him.”

Rylee nodded and leaned her head against Daddy’s shoulder. “Now I know why I smelled death on Drow earlier.”

“Yeah.” Molly leaned into her Daddy.

Hayes held Rylee tightly. “You couldn’t know if that scent was something that had already happened, a precursor to the future, or even possible premeditation.”

“Maybe I should have said more to Thorn and Surge.”

Daddy shook his head. “Nope. I warned them. They knew something bad was on the horizon.”

Molly nodded. “They went directly to their council, gathered two more men, and spent the afternoon looking for Firat and Drow. Nothing you could have said would have changed anything.”

“Okay,” Rylee whispered. That was comforting. But what would happen next time?

“It’s over, Little one,” Daddy said. “You’ve had a challenging day.

When you woke up this morning, you had no idea you had the ability to smell death or any number of other things.

Now you know. I can’t say I’m excited about the prospect of you having to breathe in evil, but we’ll take things one day at a time. ”

Gavin lifted Molly onto his lap. “I don’t like my Little girl having to listen to evil either, but it happens.

You might have to do like we’ve done and shut the house off from the outside now and then.

Molly sometimes wears earplugs to block all the voices.

Maybe you could wear nose plugs when you need a break from all the scents.

Seal off the house, too. We insulated ours.

You could probably do something similar to keep the smells on the outside. ”

“It’s a good idea,” Daddy said. “The good news for Molly and Rylee is that they don’t have to remain diligent at all times.

It’s okay to block sounds and scents from the outside.

As much as I hate that for Felix, the truth is Khloe has no control over her visions.

Nothing blocks them. At least not as far as Felix has been able to discern so far.

When something happens, Felix can alert us so that Molly and Rylee can open up a door and step outside. ”

“That should work,” Rylee agreed. “And the eucalyptus is so amazing. Thank you for making that for me. Death isn’t the only nasty scent in the world. I can also boil the powerful potpourri when Isaac makes yucky foods for my friend Amber.”

Everyone chuckled.

“I bet you can’t wait for Amber to arrive,” Molly said.

“Yeah. She’s going to be so happy to find out we mated brothers. We worried our entire lives that we wouldn’t see each other again after we mated.”

Rylee smiled as she leaned heavily into her Daddy. She had a good friend in Molly, the amazing scent of eucalyptus, and the excitement about Amber arriving soon. All things to smile about.

They were right. Drow’s actions were not her responsibility. She needed to remind herself of that often. More days like today would come in the future. Some would be worse than others. Rylee would get used to taking the good with the bad. She had to. She was the mate of an Alpha Protector.