Page 11 of The Healer (The Blood of Legends #2)

Chapter Eleven

TRAPPED

A fter another asphyxiation attempt with a borrowed scarf that stank of dog, Dane walked Ilona up the gentle hill to Mo’s Diner. She suspected he hadn’t driven her because he thought she might faint. The crisp air did help hold back the dark spots circling her vision, so she sucked in great gulps of it. Fainting upon meeting her granddaddy would sure power the rumor mill. She blamed her fluttery state on coming face to face with Mr. Naked. He was as gorgeous in jeans and a T-shirt as he was naked, holding her boot. Who was she kidding? She much preferred him in his birthday suit. Raising her face to catch the chilling breeze helped smother a giggle at the image of him with a red ribbon twirled around his golden body.

“Not the way I would have gone.” Dane rumbled with barely suppressed laughter.

“Oh, and what would you have done or said?” She flicked an arched brow at him, irritated at his condescension. “Been in this situation before? How many unknown grandparents do you have?”

“Touché.” He threw his arm across her shoulder and tugged her into the curve of his body, shielding her from the wind.

She wanted to struggle, to reject his familiarity like he had known her for long and had the right to intrude on her personal space. But then, she would freeze. Grand gestures of offense would gain her nothing.

He shrugged. “Still, I would have given him the box and let him reach his own conclusions.”

“Right, that a woman he once knew sent him a box he’d given her?” She shook her head. “First conclusion would be…she died.” Raising her gaze to the sky, she let the chilling wind dry the tears forming. No more talk of death. “He looked furious, though.”

“Wouldn’t you be if you found out you had a child, and no one told you?” Dane tightened his arm to halt her, spinning her to face him. “We’re family orientated, Ilona. Not telling him cut out a large chunk of his soul.”

She blinked, wondering if Amos would force his way into her life. She couldn’t bear to lose someone again… No more thoughts of loss. “I’m staying longer than I thought?”

Dane nodded and guided her into a stroll, neatly dodging a woman with an ingratitude of children in tow. Amos watched from the booth closest to the entrance with one hand resting on the box centerstage of the table. Dane held the door open for her, allowing her to duck in before he followed.

The aroma of roasted coffee, cinnamon sugar, and toasted cheese greeted her. She inhaled deeply.

“Hey, Mo.” Dane kissed the cheek of an elderly woman in a waitress uniform. He gestured to Ilona to slide in first before he trapped her in the booth, taking up a large section of the seat with his great bulk. “I’ll have a coffee and a donut.”

She blinked at him. A massive breakfast, a beer, and now a donut? “Where do you put it all?”

When he grinned, she dropped her gaze, not needing his charm to melt her resolve. She wasn’t looking for sex, love, or forever after, and by the number of women seeking his particular companionship, he wasn’t the type of man she could afford to lose her heart to.

“I’m a growing boy.” He rubbed his taut abdomen.

“Welcome to Coedwig, Ilona. What will you have?” Mo chewed gum as expected, and she had two pencils sticking out of her grey chignon. So cliché.

“Just a coffee, thanks, Mo.” Everyone knowing Ilona’s name shouldn’t surprise her. Small towns tended to spread news fast. A new person in town searching for grumpy Amos and claiming to be his granddaughter? Yup, that would be news worthy of a good spreading.

“Where’s Mona? Is she well?” Amos rested his dark gaze on Ilona, pinning her to the spot.

“She’s as sassy as always. Said she couldn’t come on account of the damn cold.” Ilona was starting to agree with her.

Icy fingers seeped through any gaps in her clothing, and heaven forbid, she left a part of her body exposed. Snow was pretty on television and somewhere far away. Underfoot, it was nothing but a death trap.

Amos’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “And where is she? Which city?”

“Fenneg.”

He nodded, sucking in a shuddering breath. “Damn fool woman just left me in the middle of the night, no explanation, not even a fare thee well.”

“She said something about you intending to marry another.” Ilona smiled her thanks as Mo slid a coffee in front of her.

Dane bit off half of his donut.

Amos jerked back, tightened his fingers around the box, and dragged it closer. “Shit. That’s why she left?” He threw back his head and guffawed, sounding like a longtime smoker. “I ought to find her and whip her ass. All these years wasted…” He retrieved a letter from his jacket pocket, tossing it onto the table.

Scrawled across it in Gran’s familiar penmanship was Amos’s name.

“She explained what happened to my daughter.” His jaw tightened, and fury slithered across his features. “My…daughter.” He shook his head. A single tear slid down his weathered cheek. “She says you’re a doctor?”

“Wow, I never pegged you as one of those.” Dane ran his ice-blue gaze over her face. Both eyebrows almost touched his hairline, despite his slow smirk and relaxed posture. Sure, that’s why Ilona had studied for so many years. To impress people.

She ignored him, tapping the torn envelope instead. “Where was this?” She had tried to open the box, but the brackets and lock hadn’t budged.

“In the box.” He slipped a chain from around his neck on which hung a tiny key. “Now answer the damn question, granddaughter.”

“I studied medicine.” She glared at him, meeting his dark gaze without fear. If they were to have a relationship, she wasn’t going to let him intimidate her, or worse, bully her.

“Residency?” He waited, but she didn’t answer, choosing to sip her coffee. “Answer me.” He slapped the table, trembling the plates and cutlery on its speckled linoleum surface.

She lowered her cup to its saucer. “I don’t need to answer you, especially when you raise your voice at me. It’s not endearing yourself to me, Grandfather. I don’t need to be here. I’ve delivered the box, task done.” She turned on Dane. “Move.”

The damn man didn’t, just smiled at her as he ate his second donut.

“I loved her with every breath in my body. I still do.” Amos’s husky voice stilled Ilona’s half-climbing over Dane.

She sank onto the seat, blinking at the broken man before her.

“I never married and had no intention of doing so unless it was to her.” He lunged across the table and gripped Ilona’s hand. “I’m leaving on the first flight to Fenneg, but I can’t abandon this town during the Lunar Festival.”

“Abandon?” She frowned.

Dane threw back his coffee. “Amos is our resident doctor.”

“He’s a what?” A spark ran up her scar, throbbing it. Black and red spots tainted her vision. If Gran stood before her, she would receive such a tongue lashing. “That conniving traitor.”

Gran hadn’t wanted to accept Ilona’s decision to not practice medicine anymore. She didn’t want Ilona to mourn, to take a few weeks, months, hell, even years, to come to terms with her limitations. Instead, she had to visit her unknown grandfather under pretense.

Dane bit into his third donut. “Does she expect you to chase after her, Amos?”

“No, she thinks I’m married and bouncing my grandkids on my knee.” He rose to his full height to lean across the table, cupping Ilona’s unscarred cheek. “I could have experienced that with you. Please, stay, just for a few days.”

“I don’t know if that’s wise.” Dane wiggled his eyebrows trying to imply something.

Amos scowled, lowering himself into the chair with a few cracks and pops of his joints. “I’m going, and there ain’t a damn thing you can do, Dane. I’m old, and each second alive is precious. I want Mona in my arms, my life, and I have every intention of luring her here to stay.”

“What?” Ilona squeaked.

Not have Gran with her in Fenneg? No, that was out of the question. Where would her home be? The tempestuous emotion in Amos’s eyes told another story. She slumped into the seat. Gran would reject him again, so Ilona had nothing to worry about. A few days on duty in a small town, how busy could she get? It would be like working at Amity, one last hoorah.

“Fine.” She folded her arms across her chest, glaring at the man.

“I don’t like this,” Dane growled under his breath.

The rumbling deep from within him raised the hairs on her neck. She shivered and tightened her jacket.

Amos stiffened but shook his head. “Challenge me if you must, but I’m leaving.”

Ilona thumped Dane on the arm, stinging her knuckles when she hit solid flesh. “Are you implying I’m incapable of handling a small town? I’ll have you know, Mr. Mayor, I’ve worked trauma, for pity’s sake.”

He captured her fist, holding it in place. Heat poured from him, hotter than a newly filled water bottle. “I didn’t say that. It’s just… Some folks are picky about who doctors them.”

“They can damn well get over themselves, or they can heal on their own.” She tugged her hand free, aware he let her, before facing her grandfather. “Amos, how long? I’m not staying here so you and Gran can…y’know, get naked.”

His cheeks darkened, but she couldn’t say if it was from embarrassment or fury. “You’ll stay as long as it takes.” He rose to his feet, tossed a few notes on the table, slapped a set of keys into Dane’s hand, then stormed off.

Ilona scrambled across Dane’s lap to follow.

Then bumped into Amos’s chest who had halted his exit. “Where does she live? Give me the address.”

Ilona pinched her lips as she shoved her face in his, showing her defiance. He could have at least said please.

“You’re as infuriating as she was.” He waved his hands into the air. “Fine, I’ll find her without you. How many Monique Devereauxs can there be?”

She laughed. “It’s not Devereaux anymore.”

He gasped. “She married?” His gaping mouth slipped into a grimace.

“Is it Strickland?” Dane leaned his elbows on the back of the bench, watching them.

“My daughter was Dr. Elise Strickland?” Amos paled. He threw out a hand to grip the door handle. “I knew of her, of her husband…your parents.” He charged at Ilona to cup her shoulders. “Tell me, where’s Mona?”

Dane leaped off the bench, his chest warming Ilona’s back. Was he complicit in this nonsense? Or did he think Amos would hit her?

She slumped, unable to handle whatever this was with any emotional integrity. This shitstorm was of Gran’s doing. Ilona rattled off the address. Amos left the diner with the door banging behind him, climbed into his truck, then sped off. As if she waded through quicksand, she flopped onto the bench opposite Dane, who had returned to his donut.

“I guess I’m your new doctor for the foreseeable future.” She dabbed her eyes with a paper towel. “Anything I should know about?”

Dane pushed away his empty plate. “Shit, this isn’t going to end well.”

Rhys couldn’t move. His bear shook its head, whining for release. Slapping him down, he grabbed his coat and slipped it on as he strolled out. Seeing Callie in other women wasn’t fair to himself or the women. Gritting his teeth, he strode up the hill, and paused, watching through Mo’s windows as Dane, Rhys’s redhead, and Amos chatted. Her expressions were easy to read, her shock, her pale face, her anger and flushed cheeks, her dismay and resignation, and ending in her slumping across the table.

He shoved his fists deep into the pockets of his jacket. Dane would have to explain what was going on. The woman stomped out of Mo’s, leaving a bemused Dane seated in the booth. She hesitated when she saw Rhys standing there.

He didn’t know what to say. Asking if she was all right was lame, even as a thought. She marched up the hill to Cromwell’s.

Rhys didn’t hesitate. Besides taking a second to stare after her swinging ass, he opened the door and slid into the spot she vacated. “What the fuck is going on?”

Dane grunted. “Where do I start? Ilona is Amos’s granddaughter.”

Ilona. Rhys tested her name on his tongue. He shivered, relishing the skitter of excitement brushing across his senses.

“Amos hadn’t known she existed until now. But instead of getting to know her, he’s hying off to Fenneg to find Mona, her grandmother.” Dane swiped his finger over the sugar dusting the empty plate. He sucked on his finger. “Now, I have a new doctor for the fest.”

“She’s a doctor?” Rhys grinned. I swore an oath.

Dane half-chuckled. “So she claims.”

“Just…” Rhys rubbed a hand over his face. “Go easy on her, Dane. She’s suffering.”

He locked gazes with Rhys. “I know, and she won’t say why. Cried on my shoulder yesterday.”

Rhys’s heart twanged, though why he cared, he couldn’t say.

“So, what brings you to Coedwig?” Dane finished his donut and gestured to Mo for another round of coffee.

“I needed a break. I’ve so much going on. Trying to repair what Alrik destroyed, rebuilding my pack’s morale. And on top of it all, I’m working closely with the humans and vamps to form a policing unit. Devereaux thinks we can…” Rhys didn’t want to discuss any of that, didn’t want to rehash the emotions Callie invoked.

“Devereaux?” Dane frowned.

“Callista Devereaux. Although, I suspect she’s de Winter now.” Pain cinched his chest, and his bear roared, deafening his internal hearing. Threatening tears stung his eyes. Dammit, an alpha never cried. Get it together.

“Ah, for a moment there, I thought you knew our Devereaux.”

Rhys shook his head. What were the odds of stumbling on a descendent of the Devereaux line right here in Coedwig. Could it be Callie’s lineage? He almost grumbled at his staccato heartbeat. Not all Devereauxs came from the same melting pot. And he couldn’t swap his infatuation from one woman to another.

“Amos’s Mona was a Devereaux.”

Everything within Rhys stilled, and for once, that included his bear. “So her granddaughter is…?” He struggled to swallow. The one woman he found attractive since meeting Callie turned out to be related to her?

Dane nodded, a mischievous smile splitting his face. “She’s new to Coedwig, but if I was you, I’d steer clear.”

“What? Why?” Warning him off had the opposite effect. Now he had to see her again.

“She’s under my protection, Rhys. Alpha to alpha, stay away from her. Like you said, she’s been hurt. Whatever happened, she needs time, space, for however long it takes to heal.”

Dane had the right of it. Rhys grunted. Still, she intrigued him, and it wouldn’t hurt to get to know her better. “Two alphas protecting her is better than one.”

Dane leveled an unflinching stare on Rhys. “You’ve changed.”

He grimaced. “I have.” Having tasted what love could feel like, he was more than determined to find it. And in doing so, break the hold a non-mate Callie had over him.

Dane sipped his coffee. “I might be howling at the wrong moon. We’ll touch on this after you’ve met Ilona and she’s chewed you a new one.”

Not for all the moons in the universe would Rhys reveal he’d met her already. He drained his cup and rose. “I look forward to it.” At Dane’s furrowed brow, he laughed. “See you at Cromwell’s.”