Chapter 59 - Finally Meeting Dad

I hurried down the street and halted behind the same strip of trees that I hid behind last time. I peered out into the shop ahead and sure enough, my little father was hunched over, struggling to pull the metal doors. I knew there were no words to make this less intense, I was ready to unconceal myself to aid him with the gutters but someone turned the corner and pulled them for him.
It was Evan.

I immediately felt relief. I felt joy like never before, Evan might have told him about my existence, this might not go so bad after all. Somehow I doubted that Evan was still alive, I convinced myself that he was even when Maria confirmed that he was in Akbur Hills, I hadn't quite believed it. Seeing him for myself, alive and well, there was simply no comparison to that.
I did not wait any longer, I strutted across the dirt and marched right where the two men were setting up a table of what looked like hand made tools made out of wood. They both turned at the sound of my footsteps. It was Evan that spoke first.

"Ana?"

My father stared at me with wide eyes. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
"My Ana?"

"Hi dad."

"I'm seeing things again, dammit. I'm losing my mind. My doctor was right-"

"No dad, you're not."

"I-it can't be."

I guess Evan still hadn't told him after all.
"Dad, it's really me."

There were tears in my fathers eyes. I wanted so badly to wrap my arms around his small frame.
"That's not possible. You didn't age-"

"Mason, it's really her," Evan almost whispered," the wolves, they put her in a coma so that she could not age."

My father whipped around to face him," you're seeing this too?"

"Yes, it's really her. She's back," he placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

My father turned to face me and raised his hands," you're alive."

I didn't realize that tears were streaming down my face until I tasted them on my lips. I tried to wipe them away and smiled at my shocked father.
"Yes, I am. I'm so sorry-"

I threw myself into his arms and they wrapped around me immediately. I sobbed into his neck, I could not let go. I felt the strength of the memories of his touch hitting me as if the roof had collapsed on us.
"I can't believe it, you're still alive."

"I missed you so much," I spoke in between sobs," you have no idea how much I missed you."

"Those animals took you from me," my fathers arms wrapped around me even harder," they can't take you away now, not anymore."

I spent the rest of the day with Evan and my father. I revealed to him as much as I could, I even told them about the poison.
"Maria, she told us about that already. That's why she was sent away, because she hit you," my father said.

"Yes. I feel horrible about that-"

"Don't. There is no changing their mind. Whether Damon is alive or dead, the wolves have always had an agenda to kill the human race."
I looked at Evan to see if he agreed but it was evident on his face that he didn't.

"Evan?" I whispered. He hadn't said much to me. After the initial relief to discover that I was alive, Evan's anger with me did not remain unmasked for much longer.

"I don't agree. You should have killed him, we had a plan."

I wondered if Maria had been decent enough to at the very least leave out the part where I had fallen in love with Damon.

"I wanted to, I just knew it was the wrong thing to do. It might have made the council angrier with us-"

"It doesn't matter, they have rules and traditions that they have to stick with!" Evan roared," and now what? We all just wait to die?"

"No, not us," I whispered ,watching as a passing couple looked through the tools on the table," you took the blood Maria gave you, right?"

Evan's eyes flickered to the side and he mumbled," what about the others?"


"We have to figure out a way to get more werewolf blood for everybody."
The couple were now purchasing something from my father and so I continued to whisper.

"We can take down one of the guards-"

"Are you insane? As soon as he shifts, he'll be the size of two trucks, he'll kill us all. And there's no way to make another potion-"

"There has to be a way," I eyed one of the werewolf guards stationed by the building up ahead.

"There isn't. There's like twelve of them, they guard each other too. Forget it."

"I can't. It's the only plan that might actually work."

"Or get us killed even faster. Besides, there's no time. It takes eight days to finish the poison and at the rate that Damon is gassing villages, we'll all be lucky to still be alive tomorrow."

"But-"

"Forget it Ana. We're all gonna die, and there's no way to avoid it, even with the blood. As soon as they find out that we survived the gas, guess what? They'll kill us too."

**Tessa's POV**

I took a deep breath and entered the meeting room balancing a metal tray with two glasses of whiskey on it. Inside, there were twelve men that represented the council.
Werewolf men.
I had never been allowed inside before, it was always my mother that served master Damon and his second in command their drinks.
Three cubes of ice. Two ounces of whiskey, I had kept repeating in my head as I prepared the drinks.
I was looking forward to after the meeting when I could finally demand answers as to when will Damon bring my family to live here, and when will he make me his doll. They have already been at it for over an hour and I was beginning to grow more anxious the angrier master Damon became. He did not spare me a look as he grabbed the glass from the tray and chugged.
Luke gave Damon a weary look and sipped on his slowly.

"Another one, but bring it up to my room," he slammed back the empty glass on the tray, the impact hurting my wrists that held it.

"O-okay."

I headed to the back of the room to leave. I didn't know why I felt disappointed, as if I expected him to give me the slightest of glances. I was loyal to him, I did what he wanted. Doesn't that count for anything? Why hadn't he noticed me yet?
Because he's still thinking of Ava.
I shut the door and bend down to eavesdrop.

"We'll gas another village, Shadow Creek down south instead," Damon was saying.

"But we know that the vampires are headed down here. They know where the council lives, they want revenge for all their people that we killed," another wolf was saying.

"They will use Akbur Hills to feed and repower because it's the closest prison. We have to gas it immediately." this time it was Luke.

"We'll have hybrids stationed at Akbur Hulls to kill the vampires instead-"

"We don't know how big of an attack this is going to be. We may not have enough Hybrids-"

"We aren't gassing Akbur Hills and that's final," Damon roared," meeting is done, you can all leave."

I had just a second to hide behind the wall of the hallway before Damon burst through the double doors. I figured now would be a bad time to ask about my mother and siblings. I could not help but wonder if Ava was the reason that he could not bring himself to gas Akbur Hills.
I went inside of the meeting room to collect Luke's empty glass.

"I think he's gone soft," someone was saying," I've had my doubts about him ever since he disappeared during the party when we got attacked."

"You're right. The Emantors at Akbur Hill's are working now?" Luke asked someone across the room.

"Yes, all of them."

"Good. Gas it anyway, tonight."

"But Alpha Damon-"

"Damon has lost his mind. As the head of security, I cannot risk losing any more guards or hybrids. We cannot risk it. I want Akbur Hills gassed tonight by midnight."

"Okay. Consider it done."