Gifted: A Holiday Anthology (11 page)

“I can hear that.”

For most of their lives, my children had never heard their father raise his voice. To others, yes, but with them, he was a damned-near perfect parent. Better than me at keeping his temper. Yet in the last few months, as Kate’s behavior escalated and our bafflement grew, she’d begun getting the sharp side of his tongue, and though it hadn’t escalated to shouting matches, it occasionally got close.

“She’ll survive,” Logan said, as if reading my mind. “She deserves it, because she’s being a total brat. Even I can’t get through to her. Whatever she said to you, she doesn’t mean it. You know that.”

“I do. I’m trying to get there as fast as I—”

“You don’t need to convince me, Mom. I know you are.
She
knows you are. Here’s Dad. I’ll go speak to her and give her crap.”

I chuckled as he handed the phone over. Logan and Clay exchanged a few murmured words. Then the sound of a door shutting and Clay came on.

“I’m sorry, darling. Guess I have to keep my phone in my pocket.”

“I keep telling myself it’s a phase, but she’s getting worse, and if this is a sign of what we’re going to endure for the next five years—”

“Don’t even say that. Please.”

“I shouldn’t let her goad me.”

“You usually don’t, but I suspect you’re getting plenty of goading from Lord Asshole over there. Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone. Reschedule the family vacation. I’ll drop the kids off at home with Jeremy and come out there, stand behind you and glower over my ruined vacation. Shut him up and teach Kate that Pack business comes first.”

“Which punishes Logan, too, when he’s had to put up with his sister’s shit as much as we have.”

“Yeah . . .”

“It also gives Parker ammo. Not only do I need to call in my mate for backup, but I’m cranky because I missed out on time with my kids. Typical woman. Once they have kids, you can’t rely on them anymore.”

“I said
I’d
be the one cranky about missing the family time.”

“They’ll think you’re just upset because you had to ‘babysit’ our kids for a few days while your mate gallivanted off to London. You and I can say the exact same thing, and somehow—” I bit the words off. “God, I’m tired of listening to myself whine.”

“
Bitch
not whine. Justifiable bitching.”

“It feels like whining. I wish— Hell, you know what I want? You to drop Kate off with Jeremy and bring Logan to London. Screw this meeting. We’ll take Logan to the British Museum and let him explore while we hole up in the nearest hotel and work very hard on helping me forget this crap.”

He chuckled. “If I thought you were serious, I’d plunk Kate on a plane to Jeremy, and put Logan and myself on the next one to London.” He sobered. “I’m serious, too . . . though not about sending Kate alone, as tempting as that would be. You say the word and we’re there. Tell Lord Asshole he has until tonight to wrap up or you’re gone.”

I transferred the phone to my other ear.

“Elena?”

“I’m thinking. Shit. I know I shouldn’t . . .”

“Yeah, you should. Not that I’m giving you advice on how to do your job, because that would be wrong . . .”

I smiled. Technically no one advised the Alpha, except the previous one, but Clay knew full well that I’d never want him to keep his thoughts to himself. It’s not as if he could anyway. Physically impossible.

“If you want to call Jer, go ahead,” he said. “But we both know what he’d do. Stay and wear them down. Quietly bend them to his will. Me? Hell, I’d have refused to go. If I had to, I’d have stormed out the minute Parker started pulling his shit, which is why I’m not Alpha. But Jeremy’s way isn’t yours and neither is mine. You’ve got to do it your way.”

“I know. You’re right, though. I’m giving him a deadline and then I’m walking away. Tell Kate I’ll be on that plane and at the cabin tomorrow morning. Guaranteed. If she still complains, then we go with option two, which is dropping her off at home and you two joining me in London. We need to crack down on her more.”

“Yeah, no more excuses. It’s been going on too long.”

Nick leaned around the corner. I motioned that I’d be right there and signed off.