Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) by T.G. Ayer Read Free Book Online Page B

the Gordons knew what they were doing. Lying to the High Council was a dangerous game.

CHAPTER 9

    T HE ONLY THING THAT BROKE the icy silence in my apartment was the low bubbling of the kettle.
    Why does it seem like I am always making tea?
    Dad sat on our sofa, hunched over staring at the floor, his fingers threaded, elbows on his knees. Mom rubbed his back, her expression sad but determined.
    He cleared his throat. "You shouldn't have done that,"  
    "Of course, I should have," she said
    "I've only just gotten you back." His voice sounded strained.
    She sighed, a soft breath of sound. "There are more important things than us."
    He shifted his gaze to her face and the look he gave her drew hot tears to my eyes.
    But Mom seemed unfazed by the raw pain in her husband's eyes. She patted his cheek. "We have all the time in the world for us . Right now, the clans are troubled and they need you . Besides." She grinned. "A sordid affair with one's ex is far more interesting than boring old marriage."
    Dad gave a harsh laugh and shook his head. He, like Grams and me, was still recovering from shock after Mom's little performance with her two comrades. Iain, unfortunately, had to attend to business in Tukats.
    I snorted. "I'm still not sure I believe what you did."
    Mom shifted in her seat and glanced over her shoulder at me. Never before had I seen her slim build, her clean profile, her dark hair, as being so much like mine. And so human.
    "Would you have done any differently?" she asked softly, her hand never leaving Dad's shoulder.
    Grams moved past me and began to prepare the tea, leaving me with no option but to answer Mom.  
    "Fine," I said. "I would have done the same thing. But you three seemed to have had it planned."
    Mom smiled and got to her feet. The pearlescent silk of her suit pants clung to her hips as she strode to the kitchen to make her coffee. She'd never been a tea girl. "The alphas have been expecting something like this since the last High Council meeting."
    "You spoke to Marcia and Elaine?"
    Mom nodded. "We were well prepared."
    "But you didn't bother to tell us," Dad said, his voice rough.
    Mom lifted her gaze from the coffee machine to him, her fingers hovering over the switches. "Giving you three advanced warning would have guaranteed the High Council's win. You know as well as I do that you would have shot us down."
    Her words fell like hot rocks onto snow. Devastating.
    "High Council really wanted you out," I told Dad hoping he'd explain why.  
    His face paled a little, but when he didn't answer, I decided to ask my questions up front, "Have you heard anything? Rumor mill? Grapevine? Underground?"
    He glanced up at me, and the truth was written in his guilty face. "You've known all along."
    "Of course he did, dear," said Grams from my side. She elbowed me gently out of the way and, with nothing left to do with my hands I went to sit beside Dad.
    "What are you going to do?" I asked him.
    "He's going to keep on going, as if nothing happened," Grams said before he could reply. "While he does that, we are going to deepen our investigation."
    "You and Mom?"
    Grams nodded. "I have feelers out. Marsden and his cronies still have an agenda."
    "We've got a hacker working on their servers," Mom said. "We're just waiting to find something damning, but"--she shrugged--"So far nothing."
    Grams sighed. "Only hints and implications. Nothing concrete. They seem to be covering their tracks too well. Even the big guns are coming up empty."
    "Sentinel is on this?" They had to be, surely.
    "Like a bear all over a honey pot."
    As our laughter subsided, Mom said, "I'm going to stay here for a while. Dad and I can't be seen living in the same house."
    I raised my eyebrows. It went against nature when parents grew up and moved back in with their kids. Would this mean I'd be kicked out of my room?
    Mom's mouth curved into a secretive smile. "Do you still have your key, darling?"  
    It was my house. Of course I did.
    "Of