“Two males transitioned two days ago before the full moon. It occurred through the action of rage. They had taken their fight into the forest when your father stumbled upon them. In the process, they struck a tree and it fell on your father. He was crushed and they were too far gone to do anything. He was found hours later.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Tell me he’s not dead.” No, this couldn’t be happening. No one and nothing could kill her father.

Sickness swirled in her gut, and Lucas turned, guarding her body and wrapping his arms around her.

“The doctor is unsure of what can be done, if anything. We have to wait and see.”

“I need to go and see him,” she said.

“It’s why I have come. We can leave tonight and be back home by tomorrow. You’ll have to return after …”

He didn’t finish, and she shook her head. “After my father is dead?” She couldn’t help the pain that struck her hard. “No. He can’t die. We’re wolves. We can’t die.”

Lucas’s arms tightened around her. She held on to him.

“Mabel, I know this has come as a shock to you. Do you want me to return without you?”

She shook her head. “No, I just, he can’t die. I don’t … I think I’m going to be sick.”

No longer caring about her naked state, she ran out of Lucas’s arms and past the Alpha, charging upstairs and going into the nearest bathroom. She lifted the toilet seat, pulling back her hair at the same time she threw everything up.

Her body shook with the force of her sickness. There was no way her dad was dead. It just wasn’t possible. She refused to believe it.

“I’ve got you, Mabel. I’m here.” Lucas rubbed her back and she took the comfort he offered her.

Her body shook. She didn’t know how she’d be able to cope with her father dead. What about her mother?

“What do I do, Lucas?” she asked.

“You lean on me. That’s what you do.”

She wrapped her arms around him and let go, sobbing against his chest.

****

Lucas paced outside of the medic’s bedroom. This was where they came in cases of emergency that would alert the civilians to their world. They continued to live alongside them undetected, apart from the wolves who were mated to humans.

Mabel was in with her father, and he stood with his own, waiting to hear something. They’d been back in town for two days, and so far, she hadn’t left her father’s side. He hadn’t left the medic’s house.

He couldn’t get her to eat.

“What is going to happen to the brats that did this?” Lucas asked.