Micah glared at the shifter in his grip. The fact that Frank had not fought back, only grabbed Micah’s wrists was telling. As if he had too much to lose by letting Micah throw him off the land. He relaxed his grip, eliciting a sigh from Frank.
“Look. You don’t think I’d fly to Minnesota and then drive four hours into the middle-of-fucking-nowhere Wisconsin in the freezing-ass winter just to fuck with you, do you? Do you really think I value my life that little? Let us come in out of this ridiculous cold and sit down to discuss this like civilized beings, Micah.”
Frank pushed himself back from Micah and brushed at the lapels of his suit. “Can’t believe you wrinkled my suit. Do you have any clue how much this cost me? Now can we go in? It’s too cold out here even for my shifter blood.”
“We?” Micah’s nose twitched as two others exited the car. A human male and-Micah took another deep breath-a shifter female stood at the front of the vehicle. His nostrils flared as he took in her scent.
“Julia? You’ve gone to the Turn Skins?” Turning his head slightly to look at the classy blonde were-leopard, he wondered if he was losing his mind. “Does Tony know you’re here?”
“Tony is the one who suggested I come, Micah. He heard about this situation and asked me to intervene.” Julia came forward to take his hand. He stared into her concerned green eyes. “I’ve looked over the paperwork and it’s not good. Judge Lowery appointed me guardian ad litem at my request and Tony’s. I’ve left several messages on your voicemail. You should have known we were coming and why.”
A fist clenched relentlessly around Micah’s heart. Tony Pantera, his closest friend in New Orleans, knew about this? Why hadn’t he called? Then he remembered Gareth mentioning the messages. Only he’d been too immersed in losing Olivia. Had his losing control cost him his daughter as well? Micah waved a hand toward the lodge then followed the three into the warmth of the kitchen.
Once inside, he signaled a watchful Gareth to go upstairs and keep Talia out of sight. Gareth hadn’t finalized his plans to leave yet, but it was only a matter of time. Micah had asked him to stay until spring. Luckily they’d worked out a few signals in case silence was necessary.
Gareth gave a short nod, lips curling in disgust at the scent of his former Pack as he backed up the staircase. Micah waited until he was out of sight before pointing to the chairs.
“Sit. Get to the point. I have better things to do than listen to the lies of a Turn Skin.”
Frank surged to his feet but Julia placed a well-manicured hand on his arm. “Sit, wolfboy. Let me handle this.”
Micah felt some amusement at the look on Frank’s face at being coolly ordered to heel like he was a pet dog. But the Turn Skin leader sat even as he snarled at Julia. “Then state your piece, kitty-girl, and be thankful I don’t chow down on you.”
“I don’t do interspecies dating, Frank.” Julia flipped her hair over a slim shoulder as she turned to face Micah.
“Micah, this is serious and this is real. It’s an Alpha emergency that you ignored. Now the courts have made their initial decision and Talia is to go back to New Orleans with Frank.”
Micah would have come across the table if it hadn’t been Julia. As it was, his fists clenched until his knuckles cracked. He knew her and trusted her work as a top-notch criminal litigator. Added to that, Tony had asked her to come-that alone made his stomach threaten to rebel. If Tony had become this involved this quickly, he really had done himself no favors by ignoring the phone calls from New Orleans. As Julia continued to speak, her words seemed to reverberate in his brain. Talia. Turn Skins. Compound. Loss. Loss. Loss. How much more did they expect him to endure? His mate was gone, and now they wanted to strip him of his child as well?
Julia finished her statements and waited. The silence in the kitchen jerked him out of his tail-chasing spin. Reading the documents she placed in front of him, Micah tried to find a loophole, an escape clause, anything that wouldn’t result in Talia being taken away from him today. Not today-not ever. He didn’t think he had the strength to watch another love leave. But there were no outs, no places for him to run on this one.
“You are telling me…” Micah heard his voice break and growled. “You say Talia is Curtis’ daughter? That he and Shelly were lovers? And because of some will you just found, the Turn Skins, now called the Compound Pack, have guardianship over her?”
Julia sighed. She spoke slowly, gently, “No, Micah, not exactly. Yes, she is Curtis’ child. We found letters from Shelly confirming that. Wolfboy here is the anal type and has been going through all of the paperwork Slade never worried about. Talia has been remanded by the courts back to the Compound Pack. I’m here to make sure she’s properly taken care of. I’ll also help you find a good lawyer.”
Micah blinked rapidly. He hadn’t shed tears since his father’s death, though the pain he felt now tossed him back to that time. “Lawyer? Why do I need a lawyer?”
Frank barked a sharp sound of disgust. “What’s happened to you, Micah? You can’t invoke Pack law on this one. Because you ignored all the overtures we made, this is in the Louisiana court system. If you want to challenge for joint custody, you’re going to need a lawyer.”
He leaned in close. “A very good one. Don’t think I’m here of my own accord. I work for the Pack will. And my Pack wants this child. They think she won’t learn about Pack law with you. They see you as a lone wolf, Micah.”
The words burned into Micah’s brain. He’d said the same to Gareth not so long ago. And a month ago the Compound Pack would have been right. He hadn’t wanted the responsibility of his local Pack. He didn’t have a mate or a child to worry about.
Olivia and Talia had changed all that. For a brief moment he wished the old Turn Skin Pack still ruled. They would have just tried to steal Talia. Then he could have used the rage building in him to destroy them. But with Frank at the helm of the newly named Compound Pack, things had changed.
For them to approach him this way-legally-that took the wind out of him. Numbly he nodded at Julia. “Let me tell her.”
And he turned to Frank with a sneer. “Prepare for the fight of your life, Alpha.”
Micah held on to a post on the porch as the car pulled away. He could still hear Talia crying for him. Even though he’d told her he would come for her, she’d clung like a drowning child to a life raft. Rubbing his arms where her fingers had dug in, he let himself weep.
A hand on his shoulder brought him back to the painful realization that this wasn’t a dream but a true nightmare. He looked at Gareth.
“What are you doing here, Gareth? I thought you would leave too.”
“Not now, Micah. I took some time to clear my head and let you see the truth in my words. I’m sorry for what’s happened. Some of those messages were from Julia. I expected you would get them when you checked the phone.”
Raw with grief, Micah rasped, “I didn’t listen to them. I didn’t want to hear Olivia saying she needed me to return her things.” He looked up at Gareth. “She left some clothes here, you know. And now they’ve taken Talia.”
“I know, Micah. What are you going to do about it? You know you can’t do this alone.” Gareth stared at Micah briefly then looked away. “You have to step up to the plate, Micah. You’re going to have to get help from the Pack on this one.”
“I’m going to go to New Orleans. I will bring Talia home even if I can’t bring Olivia back. I can’t lose them both. And don’t talk to me about this Alpha crap. It’s not important to me at this moment. Getting Talia back is what matters.”