If that was the case, and if Richard was right about the bond acting as a catalyst for the transition, then it was a catch-22 situation.
Should he talk with his mother about it?
That would be awkward. His mother’s sex life was none of his business.
Besides, she and Richard were both adults, and they should be able to figure things out for themselves.
“What do you need help with?” Richard asked.
“What?”
“You said that you didn’t need my help to ask Jin and Mey to pay you for your graphic design services, but that you need help with something else.”
Vlad waved a dismissive hand. “It was just a figure of speech.”
“Or a Freudian slip. What’s on your mind? You can tell me anything, and it will stay between us. I’m a vault.”
There was only one thing Vlad needed help with, and that was finding Wendy’s missing mother.
Other than Roni and maybe Sylvia too, no one knew that he had been looking into Wendy’s father’s record and searching for her mother.
Vlad had decided to wait with everything until after his and Wendy’s wedding, which was five months away. But what if he could find her mother before that? Wouldn’t Wendy be happy to have her at the ceremony?
On the flip side, her mother might be dead, and getting confirmation of that would devastate her.
“It’s about Wendy.” Vlad cast a sidelong glance at Richard. “But I don’t want her to know. Not yet.”
“A surprise?”
“I want to find her mother if she’s still alive. Roni looked into it, but she’d disappeared, and there is no record of her death.”
“If she’s alive, she must have very good fake documents.”
“She was Director Simmons’s niece. He told Wendy and her father that she was his sister, but she was his sister’s daughter. He might have helped her with the documents.”
Wendy had kept her familial relation to the director from everyone else, but she must have told Richard because he didn’t look surprised.
“I understand that the father was abusive.”
“He was. Both toward Wendy and her mother. I have an uneasy feeling that he murdered his wife and invented a story about her running away because she was a druggie.”
“It shouldn’t be too difficult for you to get him to admit it.”
“True. But to do that, I need to leave the village and tell Wendy where I’m going and why. She is finally happy, and I don’t want to ruin it by dragging up the past.”
“Perhaps you can ask one of the Guardians to do that for you.”
Vlad’s fangs punched out over his lower lip. “If he killed her mother, I want to avenge her and Wendy. I don’t want someone else to do it for me.”
Turning toward him, Richard put a hand on his shoulder. “I understand your need, but my advice is to let the pros deal with that. You are not a fighter, Vlad. You don’t have any combat training, and even though a mere human is no match for your mental tricks and for your physical strength, you don’t have the right constitution for it. If you kill Wendy’s father, you might get in trouble, and even if you don’t, it will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
“I don’t think so. The instinct to do right by my mate is overpowering. I have to do this, and I won’t feel remorse. I’ll feel good about ridding the earth of the scumbag.”
“What if he didn’t kill the mother, though? Would you leave him be or kill him for abusing your mate?”
“I won’t kill him, but I’ll give him a taste of his own medicine.”
“You are incredibly strong, and you are emotionally involved. You might kill him accidentally.”
Vlad shrugged. “He will not be missed by anyone.”
“It will still be murder, Vlad. Abusing a child is a terrible crime, but it doesn’t carry the death penalty. Besides, it’s not your place to be judge and executioner.”
“Why not? The police didn’t do anything about it when it was happening, and they are sure as hell not going to do anything now that Wendy is an adult. Besides, she no longer exists as far as the human world is concerned.”
Smoothing a hand over his clean-shaven jaw, Richard was silent for a long moment. “I don’t know much about abusers, but I know people. They don’t change. If he was abusive before, he’s abusive now. Perhaps he could be put away for crimes that he committed recently and is probably still committing.”
“Even if I knew how to go about making it happen, it wouldn’t satisfy my need for revenge.”
“Did you talk to Kian about it?”
Vlad shook his head. “I intended to, but then I decided to wait with everything until after the wedding. I hope that by then Wendy will feel secure enough in our relationship and in the loving embrace of the clan that it won’t throw her back into the state she was in before.”
“That sounds like a good plan. Except, I have a feeling that you are impatient.”
Vlad nodded. “I’m restless. I have dreams about finding Wendy’s mother’s unmarked grave and then tearing the fucker’s throat out.”
“Must be difficult.” Richard clapped him on the back. “If I were free to come and go, I would go snooping around for you, or at least accompany you to make sure you didn’t get in trouble.”
“I appreciate the offer. But what can you do?”
“As a human, not much. But if the merciful Fates grant my wish and I transition, I’ll gladly come as your backup.” He smiled. “Your mother would never forgive me if I let you do this alone.” He chuckled. “Not that she would ever forgive me for letting you do it at all.”
“Don’t tell her anything.”
Richard shook his head. “I won’t. But if you decide to do this, you need to let her know your plans. And please, I implore you not to go at it alone. If anything happens to you, your mother will not survive it, and neither will your mate.”
10
Stella
“Thank you for coming.” Jin pulled out a chair for Stella. “I know that you are busy.”
“Lately, I’m not as busy as I would like to be.” Sitting down, Stella smiled and waved at Wendy, who returned the greeting from behind the counter.
The girl really liked her job at the café, but Stella hoped that Vlad’s future wife would do more with her life than serve coffee and sandwiches. She should go to college and get a degree in something useful that paid well.
As Vlad’s mate, Wendy had become a clan member with all the benefits that came with it, but she wouldn’t get her share in the profits until she was either twenty-five or enrolled in college.
“Awesome.” Jin sat down. “I mean, it’s not good for you that you don’t have enough projects coming in, but it’s good for Mey and me. How would you like to join our team?”
“As what?”
When Jin had called and asked to meet at the café, Stella had a pretty good idea what it was all about.
Jin and Mey’s dream was a clothing line for tall women, but neither had design experience. And since the bridesmaids' dresses that Stella had designed for Jacki’s wedding had been such a big success, they assumed that she could do just as well with everyday clothing and wanted to offer her a job in their company.