Then he told us everything: his plan to kidnap Thea, and how afterward he’d gone to find her, asking to be part of the child’s life. Thea, bless her kind soul (which might get her into trouble someday), had agreed.
“You know she could get in trouble if the authorities find out about your connection, right?” Sophia asked.
“Don’t worry about that. I’m working on a plan,” he replied with a playful smile, but offered no further explanation.
“Since you’ve been in touch, did she mention anything to you? Maybe feeling unsafe or threatened? Anything at all?” I asked. We needed leads to begin our investigation. Graves recounted Thea’s receipt of the first note, and the two that followed. She’d received the final note yesterday—the day she was shot.
A sickening feeling washed over me at the thought that she’d turned to Graves for help instead of me. Before it could consume me, I pushed it aside. None of that mattered now. Not when she was lying in a coma.
“I hate that I couldn’t protect her. I should have investigated more thoroughly; maybe I could have prevented all this,” he said. I saw an emotion in his eyes I never thought I’d see. He was struggling with guilt, something he’d never needed to feel before.
No one spoke; we were all grappling with our emotions. We all felt we could have somehow prevented this. I sat down with a sigh as Aurora entered the waiting room. The second Graves saw her, all warmth and guilt vanished. Before any of us could react, he lunged at her, grabbing her throat and shoving her against the wall. Sharp claws instantly extended, digging into her neck.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Roman shouted, but Graves didn’t stop. Aurora choked out a cry, not daring to move. Fear etched her face.
I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. “Let her go, Graves.”
He ignored me. His claws were fully extended now, almost breaking her skin, and the scent of iron filled the air. Roman growled, trying to pull him off his sister, but Graves remained unmoved. His strength was surprisingly powerful, enough to challenge a werewolf who had inherited the Alpha position months ago.
“If I find out you had anything to do with hurting Thea, I swear I’ll gut you. Like those animal organs you love to eat, understand?” he snarled.
I had no idea how he knew about her fondness for animal organs. Then again, nothing he did or knew would surprise me anymore. She nodded tearfully, her eyes wide. Graves flared his nostrils, deeply inhaling her scent of fear, seeming to verify her genuine reaction, then released her, his claws slowly retracting to human form.
“You bastard!” Roman roared, swinging at Graves, who easily dodged the blow.
“Try to hit me one more time, and you’ll be buried next to your father within a week,” he warned.
That quickly cooled Roman down. He backed away; he knew this wasn’t an empty threat. If Graves said he would do it, he damn well would. And judging by Derek’s ultimate fate, I believed him capable.
A nurse entered, breaking the tense atmosphere.
“Alpha Ashworth, I’m the head nurse…”
Before she could finish, I interrupted. “How’s the baby?”
She gave me a small smile. “She’s in an incubator, as you already know, but she’s doing well so far. We’ll need to keep a special eye on her for the next few days to make sure what happened to her mother didn’t leave any permanent damage, but we believe she’ll survive.”
I let out a breath of relief, feeling Graves do the same beside me.
“I came here because we need to give her a name. Do you know what name Thea had chosen for her?”
For a moment, no one spoke. Then, a small voice behind me answered: “Phoenix.”
I turned to see Leo. He’d been with my parents. He immediately released their hands, took a few steps to grab mine, then looked up at the nurse.
“She didn’t know if the baby would be a boy or a girl, but she told me if it was a boy, we’d call him Orion, and if it was a girl, her name would be Phoenix.”
The head nurse gave him a gentle smile. “What’s her last name?”
Leo answered confidently: “Kincaid.” He paused briefly. “Her name is Phoenix Willow Kincaid.”