Darcingtowne Wolves: The Misfits (Book 1)

Chapter Seventeen: One of the Best

By the time Sebastian and Carrie crawled out of bed - or in Bastian’s case, the very comfortable sofa he’d slept on in the Alpha suite - Ryan and Penelope had already made major headway into the grand undertaking that was cleaning the musty old mansion. While the mansion had been tended to by a caretaker on and off over the years, fending off the need for any major repairs, the accumulated dust and grime was still enough to clog the sensitive nose of any werewolf.

Ryan and Penny found this out the hard way when, after about fifteen minutes into pulling dust covers from all the furniture, they both started sneezing uncontrollably. They’d adapted some scarves into dust masks after that, but still ended up with watery red eyes and minor headaches. They’d just finished cleaning the formal sitting room, and were boiling a pot of water on the stove - as much to make tea as it was to lean over with with a towel over their heads in order to help relieve their dust-induced allergy symptoms - when Carrie and Sebastian wandered blearily into the kitchen.

“Scoot, please, it’s my turn now.” Ryan grumbled, shunting Penny away from the pot of boiling water that she’d been leaning over. He’d put some lemon and herbs in it, which had been doing wonders for her sinuses.

Penelope muttered some sharp words under her breath, but was distracted when her phone started ringing. She perked up a little when she saw it was her father, and sat down at the kitchen table while Carrie made a cup of coffee for herself and Bastian, who was already sitting.

“Hey Pops,” Penny tried to greet him with her usual enthusiasm, but her nose was stuffy. It made her voice sound a little bit like a kazoo.

“Penelope Dawn Silvius.” Mason rumbled, immediately causing Penny’s hackles to rise. He only used her full name when she was in trouble. He must have heard about their little foray in the Twilight Promenade the night before; it was the only reason she could think of that he would be using both her full name and his ‘you’re in deep s**t’ tone.

“Penelope Dawn Silvius.” the Elder intoned, his eyes sparking with just a hint of mischief despite the ominous tone he was using. “Whatever happened to staying out of trouble? You’ve barely been in Darcingtowne for a day and I already have some representatives from the Twilight Promenade here with me who say that you crashed a party of theirs last night. Attacked one of their Princes.”

“Dad, listen...I can explain.” Penelope started immediately. He’d put her on speaker phone so that Daniel and Tobias could hear. “I got outvoted, ok. Carrie, Bastian...even Ry wanted to go to this party. I couldn’t say no, and I couldn’t just go back to the packhouse and leave them without backup. Good thing too, cause that dickwad Prince tried to haul Carrie off to ravish her like some liege lord claiming his due in kind when the peasants couldn’t come up with money or crops.”

Mason put a hand over his mouth, trying not to chuckle. Even though she was the Alpha now, she still got nervous enough around her father to just start babbling. Toby smiled a little himself; it was endearing. She’d looked every inch the big bad Alpha the night before, but she was still a pup when she spoke to her father.

“We got it sorted, I swear. I threatened to bring the council down on him for attempted assault on a ranked member of an allied pack, and since he didn’t want to deal with the council and we really had no idea who he was, he decided to let it slide. No harm, no foul...though I did lose a shoe.” Penny continued, grumbling a little. The longer she talked, the more pronounced the strain in her voice became. She sounded like she had a stuffy nose, which was odd because werewolves didn’t really get sick. Injured, yes, but sick? No.

“Are you hungover?” Mason asked, lifting an eyebrow slightly.

“What? No. Ryan and I got up early and did some cleaning and now my poor super sniffer’s all discombobulated.” Penelope whined a little, causing Mason to laugh softly and shake his head. “Anyway, I promise I will lie low and stay out of trouble from now on. It’s going to take the whole week leading up to classes starting to get this place cleaned out, then I’ll be so busy with school that I won’t have time to go anywhere - especially Twilight Promenade territory.”

“Anything else you want to tell us, Alpha Penelope?” Mason asked, looking satisfied with his daughter’s explanation. The big man’s expression settled into its composed, neutral state once more.

“Well…” Penny hesitated for a long moment. “I..uhm..I don’t know if I want to say this in front of strangers.”

Mason sighed a little, “Penny, if it has something to do with last night you might as well get it all out in the open now. We don’t want there to be any misunderstandings.”

There was another, even longer pause, before Penelope said in a faint whisper. “I saw my mate last night.”

The ruckus from the other side of the phone was immediate. There was a loud, girly, high pitched squeal followed immediately by a long string of cursing in a decidedly masculine voice. 

“Fuckin’ seriously, Penny?! You dirty little b***h-” 

“OH. MY. GODDESS!”

“How could you not tell us?!”

“This. This is exactly why she didn’t tell you.”

“YOU KNEW?! Ryan Price, how dare you-”

“Silence.” Mason Silvius intoned, the single, calmly spoken word slicing through the madness like a hot knife through butter. The big man pinched the bridge of his nose lightly, squinching his eyes a little as he took in this new bit of information.

“This could be a good thing.” Daniel said, trying and failing to gauge how Mason was really feeling about this turn of events. “If her mate is a member of Twilight Promenade, it could help strengthen our alliance.”

“I’m not going to use a sacred bond to gain political favor.” Penny’s voice had gone flat, impassive like her father’s - a sign that she was no longer speaking as Mason’s daughter, but as the Alpha of The Misfits. “If he is a member of Twilight Promenade, he will have to join The Misfits. In the event that he refuses, then...I’ll just have to reject him. As an Alpha, I cannot be compromised by a mate with split allegiances.”

Mason nodded at this, his smooth expression belying the pain that roiled around in his deep blue eyes. Even if he didn’t say it in words, or even with his face, Tobias could tell that Mason despised the idea of his daughter rejecting her fated mate.  But, even if the big man hated the idea, would he disagree with his daughter’s assessment of their situation?

If Mason’s eyes hadn’t been fixed on the phone in front of him, he might have noticed the way that Tobias had clutched at his chest. It had taken everything in him not to cry out in horror at his mate’s declaration; the pain that tore through him as he took in her words hit him was unreal, a burning brand shoved deep into his heart.

Daniel had noticed what Mason did not, and gave Toby a strange, worried look. Toby took a deep breath, and let the clutching hand sink to his lap, where it laid beside his other hand - both balled into tight fists. His nails were digging into the palms in a vain attempt to distract himself from the ache in his chest.

“Gentleman, we will need to discuss this further at a later time. Perhaps, once Penelope has found her mate.” Mason finally said, his voice rumbling slightly, averting his eyes as he got up. “I’ll pack up your dessert to go.”

“Ooohhh, what’s for dessert, Mr. S?!” came a sweet, fluting female voice from the phone, which was still on speaker. 

In the background, there was some hushed discussion going on, but Tobias couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. He thought he ought to be able to make it out, what with his enhanced werewolf hearing and all, but it was hard to hear anything over the sound of his erratically thudding heart and rushing pulse.

“Peanut butter budino, Carolyn. I’ll bring some by in a bit.”

“You’re the best, Mr. S!”

While Mason packed the desserts, Tobias got to his feet, finally having collected himself just enough to leave. The big man escorted Toby and Daniel to the front door, and gave Tobias a nod as he placed a clinking bag in his hands.

“Thank you for coming today, gentlemen. Oh, and Tobias...please tell your father thank you for me.” Mason said, adding the last part on a little more softly as Daniel stepped away.

Toby looked up at Mason, furrowing his brows a little. “You know my father?”

“Yes. He’s a good man. One of the best.” Mason said, his expression softening with his voice. “I put some extra jars in there...just in case either Lucas or your mother would like some. They were fond of my budino once upon a time.”