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“That’s…” Daddy’s words trailed off, but he leaned over and kissed my head instead of finding where they went. That was better than words.
“It’s definitely more cult than religion, and it’s been getting smaller, but it sounds like they’ve been recruiting in the area. I’ll have someone look into that.” Austin used his dangerous voice.
He sounded so cute when he was going to scare people.
“I’m assuming you’ve dealt with this before?” Tanner’s question made sense, but I was distracted because it was hard to remember how cute Austin was when it made the butterflies in my tummy came back.
“Yes.” Austin was probably frowning but he didn’t make his dramatic pause very long. “About nine years ago, someone who worked for me approached me and said it was an organization I should keep an eye on. They were working out west to change some laws andanyonelooking at the nonsense should’ve been able to see the dangerous roller coaster they were pushing us toward.”
I found myself nodding but stopped when it felt like everyone was looking at me again.
“I took a few months to study the cult and found a few things I didn’t like.” Austin was just as good at understatements as he was at being dramatic. “One of those was about how Charlie was being treated. His biological spawner was the head of the organization. She’s…she’s not a terribly nice person and was pushing Charlie too much.”
So good at understatement.
“He was being forced to do public speeches about it, and the stress of everything was giving him panic attacks. There were some issues and an instance of the crowd behaving badly toward him, but his mother liked the attention that got him.”
Russ sucked in a breath, finally realizing who I was.
“After one very public panic attack, she tried to have him shipped off to a facility fortroubledomegasand that was when I stepped in because Charlie was only sixteen at the time. He needed an advocate.”
He’d stolen me right from under her nose.
He was amazing.
“I arranged for Charlie to go into foster care and made sure he was taken care of.” Austin’s voice softened and I knew he was smiling at me, so I poked my hand out and waved, making him giggle. “So Charlie’s been my buddy for a long time.”
Everyone else was still quiet but Russ spoke up again. “I’m sorry you got trapped in that situation, Charlie. I think outside of Austin, I’m the only person who can even begin to guess what that was like and that’s just because of how they targeted communities like mine.”
I made the alien antennas again and made him laugh.
“I’ll take being an alien any day. Understanding that we were meant to find our mates and build our families with that strength would be worth almost anything.” Russ sounded like he was smiling, which made me warm and fuzzy inside.
“You had him placed in foster care?” Tanner sounded very confused, but it seemed like an odd part to get stuck on.
“Yes.” Austin sounded offended for some reason.
“Why?” Tanner’s voice was confusing and they were both very tense.
I didn’t like it at all but I didn’t know why.
“Because when I asked you what you thought of me looking into adoption and foster care, you told me I couldn’t raise a puppy and to use common sense.” Austin’s voice was low and even but he sounded angry to me. “So I did. I found Charlie a wonderful foster family and kept a very close eye on everything in that household.”
He’d even had someone monitoring their phones and their computers, but I wasn’t going to point that out. It technically hadn’t been legal, but being nice was sometimes more important than that.
“I…” Tanner’s words trailed off. “I’m sorry.”
I had no idea what to say, so I just stayed in my fort. Daddy must’ve known I was feeling weird because he leaned over and kissed my head again as he used his arms and legs to give me a big hug and whispered quietly to me. “Brave boy.”
Nodding and making him chuckle, I couldn’t help smiling.
“So what does this mean for Tanner in general?” Graham asked a very good question and distracted Austin and Tanner from both their glaring and pouting.
“Once I explain to her the details of whatever organization put that idea in her head, I’m hoping she’ll back off again.” Shane sounded much more confident than Graham had. “I might also point out that she’s pushing her ideas onto an omega and making him uncomfortable.”
That made Tanner huff and everyone else giggle, but he didn’t argue against the idea. Sometimes guilt worked very well on crazy people and sometimes creative threats were more effective.
Austin knew that very well. “Let me know if that doesn’t work. I’d also like the details of who told her about that idea. If they’ve been trying to spread their fungus around here, my lawyers need to know.”
