Malcolm McLean

A couple of days have passed since the fight in the kitchen. That night, I was surprised to wake up to an empty bed and Bella's sweet scent faintly lingering in the air. The scream that followed quickly after me awakening had me rushing down the stairs and only had enough time to pull on a pair of jeans.

I knew what had happened the moment I saw the two females in the kitchen fighting. I wasn't a blind male, I can see who Prisilla was. I'm not saying she doesn't have the right to be angry. I never gave her any false hopes but Prisilla was not the kind of female I thought she was. She wasn't as cold and as okay with the break of our casual relationship.

I should be wary of her but then again, I can kill her just as quickly. She wouldn't dare defy me.

I was sitting in my office today and working on some auditing reports when my office phone rang. Picking it up, I answered it with my usual greeting. The voice on the other end was the one that surprised me because I barely knew the male lycan leader. This lycan leader lived in the lowlands of Scotland.

"Malcolm, how are you doing? How is the weather there?" He started up with a friendly conversation.

"What is it that you want, Pete?" I replied a bit impatiently.

Pete and I don't have a friendship nor do we associate with each other. The most him and I have exchanged conversation was probably once or twice when we happened to bump into each other. Otherwise, I didn't like the male lycan and didn't want to associate with him.

"Say, I'm looking for my daughter. I am hoping you have seen her pass through your land or possibly any nearby town." Pete ignored my harsh response and nonchalantly replied.

Rubbing my temple, I turned in my seat to look out the window.

"You will need to give me more information than that if you would like an answer from me, Pete," I answered.

There was a moment of silence as Pete mulled over what he can give me. In that time frame, I also thought about reasons why would he be calling to find his own daughter. Family doesn't run. They stay within the pack, especially when the lineage follows back to leading a pack.

"It is a complicated situation. She and I got into an argument. She's a feisty little female. Always wanting to do things her way. Anyways, she has been gone for a very long time. I have been searching for her but with no such luck. My tracers were able to detect hints of her here and there but we have not fully pinpointed my daughter's location. I am now reaching out to surrounding lycan leaders for assistance. I greatly miss her and would love her back home with me." He said.

Pete was an ancient male lycan surpassed my parents. I'm surprised to find that he has a daughter and if he did who was his marked mate. News travels fast once marked. It would have passed through the highlands if he had marked a female and they had a child.

"What does she look like?" I asked.

"She's a pretty young thing. Tiny about five feet to five feet three. She has long blonde hair and hazel eyes. A perfect image of her mother." Pete drawled on the other end and I detected a hint of desire in his voice.

It made me want to punch him in the face.

It wasn't just the way he spoke that got me shooting out of my seat.

No.

It was the description that he had given. It mirrored Isabella. I fought down my suspicions and continued in a calm voice.

"What is her name?" I asked.

"Isabella. Have you seen her?" Pete quickly asked with a disgusting eagerness that a father shouldn't have.

"No," I responded.

"Now, Malcolm, if you did she her I suggest you tell me right away. I wouldn't want us to start something where many lycans will end up killed." Pete insisted.

"Are you threatening me, Pete?" I shot back. My palms were sweating and I fought back the sudden urge to hang up.

"No, of course not." He chuckled but it didn't sound sincere. "If you do see her, call me. I need her back home."

"Of course," I replied. We ended our conversation soon after. I hung up the phone and walked out of the office, leaving behind any work I have done.

I had one person in my mind and I knew exactly where she would be. Dismissing the guard at my bedroom door and shoving the door open I found her curled up in the sofa reading a book. She looked up when she saw me come in.

Today, she wore a simple peach color tank top with a long bohemian skirt. The color cast a tanned glow on her skin and warmed her facial features.

"Malcolm? Is something wrong?" She asked, placing her book on the seat next to her.

I turned and closed the door, placing the lock in the place. I felt not betrayal because I never knew of Isabella's past. She never has spoken of it and I never pressured her. I found no need to because I loved her for who she was.

"Is Pete your father?" I asked with my back still turned to her.

There was a long eerie silence. I turned to see her face has turned pale and her eyes looked terrified. She stood up immediately, shaking uncontrollably.

"I-I have to go." She mumbled as she attempted to pass me to the door. I grabbed onto her elbow and pulled her back to look at me, keeping a firm grip on her elbow.

"He called me today and told me he was looking for you. He said you had run away from home after you two had an argument."

Her face turned whiter and I thought she was going to faint any moment now but she didn't. She continued to shake in front of me. I pulled her over to the bed where I sat her down on the edge. Kneeling on the ground, I held her down by holding onto her hips. She refused to make eye contact with me.

"Look at me, Bella," I ordered.

"Malcolm, please." She pleaded for me to not ask her to do something she couldn't but I couldn't stop.

"Bella, I never once asked about your past because I never cared. What you have done doesn't make who you are today. Now I need to know. Is Pete your father?" I asked.

Tears slipped down her cheeks and a sob escaped her lips. She hugged her body to stop herself from shaking but nothing was working. I cupped her cheeks and forced her to meet my eyes. The terror in those tear-filled eyes was enough for me to know she was afraid of her own father.

"Tell me, Bella." I encouraged as I wiped away her tears that ran down like rivers. She turned and sobbed into the palm of my hands before using her own hands to cup my own.

"You'll think differently of me." She cried.

"Tell me." I urged.

My feelings for Isabella was quite the opposite. I tried for ten years to hate her and successfully did but seeing her again ripped every ounce of hate I had away. It was like a dam that broke and the love I had for her was never gone. It never dried up over the years. No, it was held back by a thin wall and all it took was one look from her before it slowly cracked. The cracked spread and suddenly the dam broke and It was like I never hated her.

"Pete is my father."

I nodded, glad that she told me. Her hands pushed my hands away. She scooted away from me and I watched her. I tried moving towards her but she shook her head and lifted her hand to stop me.

"I'm going to tell you the truth, Malcolm. I don't need you near me. It makes it harder for me to think. I won't be able to tell you all of it and I need to." She rushed in explaining, tears still running down her cheeks.

My hands dropped down back to my side. I knelt on the floor and waited for her to continue. She clenched her hands by her side and stared at the opposite wall.

"My father is not a committed male lycan. He slept around for years until my mother sought refuge on his territory. He immediately was captured by her and raped her that night. She never loved him and she fought him at first until he started beating and threatening her. Then she allowed him to do what he needed with her just so he would leave her alone. It didn't take long until I was born." She said in a dead toned voice.

I fear for what I was going to hear next.

"When a female lycan turns twelve years of age from their lycan birth, they begin to experience changes in their body. It was signs of their body becoming riper for mating and ready for males to mark. However, it wasn't tradition for someone so young to be marked and mate so quickly. Lycans usually wait until the female lycan was at last twenty years in age."

I shook my head and stood up. I couldn't sit. No, my lycan was threatening to kill and shred. I needed to move—keep my lycan busy. I needed to hear everything.

"My father came into my room one night. He crawled into bed next to me and told me to be a good little girl and do what daddy likes. He took his pants off and told me what I needed to do to please him. I knew it was wrong. I didn't want to do it and he was angry. He threatened if I don't do as he said he will kill my mother."

I stopped by the window and placed my already lengthen clawed hands on the ledge as I listened. My canines biting the inside of my lips as I clenched my teeth.

"That was the first night he took me. After that, he came in whenever and made the usual threats. My mother knew what he was doing. When I was sixteen years of age, my mother tried escaping with me. He caught us and tortured her in front of me. Raped her multiple times and beat her near death before he finally ended her. He told me if I ever escaped, I will receive the same punishment. I stayed with him for another two years before I had the courage to leave him."

"You have been on the run since," I replied and turned to face her.

She couldn't look at me. She wouldn't.

"Yes. I have been running since until I met you. I fell in love with you, Malcolm. I was so in love and I was ready to become yours until I saw one of my father's tracer lurking in your territory. I ran because my past was catching up. I ran because I was ashamed of who I was." She cried and covered her face with hands. She brought her body close and hugged it tightly as if she was in pain.

Quickly, I walked over and scooped up her body and held her close. She cried as she buried her face in my neck.

"I will say what I always say to you, Bella. You are mine and if he dares to come here, I will rip him to shreds. This doesn't change anything Bella." I assured her.

"My father used to tell me that I am nothing that nobody will want me after what he did. If anyone found out, they will be disgusted with me." She pulled back and her teary eyes met mine.

I cupped her cheeks to get her attention again because what I was going to say next was a complete truth.

"He's wrong. I want you. I will always want you. Don't be afraid, you are not alone. I'll protect you to my very last breath, mo ghràdh. He will die before he can lay a hand on you. I promise you that."