The Enforcer

Maturity is a Matter of Perspective

Sienna's POV

"Is she upstairs? Asleep? I want to see her!"

"Calm down Mr. Sutton, Zia is fine. I will go wake her up for you." I assured him and turned to go up the stairs when Cole's hand reached out and held my elbow.

"Just wait a second, we need to get our stories straight. Remember, April didn't meet you until tonight. And Zia already texted you the address of this place so you just showed up much earlier than you anticipated."

"Yes, of course. The last thing I want is to involve my daughter in this messy business!" Richard declared passionately and then Cole left my elbow. I made my way upstairs to the steady heartbeat and soft breathing sounds of my closest friend.

"Zia?" She had a cute annoyed expression on her face.

"Hmmm...what?" I just smiled wider but then said, "Zia, wake up. You dad's here."

Her eyes immediately shot wide open and she sat up. "Dad?" I nodded, "Yes he just got in and introduced himself." I told her and she threw off the comforter, twisting to set her feet on the ground.

"Already? He said it would take him two - three days!" She exclaimed and my irritation for Pritt rose. He'd been requesting permission to enter pack lands with no answer from her. Luckily for us, April went and got him and recorded him as an Enforcer guest so the border patrol didn't say anything. It was only a matter of time before they informed Pritt about this - probably by morning.

Zia was already running down the stairs with me hot on her trail. She saw her dad, yelled and then ran into him to give him a tight hug. It was the happiest thing I had seen in a while. April, Hugo, Cole and I moved to the kitchen for some late night snacks while we gave Zia and her dad some space.

"I thought you couldn't get here until the weekend!" She exclaimed again, as if she still couldn't believe that he was here.

"I knew you needed me Z." He said with a happy tone.

"Oh God dad, it's such a mess. I think I should just defer a semester and come live with you." Zia was over her initial happiness as the circumstances came back to light. I suppressed my protective instinct to go talk her out of this and assure her that everything would be okay as Mr. Sutton took over that role, "Z! No, no no no. You've worked so hard. Why should you change things because of them? We can fight this Z, if you want. And if you don't then it'll die away soon." His words were assertive and kind.

"I don't know what I want to do - what do you think I should do?" She asked and he sighed, "I'm not sure either. I was considering going to talk to Jolee myself, ask her what her son was thinking, and what is all this about!" It didn't sound like he was angry, in front of his daughter his tone was well kept, but I could hear the furious heartbeat, an instinct between werewolves that he was about to explode.

A parent protecting it's pup, even though Zia was not a werewolf.

"Okay! I'm so glad you're here. I feel better about this already." Zia said and then we heard the two of them finally sit down on the couch and catch-up. Zia was filling him in about the whole thing - he was patient with her - April had already done the same but he made no indication of that. He was attentive and conversing well.

Cole set a sandwich in front of me, taking my attention away from their conversation. "She's fine, you shouldn't hover." He assured me and I nodded. Hugo and April were going over a bunch of papers - permission from the crown for all the extra guards and other reports of their recent findings.

Ugh, paperwork.

I nodded, unable to meet his eye for some reason. It probably had something to do with the sandwich I was looking at. The plate sat exactly where I did - not long ago - with my legs wide apart and Cole's hand halfway up my shirt. Just focus on the food. I said to myself and then proceeded to devour the item. I didn't realize how hungry I was. Cole said nothing, but I knew he was just watching me eat. Did I look like an animal? And then my phone rang. All three of them looked at me, as if to say, 'who's calling you at 3 in the morning?'