Wolves of Haven : Lone

Heart & Home

Seff shook his head as he read over the charges they were holding his oldest friend on. "They'll never stand, we both know that," he commented under his breath, much too low for the irritable Inspector watching from the bullpen to hear.

Beowulf chuckled. "I am well aware of that, my old friend. They are simply reaching, though I have to admit it was rather ingenious to leave the bodies just outside our property where they knew I would be walking. Have I become a creature of habit?" he mused.

Seff wasn't amused in the least. "This is bullshit, and we both know it. A Stray has broken the cardinal rules and is now trying to pin these heinous crimes on the family. I will not simply sit here and permit him to do it."

"Tell me, my old friend, what is it that you would have us do?" Beowulf countered with a warm smile. "Without evidentiary proof, as you lawyers say, they cannot pin this on me-"

"And the Covenant?" he interrupted. "What will the leaders say when the media starts stirring up trouble in Haven of all places?"

Beowulf simply shrugged as if it wasn't a concern in the least. The man had seen witch hunts by the media and church, those with overly active imaginations create nothing but trouble with their teen-based books and movies, the advancement of social media and electronics making what was once an easy existence anything but. "The world is ever changing, and if the Covenant cannot look past what some asshole wearing a badge thinks and believes to be true, simply to persecute the stunningly handsome target of this unseen threat, then I am afraid that there is nothing that either of us can do, my old friend."

Seff wasn't amused with Beowulf's jovial attitude, but bit his tongue and continued to flip through the finding-less report that was so graciously provided by Inspector Pierre. "She came," he said under his breath.

Beowulf smiled. "I know, and she isn't happy with me."

"I wouldn't be either if I hadn't been home in a decade then come home to find my father in jail, and that it was a Stray that put him there."

He sighed. "Yes, I suppose you have point. Varg called her, didn't he?"

"To my knowledge," Seff admitted. "Though, I didn't commission him with the task. Connell drew the short straw, and of course the first place she went was here instead of home."

"Trying to prevent the inevitable," he said.

"Or trying to secure your freedom," Seff countered. "She truly is dedicated to you, and I have to respect her for that, as well as being dedicated to her chosen career."

A smile filled Beowulf's tan face and his chocolate brown eyes sparkled with unshed tears. "I am beyond proud of her," he admitted. "From the scared creature she was to the fearless, analytical minded woman that she is today floods me with pride. I thought for sure that she might have been lost to me forever, but she has succeeded where so many others have failed."

Seff nodded his agreement but didn't say anything.

When they returned from the Far East with a skittish, tiny girl, Seff thought his oldest friend was insane. The way Beowulf doted on the girl, the patience that he showed her, and the love that was so clearly visible in his gaze when he looked upon the tiny creature, irritated Seff. As Akia got older, he didn't particularly care for her because she didn't stand on her own two feet, in essence. Varg was her strength and sense of protection; Connell her voice when she had none; Faelan the smile that she was too timid to share; Rafe was her sense of camaraderie; Louvel was the acceptance of her outlook even though she had never expressed it aloud; and Beowulf saw her as the embodiment of perfection.