Lady of the Night (Downworlder Series, #3)

Epilogue: Feeling of Family

Three Months Later

I stared at the hallway, my arms crossed over my chest. I had sat in that chair every second day, for two hours a day, for the last three months. Usually Quinta was with me but she had gone with Azuka for his driving test. To be fair it had been her going because we needed her to get out the house for her surprise party for completing her GED.

A faint murmur from beside me had me glancing over at where the feral, Quinta and the others called Keeki, and Collette sat. I had been hesitant to allow Keeki into the house but he had proved himself over and over again. There had been many nights where I had been awoken to one of the girls screaming from a nightmare only to find Keeki already there, tucking whichever girl back into bed while making comforting sounds low in his throat.

He rotated between sleeping on their floor and patrolling the house. The neighbours had complained until Madame Lao had given them a single look and they had found it suddenly hard to speak on the matter. It had been a hard adjustment for the school as well but they had wisely held their tongue. After the debacle with Miss Price releasing the girls to someone who never ever should have gotten a hold of them, they had been much more accommodating and Keeki had been allowed to attend classes with them so he could watch them.

Collette was tucked into his side, picking at his jacket as she spoke in a low murmur, her eyes a bit puffy. The girls didn't like therapy, I knew they didn't, but they needed it. Quinta as well. I had convinced her to see a therapist as well and she had started going once a week. It was good for her, I knew it was, I could see how it was helping. It was helping them all, no matter how much they didn't like it. It was needed.

My gaze was once again drawn to the hallway as Margo and her therapist came out of the room. Her expression was dark and she stalked forward. I sat up straighter in the chair before holding open my arms. Margo stomped up to me and let me pull her onto my lap with a huff. My beast and I were content with her being there, she was safe and protected and in view, it was all we needed at the moment.

"Mr. Lao." The therapist came over and my face twitched at the last name but I didn't say anything. Madame Lao was a particular type of female that liked to lay claim to all of her children.

"Yes?" I looked at her as Margo gave another huff and pressed herself to my chest, turning her face away from the female with a sound of irritation.

"We need to discuss about their progress." Her voice was tight and I gave a small nod before i stood, up, holding Margo close before I moved over to Keeki and he held out his arms without looking at me. I deposited Margo into them without a word before returning to the therapist. "They are not progressing as they should." Her tone was low as she lead me further away, glancing at the feral with the two girls.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "How do we know how they should be progressing when we don't exactly know what happened?" The girls didn't discuss what happened during the time they were gone and we didn't push. Therapy was there for them to talk about it and we knew that if they wanted to come to us with it, they would but it would be on their terms and not ours.

"That is just it. They shut me out, refuse to speak to me. I cannot, on good conscious, continue to pay me to work on them when we are getting no where." She reached out and touched my elbow and I stared at her, moving my arm from her reach before glancing back at them. Keeki was holding Margo as her little shoulders shook, her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Then change tactics." I looked back at the therapist and her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Try group therapy with them, bring them both in with Keeki and engage them in other ways. Margo likes to draw, get her to do that, and try to get Collette to write." Perhaps engaging them in things they liked to do would help them relieve some of their feelings a bit. I knew drawing and writing at home helped calm them down. It made sense that it would work here as well.