Read Online Irish Melody by Caitlin Ricci - Free Book Online Page A

Samson to stop, to spare them, even if his alpha wouldn’t listen. A good son would have tried to get his parents spared. But he didn’t even try to get up. Because he wasn’t a good son. And because he didn’t love them.
    “You’re really quiet,” Hannah told him as she dabbed something wet against his temple before putting it into a neat little trash pile she was building on the comforter beside her. At least she’d put a plastic bag down this time, unlike when they ate popcorn up here and she got crumbs everywhere.
    He shrugged, not knowing what he was supposed to say. I should care that they want to hurt my dad. But I can’t.
    She stopped messing with him and pushed everything off the bed before lying down next to him and putting a warm hand on his shoulder. “Why should you? Aside from that he’s your dad, why? Are you upset by what might happen to him? Because I’m sorry, Ippy, I know he’s your dad and all, but he hurt you. And that’s not okay. If I could turn into a wolf like you I wouldn’t have been able to stop down there when he was yelling at you. No one messes with my friends, and since I’ve really only got you and Caelum, you’re stuck with me.”
    Ippy gave her a weak smile and then looked up to find her dads in the doorway with Samson behind them. Hannah put her arm around him, but he got up anyway, knowing that they were likely there to see him by the way Liam and Samson were watching him. He was standing next to the bed by the time Liam waved him over.
    “Ippy?” Hannah called to him from the bed.
    He turned to see what she wanted to say. She’d sat up too, and her hair was in front of her eyes. He wanted to fix that for her, which was new for him, but he decided not to. Not when her dads were right there, anyway. And not until he knew how much trouble he was in.
    “It’ll be okay,” she told him, offering him a smile which he tried to return, but he didn’t do a very good job of it. So instead of forcing a smile he gave her a little nod and went to Liam and Samson while Travis came into Hannah’s room. He heard them talking quietly as he followed the men downstairs and outside onto the back deck.
    Liam turned to him first and sighed as he closed the back door behind them. “Phillip, are you strong enough to shift again so that we can all talk?”
    Ippy shrugged and found the wolf in his mind. It was there waiting for him, he could feel it like Hannah’s old dogs had been waiting for her to get home from school before they’d passed a few years back. The wolf leapt at the chance to be out again and Ippy lay down on his side, figuring it would be easier for the wolf that way.
    Samson and Liam surprised him by kneeling next to him, Liam in front of his chest and Samson behind him. He felt something warm come over him, comforting him, as the men leaned together. When he looked up at Liam he saw the man’s wolf looking back at him. No longer a shivering haze around his face, the wolf was clearer than the man as it looked down at him with the icy blue eyes of their kind. He turned onto his back and sure enough there was Samson’s wolf staring at him as well. Though the men were both in their skin, somehow the wolves had come forward. As one, the wolves above him tilted back their heads in a silent howl.
    His wolf snapped into place on their cry and his own voice filled the air as paws took over where his hands had been and fur covered his face and neck. Becoming the wolf was easier this time and his legs didn’t shake as he stood up and shook his fur. The wolves around him regressed back into a thick haze around the faces of the men that kept them inside and when Ippy looked up at them through the eyes of a wolf they were only men again.
    “Phillip, can you hear me?” Samson asked him, sitting down with his legs extended in front of him on the deck.
    Ippy nodded. Samson was as clear as he ever was.
    Liam got to his feet and touched Samson on the shoulder. “I’ll be inside if