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“Well, um, you have a daddy too.”
“Me do?”
“Yeah, baby, your daddy is here, actually. Your daddy is Eli.” I point to Eli, who is staring at Maddie. Maddie turns to Eli, and I can’t see her expression, but Eli is smiling wide, showing just how happy he is.
“You going to be my daddy?”
“Princess, I am your daddy. From now until forever.”
“OK.”
Wait, what? OK? Maddie turns from Eli and starts attacking her food again. I look at Eli and find his shocked expression, which likely mirrors mine. That’s it? No questions, no clarifications, just OK.
“Mommy, I have milk?”
“Sure, baby, I’ll get you milk. Um, Eli, do you have milk?”
Shaking his head like he is coming out of something, he says yes and stands to go to the fridge. I follow behind him because…well, I don’t know why, because I’m confused.
“Well, Quinn, that went better than I thought it would go.”
“No kidding, she is just…fine with it.”
“I’m sure it will take a bit to sink in, but I’m actually happy it was so anticlimactic. Quinn, thank you for telling her. I’m so excited to be her dad; I can’t believe I have a daughter. I’m still hurt you didn’t tell me earlier, but…I understand why you didn't.”
“I really am sorry. I was so young and devastated by what happened…I’m not going to make an excuse, though. I did what I felt was safest, but it wasn’t right of me to keep her from you. It wasn’t right of me to keep you from her. Whatever happens, I am glad Maddie has you.”
“You have me too, Quinn. Once we take care of Jake, I will spend the rest of my life showing you that I’m not going anywhere.” With that, he grabs a cup and fills it to the brim with milk. That is going to go EVERYWHERE. But instead of warning him, I let him go, because he keeps saying things like he won’t leave me again, but how do I know that for sure? After we slept together, I figured we would start a life together. Still, instead, after arriving back at the pack house, he was pulled away, and then when he returned, he looked at me and said he wouldn’t mate me.
My wolf ran faster than ever before, right back to my room in my parent’s house to cry for the next several days. I had never felt such pain as I did then. Torn apart that my true mate would reject me, especially after sharing what we did. After the tears dried up, I soon learned how upset Jake was. The heartbreak of being rejected, coupled with the terror of what Jake would do, was one of the worst times of my life, only amplified once I found out about Maddie.
He says he won’t leave us, but what if something else happens and he walks away from us? He said that his Alpha wanted to kill me and that he was only trying to protect me, but true mates are supposed to fight for one another. I don’t want Maddie to be rejected by Eli; what if something else happens in the pack, forcing him to choose between his pack and us? I can’t trust that he won’t just throw us under the bus like he did to me all those years ago. We need to deal with Jake and then decide what to do; maybe Paige would still take us in if it doesn’t work out here. Coming back to myself, I see Eli trying to catch the milk rolling down Maddie’s face because the cup was too full. I’m laughing as Eli glares at me over Maddie’s head.
“You could have warned me.”
“Could have but didn’t,’ I snicker.“Welcome to parenthood.”
“Happy to be here. OK, girls, let’s get some breakfast and get ready for the day. I need to go to the pack house to look into what Jake actually knows. Plus, I want you to meet some people.”
With that, we all eat breakfast and get ready to head out. While driving to the pack house, my nerves are getting the better of me. It's one thing to meet someone on this random app and decide to move in with them, which is nuts, but it is an entirely different thing to walk into the Twilight Meadows pack with my history. I don’t know anyone from Twilight Meadows, but I am sure some people will remember me from the night Eli rejected me. Being a Clearwater pack member meant we didn’t spend time together; we were mortal enemies for all intents and purposes. We were constantly told that the Twilight Meadows pack was vile, always undermining our pack and harassing us. Many fights broke out between us, and some had even died to keep up the pretense of this stupid feud. I never understood, but I never wanted to cause trouble, either. The peace talks forced on the pack were a farce.
Even the council members knew nothing was going to be resolved. I shouldn’t have even been there, but Jake insisted I attend. My special bloodline was giving him leverage of some sort, even though I hadn’t had any visions yet. I think it was around that time he was becoming more determined I should be his mate. Previously he just screwed around with any she-wolf that would spread her legs. But something switched in him the night of the talks, because he became obsessed with mating me and securing an Alpha line with mine after that. It was a disaster. My aunt told me that having this ability was a gift from Seluna, but I don’t see it as a gift; it has brought nothing but pain.
I didn’t even know when or how to have a vision. My aunt died before she could teach me everything I needed to know. She told me that touching the person I was to have a vision about helped make the intent of the vision clearer. Still, she never explained if it's every time or only sometimes when I touch someone. Can I control it? Now I’m stuck trying to figure out how this whole thing works. Why did my first vision have to be about a threat to Maddie and me? Why couldn’t it have been about—I don’t know, anyone winning an award or something. The pack house comes into view, and it’s just as I remember it. A large three-story building with a gorgeous, gorgeous wooden exterior. It’s not quite like Eli’s log house, but it has similar tones of wood siding and larger windows.
“OK, girls, we’re here.”
People are going into and out of the house. This is likely the time of day they switch up the patrols, their keen eyes looking around and a few staring straight at us. I’m nervous about meeting everyone, but right now, Eli and his pack are the ones who are going to protect me and Maddie. I need this to work. Otherwise, I will have to resort to running again, and Eli is right. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder, waiting for Jake to find us. We climb out of the SUV, and Eli has Maddie in his arms; Maddie has both hands on Eli’s face and is rubbing over the top of his scruff. She looks so happy. We walk through the front door to a mostly empty front room. It has a few chairs, but it seems to be a transitional area that leads to a large gathering room on my left and several doors on the right leading to, I guess, offices and meeting rooms. I remember the kitchen being at the back of the house, and the upper floors were for single pack members and guest rooms. Eli walks us past a few people, and I can see them whispering to one another, no doubt trying to figure out who we are. Eli leads us to the large back office with a lovely mahogany desk and a small sitting area with a couch and table on the right. Just inside the door is a very tall, muscular man with red hair and a full beard. His pale green eyes look at me, and I anxiously step behind Eli. I feel like I saw him at the peace talks, but I don’t know his name or who he is.
“Dean, good, you’re here. I want to introduce you to my girls.”
The smile on Dean’s face is blinding. He seems genuinely happy about meeting us. Before Eli can continue, Maddie speaks up to do some introductions of her own. Waving her penguin around, she says:
“This is Pengy! And this is my daddy!”
Shocked! I am utterly shocked and at a loss for words. My heart is beating to its own erratic rhythm. We went from barely acknowledging him as her dad to telling everyone who he is to her. I do not understand children’s brains. Eli is beyond happy, while I am struggling to breathe.
“That’s right, Princess.”
