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I didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
Because you broke your promise as well.
Her shoulders slumped a bit. “Oh.”
“Do you know how an alpha’s magic works?” I said changing the subject.
“I’m not an idiot,” she murmured.
“Well, you’re painting yourself as one to absolve yourself of responsibility, so it was worth the ask.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fantastic. But I’m still not staying long. I promised Elias that I’d stay here until Sunday before flying home, and I intend on doing just that and nothing else.”
Brody’s voice followed him into the living room. “So, you’re really going to hand over the alpha position?”
She turned to face him as I continued gazing out the window at Levi. “As soon as I figure out how to hand it over, yes. Then, everyone can go on pretending that we never knew one another.”
I sighed. “You know, the Raven I grew up with would have taken responsibility. She also would have never wanted to act like we didn’t exist.”
“Well, the Raven you grew up with died when she realized at fifteen years old that her father and her supposed pack didn’t give a shit about her.”
“That man loved you with every fiber of his being,” Brody said.
“He had a shit way of showing it, then,” she said flatly. “My father was a heartless man. He may have been something to you, but he was nothing to me. All of us? We don’t have the same experience with that man. He never reached out once I left. I never heard from him or saw him. He never made an effort the way any other father would have. And now, as some sick joke, he’s attempting to control me with some fucking will I knew nothing about until after he died? And you guys can’t see why I’m pissed?”
Brody paused. “He really didn’t reach out to you? Ever?”
“Not one fucking bit,” Raven glowered.
I had to admit, that pissed me off quite a bit. “I always thought it was odd that he never spoke of you once you and your mother left.”
“Hudson,” Brody said softly.
I shrugged as I faced him. “What? It’s the truth. We revered him as alpha, but that doesn’t dictate the kind of father he was.”
“Thank you. Finally, someone who gets it,” Raven said.
Brody groaned as he slid his hands down his face. “I just thought he wanted to keep things private.”
“That doesn’t erase the fact that she grew up here,” Dean said as he stood back up from the floor. “She knows how important the pack is, even if she doesn't know much about its inner workings.”
Raven turned on him in an instant. “Well, if the pack is so goddamn important, then why didn’t anyone else from the pack reach out to me after Mom and I left? Huh? If they were supposed to be my family then, why not come see me? Why not reach out? Why didn’t any of you reach out?”
I curled my lips over my teeth to try and stifle my chuckle, but she caught it immediately and stared at me with a look that could’ve stopped my damn heart.
“What? What’s so funny to you?” she asked.
“Don’t,” Dean warned.
I held up my hands in mock surrender. “Hey, she’s the one wanting answers, not me.”
“What? What answers?” Raven asked.
Brody shook his head. “Seriously, don’t.”
But I ignored them as Levi slammed through the front door, tracking water right into the living room where we all stood. “It wasn’t as if your mother was part of our pack. She was who your father loved, sure. But she wasn’t a shifter.”
“What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
