“Sam could still be alive,” Jameson muses, hope sparking in his eye.
“If she was, she would have come home to us,” my grandma grips my shoulders.
"She’s right,” I say. “My mother . . . she didn’t make it. The alpha killed her.”
Jameson raises an eyebrow. “How would you know that?”
It all makes sense now. When did Brexley put it together?
“Because Brexley was exiled, like you.”
“Yeah, so? What does this have to do with him?” Jameson shoots a skeptical glance at the werewolf covered in rabbits.
I step out of Gigi’s arms. “You never asked him? Asked him why he was cut off and kicked out?”
Jameson shakes his head. “Lone wolves don’t ask questions. It was one of the first things I taught the kid. Asking questions is a gateway to connections. You can’t survive as a lone wolf with any kind of connection.”
I want to tell him he sounds like an insensitive bastard, but I push down the feeling. He did what he had to do. But my dislike of his callousness, and my instant need to be loved by him are jerking me all over the place. “Brexley was nine when a woman showed up to his pack. She had hair like mine.” How could I have not seen it before? But I knew so little, it was impossible to put it together until now. “He didn’t know why she was there, but he knew the alpha was about to attack her. Brexley was just a kid and he knew it was wrong to attack an unarmed woman. He jumped in the middle and tried to save her. The alpha beat him to a pulp, slashed his face and killed my mother anyway. Then Brexley was cast out for disobedience. His own mother didn’t even try to fight for him.”
Jameson sits down this time, as if numb. Gigi braces herself against the chair she was in. It’s one thing to guess for years, it’s another to know for certain.
Jameson studies Brexley a moment before his dark eyes widen. He tugs on his beard, and I wonder if that’s what he does when he’s nervous. I know absolutely nothing about my father and I instantly crave to know everything. Where does he live, what does he do, what’s his favorite food?
“You’re Rafael’s son. I remember you,” Jameson says, “You were so tiny when I left.”
“The runt of the pack. For what it’s worth, I don’t remember you either, old man.” Brexley confirms, seeming to be more at peace with all the revelations. But I guess he’s had the most time of any of us to process.
The room falls silent as we all share a grief so profound, so entwined. So much confusion and pain clogged the past and now that it’s clear, the anguish pours through like a rushing river.
“How did you figure it out?” I ask Brexley. He’s the one who brought us all here.
“In pieces,” he confesses. “I have some contacts who were trying to help me find out more about your grandma so I could track her down. Little bits here and there, but when I discovered you were half wolf, so much more made sense. Even if I didn’t want it to.”
Jameson stands again, his face a blank mask as he turns his attention to me. “I would have done anything for your mother. I would have . . . I would do anything for my daughter.” His voice cracks as he addresses me. “Maybe that’s the real reason I’ve stayed alive all these years. I knew my pack was out there.” Despite his words, he looks unsure, as if preparing for me to reject him.
“I would like us to be a pack. All of us,” I say, gesturing to my grandma. I can’t very well have my father trying to kill my grandmother. Her eyes are shiny with tears still, but there is a softness in her face, as if she is experiencing some kind of relief.
“I’d like that too,” he says.
Then I fly at him, throwing my arms around him in a big hug. Large arms close around me, and I feel wetness atop my head.
I have no idea what the future holds, but I know I won’t have to go it alone.
I catch Brexley’s smug smile from where he still sits on the couch. He is pleased with himself. Normally, I'd try to bring him down a notch or two, but right now, I owe him everything. And I don’t mind that.
Chapter43
My, what big love you have
RED
The door no sooner closes behind Jameson and Gigi, when Brexley turns and says, “I understand if you hate me, but I wasn’t lying when I said I love you. I was willing to die to protect you from Hansel, Gretel, and that dickweed, Hunter. Or anyone else who even looks in your direction wrong. Admittedly, it didn’t start out like that, but I can’t help but love you.”
I don’t answer right away, and his face contorts in pain. “Please, Red, say something.”
Closing the distance between us, I run my hands up his chest. “My, what a big apology you have.”
A wolfish grin curves his mouth before he pulls me to him in a kiss that makes my toes tingle.
