I didn’t answer her right away because my mind was working frantically as I tried to come up with an excuse that would make sense. I couldn’t lose her, and the truth would tear her apart. I needed more time to fix it, to figure out how to tell her the truth myself.
But in the face of Liza’s pain and hurt, all my excuses were futile. I had to find the strength to admit everything and to tell Liza that my father was to blame for the deaths of her parents.
“He knew.” Stone’s voice was concrete as he walked down the steps, carrying a large blanket.
He wrapped it around Liza’s shoulders, covering her naked body.
Liza didn’t take her eyes off me, not even acknowledging that Stone had moved to her side. “Why? Why would you keep this from me? Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”
There was no point in lying anymore. I’d done enough of that during our time together, and I could see now what I hadn’t seen when I thought lying was the only way forward. Not telling her had only made things worse.
“Because I care so much for you, Liza.” The words barely left my mouth before I felt her pull away completely—body, mind, and soul. “I wanted to keep you safe from all of this. If I had told you the truth, would you have been able to look me in the eye? Or would you have done as you’re doing right now... blame me for the sins of my father?”
My words seemed to hit something deep inside Liza because her body jolted once I finished speaking. She pulled the blankettightly around her shoulders, her body shaking from either the pain or the shock of hearing it all. Of knowing it was fact.
Stone stood still beside her, ready to catch her as soon as I sent her toppling, watching and waiting. No doubt he wanted to give me the chance to hammer the proverbial nail in the coffin. That son of a bitch expected my words to destroy my relationship with Liza, and all he had to do was stand by and wait for her to fall into his arms.
“Liza, please understand.” I stood before her completely naked, stripped of any and all the secrets I’d once held, pleading for her to actually hear me. “I didn’t want you to look at me and see the son of a murderer. I wanted you to look at me and see your mate.” God, I sounded fucking pathetic and I couldn’t fucking stop. “I wanted you to see the man who is ready and willing to move Heaven and Earth to make you happy. I’m not proud of keeping this secret from you, and I’ll be the first to admit it was selfish of me, but none of that changes the way I have grown to care for you. If you can look past your hurt, you’ll know I’m being honest.”
Liza opened her mouth, and I held my breath, prepared to throw myself at her feet.
Before she could speak, Stone cleared his throat and spoke up. I growled, wanting to dig my claws into the man’s face.
“Liza, you don’t need to answer him. You don’t owe him anything. Right now, you need to walk away. You’re hurt and confused,” he said reassuringly, moving closer to her side. “You just need time to process all this and make the decisions that are best for you. The decisions that best honor your parents and the Wylde pack.”
His words were a reminder of how far away I was from gaining Liza’s trust again. My stomach clenched. It would take more than words to make things right between us. Even then, she’d very likely tell me to go fuck myself, but I held onto thesmall hope that she’d forgive me and find her way back into my arms. That no matter what had happened between our families in the past, we could still have a future together.
“Your future in-laws knew exactly what treasure they’d stumbled on in that field.” He pointed to the lavender growing behind us. Stone nodded his head in my direction. “Ty knew, as well. And don’t think it was fate. He probably slipped you laudanum.”
Shifter poison. “How the fuck would that make her think and feel all the things being my mate gives her?” He was grasping, making up details that fit his narrative. Everything I felt, everything she felt, was real. She had to know that.
“They hoped you would give them powerful offspring, so why wouldhetell you the truth? It wouldn’t benefit him in the slightest, and we all know how the Keller family does whatever leaves them on the winning side.” He nodded like a fucking preacher.
“That’s a fucking lie,” I barked in response. “My father doesn’t even know that Liza is an omega. Liza, listen to me. He’s making this shit up. He’s spewing lies to get in your head.”
Stone spoke over me, his eyes boring into Liza’s. “You can’t begin to understand how many years I spent trying to find you. I was too young to know who the bad men were that took you away, but I had to keep looking.” He took her by the shoulders, touching her skin. I was about to kill him, to get rid of him now before he did any more damage. “For all I knew, they’d come from another country. I had no idea they were in our own backyard. How could I have guessed that you would only be forty minutes away?”
Liza blinked rapidly. From my vantage point, I couldn’t tell if she was buying his lies or if she was questioning his motive… or mine.
Stone continued. “When it all happened, after I couldn’t find you, I found shelter with a pack an hour away. It’s not that I didn’t want to find you, but everyone in our pack was dead, and I had no choice but to move forward, to survive. I was just a kid left in the forest alone with a broken ankle.” Stone paused for dramatic effect, and it was as effective as he’d probably hoped. “The pack kept me and my true identity hidden, which I’m eternally grateful for, but I never stopped thinking about you and waiting anxiously for the day when I could make my move to find you and reunite the future alpha and omega.”
“You were waiting to make a move, huh?” I didn’t even pretend not to hate him. I spat my words and snarled, flashing my teeth in warning.
Stone ignored me, not taking his eyes from Liza. “I knew my parents had left me a great deal of money. I spent a lot of it hiring private investigators in hopes of finding you, Liza. For years, they searched tirelessly with not even a small clue as to where you were. For all we knew, you were dead. It was just pure luck that your name popped up in an article in the Presley Acres Country Club magazine for your catering business. When I saw your gorgeous face, I knew immediately that you were my Aliza. I had finally found you, so I set my plan in motion.” Stone turned and gestured to the house behind him. “I bought this land where our pack once lived in harmony before they were slaughtered, and I began rebuilding our home.”
Stone reached out and took both of Liza’s hands, and I snarled again. My wolf raged inside, but I instructed him to wait. It wasn’t time.
“Your parents chose me for you. That was their wish for you, Liza.” He smiled and kissed one of Liza’s hands. “They wanted us to create the next generation for the Wylde pack.”
Liza’s body locked up. She no longer gazed at Stone with interest, but dropped her gaze to the ground. She angled her body away from him, and my protective instincts kicked in.
Whether Liza was angry at me or not, I wouldn’t stand by and allow any harm to come to her, physically or emotionally. I grabbed Liza and shoved her behind me before Stone even realized what was happening.
Liza didn’t fight me. She seemed eager to not be near Stone, her muscles relaxing as she stood close to me.
Stone glared at me. “You know what will happen if you try to interfere, Ty. The world will know exactly what your father did to my pack.” He grinned wickedly. “I have enough proof about the Keller family and their shifty background to send your family’s entire financial portfolio into the ground. You’ll be an absolute mockery, and I will relish in your misery. It would only be a fraction of what you deserve for taking fucking everything from me.”
My mother’s face flashed through my mind, and her desperate pleas to make things right. She had stood by Dad through every moment of heartache, during the fallout of each of his bad decisions regarding the Wylde pack. Both of my parents were looking to me to preserve the family name and to keep the Keller pack in good standing amongst all the other packs. Dad had said himself tonight that he was proud of me, that Liza and I would lead our pack faithfully and triumphantly, yet here I stood at a crossroads.
