“May we speak?” Kendrick asks. His power is buttoned up again, I can barely feel it. It’s incredible, what he has access to, what he hides. I can understand what Doc meant about him needing to leave soon. He’s containing himself into an unnaturally stiff box, but he shouldn’t be. This land isn’t his home.
I glance around the busy diner. As if reading my thoughts, he nods toward the back. “There’s an office. Perhaps we could speak there—”
“Oh, yes, whatever you need, Máni,” Lily’s mother rushes to say, shoving a giant paper bag with handles into my hands.
“Sure,” I tell Kendrick. Then, because I can feel my omega shaking with unease, I lean into Lily’s mother for a hug. She wraps her arms around me and takes a deep inhale. I want to bask in it. I want to hang onto these wolves and never let go. I pull away, almost abruptly, then turn to Andrea.
“I’ll be back.”
Andrea glances casually between me, Kendrick, and the back of the diner. “Okay. I’ll be right here waiting. Come find me when you’re done.”
I wave at Lily, then follow Kendrick, reluctantly, though this was my idea, through the small door at the back of the diner, down a short hallway lined with shelves stacked with napkins, paper cups, and other dry goods. We come to a small room, and he steps inside.
When I finally give Kendrick my attention, after closing the door and taking stock of the messy room, I find him leaning against the desk, waiting patiently.
“Would you like a seat?”
I shake my head and clutch the paper bag tighter in my fist.
He nods, glancing down at the bag, then at my face. His eyes soften. “I’d hoped to speak with you somewhere a little more appropriate than an office,” he says, almost apologetically.
I shrug. “I’m surprised you were hoping to speak with me at all, considering you hadn’t bothered before.”
He dips his chin and says quietly, “I deserve that.”
“So… what did you want to talk about?” I ask, almost petulantly. Which is silly. I was the one who wanted to stop at the diner, to speak with him just once. I want to be here, despite all outward appearances. Maybe a part of me is hoping he’ll be able to sense my plan. He’s all powerful, right? He should know. I’m his daughter, he should know.
My thoughts spiral out of control, and suddenly I feel it—that familiar tug on my bonds—Orion first, then Grayson and Silas.It’s like playing a game of telephone, and I accidentally butt-dialed. I take a deep, steadying breath and soothe my mates, reassuring them I’m okay. Andrea has probably already texted them my location, anyway. They’ll know who I’m with, why this conversation might set me on edge.
Better they think that’s why I’m upset right now.
“Listen, I—”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I ask, cutting him off. Last night I was enraged. I was ready to yell and scream and let all my hurt out on him. Today, I’m resigned.
Today, I’m tired, sad, and I already miss him. I miss the relationship we never got to have. The one we never will.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted you to know.”
I rear back. “Oh. I see.”
“It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“What am I thinking?”
“You’re thinking I don’t want you in my life. That my silence was rejection—that I hid myself because I didn’t want to know you. In truth, I want those things more than anything.”
“Then…?” I prompt. “Why not tell me? And don’t give me that line my mates gave me. For my own good, trying to keep me safe, or whatever. I’ve heard it. It’s insulting.”
He lets out a harsh laugh. A little caustic, a little uncertain. He recrosses his legs, adjusting his lean against the messy desk. I’m still white-knuckling the paper bag.
“I loved your mother very much. When you were both killed—when I thought you were both killed,” he corrects, “I was devastated. And I fell into this hole. Depression, maybe. Hard to say. When you live as long as I do, time has a way of slipping past without you noticing. It’s been almost twenty-five years since you were taken from me, but it still feels like yesterday. And now here you are—”
He waves his hand toward me, holding an affectionate smile, his eyes warm and soft. “Alive and well. Beautiful, smart, capable. A powerful omega in your own right. I suppose, once you got back here safe and sound, I didn’t want to disrupt the life you’ve built. I didn’t want to tell you that your mother was murdered, burned to ash. I didn’t want to admit to you that no matter how powerful a man like me is, we still have weaknesses. We have faults, and we make mistakes. I didn’t want to admit to you that I made a mistake not looking for you, because I didn’t know you were alive. That all the hardships in your life, growing up the way you did, having to shift for the first time, alone, like you did—all of that was my fault. Because I was too sad and full of self-pity to realize what was right in front of me.”
The more he speaks, the more my eyes burn. I suck in a sharp breath, looking around the room, at anything other than him. He still smiles softly, just for me. “Desi—Mona, sweetheart, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t find you sooner. I knew the witches were a problem, and I didn’t do enough to stop them. I could have found you sooner.”
He uncrosses his legs and comes to a stand. He’s not very tall, only a few inches over me. His presence is foreboding, nonetheless. He takes a step closer until he’s standing just in front of me. Tentatively, he reaches out. I still can’t look directly at him. His hand, warm and calloused, comes to my cheek, and he forces me to look up, to meet his eyes.
