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“Sometimes wolves get disoriented. He might have been sick,” Anna suggested faintly, her face pale at the close encounter. She had been as scared as Jess but for entirely different reasons.
“Sure,” Jess murmured, her eyes on me as I gripped the steering wheel tightly, resisting the urge to reach back for her hand.
***
After dropping the girls off at the front entrance, I parked and jogged toward the tree line. “Where do you think you’re going?” Caleb called, trotting after me. “You think this is a good idea?”
“I think they need a reminder why they shouldn’t be trespassing,” I snapped, coming to a halt when he grabbed my arm. “Are you with me or not?”
“Can you promise not to kill him?” Caleb questioned quietly. “Because if that’s what this is about, then no, I’m not with you.”
“Protecting her –” I started to say when he interrupted.
“How about protecting the Pack?” Caleb countered, silencing me. “You know I’m right.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, my need to protect Jess warring with my loyalty to my Pack. “Will the Pack protect Jess?” I asked him instead and he opened his mouth only to close it again, and I nodded. “Yeah, my point. Your Dad pulled the patrols. Same argument. Which came after I marked Jess and he lost any hope of you claiming her. Sorry, Caleb, I don’t believe this is only about our Pack anymore.”
“Maybe you’re right, but I don’t feel that way. I want to keep her safe because to me she is Pack. You marking her is enough for me. But I want to protect all of you, play it smart,” Caleb answered and the air gusted out of my lungs.
“You’re a damn Boy Scout,” I muttered, shaking my head. “How you and your father are related I’ll never know.”
“I take after my mom,” he said ruefully.
“I won’t kill him,” I promised, meeting his eyes. “But I can’t promise I won’t beat him within an inch of his life.”
“Fair enough,” Caleb agreed, grinning. “Let’s go hunting.”
***
After a fruitless day of chasing our tails, literally, we went back to the school to pick up the girls. “You don’t think they’d try to take her from the school, do you?” Caleb asked as we walked toward the four hundred hall.
“No,” I denied immediately. “They’re not that stupid.” Unease trickled through me though. It had felt like we were being led on a wild goose chase today, even when Trent had joined us we’d never gotten close to the wolf who’d followed us to school.
I stopped before we came to the doors, and gestured to the parking lot. “I’ll meet you at the Jeep,” I muttered, not wanting to draw any more attention to Jess than I already had.
I relaxed against the Jeep, enjoying the breeze, as I waited for them to arrive. Jess came out first, tugging on her sleeves as she spotted me.
I straightened, scanning behind her for Caleb and Anna. “They’re coming,” she called, naturally raising her voice to compensate for the distance. I nodded to let her know I heard, and opened the Jeep door so she had some shelter from the wind.
The wind blew her hair around her face and again the burning aroma of bleach hit me.
“Spilled bleach, huh?” My eyes softened as I studied her and hoped she would volunteer the truth. She nodded and my expression sharpened, frustrated by the secrecy.
“More like spilled on me,” she explained. “Intentionally.” I dipped my head, urging her to continue. “I have a feeling you know her,” she continued and I froze. “This tall,” her hand hovered a few inches above her own, right about six feet. “She has your cheekbones and her little boy has your eyes.” Her words were a punch to my gut, rocking me on my feet as what she was saying registered.
I had a nephew.
Sam was a mom.
I was an uncle.
Each of these truths slammed into me with the force of a bullet, but Jess wasn’t finished.
“Honestly, I thought the kid was yours for a second, but thin I realized the woman looked familiar….she looked like you.”
“Sam,” I whispered, my voice cracking until I cleared it. “A boy? With my eyes?” I confirmed, trying not to get my hopes up. She nodded, then looked startled as I spun around, kicking the Jeep’s tires and cursing.
“Goddamn Hanleys, I should have fucking run that mangy mutt over,” I muttered, not caring that Jess was listening and might put enough together to figure out the mystery of what we were. “Sam, what did you do?” I mumbled under my breath, staring at the sky as I thought about telling Dad what I’d just learned. He had a grandson he’d never met, hell, he hadn’t even know about.
“She protected me,” Jess interrupted, distracting me and I stared at her unblinkingly. “She told me I wasn’t safe, shoved me in a corner, and doused me with bleach.”
