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I force myself to continue, "It's important the wolves train to fight someone bigger and stronger than them. We teach the shifters in our program how to survive at all costs. They get lessons on exactly how to handle an opponent who outmatches them. But this particular wolf, he got sloppy. He was a narcissist, bragging that he could fight any shifter put in front of him. Instead of working the steps he'd been taught for dealing with a bigger, stronger wolf, he tried to fight the guy for real. The other shifter had no choice but to protect himself."
"That's… horrible." She practically chokes on the word. "But it doesn't sound like it was your father's fault."
"The pack expects more of an Alpha, even a former Alpha. They thought he should have better anticipated potential problems. We're held to a higher standard."
Tess snorts. "Meanwhile, at my old pack, their upcoming Alpha is a prick of epic proportions who gets off on making other people feel small and helpless. I guess the standard isn't the same across the board, huh?"
"The North Summit Pack?" I rack my brain trying to remember the Alpha's son. I can just barely conjure up a memory of a punk kid who had no interest in learning to fight despite the fact that it's normally expected of all Alphas.
"Warner Overstreet," she supplies, as if knowing his name will make him any more noteworthy.
"I don't know anything about him," I admit. "Though, if he's how you've described him, I imagine the elders there will keep him from taking his father's seat for as long as possible. His father is a perfectly respectable Alpha himself."
"Yeah," she says, but the sound is hollow.
"You don't agree?" I feel like I'm unraveling a blanket one thread at a time. It's fucking exhausting, but this is the most I've learned of Tess since setting eyes on her three years ago.
"He's a good man," she sighs. "But he's also the man who exiled my parents."
I stuff my hands into my pockets, telling myself to not read anything into the confession until she explains in more detail. Being exiled from a pack is no joke. It turns the exiled shifters into rogues and typically their families too.
A long silence descends between us. It seems like she has no intention of elaborating, which makes me uneasy. Family history is sometimes enough to ruin a perfectly good mating. It's one of the most common reasons a wolf rejects their mate—though that's usually only in the most extreme circumstances. Overwhelmingly, most wolves would never consider rejecting their mate.
Tess sniffs, and I'm admittedly impressed when her emotion doesn't spill out in full-blown tears. It only confirms what I've already figured out. Tess might be small, but she's strong as hell.
She finally takes a deep breath and explains, "They kidnapped a pup."
"They… what?" That's not a thing. That just doesn't happen in shifter culture.
"I know what you're thinking. Impossible. Unheard of. Wolves never kidnap other wolves' pups. Well, they did. No one has ever understood why—they wouldn't give any sort of explanation—but they hid the pup in our house for weeks before they were caught."
"That’s—I’ve never heard anything like that." I can't believe that wouldn't have made major waves in the shifter world.
"My brother, Tevin, won't talk about it at all. But Tasha, she raised me to think of it as an accident. So when humans at school who didn't know asked what happened to our parents, it was anaccident.Eventually, even most of the wolves barely remembered what actually happened. I was really young; I'm the only one who doesn't even remember the wolf they kidnapped. Tevin definitely took it the hardest. He was the one who had to plead with the Alpha to let us stay."
"And he let you." That's incredibly odd.
"Yeah. At the time, I don't think it made sense to anyone. Now, of course, I'm sure he probably had some idea of our family lineage. That probably swayed his decision," she says, bitterness seeping into her voice.
That explanation does make more sense.
No wonder she's so touchy thinking I changed my mind about her because of who her family is. Hell, no wonder she's so slow to put faith in anyone at all. And no wonder she’s so quick to run from pack after pack. I've definitely been approaching her completely the wrong way.
It's time to rethink my strategy with Tess Jarreau.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Tess
I just told my deepest, darkest secret to a practical stranger, and I feel like I can't breathe.
The only consolation right now is that Dominic isn't looking at me with pity, the way the elders did when it first happened. That's the only part I vividly remember. Going before the elders while my brother pleaded the case for us to stay with the pack, and them all looking down from their special courtroom style seats with so much pity I nearly drowned in it.
"Let's stay the night here tonight," Dominic blurts out as if we weren't just having a heart-to-heart over our tragic pasts.
I look around the office, admiring the architecture all over again as I take in the big windows and intricate crown molding. This place is much nicer than Dominic's stark, empty room at the pack house. So when I tell him, "I'd love to stay here," I really mean it.
* * *
