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Holding up his hand, Dale sat forward. "Wait! Cerese and Ralph should hear this. Vera, you need to eat."
A little annoyed at having to wait, but starving enough to shut up, I raided the fridge. The entire time, I wondered what the diary revealed about me. Maybe my parents still lived. Fixing snacks, I'd made enough for a party by the time Dale came to the kitchen and bundled me up in his arms first.
"Calm down. I know you are anxious, but this is not going to be a happy tale."
After carrying everything to the dining table, Dale made everyone wait until I had eaten. Instead, Dale spoke about another person. "Do you remember Jacob, Ralph?"
"Yes, of course. What happened to him was horrible."
"Who was he?"
Eyes falling on me, Ralph sighed. "A former alpha who once was also a member of the Liderii. He died almost thirty years ago now."
"How?"
Taking my hand as I sat back, Dale seemed satisfied with what I'd eaten. "Pelt hunters. They mistook him for a pure wolf and killed him. Since he was Lycan, he reverted to a human at death so they couldn't take the pelt. The hunters reported it as an accidental killing. They shot what they thought was a wolf and turned out to be a man running naked through the woods."
"Why did you bring it up?" Ralph queried.
"It's relevant." Dale gestured for Jeremy to begin.
Jeremy picked up the diary. "The routine patrol revealed the scent of trespassers. Human's, with weapons. We recognized the smell of death that followed them. Chasing it, we were eager to drive them from our territory and teach them a lesson in hunting wolves.
"The hunt took us out of our territory. We considered turning back but decided to hunt a little farther. We wanted to see if we could determine where they came from, so we could keep watch. That is when we heard it. A child crying. I sent the others to spread out, to ensure it wasn't a trap. The child cried and cried. When I felt it was safe, I approached.
"She sat naked, covered in blood, besides the two naked bodies of her parents. At first, I thought something sinister had taken place. That humans killed this couple and left the child for nature to destroy. But, the child didn't fear me. In fact, when I came close enough, she clung to me as if I should give her comfort.
"That is when I caught their scent. The parents were not human, they were Lycan. Observing them, I recognized the man as Alpha Jacob, who left the Luna Shadows pack for the honor of the Liderii. Beside him, was a female Lycan I didn't know, but I understood, at that moment, that she had been a wolf when shot. White fur littered the ground where the bullet shredded her.
"My attention returned to the girl. Clinging to me like I would save her. Sniffing her, she smelled like earth and forest, and of night and moonlight. She was one of us. A female, born of a mother who could shift. I wondered if the child had been a cub when her parents died, and she followed them into human form.
"Shifting, I collected the child up and returned home with her. I didn't tell the others what I suspected. I needed to contact the Liderii first, needed to secure the child a good home. My pack is not the place for her. I don't trust my Beta. There are too many untrustworthy looks, and my sense of him has faded. I need to get this child somewhere safe before I am challenged. She has seen enough death for her short life. I have called Quinton and left a message for him to call me back."
Closing the diary, Jeremy put it aside. The table was quiet. Dale squeezed my hand.
"He intended to contact you, why didn't he?"
Passing the diary to Ralph, Jeremy took a deep breath. "That was the last entry of Alpha Sam. When he returned home that evening, his Beta didn't challenge him, he killed him in a craven attack in his study. Immediately after Sam made that entry.
"One of the elders told me Sam arrived with the girl and no explanation. He was in his study with her for thirty minutes waiting for a phone call when the Beta murdered his Alpha. The Delta, disgusted by the Beta's underhanded tactic, challenged the Beta and bested him. He showed the disgraced Beta, no mercy."
"That was the alpha who raised you, Vera," Dale informed me. "And Malcolm was the spineless Beta's bastard son. The new Alpha never let him live down his father's cowardice, and Malcolm let it eat away at his very being."
Malcolm's hatred for the Alpha he bested swarmed all over me again. "His treatment of me was his vengeance on the man who killed his father and made his childhood hell?"
Dale embrace me, comforting me as that rocky shoreline threatened to tear me apart again. Greedy human hunters, a coward of a Beta, and his vengeful son destroyed my life.
With my tears staining his shirt, Dale lifted me into his arms and bid everyone goodnight as he took me back to his room. Crying all night, I grieved for my parents and for the life I lost. Dale held me tight through it all.
As the sun rose in the morning, I lifted my swollen eyes to see Dale watching me. When I traced his lips with my finger, Dale dropped his mouth and kissed me, with a fierce and unbridled passion. He showed me all the reasons it was going to be okay.
Clinging to my lighthouse, I held tight while he guided me back to safe waters. As the storm in my heart calmed to reveal the bright future before us, I thanked the Goddess for gifting me a home.
Epilogue
"Okay, I’ve got an hour until dale has his next meeting. Let's play." Turning on the music, I picked up my camera. Dale had given me my own and paid for me to do classes to improve my ability. While the underground media was my main contract, I filled in if needed for other shoots.
The model and talent agency weren't Dale's only business, it was the one he put his face behind and ran daily. Everything editorials needed for publication, one of Dale's companies produced. So, if his models were on a shoot, and the photographer the client hired didn't show, Dale would offer my services. Provided it wasn't Wednesday or the weekend.
