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“Reba was forbidden from shifting for several full moons, which for wolves is a nightmare because the drive to shift and hunt each month is like a living thing inside them. He also forbid her from ever taking a mate or having a pup. If she does happen to ever get pregnant, the pup will be part of the pack and she’ll be exiled, forbidden from ever seeing him or her.”
She stared at him silently, then asked, “Do you trust him?”
“Who, Skinner?”
She nodded.
“Yes. He has no reason to lie to me.”
“My parents never told me. About Kerry being half wolf or what really happened to her. I was so…angry. So filled with grief, and when I sought out Brent, I jumped at his offer to help me. I thought Kerry would want me to avenge her death.” She let out a little sob and he moved over to hug her. “Oh no, Romeo, I got Duncan killed!”
He hummed, his tiger letting out a mournful sound as he held her close, and she cried once more. He couldn’t imagine the guilt she felt now, and he hated that he’d been the one to break it to her.
“You didn’t have the truth, sweetheart. You reacted to the situation in your grief. Anyone could do that. You’re not to blame for what you didn’t know.”
“I could have moved on. I could have accepted the alpha’s word like my parents did, and then Duncan would still be alive. I sent Brent after him and then happily signed up with Humans Against Shifters in thanks. The lives I’ve ruined, Romeo, how can you want to be with me after everything I’d said and done?”
It was interesting that he’d wondered what she would think of him when he told her his past, and the blood that he felt coated him from the inside out. Now she was asking for the same grace that he would have asked her for.
He tilted her face until she was forced to look at him.
“Do you still hate shifters?”
“No.”
“Were you deceived? Yes. Did you make some bad choices? Absolutely. But you acted how you saw fit, and I can’t say that I wouldn’t take out someone who killed my family member if I felt they weren’t punished fully. You were tangled up in grief and Brent used it against you to bring you into his group. He tainted your righteous anger and made it something terrible. He’s the one who really is to blame. Plus, whatever caused your parents to hide the truth from you.”
He wasn’t actually sure what their motive would have been.
She leaned back. “Wait, how can Kerry be half wolf if we’re sisters?”
“Sweetheart,” he said gently. “You’re half wolf too.”
* * *
Half wolf.
Half wolf?
No. That…wasn’t right?
Something within her, thesomethingthat had been going a little crazy since she’d met Romeo, let out a howl.
She gasped and rubbed her chest.
“How is this possible?” Her voice was just a whisper, her feelings a mixture of disbelief and trust. She could practically feel that Romeo was telling the truth, and there was some kind of answering echo of truth within herself too.
Was she genuinely part wolf? And if that were true, then why hadn’t her parents ever told her the truth? And which one of them was a wolf? She’d literally had no clue that there was anything supernatural with either of her parents, or herself or Kerry.
“Do you believe me?” he asked, brows raised.
“Kind of? It feels…true.”
“Well, you can talk to your parents and ask them the truth, or you could get some lab work done. We have a lab that does work just for shifters we can use, and they get results back pretty fast.”
She thought about calling her parents, who she hadn’t spoken to in years, not since she told them she’d seen to it that Duncan suffered for his crime, and they’d accused her of being a monster.
Now she knew why they’d said that. She’d helped get an innocent man killed.
