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Chapter Seven
TALIA
Galen kept his word and my secret. I hated asking him to lie for me - even if it was by omission. But he agreed that the pack wasn’t ready to hear about demon clans or my red eyes. Not after they just buried so many of their loved ones.
The initial reaction of his betas had been proof positive.
In times of tragedy people often look for someone to blame and Galen feared the pack would blame me for what happened.
I wasn’t sure they would have been wrong if they had.
The attacks started around the same time Galen brought me to the Long Claw property. My mother supposedly hailed from a demon wolf clan and I bore a demon mark.
It certainly felt like I was to blame.
Galen left Marcus, David and Theo in charge. Again. Yet another thing that I could have been held responsible for. As their new alpha, Galen had delegated more responsibilities to his betas since I had arrived.
I wondered if they’d regretted going along with Galen’s ridiculous plan to kidnap me for leverage against my ex in the first place, but I was too afraid to ask. The truth hurts. And that was another reason why we had decided to keep it from them.
At least until we got back from our trip to Kansas.
Two hundred miles of corn field separated us from my aunt. It had been years since I saw her last and weeks since I’d called her in tears and all but begged for her help. We were less than half a day’s drive from her doorstep with no more than a voicemail telling her when to expect us.
“If she answers the door it’ll be a miracle.” I dug my phone out of my bag and scrolled through my contacts for her number. “Maybe I should call her again.”
“The sun is barely up, Talia.” Galen reached over and rubbed his hand along my forearm. “I doubt she’s even out of bed yet. If she doesn’t hasn’t gotten back to you by the time we hit Wichita, we’ll make a pit stop somewhere and try to call her again.”
“I could use a pit stop now, actually.” I pointed to the reflective blue sign on the side of the road that advertised a few gas stations and fast food restaurants.
Galen topped off the tank and ran into the convenience store for a few snacks to tide us over while I hit the restroom.
“All good?” Galen asked when I joined him at the checkout counter. He dropped the coins from his change in a pet shelter collection cup on the countertop, grabbed one plastic bag filled with a variety of sweet and salty snack options and another with bottled water.
“As it will ever be.” I sighed, and grabbed a cardboard drink carrier with what I assumed were two cups of coffee.
“It’s going to be alright, Talia. Your aunt was willing to take you in. There’s no reason she wouldn’t be willing to tell you about your family.” Galen merged back onto the highway, navigating the traffic until we maneuvered the truck into the far left lane.
Several reasons my aunt wouldn’t want to delve into our family history or divulge secrets of any demon clan roots we had, came to mind but I kept them to myself. There wasn’t any point hashing them out.
