Page 11 of Reclaimed
The agent returned with the keys as I ended the call. I thanked her, then waved Dylan back over.
I nearly dropped my suitcase when we got to the car. “Seriously?”
“It’s the only standard rental we have left available,” the agent said. “If you’d like to upgrade, I have some two-door coupes…”
“That won’t be necessary,” I said before Dylan could even get a little gleam of excitement in his eye. I wasn’t going to take a sports car down these winding mountain roads, not with my son in the car. The rental they had for us was a white SUV that had to be at least ten years old. The paint was scratched, and the wheel wells were still muddy, like it hadn’t been washed properly. Sighing, I opened the trunk and heaved our suitcases into it. At least it didn’t smell like cigarettes or old fast food.
Three hours of driving, and then I’d be in Lakeview, New York, the one place I thought I’d never see again.
Dylan settled into the passenger seat. He seemed to be more at ease now that we were out of the bustling airport, but he wasn’t complaining about our missed opportunity to drive a Dodge Charger, which was unlike him. He sighed and sank deeply into the seat, then put his headphones on and stared out the window as I began the drive north.
I gave him a bit of peace and quiet as we drove—he deserved it. We drove for an hour like that. As the highway narrowed, the cities became towns, and the landscape was full of lush greenery and mountains in the distance. Soon, there wouldn’t be anywhere to stop, so I took an exit that advertised a local place to get a good chicken sandwich. Dylan perked up in the drive-thru.Food tended to have that effect on him. I got myself some fries to eat while I drove, and Dylan got two chicken sandwiches and more sides than I could ever imagine eating at once.
When I pulled out of the drive-thru, Dylan made to put his headphones back on.
“Hey, kiddo?” I asked before he could. “You have enough energy to talk a little?”
Dylan sighed, but nodded. “As long as I can keep eating.”
“I would never deprive you of the opportunity to stuff your face,” I said with a hand over my heart. “Listen, I know you know why we’re going to Lakeview.”
“To see Mama Liz,” Dylan said. “Fresh air. Change of scenery. All that stuff.”
“Right,” I said with a small smile. Dylan always called my motherMama Liz.Mom never would’ve agreed to being called something as old-fashioned as Granny.
“More than that,” I said. “It’s time for you to finally meet your father.”
Dylan’s eyes widened. He straightened so fast the fries and chili nearly tumbled out of his lap. “Seriously? You’re taking me to my dad?”
It was still weird to hear Dylan refer to Stephan as his “dad”. He’d knocked me up, but he’d never been a dad at all. I hadn’t allowed it—it wasn’t safe. I still doubted that allowing Dylan to meet Stephan now was safe, but what other choice did I have? “I talked to Suri about it. With your shifter puberty coming up, you’ll need to be with your sire.”
“Suri can’t help with it?”
“I thought he’d be able to,” I said. “Otherwise, I would’ve tried to figure something out, but this kind of… snuck up on me. Suri said your dragon’s strong, and your dragon needs his sire for your first shift.”
“Weird,” Dylan said as he ate more fries. He was remarkably unfazed by this information about his dragon. A perk of being nine, I guessed. “What’s he like? My dad?”
I hummed and tightened my grip on the steering wheel. The two-lane highway seemed to stretch on forever in front of us. This was the perfect time to talk about it. All we had to do was drive. There was no school or work responsibilities to distract us. I’d even spent the last few nights figuring out exactly what Iwouldsay when Dylan inevitably started asking questions. But I still found it hard to manage the words. “He’s… complicated.”
“Complicated? Is he a good guy?”
Nope.He’s a thug and a mob boss.I couldn’t tell my son that, though. “He was always kind. And sweet.”To me. Maybe not to everyone else. “But he made some bad decisions in his life.”
“Like what?”
“Money stuff,” I said. “Grown-up stuff.”
Dylan frowned, obviously dissatisfied by that answer. “What does he do for work?”
“He’s a businessman. Or he was the last time I saw him.” Sure, the businesses had mostly been fronts, but they had existed.
“What kind of business? And don’t say grown-up stuff.”
I laughed. Dylan could be too smart for his own good. “If I remember right, he ran a body shop.”
“Like a car place?” Dylan asked with wide eyes. “Whoa. Cool. You think I’ll be able to see it?”
“I don’t know, Dyl.” I had no idea what to expect from our time in Lakeview.
