“Brandon…” Shannon cried weakly, but I flexed my claws again.
“I would stay silent if I were you.” I dropped close to her. “I am close to killing you to cull the rot from this pack.” But even with my words, I knew it wouldn’t help. There was something fundamentally wrong with this pack. I looked up at Vince and felt a kick in my stomach. Vince had something to do with it, and I think that is what my father wanted me to figure out.
“Why would you do this?” Vince’s voice was low, and his eyes flickered to me. “After everything I told you, raising you, why?”
“Because I had needs, and she was the easiest to get it from.” Brandon cut his eyes back to me -and I saw the longing, but I felt the bile raise in my throat. But I also tasted the hint of a lie from his words. He wasn’t being completely honest.
Shannon screeched letting me know she heard it, and I felt a little bad about it. I mean, who wants to hear that the man they love was only with them because they were easiest to fuck? I could see the fire in Morgan’s eyes as the truth came out. The relationship he was banking out between Shannon and Brandonwas just one of convenience for the Alpha apparent, and not the one based on love for his daughter.
Vince cut his eyes to Morgan. “And you?”
Morgan stared daggers at Brandon. “Shannon had always loved your son from the time she could walk. Everyday she would talk about mating him, and I had hoped that they would be mates.” Morgan pulled his eyes away from Brandon and turned to me. “Shannon could never measure up to Amy in power level, but in looks, she was just as good. Better even. So, if throwing my rank around got her closer to your son, so be it. She could get the one thing she wanted most in the world.”
“At what cost?” I asked. “They aren’t mates, yet your daughter betrayed her mate. Brandon betrayed his. You threw this pack into internal turmoil with your pathetic maneuverings, and for what? To have your sullied daughter tossed aside for a chance at a stronger wolf?” I chuffed out a laugh. “Look at the Alpha apparent. Salivating at Amy, all because of me and my power. And where is your daughter now? Tossed it in the trash because he got what he needed from her.” I cut my eyes back to Brandon, who had paled. “I’ll make myself clear, for all here, neither Amy nor I are interested.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
I
turned to my mother and nosed the sliding glass door to the backyard. She hurried to the door and slid it open, and I walked out. I left the room full of the chaos I sowed and let the three of them figure it out. “Mother.” I called out, and she quickly followed.
“Nix…Did you have to do that?” She came out and walked next to me.
“I did,” I answered honestly. “She pushed her luck too far and we are tired of dealing with her.” I turned to my mother. “Shift. I want to run with you.” My mother let a small smile break out and nodded. She quickly shifted, and her brown wolf was a little smaller than Nix’s shifted form. Bigger than the average wolf.
I took off with her trailing behind me. We breached the woods, and I slowed down, allowing her to overtake me as she knew these woods and I didn’t. She shot out in front, dodging trees and bushes she was intimately familiar with, while I barely made it out of the way.
She chuffed out a laugh as I stumbled over roots. I didn’t see, but I caught up to her. “We have things to discuss, you and I,” I called out to her, and she nodded. She took off in a streak of brown fur that matched Megan’s in my mind.
We came to a stream, and I figured she would sit down, but she jumped on and swam across. It was ice cold as I plunged in, and I wanted to howl, but I choked on the water. She was beside herself, rolling on the ground with laughter when I finally made it across. “You are so clumsy.” She tossed out at my glare, and I had to give it to her. This was a new body.
“Fighting came so much easier.”
“That was your will to live. You needed to fight, so you did. This is just learning how to move in your new form. It will take time.” She came over and nudged me up. “Come on, pup, we have a way to go.” She darted into the woods on the other side, and I followed slower.
We ran for two hours before we came to a stone cabin in the middle of the woods. “Where are we?” I tilted my head to the side as my mother shifted back to her human form. I didn’t realize it before, but she kept her clothes. “How did you keep your clothes during the shift?”
She smiled over her shoulder and opened the door. “Come in and I will explain.” I shifted back, surprised to find myself fully dressed.
“How is this possible?”
“Have you never noticed before?” She beckoned me with her hand, and I walked in.
“The first time I shifted was to fight, then I woke in the hospital. I don’t remember shifting back.” My mother nodded and walked deeper into the cabin, pulling sheets draped on furniture off as she walked by. She walked to the fireplace, balling the sheets in her hands and dropping them to the ground. Then she crouched down and pushed some kindling into a fire already stacked with wood and lit it.
I watched as the fire took and the soft smell of burning wood filled the dimly lit cabin. “Are you going to stand in the doorway, or are you going to come in?” My mother turned from the fireplace to finally look at me and she looked comfortable here. So, I slowly closed the door, and the room grew darker. The windows were all covered from light coming in, so I moved closer to the fire to see my mother better.
“Mom, where are we?”
“Before you ask questions, let me finish and then we can get into all the details.” She started around the room, and everywhere she went, the room grew lighter. I watched as she was slowly pulling down wooden window coverings, and lighting oil lamps. I was confused as she walked into what I could only assume was the home’s version of a kitchen and grabbed a few things.
She walked over with her arms full, placing a kettle on the ground and a few other things, like cups and jars. Then she walked outside. I heard the splash of water and then she was back, closing the door behind her. “Where are we?” I put more force into my voice and she smiled.
“We are home…or I should say, I’m home.” She spun in a slow circle, with a smile on her face, then she came back to the fire. She sank down and put the kettle on a hook that was hidden from view over the fire. “This was my home before I met your father. My mother raised me here, away from my father’s pack, until I came of age.”
“Why?”
“Because…” She looked up at me. “We were the last Lycans.”
