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“We didn’t know if they’d come after us, given how much we knew about them. We chose the last place they would expect vampires to go. Plus wolves are so territorial, we thought they’d be less likely to invade a town already inhabited by a strong pack.”

Ryker nodded. “Smart.”

“First thing we did here was meet with the alpha. William asked if we expected more of our kind to join us, and we said no, it was only the two of us—soon to be three. We were all pretty cautious of one another at first.”

“Wait.” Ryker held up a hand. “Leslie and I met the pack alpha, and his name isn’t William. It’s Malachi.”

Dad’s shoulders drew back as though the wolf were in the room with them. “Malachi? You met him in town?”

“Story for another time,” Leslie said before they could sidetrack from the important story. To Ryker she said, “Malachi has been the pack alpha for only about five years. William was killed in an accident.”

Ryker looked about to ask for more information about the Harmony Ridge wolves. No doubt his brain was working multiple angles, weaving multiple threads of the stories andquesting for every last detail. He must have seen from Leslie’s face that her interest was still back in Meredith, Missouri. He nodded. “What was the final straw then, for y’all deciding to move?”

While they’d told their story, both her parents regained their eye color along with their composure. Leslie braced against the back of the love seat, sure this particular question would push them back to their edginess. Instead…they smiled.

“It was you, Leslie,” Dad said. “We found out you were on the way, our very own child after so many years. And that was it. We wouldn’t risk you.”

“After all my persuasive arguments failed for months, when I told your father about you, I didn’t even have to ask. The first words out of his mouth were, ‘Our baby can’t be born here.’”

Leslie’s shoulders caved as the weight fell on her again. They had surrendered the place they loved for her sake. She had upended their lives, ruined Dad’s plan to stand against the corrupt wolf pack.

Ryker’s arms came around her along with a soft, soothing hiss.

“We never regretted it for a minute,” Dad said. “We love Tennessee, and we love our town.”

“But you loved your first town too.” She sniffed back tears. “You called me Meredith when I was a baby, I remember you did.”

“We did,” Mom said. “But we phased it out pretty quickly. We preferred your first name, and after we gave ourselves time to miss our old home, we embraced our new one and never looked back.”

“Are—are you sure?”

“Leslie, look at me.” After a moment, Leslie looked up. Mom’s gaze was firm now, no longer avoiding Leslie’s. “You changed our lives for the better. You filled rooms in my heart I never knew were there. Yes, we left Missouri to keep our child fromdangerous wolves. Yes, we missed Meredith for a while, and it felt sort of…poetic, I guess, to give the name to you. But you are my daughter. You have always been worth a hundred times more than what we left behind to protect you.”

“Oh,” Leslie whispered.

As if with a single thought, she and Mom sprang up from their respective seats and met in the middle of the room. Mom’s cool arms enwrapped her, and Leslie leaned her head on Mom’s shoulder. She would never be as tall as Mom.

“I haven’t always known what to do as a parent,” Mom said. “I’m sorry our silence about the past was hard for you. I’m sorry, and I love you.”

“I’ve never doubted that, Mom.”

“We didn’t deal well with the aftermath of Meredith. Neither of us did.” Mom shuddered and tightened her arms around Leslie. “The wolves broke six of your father’s bones, and if they’d learned I was pregnant… I don’t like thinking about it.”

“And you can’t separate what those wolves did from our neighbors here?”

“It isn’t fair to them,” Dad said. “I know that, and it’s easier now to keep the past separate. When you were younger, it was still hard not to see any wolf as a threat.”

“You should have told me.” If today was a day for full honesty, she couldn’t leave this part out.

“Maybe we should have. It was…incredibly painful to talk about. All of it.” Mom gave Leslie a final, gentle squeeze, then let her go. “I’m sorry I hung up the other day. I’m sorry for what our pain cost you.”

“I’m sorry too, Les,” Dad said. “I’m sorry you were left wondering all these years.”

“Sometimes it felt…” Leslie’s shoulders tried to hunch up again, but she straightened and faced her parents and her history head-on. “It felt like vampire topics were off-limits.”

Dad got up from the couch and drew Leslie into a hug of his own. She couldn’t remember the last time Dad had hugged her, and she pressed her cheek to his shirt just as she had as a girl. His hugs were never long; he stepped back a second later, regret deepened in his eyes.

“We tried too hard to fit in here,” he said, “to get along with the wolves and the humans in ways that didn’t call attention to what we are. We never meant for you to feel like less of a vampire, but at the same time, when we saw how well you adapted in school to your human and wolf classmates… We felt you were safer.”