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thirteen

Knuckles poised to knock, I almost punched Fayne in the face when she swung open the door.

“Oh.” She cut her eyes left to right. “Good.” She stepped back, waving us in. “I thought you were Rían.”

“We bumped into him outside.” I shook the bag at her. “He sent us ahead with these.”

“I appreciate the delivery service.” She scooped up her meds. “And sparing me from another lecture.”

Turquoise and white furniture with occasional pops of mustard yellow in the pillows made the space feel artsy and fresh. Bright. Thrown together in the effortless manner of people born with great natural style.

“Sit.” She indicated a love seat with plenty of room for two. “I’ve been expecting you.”

Plopping down next to Sloane, I forced myself to recall my manners. “Do you feel up to talking?”

“This has been a long time coming.” She sank into an armchair across from us. “Ask your questions.”

“How long have you lived here?” I hadn’t meant to lead with that, but curiosity got the better of me. “Jess mentioned she’s still waiting on her furniture to arrive. Mindy and Rochele are too. But you’ve settled in nicely.” A perk of seniority, perhaps. “Your home is lovely, by the way.”

“Thank you, but I can’t take credit for the décor.

Rían made a cash offer on this house and his home.

He bought them as is, from the wreaths on the doors to the furniture to the spoons in the drawers.

We’ve only been in town for two days, and we’ve been cautious to keep out of Sartori’s crosshairs while we get our people settled into their apartments and rentals.

It’s taken some planning, and some bribes, but four square blocks on this side of town will act as our new clan home. For the time being.”

Four square blocks? Sheesh. How had I been so oblivious as to miss a mass exodus of townsfolk?

Then again, between the break-in, the mysterious Myrtle, and the “vampire” in the potting shed, it had been a hectic few days for me. “Does that mean only the residential side of Brentwood is warded?”

“The entire town is under Walsh protection, but we’re accommodating humans who own businesses or work in town to make this transition as seamless for them as possible.

That means spreading our manpower thin until we settle things with Sartori.

So, for the time being, yes, only the clan home, which is a human-free zone, is on total lockdown. ”

That included GSG. The Victorian, though zoned for commercial use, had been built in a residential area. To keep up my mortgage payments, I would have to convince Rían to lift the restricted access zone soon.

“Why did you risk your life getting to me?” I meshed my fingers on my lap. “What was so important?”

“There are two things I must tell you to give you context.” She lifted a finger. “Rían is my grandson, and I would do anything for him.” A second joined the first. “Rían is also my magnus.” She rotated her wrist in a circle. “What wolves would call their alpha.”

“That explains why he can order people to uproot their lives and follow him on a whim.” I huffed a laugh that came out sharp. “I’m surprised he didn’t lead with that.”

“Rían doesn’t flaunt his power.”

That tidbit cast the bowing incident in a whole new light. They had been showing him respect. Not me.

“The alphas I’ve met want to make sure everyone knows that’s who and what they are.”

“Sartori is one of those alphas, and you’ve done everything in your power to get out from under his thumb.” Her eyes filled with things that didn’t make it out of her mouth. “Knowing Rían, he didn’t want to spook you. He wants to get to know you, and you him, without the pressure of his title.”

Pity. That was pity in her tone. Pity that I had been raised in a bubble.

“You make it sound like Dad is the bad guy here, when he’s only ever protected me.”

“Then why didn’t you put up a fight?” Fayne stared into her lap.

“Why did you come with us that night?” She toyed with the label on one of her medications.

“You could have leapt from the SUV, screamed for a sentinel, and gotten us all killed before we left Sartori land. But you chose us. You chose escape.”

The truth bomb she dropped on my head detonated in an explosion of confusion and bitterness.

“What was worth risking your life?” I needed my answers, then I needed to get out of here. “Tell me.”

“Carmichael Sartori isn’t your father.”

The earlier percussive blast must have shattered my ability to hear. “What did you say?”

A low growl poured out of Sloane, and she reached for my hand, providing me with an anchor.

“He took you when you were six weeks old.”

“No.” I shot to my feet. “You’re lying.”

“I knew your parents.” An ache throbbed in her voice. “Sartori killed them.”

“He killed her parents?” Sloane’s words scraped like gravel in her throat. “Just to take her?”

I had stood too quickly, and the room was spinning. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t get enough air.

I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. But I couldn’t move. I was frozen to the spot.

“We never stopped searching for you.” Fayne wiped tears off her cheeks. “Rían never gave up hope.”

“How long ago did Rían find her?” Sloane handled the questions while shock paralyzed my tongue. “Why not introduce himself to her like a normal person? Why jump the gun to claiming Brentwood?”

“About a year ago.” Fayne pushed her hair out of her face, directing her answers to me.

“He tried to meet you, many times, but Sartori always has guards on you. They wouldn’t let Rían near you, and that was before Sartori realized who he was to you.

” She exhaled softly. “Rían wasn’t left with many good options to get close to you, so this is what he chose.

To claim a territory where you would be comfortable, where those you think of as your family would be nearby. ”

“But it didn’t work out that way.” Sloane stated the obvious.

“Sartori was never going to allow the Walshes to live in peace. Not in this town— your town. But this was unclaimed territory. So, he had to get creative. He forged alliances with neighboring packs and clans and created an impenetrable wall around Brentwood. He forbade those new allies from granting permission for us to cross their land to reach the town. He thought that would keep us from you.” Cold light ignited in her eyes. “But he forgot a simple fact.”

As much as I wanted to turn tail and flee, back to my house, to sanity, I couldn’t unroot my feet.

Unfurling her fingers, she summoned a tongue of flame in her palm. “Dragons can fly.”

“Dragons,” Sloane gasped out, her grip on me painful. “The Walshes are dragons ?”

The roar. That was what I heard after Fayne was shot. Rían. Good Lord he had been fierce.

“Not all of us. Not even most of us.” She crushed the fire in her hand. “We’re a dying breed.”

“Does that mean…?” Sloane bounced on her cushion. “Is Ana a dragon too?”

No. Not possible. I wasn’t even a wolf. I was nothing .

“I can’t be one,” I rasped, my throat tight and sore like I had been screaming.

“You’re certainly not a wolf.” Fayne rubbed a thumb between her brows. “You’re not a latent either.”

“Stop.” I slashed a hand through the air, ignoring how it trembled. “Why are you saying these things?”

“Because you asked,” she said simply, “and because they’re true.”

Finally, she had given me a reason I could sink my teeth into, one explaining his determination to find me. “Is that why Rían wants me so badly?” The words cut their way free. “To play brood mare?”

As hard as Dad had held on to the hope I would shift into a wolf, to the point his tough love almost got me killed, Rían could prove equally fanatical in his belief I would sprout wings and scales.

Until I let him down too, proving I wasn’t anything special, he might not give up his vision of a scaley ever after with me.

“Come on, Ana.” Sloane tugged me toward the front door. “Let’s get you home.”

Home? I didn’t have one. Not anymore.

“Mind if I come in?” Sloane pounded on my bedroom door. “You’ve been in there for hours.”

The sheet fluttered above my face with every hitching inhale and hiccupping exhale as I hid in bed under the blankets and wished the world outside would just go away. Including Sloane.

“Jess stopped by to check in when we didn’t make it back by closing,” she called through the wood.

“She has a plan for getting the pets transferred to Pampered Pooches in Springvale tomorrow. Just until the sanctions are lifted on the town.” She paused, waiting for an answer, but I was struggling to find one.

“We could send her with a master list, let her call the owners and tell them where to pick up their animals.” Some were locals, but most of our clientele drove a few towns over for our services.

“I thought she could use the old plumbing-leak excuse for the humans. It’s benign compared to fire, black mold, or asbestos.

And it will allow us to open as soon as clients can come and go freely again. ”

“Thanks,” I rasped, my throat raw. “That sounds great.”

“What was that?” Metal rattled as she twisted the knob. “I couldn’t hear you.”

The door whined open, but I couldn’t summon the energy to push back the covers.

“Thanks,” I tried again. “That sounds great.”

“Nope.” Floorboards groaned under her feet. “Still couldn’t quite make it out.”

“Thanks.” I strained to hear her next move. “That sounds?—”

“Cannonball.”

She landed across my stomach, knocking the air from my lungs, and I wheezed like a deflating balloon.

“Ouch.” I would have curled into the fetal position, but she was pinning me. “Really ouch.”

The fabric disappeared from my field of vision, leaving Sloane grinning down at me. “Feel better?”

“Ribs,” I whistled through my teeth. “Broken.”

“Rude.” She rolled until she lay beside me. “I’m not that heavy.”

“It’s not your weight.” I sucked in sweet, sweet oxygen. “It was the force of impact that got me.”