Page 49 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)
~Amanda~
As I expected, Troy blanched the moment I said I knew his father’s identity. His whole body recoiled, and if I hadn’t been holding his hand so tightly, he might have pulled away entirely.
“My father?” he echoed, swallowing as if the words tasted foreign in his mouth. “He’s from the Battle River pack. I already know that.”
He’d told me that in the bunker, when we’d let our walls down for the first time. I recited the rest of what he’d confided that night, wanting him to know I’d been paying attention.
“You said you went there looking for answers about your mother, but they turned you away.”
He gave a slow nod, guarded and cautious, like he could sense a storm coming and was bracing for the first crack of thunder.
I hated that I had to be the one to tell him, that I had this truth before he did. Like I was keeping it from him even when I wasn't.
We both knew the price that came from keeping secrets, though, so I took a steadying breath and gave him the news as gently as I could. “It makes sense that they didn’t want you asking too many questions. According to your DNA results, your father is the Battle River Alpha.”
A long blink followed that announcement, his eyes going slightly unfocused as he processed the words. “The… Alpha?”
“Yes.” I gave his hand a small squeeze, doing my best to anchor him. “After the doctor told me, I looked through the records we have on their pack. Eight months before you were born, Alpha Craig’s mate gave birth to a son of her own.”
I could almost see the pieces clicking into place behind his eyes.
“He was mated? And his mate was pregnant when he slept with my mother?”
His face contorted, jaw clenched as disgust hit hard and fast. He pulled his hand free and stood, pacing the room with a palm pressed to his mouth like he might be sick.
“It might explain why your Alpha authority never fully manifested,” I offered gently, trying to give him something to hold onto. “You weren’t born of mates or raised in his pack, but the blood is still there. Enough to heal you and enough to help me tomorrow.”
That context didn’t seem important at the moment but I mentioned it anyway as a reminder of why I’d ordered the test in the first place.
He didn’t seem angry with me about that, at least. He also didn’t respond directly to my comment, still pacing in tight circles in a room that was too small for a man of his size to truly work his frustration out.
“My aunt always said it was a one-night stand. That my mother got drunk in the city, went to bed with a stranger, and regretted it.”
“I imagine she did regret it once she found out he had a mate,” I said softly.
He didn’t even pause. “She would have seen his mark. I can’t pretend she didn’t know. But she still kept trying to get him to acknowledge me. Now it makes sense why he never did.”
I stayed quiet, letting him talk out loud as he processed it.
“It would’ve been a scandal,” he muttered.
“If his mate didn’t already know…”He trailed off, reaching out and bracing his hands on the wall as he reached the end of the room again.
For a second, I thought he might punch straight through the drywall, but he just stood there, breathing like he’d run miles, every muscle wound as tight as a drawn bowstring.
When he finally turned back to face me, there was such raw, stricken horror on his face, it nearly broke me.
“He killed her, didn’t he? She must have threatened to go public and he decided to shut her up for good.”
My throat tightened, but I forced myself not to feed his suspicion even though the thought had crossed my mind too.
“We don’t know that, but now that you're in a position of power here, they can’t dismiss you so easily.
We’ll get answers. When all this is over, I’ll speak to Alpha Craig. Or his son. Or both.”
At the word ‘son’, Troy stiffened. “How many others are there?”
“His son is the only one the doctor mentioned, and I couldn’t find any other children listed in our records either. His name is Alexander, and as I said, he’s about eight months older than you.”
Having never had a sibling of my own, I could empathize with the shock Troy must have been feeling to suddenly learn he had an older half-brother he never knew about. His nostrils flared as he took a heavy breath, grappling with that fact.
“He’s probably just like his father,” he muttered.
That was the shock talking, so I stood from the bed and went to him, wrapping my arms around him and laying my head against his chest. “You don’t know that. Am I just like my father?”
“No,” he admitted. His arms circled my back, and his breath came out shaky against my hair. “But I can’t imagine he’ll be happy to find out about me.”
“Maybe not at first, but you’re not a threat to him. He’s the older between you and you have your own pack anyway. You have your own path, and you’re not trying to take anything from him. If he has any sense, he’ll see that.”
We stood there for a long moment, holding each other as the storm inside him gradually quieted. My fingers traced small circles over his back, grounding us both.
When I looked up, my heart swelled at the sight of my mate, wounded but still strong, protective but willing to take my protection. Stubborn and loyal and so very mine.
“Tell me what you need,” I said softly. “Tell me what will make you feel better.”
His thumb stroked gently down my cheek, reverent and hungry at once. “I need you . I want to lose myself in you until we can’t move or even think. Just you and me, and nothing else. In case this is the end. In case it’s only the beginning.”
A rush of heat moved through me, fuelled by the fire in his eyes. I wanted it too, that escape and that connection, now more than ever before.
His mouth hovered just above mine, his breath warm and uneven, and my whole body leaned into him like it knew exactly where it belonged. The heat between us wasn’t new, but in that moment, it carried something heavier: a need not just to be wanted, but to be known, inside and out.
Rising onto my toes, I brushed my lips against his and whispered, “Then take me. If it’s the last night of the world, let’s make it count.”