Series: Shifter Ops Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 65371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
My throat closes. “Channing…maybe you’re not supposed to be Geoffrey. You’re supposed to be you.”
He closes his eyes and shakes his head.
I take both sides of his face in my hands. “I mean it,” I say fiercely enough to make his lids fly open. “You’re not Geoffrey. You think differently. Made different choices in your life. But that doesn’t mean you’re any less brave. Or your heart isn’t as good. Or you have less honor.” Even as I say it, I can think of the examples where we both know he’s fallen short. Where I’ve blamed him, and it seems he’s blamed himself.
“Listen, Channing. I was mad at you for abandoning us, yes. But now I understand that you didn’t. You were watching us this whole time. Sending money. Installing security. What else have you done that I don’t even know about?” I ask the question on a hunch, hoping he’ll land on something.
He lifts his gaze to the forest edge, looking over my shoulder. “I bought that land so Geo could run.”
“What?” I whirl and look at the tree line.
He nods.
“You’re the one who bought up all the land around us?”
“Wolves need space to run. You had it, but I was afraid someone might come and develop that land, so I made sure that couldn’t happen.”
Tears prick my eyes. I wrap my arms around Channing and lay my cheek against his chest. “You see?” There’s a wobble to my voice. “You’re a different version of Geoffrey. A younger, more reckless version whose heart has always been intact. He told me you’d be here for us, and you were. I just didn’t know it at the time.”
Channing massages the back of my head. “He told you I’d be here for you?” His voice is rusty.
I nod. “He left me a letter in the safe. I found it a few months after–” I choke up.
“What…” Channing clears his throat. “What did it say?”
Channing
Julia takes my hand. “Come here. You can read it for yourself.”
She leads me into the bedroom and pulls a folded letter out of the bottom drawer of her jewelry case. I drop the dog tags in the drawer. She should have them.
The letter is on yellow notebook paper–simple and direct, like Geoffrey. The ink on the lined paper is faded now. The edges are tattered and worn as if she’s pulled it out and read it at least a hundred times.
My hands shake a little when I reach for it.
Geoffrey was like a father to me. Our real dad was a lazy, selfish prick, and I don’t even remember our mom, who took off when I was five. We came from a backwoods pack in Kentucky whose main source of income was anything illegal.
Geoffrey wanted to better himself, so he left and joined the Army. That meant I had little supervision. By the time I was Geo’s age, I was definitely running wild. Stealing cars. Setting fires. Helling around. I managed to talk my way out of most of the trouble I got into, but I was failing out of school. When Geoffrey found out, he brought me out to live in Arizona with him, even though he had a new mate and pup. He let me stick around and intrude on their new life together. To remove me from the temptation of trouble and give me a shot at bettering myself.
I barely think about my dad or my pack of origin, but I think of Geoffrey all the time. The lessons he taught me. His protection. The love.
I smooth out the wrinkled paper and skim it. It was meant for Julia. An expression of his love for her and their pup. Regret that he wouldn’t be there to care for them. It contains some practical details–passwords and life insurance.
And then there was the section about me.
Trust Channing. He cares as much about you two as I do, and I know he’ll always be there for you. He’s the only male I would trust to protect and provide for you.
My eyes burn, and I blink hard. A mountain-sized swell of love and grief mixed together bowl through me.
And regret. Because I didn’t protect and provide for Julia and Geo in the way they needed.
I thought I was doing the right thing, but, as usual, I fucked it up.
“Julia…” I choke. “I wish I hadn’t fucked this up.”
“You didn’t, Channing.” She wraps her arms around my waist and molds her body against mine. “I was hurt because I didn’t understand. But you were just a kid yourself. You were grieving, too. You did the best you could. And I love you for it.”
I try to swallow but fail. My brain does a mad-dash scramble trying to figure out if she means she loves me like a brother-in-law or something else. Something more.