Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Jaw. Drop.
My father is describing a woman I don’t know. She was a good mother before Richard. She was emotionally available for Larissa and me—me especially, as Larissa was Dad’s favorite and he emotionally mistreated me.
It took years for me to figure out why.
He was projecting his own self-hatred onto me—the child who resembled him, and the child who ultimately inherited his vampire blood.
But my mother…
I don’t recognize the woman my father describes. The woman I know has little emotion, good or bad. The woman I know is…numb.
“Richard was calculating,” Dad continues. “He knew who I was, and he knew I had broken your mother. So he went in for the kill just when she was on the rebound and ripe for the picking.”
“You never marry the rebound guy,” I say, more to myself than to my father. Then, “What did he hope to gain? He claims he loves her.”
“I believe he does in his way.” My father sighs. “It’s a common misconception that demons are incapable of love. Good, evil, love, hate… There are no absolutes in this world or any other, Hannah. As for what he hoped to gain?” He closes his eyes. “I believe he’s gaining it now.”
“Gaining what now? You’re talking in riddles, Dad.”
“I believe I’ve underestimated many people in my circle lately.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“But it does. I made a choice—something I can’t share with you—that has led us here.”
“The choice to marry Mom, you mean?”
“No. You already know about that choice, and you know what it has cost your mother.”
I nod, anger rising in me. “All this time… All this time, you knew who and what Richard was. Why didn’t you intervene, for God’s sake? You could have saved her! You could have saved us all!”
“I set certain events in motion. That’s true. But I have no power to save anyone but myself, Hannah. Same as you.”
I shake my head. “What the hell are you trying to tell me?”
“I’m telling you that things aren’t always the way they seem. However, you’ve made your choice. If you’re certain, here is what you must do to renounce your blood ties to your king.”
42
“Wait,” I say.
My father’s eyebrows rise, and a look of—is it hope?—crosses his face.
“Good. You’ve changed your mind,” he says.
Right. Not in this lifetime. But I have a question—an important one.
“I will go to Rogan,” I say. “A choice no longer exists for me. But first, I need you to answer a question.”
“I have no desire to answer a question from the enemy, even if the enemy is my daughter.”
“You certainly don’t have to, but I’m asking. I’m asking not as your enemy but as your daughter. As the daughter who’s done your bidding these last years. Please.”
His features soften when I use the word please. This may be the first time I’ve used it with my father.
“All right,” he says. “What is your question?”
“When you first sent me here, to Las Vegas, you said something about Rogan. You said, ‘he’ll jump through all kinds of hoops to get to you.’ What did you mean by that, Dad?”
He doesn’t respond. In fact, he moves away from me.
Yeah, I definitely made the right choice.
But he’s not getting off that easily.
“Answer me,” I command. “Tell me what that meant.”
“Tell me why you’re asking,” he says.
“That’s not part of our deal.”
“There is no deal between us, Hannah.”
“There is. You said you’d answer a question.”
“I did. I did not specify which question I would answer.”
“This is a simple question, Dad. I only want you to explain what you meant when you said those words.”
He twists his lips, and just when I think he’s not going to respond—
“I know what alpha wolves like, Hannah. They like strong, independent, and intelligent women. They don’t want submissive women because they’re responsible to their pack. They need women who can take care of themselves, and though their instinct to protect their women is strong—and they’ll do so at the expense of their own lives if they must—they’re attracted to women who can protect themselves. Women who fill up a room with their presence. Women who don’t shrink from adversity.”
“And that’s me, you think?”
“Are you denying it?”
“No.”
My father knows who and what I am. He knows how much I hate being bound by my blood to come at his command. He knows I’m exactly the kind of woman he described.
But his response is too easy.
And I don’t buy it.
It’s the only answer he’ll give me, though, so I don’t bother trying to debate the issue. I know only this—Rogan thinks I’m his mate. Knows I’m his mate.
The first ever wolf to mate with a non-wolf.
Do all wolves truly want strong women, as my father claims? I don’t know. I can ask Rogan...if I can find him.
If he’s still alive...
He’ll jump through all kinds of hoops to get to you.