by May Dawson
“I have to get my sister,” I said. Then it dawned on me she could be in danger too. “Oh my god. What if there’s more the coven? What if my dad made it out alive?”
“Your father did not make it out alive.” Callum stepped forward, cupping my face with his hands. His face was grave and sorrowful. “I hope that doesn’t weigh on you too heavily, Piper. But you should know the truth.”
“You killed him.”
He nodded. “I did.”
He didn’t pretend to regret it.
“I have a feeling Piper’s right and there’s more to the coven,” Josh said. He held out a leather-wrapped journal. “I took this off one of the witches. It’s written in code, but I swear there are names here. Lots of names.”
“Let’s go.” Callum pulled me toward his truck, and the other three headed for the car. Together, we all raced down the road.
Callum jumped out of the car. “I don’t smell anything off.”
I ran for the house, and he matched my pace easily. When we reached the front door, I flung it open and ran up the stairs.
Maddie came out of her room, her eyes wide. Her television was on, playing a movie in the background. When she saw me, she threw herself into my arms.
“Oh, Maddie.” I squeezed her tight. “Are you okay?”
“Where’ve you been?” she demanded.
“It’s a long, long story, but I’m going to explain it all to you,” I promised. I buried my head in her hair. “It’s your story too.”
Chapter 27
The rest of the day was spent making sure Maddie felt safe. She had been through a lot, and as much as I wanted to sit down and talk to the guys, my first priority was making sure that she was okay. We went for a long walk through the forest—although I had the funny feeling we were shadowed by watchful wolves, though I never saw them—to the edge of the river where we skipped stones. We didn’t talk about anything; I just wanted to be there for her.
The guys got Chinese take-out for us all for dinner, and had her laughing at the ridiculous quantity of food they ordered. She sat at the coffee table, her legs crossed, eating sweet-and-sour chicken and staring at the TV, laughing at terrible cartoons that the rest of us suffered through. Or at least, I thought we were all suffering through them, until Josh laughed out loud, and she leaned back against his legs, comfortable as could be, her gaze still fixed on the screen. Josh paused for a second, and then took my hand in his, holding it between us on the couch.
It was going to take time, but we were going to be all right.
That night, I tucked her into one of the spare bedrooms. “I’m going to stay up for a while, but I’ll come back and sleep in your room,” I promised.
She raised her eyebrows at me. “Really?”
“Maddie!” I said, scandalized.
“What? I’m just being realistic!”
“You can’t be that realistic, you’re nine,” I said, exasperated. Maybe I was most exasperated of all because my little sister could see right through me.
Well, she wasn’t exactly my little sister, at least not the way we’d thought. We’d have to deal with that another day. But even though we didn’t have the same parents, she couldn’t have been more my sister.
She fell back into the blankets with a sigh. When she turned over onto her left side, tucking her arm under her cheek the way she always slept, I knew she was on the verge of sleep. It had been a long, exhausting day for us both. I patted the blanket over her hip and started to stand.
“Piper,” she said, her voice catching me. “Was Dad a really bad man?”
“Can we talk about it in the morning?”
“No.” Her sleepy voice sounded petulant. “Isn’t that an easy question to answer?”
“Whatever Dad was,” I said, “it doesn’t matter to us. Because we’re our own people, and we’re safe now.”
She was quiet, as if mulling this over, and then I heard the faintest soft snore.
I tiptoed out of the room, afraid to wake her, and went down the hall. Before I reached the stairs, Callum stepped out of his room. His hair was wet, soaking the shoulders of his t-shirt, as if he’d just left the shower.
“Piper,” he said, his voice hushed. “How is Maddie?”
“Probably in need of many years of therapy,” I said. “Just like me. But she’ll be fine.”
“Of course she will. She’s tough like her sister.”
So Callum didn’t know. I was almost surprised Nick had kept my confidence, but maybe I shouldn’t be. He seemed like the type of guy I was safe with in every way, right down to secrets.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” I said.
A resigned look crept over his face. “Okay. Come on.”
I wanted to know what that look was for, but Callum turned and led me down the hall, the opposite way I expected. At the end of the hall there was a narrower set of stairs that led down to the kitchen, and to the other side, even narrower stairs that led up. Callum took the dark, narrow stairs easily, but I followed him uncertainly.
Until we emerged onto the roof.
“Widow’s walk,” he said. “Of course we’re inland and there’s no reason here, but it give us a view of the forest and any dangers coming our way.”
“And it’s beautiful,” I said, surveying the scenery, which was lovely even under the moonlight.
“Yes, it is.” He leaned against the railing, his arms crossed. “What did you want to talk to me about, Piper?”
I was still curious about that look earlier. “What do you think?”
He sighed. “I don’t want to play games.”
I leaned against the rail beside him, so close that my shoulder almost brushed his. “I don’t either.”
“Good,” he said. “Then let’s speak plainly. What do you want?”
It was a brusque question, and at first, I felt irritated. Then, as he regarded me steadily, I realized he was genuinely curious.
“I’m not sure I can have everything I want,” I said.
His lips quirked up slightly. “Yes, I’m familiar with that feeling.”
I was still trying to think about what Callum might want when he went on, “But why don’t you try to explain?”
“I want my sister to have a normal life, which can’t happen here in Blissford anymore,” I said. “And I want to be free. And I want to…”
He eyed me, waiting for the last word, and despite the flutter of nervousness I felt when he looked at me that way, I made myself say it. “Stay. I want to stay.”
His face relaxed, just slightly. “Good.”
“Good? I thought you wanted me gone!”
“Yes,” he said, “and no. I’m not sure I can have everything I want, either.”
“What is it that you want?”
He gazed out at the pines stretching out around us. “You don’t know anything about our world, Piper. And even they remember very little.”
“Because the guys were so young when the pack was attacked,” I filled in.
“Nick was just a baby. Like Misty.”
God, now I felt like I was lying to him by not blurting everything out. But if he wanted me here—even when he thought I wasn’t important to their pack—then that meant something. I had to know for sure.
“So what do you think is going to happen here?” I asked. “With Misty?”
He ran his hand through his hair. “She seems really happy with her life here in Blissford.”
“Yeah, I think she is.” Although I was curious how life was going to change with half the town’s self-made aristocracy ripped apart by wild animals. Blissford might just be on the map after this.
“If the coven gone, the magic that bound her should be released over time,” he said. “If it doesn’t happen naturally, then we’ll have to break the enchantments. She’ll come into her strength and to begin to transform. And we’ll be there for her, of course.”
“Of course you would.” I couldn’t imagine them abandoning anyone who needed their help
.
“But maybe she won’t,” he went on. “Maybe having her powers suppressed all this time changed her. Maybe we all changed, and the way the pack used to work isn’t the way it should work now.”
“Most of all, I don’t want to take away her normal life if she doesn’t need to lose it.” He shook his head. “Especially when the pack seems to have bonded to…someone else.”
“Well,” I said, “I wouldn’t say the pack.”
“I would,” he said.
I gazed up at him, perplexed. He looked down at me with softness in his eyes for once. The temptation to lean in toward him, to raise my lips toward his and see what happened, was so powerful I almost gave in to desire.
To stop myself, I pressed my palm flat against his chest, holding us apart. His eyes flickered down to my hand, then back to his face; his heart thrummed steadily against my palm, speeding up now, and it reminded me of the way his heart had raced when we shook hands for the first time.
“You’ve looked at me like I was a problem since I came here,” I said.
“Oh, you are a problem,” he said. “I’ve been trying to keep the three of them focused on rebuilding our pack. And here you come, and all of them turn into lovesick idiots—”
“Even Kai?” I asked archly. “He’s still pretty sarcastic.”
“Especially Kai,” he said. “That’s his version of going soft. He was worse before you came into our lives.”
“Hard to believe,” I muttered.
“—and worst of all,” he went on, “the girl that’s been accidentally ruining all my plans is strong and smart, beautiful and brave, and as much as I’ve tried to rein in those idiots, it turns out I’m a fucking idiot too.”
My eyes widened in surprise.
“But I’ve been doing my best,” he went on, “to keep you at arm’s length. Because I have to take care of them, and the pack, and be the alpha even when I don’t really know how. And you’re younger than I am, and you need our help, and I shouldn’t—”
I didn’t want to hear about all the shouldn’t’s.
So I bobbed onto my toes and kissed him. My lips brushed his, tentatively. Heat flooded my cheeks as I wasn’t sure if he would reciprocate or not. For a terrible split-second, he was very still.
Then his lips softened against mine, and he kissed me back, very gently.
I pulled back just enough to see his face. His jaw was stubbled, and his amber-brown eyes were warm beneath long, dark lashes.
“And you shouldn’t kiss me?” I asked softly. “Because I think you should.”
“It’s not a kiss that’s the problem,” he said. “I’ve worried about what it would mean. I haven’t wanted to make you think there was any chance here. Any hope of some kind of…relationship with the pack. Because of pack law.”
His voice had hardened, and I pulled away, settling back onto my heels. “Oh.”
How foolish I must look, kissing him. Of course his first allegiance would be to the pack, and to what he thought the pack needed. God, I was making this so terrible awkward. When I told him the truth—
“But then I realize, pack law hasn’t always served us,” he said. “The packs don’t talk to each other. They’re territorial. And if they weren’t, our house could have been warded against magic, and we all would have grown up with pack law. But we didn’t.”
“And now I don’t want to follow the old rules,” he said. His eyes were intent on mine. “I want you. The rest, we can figure out in time.”
He wanted me. A warm glow spiked through my chest, as I finally understood the way he looked at me. He felt guilty, and he’d been fighting his desire for me.
“So a kiss means something?” I asked.
He nodded, his fingers trailing up the outside of my thigh—his touch electric—until his hand settled on my hip.
Then suddenly he spun us both around, pushing me against the side of the house. He braced one hand above us, holding his body away from me, although he was so close I could feel his warmth. He kissed me sweetly at first, his lips tender. When my lips parted, seeking more of him, he kissed me back more certainly. His body pressed against mine, his leg pressing between my thighs, and I wrapped my arm around his shoulders. I wanted him closer to me. I wanted him as close as he could be.
All the guys were good kissers, but Callum was extraordinary. His every moment was filled with purpose and desire. I ran my hand down his chest, feeling the hard planes of his pecs and then his abs through the soft flannel of his shirt. The two-day growth across his hard jaw tickled my neck before he devoured me with his kisses, pressing his lips to the soft, tender places between my ear and my shoulder, then moving up to nip my earlobe with his teeth. Every kiss made me throb with desire, a little more each time, until I was on fire for him.
I moaned into his ear, helpless to hold it back, and the sound seemed to spur him further. He returned to my lips, his big hand holding my cheek possessively.
“Do you doubt me now?” he asked, his lips a breath away from mine. “My feelings?”
“No,” I said.
His forehead rested against mine, as if he was trying to catch his breath. “Damn me to hell, but I want you more than I want to do the right thing. More than I want to be the alpha.”
“There could be more than one way to do the right thing,” I said softly.
Some of the haunted look in his eyes faded, and his gaze on mine sharpened. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right.”
“Now, that’s the sweetest thing a man can say to a woman,” I said. It broke the tension, and he threw his head back and laughed.
Callum’s grin was such a beautiful flash of happiness when he was usually so tense, and it made me want to kiss him again, so I did. My lips pressed into the spot where his beard stubble almost hid his dimple.
“And the good news,” I said softly, “is that I’m the one you’ve been looking for.”
He pulled back, his hands on my shoulders so he could look into my face. His brows knitted together. “What do you mean?”
“The man who pretended to be my father switched my records for Misty’s. I was born here, in this house.”
He stared at me. “But—”
“On a stormy night, wasn’t it?” I asked. “My father told me it was a storming night. He knew I would be trouble because there was a lightning storm, as if God himself raged the night I was born.”
“Are you sure?” he muttered. His hands caught my cheeks, and he studied my face with intent hazel eyes.
“The pull that I’ve felt toward you—toward all of you—and that you feel toward me is no lie. The coven did everything they could to disguise who I was, to set up Misty to look like she was the shifter, in case another pack every came looking for her.” I shook my head. “But they didn’t realize there were survivors. They didn’t realize we’d be drawn together, that it would be impossible to deny who we were to each other.”
“How long have you known?”
“Just today,” I said. “Don’t be mad. I knew I’d be your duty once you knew. I wanted to see who I was to you, really.”
“You’re my everything,” he said. “And you were before I even understood that.”
He tucked my hair back behind my ear. “But what you aren’t is Piper Sullivan.”
“What’s my real name?” I asked softly. A connection with my birth parents!
He shook his head, his eyes sad. “In our pack, the baby’s name was always announced at a ceremony when they were a week old. Parents spent the first week resting with their baby while the pack took care of their needs, and then after a week, they would introduce the baby to the pack and there would be a big party.”
A sudden sense of loss washed over me. “Did my parents name me?”
“I think so,” Callum said, his voice kind. “Your father said your mother had chosen a name. But he didn’t tell us what it was.”
I nodded. “Well, that’s all right.”
But Callum’s handsome, hewn fa
ce went blurry, and suddenly he clasped me tight to his chest, hugging me. His warm, hard arms held me close, as I heard myself make the faintest small sob.
“I’m so sorry,” he murmured into my hair.
“It’s all right,” I said again, but my voice broke. It wasn’t convincing at all.
Callum scooped me off the ground, and my arms closed around his shoulders as he lifted me against his chest. I blinked at him in surprise, but he sat down gracefully, with me in his lap. He held me, but I didn’t cry for long. Tears had never gotten me anywhere before.
A few strands of hair stuck to my face. Callum tucked them behind my ear, the gesture quick and fond. “I’ll tell you everything I remember about them, I promise.”
I nodded, trying to smile. He rubbed his thumb across my cheekbone, gently swiping away the last tears. “You don’t have to pretend to smile with me. I’m here for your sadness too. I’m here any way you need me.”
I laid my head on his shoulder. The stars seemed so bright out here, in the forest. They were brighter than they ever looked from my father’s house.
Well, not my father. I didn’t have to think of him that way anymore.
Callum’s breath came out softly against my hair. “Well, do you want to go tell each of them who you really are? It seems like a discussion to have one-on-one.”
“Yes,” I said.
“And tomorrow,” he said, “we should have a homecoming party, and a birthday party for you. We were talking about trying to make up for that awful birthday you had.”
“I’d like that,” I said.
But was it really the worst birthday I could have if, if this was the terrible dark road that finally led me home?
Chapter 28
I raised my hand to knock on Josh’s door, then hesitated. I wanted this moment to be special. He’d be elated to know I belonged with the pack. Or, maybe he already thought I belonged with the pack, and he’d just be elated to know that Callum agreed, and that I did too. Since that first moment I met him, he had been kind and warm and good to me. I hadn’t realized how alone I was in my little world, how much I needed someone to take care of me, until he came into my life.
