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I spun around to gape at him. “You do?”
“Sure. What do you think I’ve been doing for the last several years?”
“Whathaveyou been doing?”
He nodded at the car. “Get in and I’ll tell you on the way.”
I gulped and lowered Connor into the front seat. I climbed in after him, buckled up, and held him on my lap. I should have buckled him into the back, but I didn’t want to take my hands off him, not until I knew for sure that he would be safe.
Kingston got into the driver’s seat, fired up the engine, and the car rumbled out onto the highway. “How far do we have to go?” I asked.
“Our stronghold is in Badlands, South Dakota,” he replied. “You two can relax. We have a long way to drive.”
“What do you mean—your stronghold?” I asked. “What does that mean?”
“You’ll see when you get there. It’s a big complex built into the mountains.”
“You were going to tell me what you’ve been doing for the last five years,” I prompted.
He glanced over at me and went back to watching the road. “I got called up to lead our Clan after my father died. He was the leader of our Clan and I’m his only son, so it was up to me to pull the Clan together in his place. That’s why I left. Our Clan has been at war against the Danes for generations. Clan Heller was in disarray and in danger of being wiped out. I was the only leader everyone could agree on. That’s why I had to come back, not because I wanted to leave you.”
I stared at the side of his face. “How come neither you nor your dad ever told us about this? You never told us anything about your family before he married my mom. When you talk about your…..your Clan…..it sounds so…….”
I couldn’t come up with a word to describe what it sounded like. I’d never heard anyone talk about their family this way before. It sounded exotic and exclusive and….well, almost like the Hellers belong to a completely different culture.
Who would build a complex in Badlands, South Dakota? Badlands was a national park. No onecouldbuild a complex there, much less run a business there.
My brain didn’t seem to be functioning right. Riding in the passenger seat of a car numbed my mind. The sleep I missed out on these last couple of days caught up with me and my eyelids drooped. I guess I would find out everything when I got there.
8
KINGSTON
I glancedover at the two people in the passenger seat. Riley lay with her head against the window. She was out cold.
Connor sat on her lap and stared at me while I drove. His eyes made me squirm. It really was like looking at a younger version of myself, except that he wasn’t me. He was a completely different person—a person I knew nothing about. I’d missed out on his whole life.
He caught me looking at her. “She was tired. She drove for two nights to get us to that new house.”
“She takes good care of you,” I remarked. “She’s a good mom.”
“Yeah,” he murmured. “She is. She always keeps me safe.”
“Did you see the guys that broke into your old place—the ones that tried to shoot her?”
He nodded. “They always break in and try to shoot her. They tried to shootmea few times. She got to me first this time, but she doesn’t always. They shot her a few times when she tried to stop them from getting to me.”
I winced. That was my fault, too. I really should have been there to protect her from the Danes. I was an asshole to leave her the way I did. I should have known better, but I was too young then.
“Do you have any other kids at your place?” he asked.
“Sure. There are a bunch. Why?” I glanced at him. “I guess you don’t get to spend too much time around other kids, huh?”
“Mommy says it isn’t safe. I keep asking her to let me go to school or something, but she always says no.”
“That sucks,” I remarked. “Maybe that can change when you get around my family.”
He fell silent for a minute. “Are you really my dad?”
