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As I turned onto our street, I was still struggling to shake the feel of Liza’s soft skin pressed against mine when I held her on the couch and explored her mouth with my tongue. What had possessed me to respond that way? I shook my head and tried to push her scent out of my memory. The main priority wasn’t my lust for Liza, though it was so strong that I’d almost ripped her clothes off with my teeth.
I glanced at the clock. It was later than I’d originally thought. As tired as I was, I couldn’t sleep yet, and it wasn’t in my nature to make something like this wait until morning. My brain worked on overdrive as I tried to process what Liza had said about her past.
She didn’t remember anything, and no one had ever told her about her life before Presley Acres.
After my little chat with Stone earlier in the day, I’d had a few meetings before I went to Liza’s place. I’d hoped she would be able to fill in the missing pieces that Zephyr couldn’t locate, which was still a shock to me. The man was a computer whizz and knew the backdoor to every dark internet portal in existence. If he couldn’t dig up someone’s history, no matter how horrible it might be, no one in the world could.
Maybe there was a reason she didn’t know where she had come from. Was she somehow connected to the place Stone mentioned? Heather Falls?
Walking into the house, I came to terms with the fact that several dots still needed connecting. But it wasn’t the mystery itself that had me on edge. I was mostly worried that I wouldn’t like the answers to my questions surrounding Liza and Stone. I wanted to be the kind of man that didn’t care about history. I wanted to believe it wouldn’t matter to me, but I couldn’t say for certain.
I walked to my parents’ room. I didn’t spend a lot of time in this part of the house, but the memories were ripe here. Hide and seek from my bedroom to every room in the place. Though, I hadn’t been here in years, except to see my father. Things looked different without the cover of worry. The light was softer, and I could smell my mother’s perfume, the fresh flowers on the tables between the bedroom doors, and the clean linens in the unused rooms.
I continued down the hallway. Seeing the light still on in my parents’ bedroom, I knocked.
“Come in.” Mother’s voice was soft, so I assumed Dad was already asleep.
I stood in the doorway and watched my father shuffling around the room. He was supposed to be resting after dinner. Doctor’s orders. I shouldn’t have been shocked, considering how damn stubborn the man was. He’d once sat in the car on a family vacation for two hours straight because we’d chosen a different restaurant to the one he’d suggested. Dad had refused to come in and had skipped the meal altogether.
When the alpha set his mind to something, he expected others to agree and follow his lead. In this case, he didn’t want anyone telling him when to go to bed.
I understood Dad better than he realized, considering that I was so adamant to make Liza mine. There was no amount of nagging or elusive threats that would convince me otherwise.
Dad turned to face me, holding on to the dresser to prop himself up. “Did you do what you were supposed to do? Did you get rid of that bastard who’s asking questions?”
“No.” I crossed the room and sat on the edge of the four-post canopy bed. My father would see it as a failure, but I needed to know what I was up against before I could do anything about it.
“Why the hell not?” Dad crossed his arms and leaned his back against the dresser. “Fuck, Tyson. If you want to be the alpha, you have to learn how to assert dominance. If you can’t follow a simple instruction like getting rid of a nosy son of a bitch who seems to be here with the intention of hurting the pack, then I don’t see how it will ever be possible that you can lead an entire pack.” Dad paused to catch his breath. “You’re going to take the name of this family and drag it through the mud. They’ll come out of the woodwork to challenge you, to turn you out and take everything we’ve worked so hard for. You have to protect the pack from all threats, no matter how big or how small. No matter what you have to do, Tyson.” He coughed. “That’s what being an alpha is.”
Fury burned in my blood. He wasn’t telling the truth about why he wanted the guy gone, and now he was using me as his whipping boy. I stood and held my hand up to stop him from saying something he might possibly regret later. “What do you know about Heather Falls?” I watched him as I spoke, looking for any indication of a lie.
Instead, he fell forward. It happened so fast that I couldn’t tell if he’d tried to take a step forward or if his legs simply gave out on him. Thankfully, he caught himself on the bed before cracking his head on the floor again.
Mother’s sharp gasp was filled with fear, and she ran to his side. I instinctively held out my arms and kept him from slipping onto the floor.
His face was as pale as a ghost’s, which was saying something considering how tan our pack naturally was.
“Dad, you need to lie down.” I wrapped my arms around his waist, trying to hold him upright while moving him toward the head of the bed.
“No.” He struggled weakly against my grip. “I’m not a fucking invalid. Take me to my chair.”
It took several minutes, but I finally got his shaky body into his leather armchair. He glared up at me, but it was my mother’s whimper that filled me with apprehension. Whatever or wherever Heather Falls was, it scared the shit out of both of them.
“God, no,” Mother whispered as she knelt next to Dad. “This can’t be happening.”
I wasn’t sure if she was referring to the name of the town I’d just dropped into their laps or Dad’s reaction to it. Either way, the churning in my stomach intensified. My father definitely knew what the Heather Falls business was about.
I’d spent a few minutes searching online for the name earlier, but all that came up was a couple personal profiles and an elderly human woman’s obituary. There was nothing significant, and so few results—nothing red-flag worthy. I wasn’t convinced it was an actual place. Perhaps it was code for something else, and something sinister based on their reactions.
So far, nothing about this day made sense, but I got the impression I was finally about to learn why my parents didn’t want me to mate with Liza.
Before my father could start his tale, a knock on the bedroom door interrupted us. The mystery of Heather Falls, a white wolf, Liza, and my parents’ connection to all of that had to wait another few minutes. I’d waited this long. A little longer wouldn’t kill me.
“Yes?” Mother stood and smoothed the front of her gown. Nary a visitor nor maid would ever see my mother disheveled or crying. It just wasn’t done. “Come in.”
“Sorry to interrupt, ma’am.” It was one of the housekeeping staff. “I’m leaving for the night, but I wanted to make sure everyone’s okay. I heard a commotion a few minutes ago.” She glanced in Dad’s direction and lowered her voice. “Should I call Dr. Anderson?”
Mother looked at Dad, who shook his head. Her eyes stayed closed a second longer than normal on her next blink, but she turned back to the maid with a serene smile on her face. Dad didn’t want a doctor, and Mother would honor his wishes. It was the way of things in our house.
