Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Eli said, “He’s not getting near you until he’s calm.” Odd that a person who had once despised her was now one of her staunchest supporters.
Shawn took a deep breath. “Can you please move aside so we can see Harley?” His false politeness made her smile widen.
Eli kept his gaze on Shawn as he asked, “Harley, you want to talk to them?”
“Sure,” she replied, so Eli stepped aside.
“Sure?” echoed Lily. “Well, I feel loved.”
Harley folded her arms, staying close to Jesse. “I take it you heard about our mating.”
Lily’s mouth went tight. “Yes, and imagine how hurt I was to find out secondhand that you’re mated. Your father called me earlier, and let me tell you he is not happy. He wants to see you.” Lily flicked her hair back as she flashed Jesse a smile. “I remember you. I wanted to come here and personally thank you for making her see where her place in the world lies.”
No, she’d come to embarrass her because Lily got some perverse joy out of it . . . as if it made her feel better about herself.
“Jesse, I’m sure you remember Lily and Shawn,” said Harley.
“Her mother and uncle,” Lily stressed, casting Harley a look of reprimand.
Given what Jesse knew of Lily, she was no mother to Harley. Maybe things would have been different if she hadn’t drowned in her own misery rather than care for Harley. Then again, maybe they wouldn’t have been. His wolf regarded the shifters with a snarl of distaste. “They look different when they’re sober,” Jesse told Harley. “Not a lot different, but still.”
Lily’s face hardened. Her eyes cut to Harley. “I wouldn’t have guessed you would ever have anything to do with a Sequoia wolf after what happened with his sister.”
“You guessed wrong,” said Jesse.
Shawn put a staying hand on Lily’s arm. “We’re happy for you, Harley. We just can’t believe you didn’t tell us that you’re mated. It was hard to hear from someone else.”
Petulant as ever, Lily sniped, “I’ll bet Tess knows. You tell her everything. You visit her all the time. But not me.”
Aware that her mother was just looking to start an argument, Harley said, “I’m not playing this game with you. You’ve had your moment of drama; you can leave now.”
“Wait,” said Shawn, “we’re on our way to visit your father. You should come. He wants to see you. Now, I know you prefer speaking with Clive alone and I know you don’t like the idea of being summoned to see him, but this is no small matter. If you won’t do it for him, do it for me.”
Jesse looked him up and down. “Why would she do it for you?”
Shawn lifted his chin. “I was more of a father to her than Clive.”
Um, no he wasn’t. But Harley knew that Shawn genuinely believed that, for the simple reason that he liked to think he had taken Clive’s place in Lily’s and Harley’s affections.
“It’s been hard for me to be without my mate,” Lily said to Jesse. “I’m only permitted to see him once a month—the physical distance is difficult to cope with. Shawn has been there for me every step of the way.” She turned back to Harley, teetering on heels way too high for anyone. “We’re leaving for the prison now. Are you coming?”
“Jesse and I will come, but we want to speak with Clive privately.”
Lily bristled. “What’s wrong with having a family visit? It’s hard enough that I see so little of my mate. I see even less of my daughter.” Tears welled in Lily’s eyes, but Harley steeled herself against the emotional manipulation. Her mother was a travel agent for guilt trips and had yet to figure out that they didn’t work on Harley.
“Jesse and I will see him after you and Shawn have talked with him,” Harley told her.
Displeased, Lily pressed her lips together. “You’re as stubborn as your father.”
Anger coursed through Harley and her cat. She was nothing like Clive Vincent. If Lily wanted to be blind to the reality of who and what he was, fine. But Harley had no intention of joining her in the city of denial.
Did Harley condemn him for killing the humans who’d attacked her brother? Not at all. But he didn’t do it out of soul-wrenching grief; he did it because he liked to dole out pain. Hell, he’d hurt Michael himself on a few occasions, even broke his arm once. Michael had hated him, and Clive had done nothing but ridicule him. The truth was that Clive got a kick out of hurting people, physically and emotionally . . . like they were toys put on the earth for his amusement.
He had never hurt Harley and, for some reason, seemed to find some strange sort of pride in her rejection of him. She’d never quite understood that. Maybe he just liked that she saw him as he was. In any case, Lily only saw in Clive what she wanted to see. Lily refused to remember the times when he had hit her, mocked her, and exerted control over her.