Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
“You never told me any of that.”
“I didn’t think it was important. I knew they wouldn’t ask about it, because they already know about that part of my life. I was right. They only wanted to know about what I’ve been up to since I left and now . . . The moment we were out of earshot, they would have started talking about what I am up to accepting this nomination.”
“I was surprised by that. I didn’t know that you had to be nominated. We have a different process in my old pack. How did you know someone would do that?”
He smiled as they drove along toward his cabin, taking a moment before speaking.
“My Aunt Meredith, she’s the one that told me about Marshall’s plans for the club. She was beside herself with worry. She made me promise I would do something.”
“I’m curious. Your father’s funeral wasn’t very long ago. Did they not notice you were alone then?”
“They didn’t see or speak to me. I visited alone with Aunt Meredith before the funeral and went to the graveside after they were all gone.”
“You didn’t want to be there for the service? For your family? I mean, I know what you said, but family is still family.”
“Family is more than the blood that runs through our veins, Leslie. There are members of that pack that I love, that I’d lay my life down to defend. Some of them hold no blood relation to me. On the other side of that are pack members that are close relations that I’ve nothing for, no feelings, no compassion, no love. My brother is one of them.”
“Sounds unusual for twins. You two must have been close at one time.”
“No, not really, not like normal twins. From the time we were young, he was always a bad seed. He picked on me when we were boys, taunted me, bullied me. I fought back. I was no pushover, but he never let up. When we were teens, he did whatever he could to destroy any relationship I tried to have with someone. He was usually successful. It’s why I lost interest in getting close to anyone, even family. By the time I went to college, I had lost interest in relationships. That’s just never changed for me. Besides, I’ve existed mostly outside the pack, in the human world. You can’t really confide that you’re a shifter in just anyone.”
“That makes me feel sad for you. It’s no way to go through life.”
“We all have our issues, don’t we? It’s just the way things are. That’s all.”
“So, you just don’t want him in control of the pack because he’s an asshole?”
“I only wish it were that simple. He’s a drug dealer. He’s been into low-level shit for years. Always lazy. Never wanted to work for what he has. Now, with the power of the pack behind him, he plans to escalate his business using the network he will control as drug mules.”
“Won’t your pack stand against that?”
“Against their Alpha? Come on. You know that packs don’t fuck with their Alpha, not even if they are compromising their own beliefs.”
“Do they know? I mean, will they accept you back in so that they aren’t faced with that possibility?”
“Most of them; hopefully, enough of them.”
“It sounds like a crappy situation for you though, having to go back to a pack you don’t want to be in just to save them from your own brother.”
“It is, but what can I do? My father would never forgive me if I allowed this to happen instead of stepping up to the plate. I visited him many times while he was stick, when no one else was there and he begged me to come home, to take control. I didn’t and I never would have if Aunt Tabby hadn’t told me what Marshall was planning to do.”
“How did she know?”
He laughed. “Who knows how she ever knows anything, but she always has. No one has any idea how she gets her information, but she’s never wrong about what she says. Besides, I’ve checked into it a bit since she told me and found enough to know it’s the truth.”
Leslie nodded and then looked out the window for a moment before looking back at him, her brows knotted together in question.
“What do you have a college degree in?” she asked.
He laughed again. “Mechanical engineering.”
“Wow. That’s impressive.”
“It would be if I did anything besides use it to soup up people’s motorcycles.”
“It seems to pay well enough though.”
“Ah, a polite way of asking how I got so rich as a glorified bike mechanic. I didn’t, but that’s a story for another day. We’re home.”
Leslie looked up as they pulled into the long drive that led up the mountain side to his house. It had been an interesting day and she had no doubt there would be more interesting days to come. They unpacked the car and made their way inside, parting ways for the evening after she got the girls down in their cribs. Back in her room, she got undressed for bed and laid in the dark, thinking about what she had learned today. She had no idea that drug trafficking was involved in this and she had to wonder if she might have just moved on from one bad situation to another.