Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,26
after what I’d learned of her relationship with her father, but even though mine hadn’t been the best dad to Austin and Ethan, he’d been a pretty good one to me. At least, up until I’d been around six or seven, when the boys had come along.
He’d gotten pretty angry after that, had changed to the point where he hadn’t always been a pleasure to be around, but the truth was, he’d been good to me. Just strict. And with my wolf being as strong as he was, that was exactly what I needed.
I needed discipline and structure. Just like Knight would too.
Daniel, as well. He’d gotten over his shift early last year and was now taking part in pack runs, but though his wolf was slowly getting stronger, was adapting to pack life, I could feel his needs changing as well.
Even though he was only a boy, he didn’t feel that way. I remembered what that was like.
“We have to help them both,” she whispered. “Make sure they’re looked after, but given the love they need too.”
My lips twitched. “I think that’s on your shoulders, my mate. I’ll love them, but sometimes, tough love is what an alpha whelp needs. Now, don’t go all tense on me. It’s true. They need to learn that they can’t test boundaries. The limits are there for a reason, and they matter.”
She heaved a sigh, but I knew she heard the car rumbling down the drive as well as I did, because she stiffened as, with each moment, the wheels rustled down the gravel, making it sing as it approached the house.
I murmured, “I don’t know why you’re so stressed. She sounded eager to see you.”
“After she guilt-tripped me for not getting in touch.”
That had me shrugging. “I think it was more a case of you letting her think you were dead, love. And you did do that, you made that choice, just like she made choices too. If she makes you feel bad for them, then just own them. You did what you had to do. Hell, you did what you were fated to do, and that can’t be argued, considering exactly where you are right this second.”
She bit her lip. “I hate to think that Kian died just so that I could end up here.”
“Some are fated to live a long and miserable life, some are fated to live an existence filled with love but one that ends short.” I shrugged, but that wasn’t a dismissive move. It was an acceptance of what all shifters knew—the Mother decided these things. Not us. We had no say in it, and as such, we had to embrace whatever time we had.
Of course, we had more time than humans. More time in our prime. We didn’t live much longer than they did, but we didn’t start to truly deteriorate until we were in our late eighties, early nineties. And even then, we merely appeared to be in our sixties to humans.
It caused us a lot of crap in towns where humans existed and where they knew people who’d looked thirty for a few decades, but equally, most packs owned towns, as did we, and if there were humans in the vicinity, the truth of what we were had been passed down through the generations.
“I just wish he had another chance like I had.”
“There’s no point in thinking such things, and I know you only are because of your sister’s arrival. But if she makes you feel bad for trying to leave a life that would have left you living in fear, that would have seen you tied into a loveless marriage for your family’s benefit, then remind her of that. No woman should have to endure what you’d have been forced to endure.”
“Do you feel forced?”
That, and not for the first time, had me gaping at her. “Are you being serious?”
She started to giggle at that, and it made my own lips twitch, even though I knew I was staring at her as if she’d grown horns. Maybe that would make more sense to me than for her to think any of what we had together was forced.
“I’m being serious,” she said softly, but there was a light bounce of amusement to her tone, which told me even if it had started off seriously, my initial reaction to her question was enough for her to know she was nuts. That I thought she was batshit.
“Well, you need to scrub that thought from your head,