to me before the Strawberry Moon to demand money. He’d stated that the people who had bought my mom’s house had told him Fillian had bought the mementos he’d included in the home purchase at a significant price, and it had spurred him to hire a PI to investigate me. When he learned that I’d received gifts since entering Lupine Hollow, he had flown into a rage and commanded that I sell the presents and give him money, claiming my mother had owed him and now I did too. When I’d attempted to refuse, Lyle had threatened to declare me a danger to myself so he could maintain guardianship of me after I turned eighteen.
“My father was looking into getting you emancipated before you turned eighteen.” Alarick stretched before rubbing a hand against the back of his neck. “Unfortunately, with the increase of problems with Starlight Woods and Lyle’s insistence on meeting so rapidly, I’m not sure we will have enough time for that.”
I shrugged. “Even if we tried, I’m not sure it would work. I mean, the courts don’t have to grant it, right?” From what I’d gathered when I looked it up myself, that wasn’t a guaranteed outcome.
“I still vote for killing him,” Zev growled. “No one should get away with this. You’re pack. He’s threatening you, and therefore he’s a threat to all of us. End of story.” He shrugged as if it meant nothing, and I arched a brow.
“Okay then, cause that’s not creepy,” I replied dryly. Well, it should have been creepy… Surprisingly, though, it made me feel protected rather than scared. I was blaming it on being a wolf now. From the way he smirked at me, I was sure he could tell what direction my thoughts were going in.
“His temper is bad, isn’t it?” Shannon mused, tapping a finger against her lips.
I blinked at her, momentarily distracted. “Huh?”
“His temper. He seems to get angry easily. Especially when things aren’t going the way he wants.” She reached up to adjust her glasses as she studied me.
“Um, I guess so?” I glanced between everyone, unsure where this was going. “I mean, I don’t really know the guy. We saw each other a few times after my mom died, and I didn’t even really know he had a temper. He was cold, if anything. He snapped at me a bit if I didn’t do what he wanted, but he was more, I don’t know, passive aggressive?” I struggled to find the words I needed as I searched my memories. “He liked to say negative things about my mom, about how he knew she wouldn’t amount to much, or how he wasn’t that surprised she’d ended up leaving me an orphan and a burden on him.” My friends growled, and I patted Chann’s knee absently as I thought. “He got really ruffled when Raff was around.”
“He was reacting to Raff?” Ian questioned, leaning forward to rest his arms against his knees, his eyes sharp behind his dark-rimmed glasses.
I considered that, chewing on my lip as I thought. “I don’t think so…” I murmured. “I think—I think he was responding to me at first. I mean, when he first showed up after Mom died, I was basically a zombie.” Tears pricked at the back of my eyes as I remembered those first few weeks after my mom’s death, how I’d withdrawn from everything and everyone. “I barely existed, barely went through the motions.”
“You were submissive. Compliant. When he made comments or told you to keep the heat off, you didn’t object, you just wanted to be left alone to mourn,” he surmised, studying my face.
“Exactly. Then, that morning, it changed. I’d cut and dyed my hair. He was so irritated. He said I was embarrassing him. Raff showed up, and he expected him to be different, I guess. Like him, maybe?”
“He expected him to be controlling. Abusive, even,” Alarick realized, sitting up ramrod straight. “He thought he’d have someone to dump you on and, if he was lucky, he’d end up with someone who he could work with to manipulate you.”
“It makes sense,” Ian murmured.
“He kept going on about how he expected me to fail,” I murmured, remembering his warnings about my grades and my socialization. “About how it wouldn’t be tolerated.”
“He expected he’d be able to use it against you.” Ian tapped his fingers together as Chann wrapped an arm around my waist, hugging me against him. “Raff would have at least kept in basic contact. When