“Always, Roni. Our child will be adored.” He knew, to the depths of his soul, that it would be no other way.
She sighed heavily, relaxing against him as the events of the past days finally sapped her remaining strength. He heard her breathing deepen, felt her body go lax and he allowed the single tear to fall slowly from his eye. She was his gift. His soul. In her, salvation had come to the man who struggled daily with the animal that lurked inside him. With her, he had finally found his peace.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Aaron Lawrence sat still, frozen, his eyes glued to the television screen, the past rushing over him with the force of a tidal wave. The words filtering through his numb mind held little meaning. All he saw was her face. A face he had thought he would never glimpse.
Veronica Andrews. Daughter ofReginald and Margaret Andrews. His soul screamed out in protest. She was nothing to the bastard who had betrayed him. She was his. His child. The last connection he had to the woman who had completed his soul. The woman who had run in horror from the crimes she believed he had committed.
His daughter. He fought back his tears, his grief. She looked so much like her mother. The same gentle curve of her brow, the dark blue eyes, the curve of her cheek. The fear that whitened her face…
The reporters were like a pack of animals as they molested her. Tearing at her clothes. Yelling at her. He watched the taped report, fury churning in his chest.
“Get their names.” He didn’t look at his son. Seth would take care of everything. He would know what to do now.
Aaron’s jaw clenched as he fought the rage building inside him. The mark on her neck was an abomination. Unnatural. For months, despite Seth’s neutral stand on the Breeds, Aaron had been funneling money into the attempted destruction of the animals. As he watched the news reports closer, saw the brief interview that came later—after the small wedding ceremony between his daughter and her pet—he wearily acknowledged such support would have to end. If she was happy. He frowned. What if she wasn’t? What if somehow she had been forced into this? If she had, he could bring her home. He could care for her. Give her all the things he had been unable to give her throughout her life. He could be her father.
That was it, he thought, hope rising within him. Seth could do this. Of course, Aaron knew he would have to convince his son to do this his way. Seth was too direct, too damned honest. There were days he would have suspected that boy was sired by another, if it weren’t for the fact he looked so damned much like Aaron.
The same dark brown hair and steel gray eyes. The same patrician features. It was like looking into the mirror of the past when he looked at his son. But he was a good boy, Aaron reminded himself. Strong. Tough. He was big enough and smart enough to get what he wanted, when he wanted it. He didn’t have to cheat. Not like his dad had.
“You can’t tell her.” Aaron turned to Seth now, seeing the hard purpose that lined his son face. “Promise me, Seth. I swear, if you don’t tell her the truth, I’ll never deceive you again.”
A cynical smile crossed Seth’s face, though he didn’t look over at his father. He was staring at the television. Another of the rare interviews with the full Pride.
“You’ll always lie to me, Aaron.” Seth shrugged his broad shoulders in resignation. Aaron winced. He hadn’t called him “dad” in so long, Aaron had forgotten the sound of it.
“You can’t tell her, Seth.” Grief whipped at his heart. If Seth told her the truth, she would never forgive him. Never call him dad.
Seth sighed deeply. “I won’t tell her.”
“We’ll have to be careful,” Aaron warned him. “We’ll have to watch things first. Let your boys check it out good. Real good. Make sure she’s happy.”
Seth did glance at him then, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully.
“We can stay in that town.” Aaron gestured to the television report. “Let your boys check it out…”
“I can get the answers…”
“Please, Seth.” Aaron put everything he had into the plea. “I swear, I won’t do anything. Just let me be sure. Just this one time. Let me be sure, my way.”
Seth watched him closely. Aaron was more than aware of what his son saw. The old man, broken, wheelchair bound, slowly dying. And he was dying. He was paying for his sins in the worst possible way. A slow, painful death. Aaron knew it, and he wasn’t above using it. He wondered where Seth had found that wide streak of honor Aaron had cursed him for.
Seth wiped his hand over his face tiredly. “We’ll see, Aaron. We’ll see.”
He would weaken. Aaron sat back in his wheelchair, turning back to the report, his heart clenching. Pretty Veronica. His daughter. His sweet, perfect little girl. She would be home soon, he promised himself. Very, very soon.
Epilogue
Sherra watched Kane broodingly; unable to keep her eyes from him, unable to continue to deny what her body had been telling her for months. She was going into heat. She could feel the tiny fingers of need clawing at her flesh, demanding that she give in to the instinct to breed. Demanding that she go to the man who had made her his woman, his mate, over a decade before. God, had it really been that long? Over eleven years. Eleven long, torturous years she had suffered for that one night, for the fanatical plans of a brother who had been born as twisted and demented as his creators. Suffered for a man who had never loved her. Had never truly needed her. If he had done either, then perhaps, just perhaps, so many other things would not have happened. Sherra. Baby. Yes. Ah hell, yes baby, let me in…The remembered words were like a knife sinking into her soul. And yet the more she fought the memories, the more vivid they became. Kane Tyler. Tall, strong, his very presence had been enough to take her breath then, to fill her with a desire so strong it had nearly overwhelmed her. His touch had seared her senses, his kiss… She whimpered. She wouldn’t remember the kiss. Wouldn’t remember how her heart had clenched at the stroke of his tongue.
A shiver worked over her body as she jerked to her feet, forcing herself away from the window, away from the sight of Kane moving with confident, arrogant power across the yard. How much longer would Merinus hold her secret, she wondered as she pushed her fingers through the long fall of hair that fell forward over her face. How much longer before the sister informed the brother of the child he had lost all those years ago? The child that had been murdered while still in her womb?
Her hand moved to her abdomen, running over it with a ghost’s touch as her womb rippled in need. How often had she dreamed of what that child could have been? Dreamed of a precocious son with his father’s deep blue eyes, or a daughter with his long black hair. A child that would have been the best of both of them.
Sherra fought back her tears, fought back all the useless dreams, the hopes that had once filled her. Life
had taught her that there was no chance to redeem the past. No sense in regretting what could not be undone.