Mending the Beast (Awakening Pride #10) - Lacey Thorn Page 0,31

to toe the line, do what he was told and go where he was told.”

“And you?” Ariel asked.

Daniel shrugged, and there was so much hurt conveyed in that slight movement of his shoulders.

“Once he lost my mother, I was the disposable son. I didn’t matter. Eventually, I moved into town. Created a life away from him.”

Ariel noted Daniel’s words. When his father lost his mother. He didn’t mention how he’d felt to lose the mother he’d obviously loved and at such a young age. It made Ariel wonder if anyone had been there for Daniel?

“How old were you when you lost her?”

“Four. Gabriel was seven. We stayed in the house for three days, waiting on our father to come home.”

“By yourselves?” Ariel took a step toward him then stopped herself. She had no clue how to offer comfort to another person.

“Gabriel called Adrian’s house. His father and uncles came over and kept watch over us until Dad got home. There was a letter…” He stopped, sighing heavily, before pacing back and forth. “They left it pinned to her body after…” He stopped, visibly swallowing several times before continuing. “My father read it, burned it, and never spoke of it again.”

Ariel had never met Adrian, but she knew who he was. A coyote shifter who’d been friends with Daniel and Gabriel since they were young boys. She was glad Adrian and his family had been there for Daniel and Gabriel. For three days. Watching over the body of their mother while their father had been absent. She’d thought she couldn’t hate Isaac Erikson more than she already did. She’d been wrong.

“He hit you. When he found out Gabriel had signed over the land to Tah and the pride. Your dad hit you, and you didn’t do anything.” That had always bothered her. Why would Daniel let his father hit him?

“He’d been filled with hate since Mom’s death. It would have been so easy to meet that hate with hate, anger with anger.” He paused, turning to face her full on. And his eyes… God, they were magnificent. “But there was a time when he was more than anger and hate. Mom made him take us on a picnic once. Dad hated the idea and groused the whole time. But he went. Mom sent Gabriel and me off to play. My brother went to hide, and I was supposed to hide. Then I heard my father laugh. It shocked me. So I hid and watched them. The way he looked at her was as if she hung the moon. I’ve held onto that one memory my whole life. And I’ve always reminded myself of what he lost that day.”

“What about you? He had a responsibility to his kids, Daniel.”

He smiled, and she didn’t want to know what he was thinking because it felt as if he were thinking of her as a mother. She couldn’t go there.

“I don’t want to be him.” He shuddered, and she found she’d taken another step closer to him before she stopped herself. “He hated. After he lost her, I think that’s all he did. He fired Gabriel and me up, and it would have been so easy to go down that road with him. To let it consume me. That’s not who I am. It’s not who I want to be. I lost that again for a bit, but not anymore. I’m done running. I can’t change the past, but I can build a future. With you.”

She immediately started shaking her head.

“Shh,” he crooned. “I’m not asking you for anything other than a chance. Right now, I’m just a man, standing in front of the woman he really likes, asking for a chance to start again.”

“Start again?”

He stepped forward then, holding out his hand to her. “Hi. I’m Daniel.”

“What…” It clicked in her head what he was trying to do. To replace that original meeting with a different one. She took a deep breath and stared at his hand for a long moment before looking up to meet his eyes. “I’m Ariel.”

“So what’s a woman like you doing in a seedy place like this?” He wiggled his brows, and she found herself laughing. He reached gingerly toward her face and slowly brushed some of her hair behind her ear. “I like your laugh, Ariel.”

She sobered quickly, completely aware that he’d yet to move his hand. Though he touched only her hair, she felt it all the way to her toes. God help her, she wanted to