New Age Werewolf Series Book 1: Taming A She Wolf

Part 44: Tangled Webs We Weave

"It's making the most sense," I said. It all seemed to come together now. "How old are you, Ian?"

"Twenty-four," he said. "My mother is sixty."

"Thirty-six?" I did the math. "Wow, that's pretty late for an alpha couple." I saw tears form in Lara's eyes, and swallowed hard. "You two got together in your twenties, did you not?"

"Yes," Aaron's eyes were hardening. "I was...stop it, damn you!"

"My Zuri is twenty-seven," I said, frowning at them both. "You are sixty-five, are you not?"

"Yes."

"So..." I frowned at Aaron again. "Any...nights you can't account for?"

"My father--"

"Is a wolf like any other, and with an increased drive because of his alpha gene," I interjected. "And running late producing an heir? Aaron, you've got to come clean."

The silence was thick.

"You've met this witch, then?" Aaron asked his son.

"The daughter, yes," Ian swallowed hard. "And ever since I've met her, I've wanted to protect her, and we understand each other...oh, Goddess, Pop, what did you do?"

Lara burst into tears and ran out of the room, leaving Aaron standing before us with his head down.

"I am the Warrior," I told him, reading from the text. "I am a knight of the night, mate of the Wolf Stone's magic and light--"

"You are the witch's mate?"

"Yes."

"Dad?" Ian pleaded softly. "I need the truth now."

"Your mother was twenty and I was twenty-five when we got together," He admitted. "we tried for years to conceive but the Goddess didn't seem to allow it. We got into arguments about it, and your mother thought that maybe I was cheating. I wasn't, but we were fighting as if I had, so..."

Ian swallowed hard, and tears came to his eyes. "Oh, Dad."

"I met a female wolf named Zoe," he said, still unable to look at us. "She was a loner, a wolf without a pack, a rogue. Whenever your mother and I fought, I would take off into the wilderness, and find her. At first, we just ran and hunted together. I kept trying to get her to join my pack, because I sensed so much in her, but she refused every time. Then, one night, we were attacked by vampires. We were hugely outnumbered, and I thought that was it for us. But then she showed me her secret. She was a witch--a wolf witch--but her being an abomination saved us that night, and in the heat of the moment, the joy of victory in cheating death, and sharing such intimate secrets, we... we crossed the line." 

The silence was thick.

"So you just threw her away?" Ian looked hurt. He didn't care about Zuri being a witch. He cared about the fact that his sister had been alone for so long. He was so different from Jiro, and once again I felt great loyalty to this alpha.

"When we found out she was with child, I told her to move into the pack, and we'd just conceal her paternity, but again she said no." Aaron said. "What I didn't know was that Zoe was in love with me. I was in love with your mother, Ian. I just felt cast away when she thought I was cheating."

"So you cheated to prove her right?"

"Not my smartest move, but I was younger then."

"Mom knows."

"Yes, and so I gave Zoe a hundred fifty thousand dollars in cash to help her with things--"

"A one time payment?" I couldn't believe this. They say it costs at least a quarter of a million to raise a kid these days. I shook my head at him. "No wonder things got rough."

"Rough?" Aaron repeated, showing actual concern for Zuri for the first time since the conversation started. "I thought if she banked it, worked part time, she would do alright." He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Your mother didn't want a reminder of my infidelity around, and my father, who was still alive at the time, didn't want political problems, either."

"Always with the appearances, Pop," Ian shook his head. "How could you do that to her? Now I know why Zuri talked about vampires being after them."

Aaron's eyes widened. "Oh, Goddess." He took another deep breath. "We killed vampires in self defense that night. We might have killed someone important."

"And you threw her to them by abandoning her!" I charged, but Ian caught my arm. I growled.

"Stand down, Dar," Ian growled. "Stand down...please."

Aaron swallowed hard. "How is she?"

"Zoe died protecting her, and the vampires got her, experimented on and tortured her," I spat. "Then Jiro got her and did the same. Finally, we found each  other! Her body is scarred, but now she is doing better. No thanks to you, alpha." I said the title with malice instead of the respect he was probably used to. "No thanks to you!"

Aaron was quiet. "May I see her?"

I couldn't believe this guy! I didn't want him near my Zuri!

"I don't know, that's up to her." Ian answered. "Right now," Ian sighed heavily, looking at me. "Right now, I just want to go home. We'll pack the books and take them with us."