by Sara Dailey
BORN OF LIES
A prequel to the Red Ridge Pack series
By Sara Dailey and Staci Weber
The world changed for Lillian Michaels the day Marcus chose her. Gorgeous, strong fierce…and soon he would be alpha of her werewolf pack. But then the marriage was set. No choice. No looking back. Except, she did. Lillian started looking forward, too, and wondering if eighteen was too young to give away her life.
Certainly, it is tonight. A rock concert. She and her friend, intoxicating music, sweat, bodies, freedom…and him: Paul. The human bassist’s touch makes her soul sing like the strings of his axe, and everything is possible. Yet, Lillian’s parents, her secrets, her entire world lies elsewhere. Paul doesn’t even see what she is, what she can do. What she must do. This to-die-for human is not of her kind. And yet, something special, something terrifyingly perfect, something eternally true has been…
BORN OF LIES
A prequel to the Red Ridge Pack series
By Sara Dailey and Staci Weber
www.BOROUGHSPUBLISHINGGROUP.com
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Boroughs Publishing Group does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites, blogs or critiques or their content.
BORN OF LIES
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © Sara Dailey and Staci Weber 2013
All rights reserved. Unless specifically noted, no part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Boroughs Publishing Group. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any other means without the permission of Boroughs Publishing Group is illegal and punishable by law. Participation in the piracy of copyrighted materials violates the author’s rights.
ISBN: 978-1-938876-63-9
For St. Agnes Academy’s Class of 1994 and Sam Rayburn High School’s Class of 1998.
Thanks for the awesome memories.
Never lost shall I be, my love
For within you, I will forever dwell
Misery, mine eyes have touched
Until you
Crooked paths shall never lead me asunder
All roads lead to the shine of your gaze
The beat of your core
This moment, this breath, this place
’Tis all for you my darling, my great never-ending
For there is no darkness in which I cannot find you
You are my freedom.
—Jordan Mantell
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
Prologue
Christmas morning, 2012
This can’t be happening is stuck on a loop in my head as I stare at the man standing in my doorway. I ran away from Marcus Walker, the alpha of our pack, all those years ago to save myself. Paul and I came back to the pack to save our daughter Alli. Now, would our son be sacrificed because of the mistakes I made? The choices I made?
My mind can hardly wrap itself around the words coming from the mouth of the man I once thought I loved. Completely shocked, I tear my eyes away from Marcus and look at my oldest child Aiden, trying to gauge his reaction.
Marcus now knows Aiden is his biological son. His firstborn. Marcus’s other son Cade has been prepped for the role of alpha since birth, and Cade doesn’t plan on giving up the position without a fight.
Alli is mated to Cade. Now that Marcus has learned that the pack is in danger, he expects the two brothers to make a choice. Take a stand.
His voice is a deep, low rumble. “Fight it out if you have to, but I need one of you to step up.”
My motherly instincts demand that I slam the door in his smug face, but the wolf inside me doesn’t allow it. He may be a tyrant, but he is our alpha, and whether I like it or not, the father of my oldest child. None of this is up to Paul and me.
My past has finally caught up with me, and this time, there really is nothing I can do about it. Both my children will pay for the choices I made.
Chapter 1
May 1994
“Hey, Lily, hold up for a sec,” Tiffany yelled in her infamously brash tone, which never fails to catch the attention of everyone in a mile radius. A group of stoners immediately turned to look my way. In very Tiffany-fashion, she threw her hands up at them and said, “Mind your own business, losers.”
Trying to cover the embarrassment that goes hand-in-hand with Tiffany’s uncensored comments, I avoided eye contact with the onlookers and stood by the wall in the hallway to wait. Tiffany was apparently overseeing the purchase of her ticket to the Red Ridge High Class of 1994’s senior prom. Her date, Jason, handed the cashier a wad of bills, and after the tickets were in his hands, she kissed him on the cheek and said, “Later, baby.”
As she bounced my way, I tried my best not to appear jealous, but I was. I’d dreamed of my prom night since my freshman year, but since my boyfriend Marcus decided it was lame and refused to be seen there I knew it would remain just that. A dream. One that would never come true.
“‘Happily Ever After’… Can you say cheesy?” Tiffany announced to everyone within earshot. I just smiled, especially since I secretly thought it was the perfect theme. As we made our way toward first period, she asked, “So did you ever talk Marcus into taking you?”
“No. It’s fine though. It’s no big deal.” I tried to act indifferent, but I knew she’d see right through me.
Tiffany and I didn’t hang out much anymore, but we’d known each other our whole lives since we were both pack girls. We’d grown apart over the last year or so, but she still knew me better than most. She kind of had a wild streak, always hanging out with domestics and going to parties off the estate. Marcus didn’t approve of her “lifestyle.”
We sat down and class began. We were supposed to be discussing today’s current event when in the middle of a sentence Tiffany totally switched gears and said, “Just come to prom with me. I know you’ve always wanted to go. You used to go on and on about it.” At first I was shocked that she would even ask me, but then I figured she was just being nice since she knew that if Marcus wasn’t going there was no way I could go.
“Seriously, it’s just me, Jason, and a few others. They’re not pack, but who cares. Come on, ditch Mr. Perfect for once and come out with us. You’re going to regret it if you don’t,” she prodded again.
She was right. I would regret it, but Marcus would never allow me to go without him.
“It’s really sweet of you to ask, Tiff, but you know I can’t go without Marcus. But I’m going to talk to him again tonight about it. Maybe I can convince him,” I replied, but knew the chances of that were slim to none.
Thankfully, Tiffany dropped the subject. We went back to talking about how the FBI now considered Russian organized crime one of the greatest threats to the US just as the teacher passed by our desks to check on our progress. I was off the ho
ok…for now.
*****
I wanted to bring up prom on the way home from school, but I didn’t need to start another argument with Marcus. Lately, it seemed that all we did was argue, and the last time we did anything fun was a distant memory. I was so nervous about approaching the topic again that my knuckles were sore from repeatedly popping them. It was a stupid nervous habit, and one that Marcus was fully aware of.
“What’s going on, Lily?”
I turned slightly in my seat so I could gauge his reaction as he drove. “I really, really want to go to prom.” Immediately Marcus rolled his eyes and shot me a look that made me feel pathetic, but I wasn’t ready to give up just yet. “You always hear about people that don’t go, and then when they’re old they regret it. I don’t want to regret not going. Do you?” I asked.
“The difference is that those people are domestics, and from what I can tell, humans regret a lot of things. Anyway, I thought this was over, Lily. Prom is tomorrow for Christ’s sake. I don’t want to hang out with a bunch of domestics all night. It’s not natural. You know the risks involved with us just going to school with them.”
The topic was closed, so I turned back around in my seat and waited for the rest of the lecture that was sure to come.
“What if some stupid domestic starts something and one of us can’t control ourselves? Do you want the death of humans on your conscience? You are aware of what would happen if someone found out about us, aren’t you?”
That was Marcus’s go-to excuse for avoiding humans at all costs, but it was a load of crap. No eighteen-year-old guy, werewolf or not, was that freaking paranoid. The truth was he just didn’t want to associate with domestics, but of course I couldn’t call him on it and tell him that he was full of shit.
He must have known I was disappointed because he reached over, took my hand, and raised it to his lips. “Hey, let’s do something special tomorrow night instead. Just the two of us, okay?”
It wasn’t prom, but it was better than nothing. It would be fun, maybe. It had been so long since we’d gone on a real date. “Really, just me and you?”
“Yeah,” he said, smiling at me just like he used to. He really could be sweet when he wanted, and that smile never failed to convince me of just about anything.
“That sounds perfect,” I told him, and then leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. That kiss led to a few more, and before I knew it, Marcus had passed up my house and was driving straight to his. He must have known that his parents weren’t home, because as soon as we got out of the car, he was kissing me again. He barely had the front door open before he picked me up and carried me upstairs to his room. This was the Marcus I missed so much, the playful, intoxicating guy that I fell for two years ago. My Marcus.
We spent the rest of the evening wrapped in each other’s arms, and when it was time for me to go home, I didn’t want to. For the first time in a long while, I wanted to stay. Marcus walked me home, holding my hand the whole way, and right before we came into view of my front porch, Marcus tugged me behind a tree to kiss me once more.
“What time are you going to pick me up tomorrow?” I asked as we walked up the stairs to my porch.
“Be ready by seven,” he said, and started to walk away.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him to me. “I can’t wait,” I whispered in his ear, which made him smile. Then he kissed me quickly and headed back home.
*****
I could hardly contain my excitement all day as I prepared for my date with Marcus. I did all the typical girly things that girls do before a hot date. I searched my entire closet until I found the perfect outfit for whatever he had planned, took a long, hot shower, gave myself a mani-pedi, shaved and tweezed; the works. When six o’clock finally rolled around, I spent a good thirty minutes putting on just the right amount of makeup, and after I got dressed, I stood back and gave myself the once-over in the mirror before slipping the necklace with Marcus’s alpha ring hanging from it around my neck. By 6:55, I was ready and waiting.
At 7:15, I went back into my room and retouched my lip gloss. By the time the clock struck 7:30, the bad feeling I’d been ignoring since around 7:05 reared its ugly head, and by 7:45 I was officially pissed off. When the phone rang and I heard Marcus on the line, I knew exactly what he would say before he said it.
“Lily, I have to cancel tonight.”
“Is everything okay?” I tried to mask the anger and disappointment in my voice.
“Something just came up. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Why don’t you come by when you can?” I tried.
“Lily, I can’t. Don’t make this a big deal. I’ll see you tomorrow. I gotta go.”
Long after the line went dead, I stood in the kitchen with the phone in my hand. I couldn’t even begin to wrap my head around all the emotions coursing through me. I was so mad I wanted to hit him, but at the same time tears threatened to fall as rejection and hurt tried to take the top spot. In the end, helplessness won out. Somehow, I was just supposed to accept how he treated me. I couldn’t break up with him, and apparently he wasn’t going to break up with me or he would have by now.
Immensely glad my mother wasn’t here to witness it, I dragged myself to my room and took another shower, needing to wash away my perfect makeup and the sickening feeling of being trapped in a dysfunctional relationship. I threw on some old sweats and put Marcus’s ring away before curling up on my bed. It was only then that I allowed my tears to spill down my face.
Chapter 2
Once the tears began, there was no stopping them. I turned over in my bed and clinched my eyes shut in hopes of blocking out the pain, but instead my mind drifted back to a time when things were different between Marcus and me. It was a happy time, which only caused my already battered heart to ache more. The memory, though a bit faded, replayed through my mind, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t stop it from invading my brain.
It was almost two years ago when Marcus really noticed me. He’d been away most of the summer with his grandparents, and to celebrate his return his parents threw him an extravagant welcome-home party. The lodge was transformed into a breathtaking ballroom, and the entire pack eagerly awaited what was to be a black-tie affair. My mother bought me a beautiful, full-length, red dress that hugged my every curve, and I could hardly believe she would allow me to wear such a thing. But nobody told my mother no, so even though I felt completely self-conscious I put on the dress without question.
It wasn’t long after we arrived that Marcus, looking excruciatingly gorgeous, made his entrance. The pack gathered around to greet him as if he were royalty. Unable to control my reaction, I rolled my eyes. But when I returned my attention to the prince of Red Ridge, his eyes were locked on me with such intensity that it caused my breath to hitch in my throat.
Marcus made his way through the crowd, shaking hands and kissing cheeks along the way, and then he stopped directly in front of me. He leaned close to whisper in my ear. “Was that eye-roll meant for me, Lily? And here I’d hoped you’d be happy I was home.”
His breath tickled its way across my earlobe and neck, and then into my hair, forcing every nerve in my body to spring to life, and as his intoxicating scent washed over me, I involuntarily shivered. Immediately my cheeks flushed, and a wicked grin spread across his face.
“I enjoyed that reaction much better,” he teased, and then he walked away before I could respond.
Silently, I ordered myself to get a grip. I’d known Marcus all my life and shouldn’t come unraveled simply because he chose to acknowledge me for five seconds. But his attention didn’t last for only five seconds, and I was definitely coming unraveled…completely. Marcus kept his eyes trained on me throughout dinner, and I couldn’t help but ask myself, why me? He’d never paid much attention before, and I’d always kind of felt like an outsider, like I didn’t really fit in. Even though my father was the pack’s enforcer, my grandparents were elders, and I had plenty of friends…I don’t k
now. I couldn’t explain it. It wasn’t really them; it was me.
The flirty glances soon turned to intense stares, and when he made his way over to ask me to dance, I had a feeling nothing would ever be the same between us. As he pulled me into his arms for the first time, heat spread through my body like a wildfire. He wrapped his arm around my lower back, dragging me even closer, as his lips neared my ear once again.
“God, Lily. You’ve never looked more beautiful. You don’t know what you do to me in that dress.”
His body stiffened as his gaze dipped down to my cleavage, and I found myself wondering if he could see my heart pounding in my chest. When his eyes found mine again, I teased, “Glad you’re enjoying the view.”
His eyes darkened as they ran the length of my body and back up again. “Oh, I’m more than enjoying it. In fact…” He didn’t finish his thought. Instead, he led me off the dance floor and into the hallway. Barely out of view of the party, he pressed me up against the wall, and before my brain had time to register what was happening, his lips collided with mine. Hurried and full of need, we drank each other in, kissing until we were both out of breath.
With hooded eyes, Marcus ran his thumb down my cheek, and then he wrapped his hand behind my neck. “I want you, Lily. I want you to be mine.” Gently guiding my lips back to his, he sealed his confession with another passionate kiss, and I knew right then I belonged to Marcus Walker.
From that night on we were inseparable. Every available second of every day was filled with Marcus, and within a month, he had me in his bed and had officially claimed me as his own. I was more than happy to consent, as I’d never been able to deny him anything. We were the perfect couple, too, totally and utterly in love.
By the time we were both eighteen, his parents affirmed that I would make the perfect mate for their future alpha. Once the words were spoken I knew there was no turning back, not that I had any intention of doing so. Not at that point. In fact, I’d never been more thrilled. The night that Marcus offered me his alpha ring was the best moment of my life, as it officially marked the beginning of our life together. We would be together forever, and I would one day be the alpha’s wife.