by E. M. Leya
Tavish's hand was on my thigh, giving me support. "My brother had met Mark while I was still on tour. They happened to be hanging out at the house when I came home. Our attraction was almost instant. It didn't take long for it to evolve into something more."
My cheeks heated at how instant the attraction really was. The guy had walked in on me naked, begging to be fucked. "Since we started dating, things have been good. I've been able to focus on getting my life back in order and able to put much of the past behind me. At least until you got hold of me."
"We had no idea you'd run away. Your father contacted your mother's lawyer, claiming you'd died on the streets. When he didn't have any proof, the lawyer contacted us to find out if we knew anything. It was then we hired Martin to find you. We were pretty sure your father was just out for the money. He refused to tell us when or why you'd left. Just that you'd been gone for years." John covered his wife's hand with his own.
I nodded, unsure what more to say. Not wanting to give them information freely. I wanted them to have to ask the hard questions.
"Why did you run away?" Susan's voice was nearly a whisper.
I stared into her eyes, trying to stay strong. "Because I was tired of being beaten all the time. I was afraid he was going to kill me."
Tears filled Susan's eyes and a sob escaped her as her hand covered her mouth.
John cursed, then took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry we weren't there to help you."
I focused on Tavish's hand on my thigh, drawing strength from him. "Why did you quit seeing me? Why didn't you fight for visitation?"
The smell of regret coming from my grandparents couldn't be faked. If I wasn't a wolf, I might have questioned their sincerity, but I could smell they were really upset by whatever choices they'd made in the past.
"After your mother died, we tried to come around, but your father would do everything he could to keep us from seeing you. He'd make sure he wasn't home when we said we'd come by or he'd send you off with a babysitter so you weren't there when we showed up. He made it clear that he didn't want us to influence you in any way and tell you what he called lies about your mother." John shook his head. "Let me start from the beginning. This goes back even farther than your mother's death. From the moment your parents eloped and came back married, your father has hated us. He did everything he could to keep your mom from seeing us. She'd sneak away to come visit or arrange to meet us places while he was at work. It was clear to us that your father was abusive as far as needing to control your mother's life, but at the time, we never saw any signs of any physical abuse. Your mother was in love and blinded by that love. Your father could do no wrong in her eyes. He was stern and set in his ways and she took that in stride, acting as if it was normal for a husband to be that way. He forced her to give up her friends, and in time, kept her secluded in the house as often as he could." John sighed. "We begged her to leave him."
"Then she got pregnant with you, and for a while, your father seemed to calm down a bit. He let me come over, we helped get the nursery ready, and I stood by the bedside the day you were born." Susan smiled as if remembering. "We'd hoped that things had changed for the better. That parenthood was just what your father needed. We were so wrong."
John nodded. "It didn't take long after you were born for your father to blame your mother for your crying. He said she gave all her attention to you and didn't bother to take care of him. Your mother struggled, but she refused to leave him. She believed that when you made your vows in a marriage, they were forever, and no amount of begging would get her to leave him. We tried. It was just after your second birthday that she announced she was pregnant again. Honestly, we were shocked. After the way your father treated you, we couldn't see how she could bring another baby into the family."
I took a deep breath at the confirmation that my mother had been pregnant when she died. I'd assumed it was true from what I'd overheard my father say, but this was verification. "I guess Dad wasn't happy?"
"That's putting it lightly. He was livid. They fought like crazy. Nothing was ever said, but I think he tried to get her to end the pregnancy. He claimed it was about money, but that never made sense since they had a joint account and your mother went into the marriage with quite a lot of money. I think he just wanted all of her attention, and children kept her from giving him all her focus." Susan sighed. "She was four months pregnant when she died. He called to tell us she'd fallen down the stairs and died instantly."
I swallowed hard before asking, "did you have the death investigated?"
John narrowed his eyes. "Why would you ask that?"
I glanced at Tavish, who gave a nod, then looked back at my grandfather. "I never believed it was an accident. The way he told the story didn't feel right. He seemed happy about her falling. He got a smirk on his face that made me think there was more to the story. He never showed any sorrow or pain about losing her. He seemed pleased to brag about how she died, and he'd stress parts of it as if he was making sure I'd repeat those parts if anyone ever asked me."
"What parts?" John asked cautiously.
"The part about her heel catching on the wooden step."
Susan and John exchanged looks.
"What is it?" Tavish asked.
"That's the part we didn't accept either. See, your mother had a foot injury playing soccer when she was a teenager. It always bothered her after that. She couldn't wear high heels. She was always in flats. I wasn't even aware your mother owned a pair of heels, but the police report showed that when they arrived, she'd been wearing them. Or at least one of them. The other had supposedly come off when she fell." Susan's hand tightened against her husband's. "We asked the police to look into it. Told them what we believed, but there was no evidence to prove it was anything more than an accident. I've always believed it was your father's way of getting rid of the baby. He might not have hoped to kill her, but I do believe he hoped he would end the pregnancy."
I closed my eyes, ducking my head. Hating the man who was my father more than I ever had before.
Tavish wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me against his chest.
"After that, we fought for custody of you, but without evidence that your father was abusive, the courts would only give us visitation. We got to see you one weekend a month. This went on for several months, but it was clear you were scared of us. I don't know how your father convinced you at such a young age that we were someone to fear, but he did. You'd scream and cry when I'd come to pick you up. You'd cower away from me and scream for your father. We went back to the courts, trying again for custody, but it was pointless. From the outside, your father looked like the perfect parent. We had no evidence that he did anything wrong. We finally gave up trying to see you because your fear of us grew stronger. We worried we were doing more damage than good coming around." Susan openly cried, the scent of her pain filling the room.
Tears burned my own eyes, and my wolf paced in my mind, angry and ready to fight. I took a deep breath, hating everything I was hearing, but still needing to ask questions. "What about as I got older?"
"I saw you when you were five, but it was the same thing. We came up to you as you played in the yard, and you ran inside screaming. After that, I admit we just gave up. We worried about you, and we talked about trying to find a way to see you, but in the end, we just gave up. I'm sorry about that. It's a regret that we'll never let go of. It was the wrong choice, and I'm so sorry that you suffered because of our weakness." John wiped moisture from his own eyes. "If I could go back, I would have never stopped fighting to see you."
I wasn't sure what to feel. The excuse was honest, but it was only an excuse. They'd given up trying. It made me feel as if I didn't matter enough to them to keep fighting, but then I knew my dad, and I was sure he didn't make it easy on them. He was the type of man who would make them out to be the bad guys. He would put on his best face for the courts and do all he could to make them look like they were the issue. He'd also brainwash me without a sec
ond thought into believing they couldn't be trusted.
"I'm so sorry, Mark. We should have been there for you. We should have done more to get you away from him." Susan sniffed. "Was it bad?"
I shrugged. "I was alone most of the time. I'm not even sure how young I was when he started leaving me home alone. He'd lock me in the house, sometimes in my room. I thought that was what it was like for every kid. He'd let me go to school, but then once I was home, he'd leave. I seldom saw him. He didn't get violent until I was in my teens, then the beatings just got worse. I wouldn't have to do anything to upset him. Sometimes he would just scream at me for ruining his life. He blamed me for making my mother die, and for a long time, before I'd heard how she died, I wondered if I'd done something to kill her. When I was sixteen, he nearly killed me. I was beaten so badly I could hardly move. It was after that, once I healed, that I left home. I hadn't planned on ever looking back after that."
Tavish brushed a strand of hair from my face and kissed my cheek.
I leaned into his touch. "I doubt he bothered to look for me. He was probably glad I was gone."
John nodded. "There wasn't even a report of you running away."
"I'm not surprised."
"As soon as we found out, we confronted him. He told us you'd taken off and gotten yourself killed living on the streets. We followed up on that, and there was no record of your body being found. There was no sign of you at all. There was a police report from Casper but it was nothing more than your name being ran and a note about underage drinking and a warning. That was the only lead we had on you," John explained.
"Does my father know you found me?"
John shrugged. "We never told him, but we did contact the attorney who is handling your trust to let him know you were very much alive. He's hoping to see you while you’re here to settle the trust. I have his number for you when you're ready for it, but I think you also have it in the file Martin left you."
"Mr. Transbony left me the information," I confirmed.
"He's my brother, your great uncle. We didn't have him tell you at the time. We thought it might be too much for you to deal with, but he was relieved to find you and see that you are doing well." Susan smiled. "He'd like to visit while you're here if you wouldn't mind."
"I'm not sure." I was still trying to digest everything. "We'll see how long we are here."
"I am so sorry we let you down, Mark. We'd hoped with us out of the picture that your father would give you a good life. We should have known better. We should have checked on you. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us at some point."
I nodded but didn't answer. I wasn't sure if I could forgive.
Tavish gripped my shoulder. "I think we're going to head outside and get some fresh air for a bit. You'll excuse us?"
"Of course. Take your time. Dinner is at five if you're hungry." Susan stood. She looked devastated as she stared at us. I sensed she wanted to say more but kept her mouth shut. Enough had been brought out into the open for now.
I followed Tavish outside, thankful for the crisp mountain air that seemed to calm my wolf. I took several deep breaths before I felt as if I was in control of my emotions.
"That was a lot to take in." Tavish linked his fingers with mine as we walked around the backyard of the house.
"Yeah, I'm not sure what to feel." I stared up at the sky, taking in the tall trees that surrounded the yard. "I want to shift, run, and just forget about all this. Life would be so easy to live as a wolf."
Tavish laughed. "It would, but I'd miss our conversations and a lot of the things we do together as humans that we can't do as wolves."
My mind went to blowjobs, which was stupid since now was hardly the time to think about sex. "I can still lick your cock in wolf form."
"True, but you can't suck it." Tavish gave me a sultry grin.
I smiled. "True." We walked along in silence a bit longer. "I come from one fucked up family, don't I?"
"Your father is fucked up, that's for sure. As for your grandparents. I can understand where they're coming from. It might not have been right to walk away from you, but I can understand the reasons they did it. In a messed-up way, they thought they were making things easier on you, but they should have followed up."
"Do I forgive them?"
"I can't answer that. It has to come from you. Can you forgive them?"
Could I? I wasn't sure. It would be easy to turn my back on them just as they had me. I could go away with Tavish and leave my old life behind. I was a wolf now. I didn't need my old life anymore. But even as I thought it, I yearned for a past, for a family, for some history to hold on to. "I want to know more about my mom, even my uncle. I'd like to know where I come from, at least on my mother's side."
"Then we'll stick around and let you talk to them more. It doesn't mean you have to keep in touch after we leave if you don't want to. Learn what you need to know, then decide." Tavish turned me to face him. "I'm proud of how strong you are."
I smiled. "It's because I have you with me. I couldn't do this alone."
"Sure you could, but I'm glad I'm here." He hugged me tightly.
As he held me silently in the yard with the wind blowing over us, I relaxed, allowing myself to let go of the pain of my past and fully focus on the future. Tonight, I'd sit down and get the answers I wanted. Learn who I was. I wasn't sure how long I'd stay, but I wasn't going to wallow in the past. This was my first step to moving forward, and with Tavish by my side, it was going to be a bright future that would make it easy to leave the past behind.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Tavish
It was a long week, but I'd seen the changes in Mark as the days went by. He was calmer, happier, and seemed to let down the wall he'd constructed around himself a bit. It made our relationship flow even smoother because it was like the distrust he had in the world was fading and he wasn't so worried about being hurt any longer. I hoped that meant that we could soon move forward with our relationship and complete the ceremony.
A little of the tension had come back as we sat in the lawyer's office, going over the trust fund that had been left for Mark. It was clear he hadn't digested the fact that he was inheriting a million dollars or maybe the money really didn't mean that much to him now. I couldn't be sure, but he hadn't reacted at all when the issue of receiving the money was discussed.
Money was hardly an issue for the two of us. I had more than enough, but if Mark would let me, I'd help him invest his money and hopefully make him even more. As a wolf, I was already in the mindset that everything was shared between us, but I was very aware, that in Mark's mind, it mattered to him that he'd come to me with nothing. I hoped this helped ease his mind and put us on more even ground until he settled into a more wolf way of thinking about things.
I had to remind myself often that he was newly turned and still held on to a lot of his human ways and thinking.
"This shouldn't take long at all. Once I do the paperwork, it should be only a matter of a week or two before the money is yours." The attorney smiled at Mark. "Do you have your own attorney that I am able to contact or shall I work through you?"
Mark glanced at me, his eyes wide.
"We have an attorney. I'll leave his information with you." I was happy to ask the pack attorney to handle everything. He was easy to get along with and being part of the pack, he had our best interest at heart. "We'll be traveling and might be hard to get hold of at times, but if you need us, just leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible." I was dreading the weeks of touring that were in front of us.
"Well then, it looks like everything is set. Do you have any questions?"
Mark shook his head, still looking a little overwhelmed. "No, thank you for all your help. I hope it hasn't been too much trouble for you with my father trying to cause problems."
"None at all. I've dealt with much worse than him." The lawyer stood and offered his hand.
Once we'd shaken hands and said our goodb
yes, I walked Mark outside. "How about a run?" My wolf was restless, and being surrounded by all the mountains, my wolf wanted out.
"Can we?" Mark's eyes brightened.
"Sure. I thought we'd head out about an hour from here. There are some fantastic trails that I'm sure we can cut off from. There's a ton of areas where we can run. We just have to be careful. If we had more time, I'd contact one of the local packs to see if we could get on their land, but I think we'll be okay with just a short run as long as we keep an eye out for humans." My wolf was already alert and ready to go.
"Yes, I'd love to." Mark stopped suddenly as we were almost to the car where George was waiting for us.
I turned to look and saw George standing outside the car, arguing with another man. By the color in George's cheeks and the expression on his face, he was pissed.
"My dad," Mark whispered.
Instantly, my wolf was on alert, begging me to let him free so he could kill the man who'd hurt our mate. I forced him back, while at the same time looking Mark over to make sure his own wolf wasn't about to break free. This would be tricky for a new wolf, and Mark had every reason to want to hurt the guy. "You keep your wolf back." My words were more forceful than I'd intended.
Mark nodded, swallowing hard. His hands fisted at his side, and I could smell his fear mixed in with anger.
Keeping hold of Mark's hand, I led us to the car, stopping several feet from it. "George, is there a problem?" From the tone of my voice, it was clear I knew there was.
"I'm sorry. I tried to get him to leave so Mark didn't have to deal with him." George looked worried.
"It's okay. We'll handle him." My eyes narrowed at the thin, older man who had beaten Mark. "Did you need something?"
"Who the fuck are you?" Mark's father waved a hand as if he could dismiss me. He then turned his attention to Mark. "So you really are alive. That's a shame. The world would be a better place if you weren't."
Mark growled softly and I tightened my hand in his, seriously worried he would lose control of his wolf.