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her own. It was hers.  And you didn t answer. And then I thought about you surrounded by the clan.
Visiting your grandfather in Grayslake is quite different from moving into town permanently. Her
father sighed.  I worry.
 The clan here is nice. That was a bit of a stretch considering her altercation with Griss, but
stretching the truth was allowed when talking to parents.  I met the Itan and a few other clan
members. I m fine.
A tense silence filled the conversation.  You met the Itan?
 Well, she cleared her throat and squirmed. There was nothing worse than being on her dad s
bad side. Human fathers were protective, but werebear parents were& whoa.  Ty needed help with
something so I came by and, um, I m staying for a day or two.
 The rest, Mia.
Silence descended, and she knew he d wait her out. Dang it.  I, uh, she cleared her throat.  I
met the clan s Itan. Ty.
 You re repeating yourself. You re on a first name basis with the Grayslake Itan? A mixture of
skepticism and disbelief tinged his words.
Yeah, she understood his feelings. Humans and non-shifting half-breeds quarter-breeds
weren t exactly welcome in most clans. It was part of the reason she d grown up in a human town
while her grandfather settled in Grayslake. She d been tolerated in small doses when she d visited
her grandpa, but moving in was a whole  nother ball of melon. Van may have smiled at her at when
he d arrested Griss, but his true colors shined through when she d arrived at the clan s den and gotten
hot and heavy with Ty.
 Yeah. She swallowed against the growing lump in her throat.  I m, uh, staying in the clan s
den for, um, a little while. The words were a mixture between a statement and a question.
 I see. Hold on a second, Mia.
Darn it. She d gone from little cub to Mia. That did not bode well for the rest of the
conversation. In a handful of seconds, the thud of a door closing came through the phone, and she
figured her father had retreated to his office.
 Mia?
 Yeah?
 Why don t you tell me a little more about what s happened. I talked to you after your boxes
were unloaded by the movers, and you didn t mention any of this.
She fidgeted.  It s sort of new.
 And what is  it? 
More fidgeting. Gah, she felt like she was five years old and about to confess to stealing
cookies.  Well& 
She couldn t lie. So, she told him about the cub and Griss and Ty and more of the cub and&
She definitely left out the tingly parts. Her father didn t need to know about those. Like, ever.
 I see.
Oh,  I see was bad.  I see was what she heard when she got caught by the lake with Bobby
Pearson when she was supposed to be at Amanda s studying. And that had been followed by him
grumbling about her mother not being alive to handle the girl-boy stuff and a father wasn t meant to
talk about that and&
Her father sighed.  Ah, little cub. I never shoulda let you go out there. You ve gotten mixed up
with that clan. Curse the old man to heck and back for giving you that place.
She smiled. Well, if he d moved on to growling about Grandpa, he couldn t be too pissed about
girl-boy stuff. Not that she d mentioned girl-boy stuff and Ty, but her dad had always had the ability to
read between the lines.
She imagined him sitting in his chair, leaning back in the comfortable seat, feet propped on an
ottoman and his humidor resting on the small end table at his side. She heard the distinctive clip of
him cutting off the end of a cigar and the familiar flick of his lighter flaring to life. In her mind, she
scented the sweet smoke and the way it brought comfort to her. If she were five, she d crawl into his
lap. Heck, even at her age now, she d gladly sit on his lap for comfort.
 Little cub&  His words were filled with hesitation.
 Daddy? Tendrils of worry snaked through her, pulling and tugging on her nerves.
 I don t, he sighed.  I don t know how to talk about this. The rough scratch of his hand
across his cheek reached her. She could practically see him running his palm along his head and then
down his face. Something he always did when he was upset.
 Dad& I don t& You re making me worry. Worry was an understatement. Her father said
something or he didn t. He wasn t one to waver and waffle. He never had been.
 I should come there. Tell you in person. A sigh came through.  Your mother was young when
she turned up pregnant with you.
Mia scrunched her nose at her father s wording, but it was the  old school that lived in him.  I
know.
 What no one has ever told you is& I m not your biological father.
The words washed through her, sliding into her brain, but she couldn t make sense of them. Of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]