CALIFF
“What’s wrong? I can feel your sudden anxiousness.”
Shadow was edgy. I felt it through our bond. When she turned around, she was holding the pendant of her necklace. The last time I saw it, it was blue, and now it changed to a liquid red.
“Are you okay?” I asked again when she hadn’t responded to me. Her eyes were wide, somewhat shocked.
“Um, yeah. You were calling me?”
“Yeah. I want you to meet my dad.”
“Oh.” She blushed. Her hand on her heart. “Of course, I can’t wait.” She hadn’t seen my father in a wheelchair behind me. Since Dad had been sick, I’d done everything- met doctors and healers to ask their opinion of his case, but all they could say in the end was he was dying. I talked to a witch I knew, but she couldn’t do anything either.
I moved to my side to introduce my father. “Dad, I want you to meet my-”
Her gaze ascended to my father, and her eyes grew wider as she stepped back. “Oh, Goddess.” Her face was ashen as she stared at my father in shock. “He’s your father.”
“Yeah. Wylon. Dad, my mate, Shadow.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Shadow. Forgive me for being fashionably late.” Dad extended his hand for a handshake, but Shadow was rooted to her place, staring at him. From being shocked, something seared inside her. Her eyes began glowing.
“Shadow, calm down.” My gut tightened as I stepped closer to her and held her arms. Deep inside me, I didn’t want to think the unthinkable. “What’s going on? That’s my father. He came all the way here to attend our celebration.”
“He’s your father.” She met my gaze. Her glowing eyes drilled right into me in a pure challenge. I could feel her deep anger, still boiling in effusive eruption. “He. Killed. My. Parents.”
My body stiffened at her accusations. I released a short laugh. “No, no, no. You got it wrong, baby. Calm down. Please? I can feel your rage. Don’t make a scene. This is our party. Let’s talk about it in the office. Come.” I held her arm, but she yanked it off from my grip.
“Ask him. Ask your father,” she said crisply. “It happened June 18, thirteen years ago, when he slaughtered my entire pack. He wouldn’t have just forgotten it because I haven’t. It’s still raw to me.” She raised her voice and already caught everyone’s attention, including my mother.
“What’s going on?” Mom came beside my father.
“Your husband killed my entire pack, including my parents. Do you know that?” She glared down at my father.
“My father is not capable of doing that, Shadow. You can’t accuse an Elder without proof.”
“Am I not enough proof? I survived to tell the story of what happened that night.” Her face flashed in anger as she faced my father. “Your scar on the right side of your cheek. I saw it when you shifted to human form after you killed my father as he watched his mate with her chest hollow. Do you remember how did you do it? You ripped her heart out of her chest. You ripped my father’s spine from his back. An eight-year-old orphan had already suffered enough from the loss of my pack, my parents, our Alpha, and Luna, and I saw all it happened with my own two eyes. All these years of nightmares, it was all your doings.” She stepped forward as she leaned down, facing my stunned father.
“That is enough, Shadow. You’re crossing the line. He would never slaughter a pack unless we were threatened or attacked.” My patience was wearing thin, and the situation became unnerving.
She pushed out a sarcastic grin. “Crossing the line? How about if I kill your parents in front of you without remorse? Isn’t that crossing the line too?”
“You are a Luna. Watch your words when you talk to me. And you are threatening your elders.”
“I’ve been waiting for this moment to look at him in the eye as I rip his spine out from his back the way he did to my father.” She growled at my father. I could feel her hybrid form coming out. Her hands remained fists on her sides.
“Enough!” I barked out. My anger boiled. She was my mate and Luna, but everyone watched while she threatened my parents in front of my pack. Where would that leave me? A weak Alpha who couldn’t control his Luna, “I won’t tolerate this kind of behavior.”
“Why don’t you ask him? If he admits? What would be his punishment, Alpha?” She sneered mockingly as she turned to my father. “Tell your son. If you were such a good Alpha, and how your pack looked up to you because I couldn’t wait to see you before the elders.”
“Dad, is it true?” I asked my dad when he hadn’t said a word as we were surrounded by my enforcers in case Shadow got out of control.
“Waylon, is this true? Why I didn’t know about this?” My mother looked down at my father. Her voice was calm, but I knew she was embarrassed.
When my father looked down and pressed his lips together as he nodded, I shut my eyes briefly as my heart bled for the truth. I felt shame in front of my pack that I wasn’t aware of this slaughter. I was old enough to know the truth, older than Shadow, to understand what it would feel like to lose an entire pack.
“Yes. I did it.” The moment he admitted it, my father wasn’t on the chair anymore. Everyone gasped and yelped. A thud followed as Shadow threw my father against the wall, falling on the floor like a lifeless human.
“Shadow!” One time, she was standing next to me. The next, she was hanging my father through his shirt, pressed against the wall.
“Alpha.” Lyon was in alert mode.
“I got this.”
I rushed in her direction, raising my hand to talk to her. “Put her down, Luna. Listen to me as your mate and your Alpha. Take control of your actions and your wolf.”
“Stay out of this!” She snapped her head at me. Her eyes glowed silver as she snarled.
“I can’t do that, Shadow, and this is not who you are.”
“Then you don’t know who I am.”