42

42
BRANDON
Alicia’s sister is the one who answers the door. Her face is a mask.
She must know that I know. Lonnie said she was part of the conversation he walked in on. And seeing how serious she looks is half the confirmation I need-she’s always been so excited to see me, so eager to push me and Alicia together. Now she looks like she wants me to leave.
“I need to see Alicia,” I say before she can speak.
I’m not going to participate in an assault, but I’m definitely not in the mood to be polite.
“I’ll talk to him,” Alicia says, appearing in the doorway.
I’m surprised. I thought she would be angry with me-I thought she was
angry with me-but she doesn’t look angry. She looks tired and sad.
Kayla glances over her shoulder. “Are you sure? You don’t have to. I can get him out of here.”
“I’m not leaving,” I say.
“Go into the bedroom, Kay,” Alicia says.
A meaningful look passes between them. Then Kayla nods slowly and turns away.
Alicia waits until she’s gone before addressing me. “What?” she asks. “Emmy.”
She closes her eyes. “I know. We need to talk.”
“I’m not sure we do. Lonnie told me everything. How you’ve been keeping her from me. Mocking me behind my back because I didn’t know she was mine.”
“I never mocked you.”
“That’s not what Lonnie told me.”
“Oh, yeah?” she says. “Would you like to hear what Lonnie told me?” That catches me off guard. “What?”
“He said you never cared about me. That you’re only spending time with me on his orders. That you’re just trying to make sure no one takes me as a mate while I’m home. You were lying about all of it. About wanting me as a mate. About loving me. All of it. Was that just a way to get back at me for rejecting you all those years ago?”
I hold up my hands defensively. “Hang on,” I say. My head is spinning. “Lonnie told you that I never cared about you?”
“That’s what he said.”
“But it isn’t true,” I say. I won’t equivocate on this point. “I love you, Alicia. It’s the truest thing I’ve ever felt.”
“Where did Lonnie come up with all that stuff?” I sigh. “He probably thinks it is true,” I admit. “What do you mean?”
“He did tell me to spend time with you. To make sure no one else got to you. He thought I would be a safe person to ask because you rejected me. He
thought there was no way I’d fall in love with you. But he was wrong. I did fall in love with you, Alicia.”
“Against your will?”
“No. No, I’m saying this all wrong.” I run my fingers through my hair, tug at my beard for a moment, then try again. “I only accepted Lonnie’s assignment so he wouldn’t give it to someone else. And because I wanted to hang out with you anyway. I didn’t need him to tell me to do that. But if he thought I was doing it on his orders, there was no harm in that. I let him think so.”
“Why?”
“He’s going to be the alpha. He holds power over both of us. This was a way of getting some control back over the situation.”
“So…” She struggles to process the new information. “So you weren’t playing me?”
“Of course I wasn’t playing you. I never could. I’m in love with you, Alicia. You must feel that.”
Her face softens. I think she does feel it. She didn’t want to believe Lonnie’s lies any more than I did. But, just like me, she couldn’t ignore all the evidence supporting them. They were good lies, even if they were cruel.
Kayla pokes her head out. “Sorry,” she whispers, and I see she’s got Emmy in her arms. “I’m going to just…take her out for a walk. She’s a little restless.”
I want to stop her, of course. I want to take Emmy from her and spend hours looking at her, verifying that what I think I’ve learned about her is true. I want to see my face mirrored in hers and know that she’s my daughter.
But I saw the way Alicia tensed up the moment Emmy came into the room, and I’m not going to do anything to make that tension worse.
Kayla’s out the door quickly, and I turn to Alicia. “Is she…was Lonnie lying to me?”
“She’s yours,” Alicia says softly. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was going to do it today, after you mentioned asking me to be your mate. I knew it was time. But you know what I told you about Deidre, about the things she said she would do if…”
“If you ever had a child with me.”
“That’s right. I had to keep her secret from Lonnie and Deidre.” “But you kept her from me.”
“From the pack,” she says. I didn’t want her growing up the way I did. Especially not now that Lonnie is coming to power. I need my daughter to have a better life than that.”
I have to tell her. I have to tell her what I can offer her.
“Can we go into your bedroom?” I ask. It’s empty now, after all. And I can’t risk Vern-or worse, Lonnie-interrupting the conversation we need to have now.
She leads me to the bedroom and I close the door behind us. She looks wary, but not as distressed as she did when I first arrived. She’s hearing me. She believes what I have to say.
And I find that it’s an incredible relief not to have to resent her or feel angry with her.
She wasn’t keeping Emmy from me. She just wanted her away from the pack. Away from the toxic elements in her own family.
But I can protect Emmy from those things.
“If you and I were mated,” I say, “I could become alpha. If that was something you wanted. If you’d feel better.”
She gapes at me.
“If you don’t want it, I don’t have to,” I say. “I don’t care about being alpha. I think you know that. But if you’d be willing to stay here-with Emmy-we could be a family. And we’d be safe. We could remove Lonnie from power. Is that something you’d want?”
I hold my breath and wait for her answer.