Torn From the Shadows (13 page)

Our once-strong Pack has been infiltrated by someone who doesn’t believe I should hold the title anymore, which puts everyone in danger.

I’ve enclosed a copy of my updated will. I’m sorry if this negatively impacts your freedom and the life you wish to lead, but there is no other choice. On the event of my untimely death, you, my son, are to become the Alpha.

Wilson Pack Leader, Hugo

My hands were shaking. Papan didn’t notice because he was ruffling through the other papers, frowning. I scanned the letter again, willing it to say something different.

“Did you read it?”
 

I jumped, dropping the piece of paper.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I think the letter did that already.”

He laughed, but it didn’t hold any real humor. “It’s pretty intense.”

“You didn’t expect him to do this?”

“No.” Papan leaned over to pluck the letter off the floor. He added it to the top of the pile still in his hand. “When I walked away, I told him I’d never come back.”

I didn’t want to pry, but if there was ever a time to ask him about his past, surely this was it. “Papan, what happened with your father?”

He sighed, placed the papers on the bedside table and repositioned himself so we were facing each other with our knees touching. “My father has been the alpha of the Wilson Pack for over forty years. He’s well respected, feared and even worshipped. He had two sons, but wolf law states the eldest automatically inherits the title. I was the eldest, expected to carry on the legacy. I lived most of my childhood knowing my fate and tried to do everything within my power to prove I was worthy. It cost me a real relationship with my brother, and I wasn’t there for my mother the night she was killed.”

I took his hand, running my fingertips over his callused skin.

He met my gaze. “When I was eighteen, my father introduced me to a girl. I didn’t think anything of it at the time because I was too busy making sure I was the strongest wolf in Sydney. I worked out like a crazy man, pushed my weight around whenever I got the chance, and proved myself stronger than anyone else in the pack.” He looked down at our joined hands. “The only thing I cared about was being worthy of the title he would one day grace me with.”

My heart pounded a little faster.

“The only thing I cared about back then was proving myself to him.”

“Sounds like a hard life,” I whispered. I wasn’t a stranger to childhood expectations and the problems that arose from them.

“Anyway…” He paused and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “The girl my father introduced me to was my brother’s girlfriend. They’d been together for years by then, but it didn’t matter. If my father chose Laura to become my mate, I was expected to accept it.”

“What happened?” Did I really want to know?

“Laura and I never got along. We grew up together but she hated me.” He snorted before adding, “She called me a selfish, cocky bastard and hated me with a passion. I didn’t like her much, either. I told Jeff many times that she wasn’t good enough for him, so when my father wanted to force me into a union with her, none of us welcomed it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I told my father I didn’t want her because she belonged to someone else, and that she wasn’t strong enough to become an alpha’s mate, but he wouldn’t listen. He went ahead and arranged our union ceremony. It broke my brother’s heart. He didn’t want me to marry the woman he loved, and I didn’t want her.” He paused for a second. “It wasn’t a good situation.”

“What happened?” I knew things hadn’t turned out well.

Papan took a couple of breaths before responding. “The night before the ceremony, Jeff and Laura were found dead in bushland behind the property. They were lying beside each other with powdered silver all around them. They killed themselves, preferred to die at the hand of silver than live apart.”

My heart broke for him.

“The next morning I walked out on my Pack, family, and everything I’d worked so hard for. I couldn’t stay. Hell, I couldn’t even look my father in the eye.” He exhaled, like he’d been holding his breath. “I blamed him for what happened, so when I left I never looked back.”

“Oh, Papan, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“What did you do?”

“I joined the police academy and worked on the force for several years. I was about to become a detective when I decided to walk away from that as well.” He looked me in the eye. “I’ve spent a lot of my life running. It wasn’t until I opened my own PI business that everything started falling into place. But the day I met the cute girl who moved into the office downstairs, that’s when I knew life could only get better.”

My heart skipped a beat and heat crept into my face.

I’m the girl downstairs.

The realization made me well up. I couldn’t concentrate on what he’d just said, so instead asked a different question. “Why didn’t you ever mention you were a cop?”

“Does it matter? Would it have made a difference?”

I shook my head. “Of course it wouldn’t. Though it might explain why that Shapiro guy dislikes you so much.” I placed a hand on his knee.

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know any of this.”

“None of it matters. I’m a different person now, one who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to take it. I didn’t think sharing the old me was relevant to us. But it looks like my father found a way to hook me back into his bullshit and affect the wonderful life I’m starting with you.”

“Well, it’s not exactly wonderful. After all, there’s always someone waiting in line to kill me.” Now wasn’t the time to mention the Alliance wanted me dead too.

“Everything about being with you is wonderful.” He inched closer, until our faces were very close. “You’re not the only one who attracts trouble. As soon as the Pack finds out what happened to my father and who he left in charge, it’ll bring some bad stuff to my doorstep.”

“Are you going to…honor his request?” The thought of Papan leaving to take charge of a werewolf pack made my heart break into a thousand tiny pieces.

“There’s no way in hell that I’m going to accept this.” He shook his head. “I’m not going to accept any of it—not the position, the responsibilities that come with it, or the properties and money he’s left me.”

“But it was his final request.”

“I don’t care. Accepting this will and testament means I have to leave everything I care about. And there’s no way I’m leaving you.” He cupped my chin and pressed his lips softly against mine. “I love you, and no one’s going to take you away from me. Do you understand that?”

Tears came to my eyes and I couldn’t help but let them fall. The fact he’d just found out something so personal and horrible and he was thinking about us made my chest constrict until all I could do was cry.

He rubbed my tears away with his thumbs. “Why are you crying?”

“I’m just… I love you so much it hurts.”

“There’s no need for it to hurt.”

I climbed onto his lap and kissed him harder. Our mouths moved at their own accord, soft and inviting. We stripped our clothes off and I took over the protection routine, slipping the condom on him. When he lay me down on the bed, my tears were still falling, but it didn’t ruin a single moment of our encounter.

With every slow thrust, kiss and release of breath, I thrived in knowing Papan would always offer happiness amongst the sadness and grief.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Ebony asked.

For the first time in forever, she’d driven to our monthly meeting with the elusive Burr Okell. We were walking down the dark and secluded road leading to the abandoned part of Serene Hills, but I wasn’t in the mood for much of anything at the moment.

“Sierra, what’s up?”

“Nothing, I’m fine.” Well, as fine as someone with several targets on her head and a boyfriend who’d just inherited his father’s assets and responsibilities. We’d spent the rest of the afternoon and evening together, trying to pretend everything was okay before Papan needed to start working on his latest investigation. I’d even had enough time to hang out with Willow and Freddy for a while before tucking them in for the night. Leaving her with the added protection of a loyal canine put me at ease.

“You look distracted,” Ebony said.

“There’s a lot to be distracted with.”

“Yeah, it’s awful about Papan’s father. How’s he taking it?”

“As well as someone who hasn’t seen his father for so many years,” I said, which meant with a sprinkle of guilt, some anger and a good dose of regret. “After Juliet, the timing’s so wrong.”

“I know.”

We stopped in front of the Notice of Development Proposal attached to the newly erected chain-link fence around the area we’d had no trouble accessing for years. I scanned the details on the printed sheet, which included a map. They were going to build several apartment blocks on this sizable site—one, two, even three-bedroom flats all packed together.

I wasn’t surprised to hear this was finally happening because the local municipal would reap the monetary benefits from whatever concrete city these developers planted on this ghost town. It had been an eyesore for years and they were finally going to knock down what was left of the old-style stores so they could build multi-story apartment blocks to house hundreds. The view from the motorway would improve and the council rates would benefit the local government greatly.

Personally, I hated that this was happening. Not just because we’d lose our monthly meeting spot and Ebony’s Church of the Goddess, but mostly because this place was full of otherworldly activity. One thing the developers probably hadn’t taken into account was that no matter what they built, the spooks and other things residing in this hotspot would remain—or return. In fact, building anything on this site might give them something new to do.

At the bottom of the page it said,
Legion Apartments Selling Soon
. My blood ran cold. This had to be some sort of freaky coincidence.

“We really are going to get a surge of work, aren’t we?”

I turned to glance at Ebony and nodded. I couldn’t shake the name.
It can’t be…
 

“C’mon, I’ll show you where we can get in.” Ebony grabbed my hand and led me around to the darker side of the street where the metal links had been cut in a messy vertical line.

“Did you do this?” I didn’t like being blocked off from Wallace Street.

“Nah, I found it like this the other day.”

“Wonder if it was someone trying to get in or out?”

“Beats me,” Ebony said with a shrug.

“What are you two doing?”

We both looked over our shoulders to find Lavie gawking at us. She toyed with the strap of her backpack, looking sheepish and a lot younger than she was. I hated to guess what could be inside her bag this time, but if she’d been demon-hunting it could be demonic limbs. It would soon be my turn to see how she did her job.

“Finding a way in,” I said.

“Oh good, it saves me the time of looking for one.”

“Glad we could help,” Ebony said with a smirk. She ducked between the uneven metal and I followed close behind, waiting for Lavie to do the same.

“It’s such a shame that they’re going to tear this place down.” Lavie looked around, staring at the construction site, which would soon become a huge monstrosity of boxy blocks.

“I know,” I said with a nod.

“Wonder where all the current residents will go,” she whispered beside me.

“Nowhere,” I said. “There’ll stay here and cause a whole bunch of mischief.”

“At least we’ll make some money out of it,” Ebony added.

“I don’t think that makes this any easier to bear.”

Lavie nodded. “Anyway, how are you guys after what happened last night?”

“Bummed about Juliet,” Ebony said, looking sad all over again.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“The poor girl,” Lavie added.

“Gee, girls, where’s the funeral?” Conrad Hicks—aka Vamp Boy—was approaching us. His boots crunched against the pavement as he stepped closer. He might be smiling and trying to shield himself with his usual cocky, smart-ass shield, but I could tell he was pretending. He hadn’t been that guy for months.

Ebony rolled her eyes, but Lavie and I just looked at him.

“Hi Ebony,” he said.

“Hi Conrad.”

“Is there something wrong?”

“We lost a friend last night,” she answered.

Conrad’s eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry. Ah, no wonder you all looked at me like I was nuts. Sorry. Uh, listen, do you have a sec? I wanted to ask you something.”

I grabbed a hold of Lavie’s hand and led her away from them. It killed me how awkward they were around each other, and I wished there was a magical way of fixing things between them. But not even couple’s counseling could help keep anyone’s relationship on track when one didn’t have a single memory left of the other.

“She still doesn’t remember him, huh?” Lavie whispered.