The Ripple Effect

"We should have told you sooner... But your mother made us swear to secrecy. She wanted to forget all about that part of her life. When she found out she was pregnant with you, pregnant with a child who would be a full shifter—" Clarice sobbed once, but then she took in a shaky breath. My heart broke for her. As if he could sense that, Orion wrapped his arms more tightly around me. I shrunk closer to him, not that the small hospital bed allowed much movement. "Her pack... They were killed in an ambush. Nate and I had left years before because the place was going into the ground, getting into fights with every neighbouring territory.

"So when we received word that the pack was destroyed in one night, burnt to the ground... We assumed the worst. Our daughter—our only child—was gone. But she showed up one night. I remember it was a particularly dreadful night, storming and dark. She was dripping wet, but rain wasn't what made her eyes so red and puffy. My daughter was all but dead..."

"Her mate had caught wind of the attack and took off with her," Nate interrupted, pulling Clarice into a hug. "But they were followed. He sacrificed himself to save her... He was a good man. He gave up his life so his mate could live." Nate smiled painfully to me. "So his unborn child could live."

"But you said that my mother and father died not too long ago."

"No... I said that Laura and her husband died. Brian's father," Clarice whimpered, unable to meet my gaze.

"I don't understand," I whispered, but I understood fully.

The man who raised me... He was just another man, the one my mother had married after losing her true love. Her mate. And her entire pack.

"Then why didn't she tell me? Why didn't she tell Brian?" A sick thought occurred. "Did... Did her husband even know?"

"She pretended it never happened," Nate murmured, shaking his head. "When you lose your mate, a part of you withers away. She pretended she was human, and she shut her wolf out so fully that it died. Laura suppressed any signs of shifter heritage in you, and she did the same with Brian. When Brian was two... She told us that we couldn't come around anymore—because she was afraid that all of the secrets would come out. We only obeyed her wish because she had already suffered so much..."

"If she hadn't cut her wolf out of her life, she would still be alive," Clarice sobbed, clutching her husband—mate?—closer. "No werewolf ever dies in a car crash!"

"And I guess that no werewolf ever dies of a bullet to the chest either," I whispered, slamming my eyes shut. My sympathy was lacking... Regina didn't seem to like allowing me to wallow.

My wolf was a bit of a bitch.

I heard that, Sophie. Say what you will, I am the Alpha female, after all.

I pushed her away and smiled painfully to my grandmother.

"Nan, I really need to talk to Orion. My head is swimming. Would you mind—?"

"We'll go sit with the boys and Orion's parents," Nate offered quietly.

They slipped out of the room without another word, and I turned slowly to face my...

My mate.

"Sophie, I know I can't make up for any of the—"

"Stuff it," I muttered, shaking my head. "I just learned that not only did my parents die, but also that my father wasn't really my father—and my actual father was dead before I was even born." I laughed sourly. "I guess this explains why I want a family so badly! Orion, I'm not sad. Why am I not sad? My mother and father are dead. And my father—the man who raised me—was just a stand-in figurehead. But I'm not sad. Rein will never know his grandparents, but I'm not sad!"

"It's a lot to digest."

"No, that's not it. I want to be sad. But Regina won't let me! This bitch is manipulating me every second of every day!"

I could see why my mother killed her wolf.

Watch it, human.

"It'll stop once you come to a mutual understanding. You just have to find common ground with her. Rex and I still don't see eye-to-eye occasionally."

I played absently with the unnecessary, fraying bandage wrapped around my chest.

"Sorry," he apologised quietly. "We just need to keep up appearances. We'll sneak out tonight."

"Orion."

"Yes, my love?"

"Rex insists he is an Alpha. And Regina keeps barking orders at me like some queen."

Orion frowned. "The house is large for a reason, Sophie. It's the pack house, where important meetings are held and where the pack can come to find me. I said I have a weird job."

"And my mother had a mate. Like I do."

His arms tightened around me, but I fought to keep a clear head. Damn these sparks!

"How long have you known?"

"I mean, when you stepped out of the car... I prayed that you would be mine. But you backed away, like you were scared; so I decided I was seeing what I wanted to see, because I wanted my mate so desperately." His lips brushed across my cheek, and my skin was lit on fire. "But then I caught your wrist in the hall, and there was this tiny glint in your eye—the smallest recognition of me." A faint red filled his cheeks. "I fell in love with you there. But you were human, so every step forward with you was so painfully small. That pace all but killed me."

A stupid grin lit up his face.

"What?" I grumbled, raising an eyebrow at him.

"But then you kissed me."

I groaned. Loudly.

He sobered. "Sophie, I can tell you what it is that you keep asking me about."

"What's that?"

His let his teeth graze ever so slightly over my neck, and the jolt grabbed hold of my entire body. My hands flung out and grabbed his face greedily while my legs curled around him.

"Don't move," I growled, aware that Regina was in my voice as well.

He chuckled against my skin and ignored me completely.

"You want the bond, Sophie."

"What the hell does that even mean?"

"You want my mark. And I want yours. But I thought it wouldn't even be possible..." His body suddenly shuddered, and I gasped in disorientation when the world spun. When I reopened my eyes, Orion was hovering over me. "We're sneaking out tonight, Sophie. And do you want to know what we're going to do?"

"What?" I breathed, splaying my fingers delicately over his chest.

"I'm going to send the boys to my mother's for the night." His eyes caught mine and refused to release me. "And I'm going to mark you. I'm going to bond you to me. Forever."