Beaufort Creek Shifters (10 book series)
The Wolf’s Secret Twins Chapter 17

Slater

Fresh wood sat in a pile outside the entrance of the new Bravecrest school. Most people had gone home before the sun ever touched the trees, but I had lingered around with a couple of Philly cheesesteaks in a cooler, thinking about how I had practically destroyed my family over a woman who had kept my kids from me all these years.

Literally, for ten years, and five of those had been right under my damn nose.

I took a massive bite out of the cheesesteak. Part of me was totally psyched about having something delicious to eat that I didn't need to share, yet there was another part of me that was upset. Gertie had sent me a text saying she needed space. I understood that. But what I didn't understand was why the alphas had to drag her into my family BS.

I scrubbed my forehead. Because I put her there. That's why.

Irritation lingered where hunger should have been quelled. A few more bites were enough to satiate me, but I couldn't stop chewing, couldn't stop shoving food into my mouth to keep myself from facing the dark truth.

I was alone again. And it was technically my fault.

Instead of just stepping into my role as the father of those twins, I'd erected a wall. My parents did it all the time. Why couldn't I do the same thing? Virginia was the one who had made a mistake. She'd run me off by keeping the truth from me. So, by that logic, it wasn't my fault.

Anger turned the food in my mouth to ash. I spat out the bite I had taken and tucked the sandwich back into the cooler, feeling too hot to be eating anyway. Everyone was gone. I was by my lonesome with nobody to talk to and nothing to truly do. Other than some paint, the school was finished, thanks to Wendell and I fast-tracking through the building process with all of our late nights.

Now I had a week off with nothing to do but sulk. Without any projects to keep me occupied and no cars in need of repair, I was faced with my thoughts, with the darkness that would soon wash over me from the fact that my mate had betrayed me. Or maybe she never had been my mate.

Had I bitten a complete stranger?

I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead repeatedly. Footsteps echoed from the side of the building, sounding light and hesitant. I had to guess that was Gertie coming to her senses about the situation. But then again, she might be coming to chew my ear off just like my parents had done.

The only person who seemed sympathetic to my situation was Troy. But he couldn't do much when he was deferring to Blake about the mate decision. He'd admitted to me after the meeting that he wasn't used to the mate process, that things were a bit confusing for him and that he needed some grace.

Gravel crunched under the footsteps. Though they were still light, they grew louder with their approach, surprising me when they stopped several feet away from me.

I lifted my head only for my heart to drop into my stomach. "What are you doing here?"

Virginia chafed her arms. It was rare for me to see her wound up so tightly. The primal part of me, the wolf that desperately wanted to lunge forward, was eager to comfort her. But rage remained from her deception. Deceiver had been a word thrown in her direction in the past. For more free novels, visit Narugi.com

I could see why.

I turned away. "Never mind. You shouldn't be here. This is still an active building site."

"I came to tell you the truth about the twins."

I barked with laughter so bitter that I could taste how sour it felt slipping off my tongue. "You can't be serious. Don't you know that I know?"

"You know?"

Full-force anger took hold of my eyes as I glared at her. "Blake told me everything."

"Then he must have told you about Dirk."

"You mean the alpha of the Silent Pride? Yeah, he sure did tell me about Dirk," I snapped. "You were engaged to marry him, and then you ran off. That makes you a coward."

Her eyes blazed with fury. "If it makes me a coward to save my children from an abusive alpha, then so be it."

My chest seized. "...What did you just say?"

"So, Blake didn't tell you everything."

The irritated twitch of my right cheek became so violent that I had to massage the area before it became a huge problem. Abuse? That wasn't something that had been mentioned to me. "He told me you broke off the engagement and that he became belligerent." She scoffed. "That's one word for it." Her gaze dropped to the ground-and in the same instant, her anger snuffed out, replaced by sheer dread.

I hated seeing her like this. But when I stood up from the ground to approach her, she stepped back.

"Just...give me a minute," she whispered shakily. "This is a lot to remember, okay? It's just a lot." "Are you afraid of me?"

The look she gave me was full of pain. Hesitation framed her quivering lips. Fear echoed in the way she stood with her hands held up and her shoulders crunched in. She was shielding herself. From me.

Hurt like that couldn't be ignored, but I did my best to set it aside. This wasn't about me and my feelings. This was about the truth-every dirty, filthy inch of it.

"What did he do, Virginia?" I asked gently. "I'll listen. I promise."

Her hands dropped a couple of inches. She took a deep breath, held it, and then released it slowly, lowering her hands the rest of the way with her exhalation. Another shuddering breath propelled her toward me. It was just a small step, but it was a step, nonetheless. I counted it as a win.

"Dirk was..." She chuckled with disbelief. "He was a hothead. He didn't like to be told no."

She closed her eyes, the motion squeezing out tears I hadn't noticed in the low light from the single lamp hanging near the porch. My entire body ached to sweep her into my arms. We had gone from utter rage to sympathy in seconds-and that meant I needed to release it somehow.

I had to hug her. I had to touch her.

But I also had to respect her space.

I motioned for her to sit with me. She slowly shuffled to my right and sank to the ground with me, crossing her legs underneath her. "Anthony saw it once. My poor baby." Her voice cracked.

Instinct told me to extend my hand. She took it lightly, staring out into the wilderness beyond the school while letting me massage her knuckles.

"Dirk was awful to us. That's just putting it lightly. He didn't hit me much. He just grabbed me a lot, yelled at me, put me down." She shook her head slowly. "Gods, my parents were so disappointed when I broke it off. The only reason he gave us any shelter was because of my engagement to him."

"That's a shitty thing for an alpha to do."

She swallowed hard and nodded. "I did it for my family, for my kids-for our kids." She absentmindedly touched her stomach. "I mean, I knew they were yours. I knew it after we left. But I swear, Slater, it was only after we left the Frostcrown pack that I found out I was pregnant."

I nodded.

"There were so many times I wanted to contact you, but-" She hiccupped. "I knew you were angry. I knew your family was angry. It was a tough time for everybody."

"It was tough for you."

She shrugged and then swiped the tears from her face. "Yeah, well, I did what I had to do. I put up with Dirk's shit for five years, and when I got sick of it, I grabbed my babies and ditched. I got Fred to get us papers." "Fred?"

"Commonly known as F.E. to you."

Realization smacked me like an offended nun. "Oh shit."

"Yeah, he helped us out a lot. I still owe him some money and-" She blinked rapidly. "Shit on a stick, I owe him a favor too."

"A favor?"

She squeezed my hand. "He was going to get us papers again, but that's why I'm here. I don't want to run anymore, Slater. I don't want my kids to not know who you are to them, or to have to be on the road. Changing their names the first time was easy because they were small. But now?" "They're so aware of themselves now."

"I don't want to force them to do anything. But I saw-in town-I saw that-" She whimpered and scooted toward me. "I saw Dirk's hatchback near The Greasy Jester, and I got scared."

She fell into my arms and cried. A lifetime of pain spilled from her then, soaking up my jeans and ripping a few errant tears from me as well. Sweet gods, she was suffering silently. She had been suffering for years. I couldn't imagine how good it felt to finally just let everything out.

"And Blake kept your secret for you," I whispered as I stroked her hair. "He wanted to protect you."

"He told me to tell you when I was ready, but..."

I sighed. "You never were ready."

She shot up from my lap and wiped her face. "I'm ready now, Slater. I don't want to hide anymore. I don't want to run. I love you so much that it hurts."

Statements like that weren't to be taken lightly. I stroked her cheek while searching her eyes for her conviction-and what I saw was pure devotion. "Do you mean it?"

"I mean it."

"It's going to take a lot of work."

She smiled weakly. "I'll do as much work as I can. I don't want to lie to you ever again. It felt so gross to do it. I felt scared all the time."

"Were you ever afraid of me?"

She flinched-and that was when I knew the answer to the question without her saying a damn word. But I needed her to talk to me. I needed her to admit things out loud so we could talk about them.

Neither of us could afford to hide. "Take your time. But it's important, Ginny darling. I don't want to go around scaring you if we're going to try to work things out."

She lowered her gaze. "Back when we had our midnight picnic, you threw that wine bottle."

"Did you think I was going to hurt you?"

"Not logically." She squeezed her eyes shut and shivered. "But my body was scared. Like it was an old memory that cropped up, you know?"

I held her shoulder lightly. "I'll never do something like that again. I'm sorry, baby."

"It's not your fault."

"No, but that doesn't mean I get to act however I want around you. If something I do scares you, I want you to tell me so I can fix it."

More tears came, but these were happy tears. I swept a few away and then kissed her nose, adoring the way she giggled as a result. It was good to see her smile. It was good to have her near me. My heart didn't feel like it was dying inside my chest, and I could tell she was feeling much the same.

We were meant for each other. Couldn't our alphas understand that?

"You know, there was a point when I felt like the twins were mine," I whispered. "Guess that's a funny feeling now. I had plenty of funny feelings about you."

"Like what?"

I invited her under my wing. She leaned into me, resting with the kind of ease that translated as trust. It felt good to feel it. "You called me a guest in your house one day. I got offended." She snickered. "No way."

"Listen, we shouldn't make a big deal of it, but something in my spirit knew that you all were my family. I guess I was right."

"You were right."

I hugged her gently. "It's good to hear that, Ginny darling. It's good to feel you with me. I'm so sorry I sent you that stupid text message."

"I'm sorry I kept your kids from you for ten years."

"Things were complicated."

She sighed. "Are they still complicated?"

I chewed on that question for a moment. "In lots of ways, sure. But I think we can handle complicated. We've handled it before, right?" "We sure have."

"Then it's settled. We'll plead with our alphas to let us be mates."

She snuggled right into me, giving herself over to me completely, totally trusting me to hold her without causing her any harm. Love like that was hard to replace. It was a love that prevailed. "Thank you," she whispered. "I knew you'd understand."

"If you'd come to me sooner, we would have gotten mated sooner."

She pushed my chest playfully. "I didn't know how you'd react! And then every time I tried to tell you something, you always kissed me or bit me or got me turned on."

"Oh, so it's a problem that I turn you on?" I teased while stroking her arm. "I'll log that away to remember for later."

"No, wait, I didn't mean it like that."

Everything about touching her felt right to me. It didn't make sense that anybody would think it was wrong. If our pack could accept members who had once aligned with the Gilberts and Myrtles, then couldn't they end a ten-year resentment between two families? There had to be hope for it. Because I didn't want to live where hope didn't live. After spending a few more minutes cuddling, I stood up and helped Virginia to her feet. I tucked her wild hair behind her ear and smiled. "You go on home and rest. I'll start getting a good petition together."

"What about your parents?"

"What about them, Ginny darling?"

She frowned. "You've always been close with them. I don't want you to lose them too."

"If I lose them, it's because they've chosen to stay angry. That's not my vibe anymore."

"Thank you, Slater. Seriously."

I kissed her forehead. "No, thank you for coming to me and telling me the whole truth. It means you care."

I didn't want to part ways with the love of my life, but I knew I had to for just one more night. I was going to write an amazing proposal for the alphas pleading our case-and I was going to get a ring for the other proposal I was going to make too.