Claimed and Bred By The Wolf 2: Pack Initiation (Shapeshifter Erotic Romance) (9 page)

"Just tell me the truth. I'll find out one way or another on my own."

He rubbed his chin and eyes her, presumably deciding whether he was going to

divulge the information or not.

Adrianna sat patiently, holding his gaze.

"Well Adrianna. What would you say if I told you I was your father?"

Adrianna was struck speechless. There were a million questions she wanted to ask, questions she'd catalogued throughout the years, but none of them seemed to come to her mind. All she could manage to do was sit and stare at the man proclaiming to be her long lost father. Was it possible?

Max shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot waiting for her to respond. Say

something - anything. But she remained speechless. Where would she start? Why did you leave my mother and me? Where have you been all these years? Why are you here now?

So many questions...

"I was told there was none of us left," she managed to whisper.

Max walked across the room and sat across from her at the kitchen table. "They
think
we're extinct. That's far from the case Adrianna."

"Why are you telling me this? I assume that you've been watching me and know I'm with the wolves..."

Max shook his head. "You
were
with the wolves but not anymore. You may not realize this, but once you turned and they realized what you are, they lost interest. You're only a pawn for them now."

Adrianna shook her head. There was no way the wolves she grew up with, who had

protected her and her mother for so long would just turn their backs on her like that.

"It's true Adrianna." He reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze.

"Whether you believe it or not."

"No. No." She snatched her hand from his grasp and shook her head a little more viciously. "Ian wouldn't-"

Frowning, Max sat back in his chair. "No, I believe you're right about that. I believe Ian does have your best interests at heart and genuinely loves you. But, he's a wolf, part of a pack. And the pack comes first Adrianna. Always has and always will."

"No, he saved me from one of
your
kind." Anger began to override her shock. "Was it
you
! Was it
you
that tried to kill me. Supposedly your own daughter?"

"No Adrianna. Not a chance."

Adrianna's eyes flashed with her anger. The cougar within her awakening and

demanding to be unleashed. "Then where were you!" she growled, her tone taking on a hint of venom she didn't think possible. "Ian saved me, not you."

Max's eyes grew dark and his jaw clenched. "The cougar that you're speaking of has been dealt with."

"Who was it?"

"She was one of the pride that found out about my relationship with your mother.

She's why I left. I feared you or your mother would be hurt if I stayed. Mixing with humans is frowned upon. And the wolves were laying claim to the area and I don't even want to think about what they would have done with a baby cougar shifter."

Adrianna couldn't imagine the pack doing anything to harm her. They'd been her

surrogate family most of her life. Until this moment, for the past six months they were her only family. But she couldn't deny the fact their perceptions of her seem to be changing now that they knew what she was.

Adrianna's eyes filled with tears. She wished more than anything she could ask her mother about Max. Her mother had refused to talk about her father, simply claiming he left and not offering any more information than that, despite Adrianna's insistent nagging on the topic. As Adrianna grew older she gave up on asking, hoping one day she'd

discover the truth.

But was what Max was saying the truth? She still couldn't say for sure if he was her father. The only absolute she knew was that he was like her - a cougar shifter.

"Why should I believe you?"

Max chuckled, "You want a DNA test done?"

Adrianna smiled despite herself. "I don't know what to think. It's so much to process."

The sound of tires over gravel sounded outside and Adrianna turned her head to peer out the window to see Ian's jeep heading towards the house.

Shit and double shit!

"Don't worry. Tell him your car broke down and you came looking for help."

Adrianna raised her brow at him and rolled her eyes. "You don't know Ian. It's not possible to lie to him, even if I wanted to. Which I don't."

"If the wolves find out about me and the fact there are more of us nearby you'll never get to meet the rest of your family Adrianna."

The rest of my family?
Adrianna's gaze caught his and she could see the truth in his words. Father or not he was her ticket to her heritage, perhaps her one and only chance.

Adrianna swallowed down the lump forming in her throat as her gaze shifted back from Ian as he jumped from the Jeep and to the man claiming to be her father.

She nodded. "Alright. I won't say anything - for now."

"Good." Max reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze. "You'll have all the answers you seek soon. I promise."

*****

Looking up at Adrianna standing beside the car Ian took note of how uncomfortable she looked. The only time she ever looked this uncomfortable was when she was keeping something from him.

Leaving the car running he slipped from behind the steering wheel and motioned for her to get in. "I'll follow you back to the house, in case you break down again."

"Alright." She averted his gaze and that clinched it for him. She was definitely hiding something and he suspected it had to do with their new neighbour.

Jumping back into the Jeep, he waited for her to pull back onto the road before shifting into gear and following behind. He hated that she felt she needed to hide things from him.

Ever since the Claiming she'd been different. He supposed she has had a lot to deal with over the previous several months, but he was her mate, her best friend. As she was to him.

Why the change? It was like a slug to the gut.

He was so lost in his thoughts they arrived at the house in what seemed like minutes.

He pulled in beside her and by the time he opened the door to the Jeep she was already out of the car and walking into the front door of the house.

What the fuck?
Frowning he followed her into the house catching up to her at the top of the stairs.

"What is going on Adrianna?"

"I have to... " She made her way to the door of her mother's room, a room she'd rarely entered since her mother's death.

Ian's confusion deepened. "What is going on Addy?"

She paused, her hand on the doorknob of her mother's bedroom.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently pulled her back against him and was relieved that she allowed him to. "Talk to me," he whispered.

She turned to face him. When she lifted her eyes he could see the sorrow within them and it tore at him.

He placed a hand on her cheek and lowered his lips to her forehead. "Whatever is going on, you know you can trust me, don't you?"

She chewed at her lower lip and nodded. "I just... Will they ever accept me? Now that they know the truth?"

Ian raked a hand through his dark hair and sighed. The temptation to tell her it was going to be okay and that the pack would treat her the same as before was strong, but if he wanted her to open up, then he knew he had to be forthright with her.

"I honestly don't know honey. Garratt cares for you. This hasn't changed a thing for him. But the others... I just don't know."

Adrianna threw herself into his arms, sobbing freely. "Why did everything have to get so fucked up?"

Ian pulled her tight to him and stroked her hair, allowing her to vent her frustrations. "I don't know. The only thing I know for sure is that if it came down to choosing between you or the pack, there wouldn't be a choice Addy."

She sniffed and looked up, meeting his gaze. "There's something I need to tell you."

A wave of relief rushed through him. "Anything honey."

She nodded and turned back to he mother's bedroom room. Grasping the handle she

turned the knob and opened the door. The room looked identical to what it did when her mother passed, right down to the rows of perfumes on the vanity and clothing hung neatly in her closet. The smell of her mother's perfume lingered in the air, mixed with a slightly stale smell of having the room closed up for so long.

"Why are we in here?"

"I think I met my father today." Addy replied as she walked across the room and to the closet. Flinging the door open she began pulling items of the closet, as if on a mission.

Ian frowned. "Max?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you say that?"

"I saw him on the road in cougar form and followed him into the woods to his house.

He admitted it."

"Wow. I don't know what to say. Why is he here? Now? It's not safe for him with the pack around."

"I know. He knows. That's why I agreed not to tell anyone." She glanced up from what she was doing and their eyes locked. "Not even you."

Ian crossed the room to kneel beside her, watching her sort through her mother's

belongings with an abnormal amount of detachment and purpose. "What are you looking for?"

Without pausing in her search, she responded. "When I was really young I vaguely remember mom would bring out a photo album from time to time when she thought I

wasn't looking. As the years went on, she looked at it less and less. I never asked her about it and she never mentioned it, but I have a feeling she has it hidden somewhere in her room." Stopping her search she turned to face him. "Can you look under her bed and through her drawers while I finish here?"

"Of course." Standing, Ian walked over to the bed and knelt down. Pulling up the comforter he peered under, but came up empty. As he began to stand he heard the soft creaking of a loose board.

Brow furrowed he examined the floor with greater scrutiny and discovered a board

was not nailed down. Reaching into the inner pocket of his jean jacket he pulled out a pocket knife, flicked it open and pried up the board.

Hearing him prying up the floor board caught Adrianna's attention and she closed the closet and came over to kneel beside him.

"I think we may have found it." Reaching into the hole in the floor he pulled out a small photo album wrapped in a pink ribbon. Giving her a reassuring smile he passed it to her. "Open it."

Her hand trembled as she accepted the album. She brushed the dust from the album, before pulling the pink ribbon and opening the first page. The first picture was a black and white photo of her mother as a child.

Ian waited to see if the tears were going to spring up in her eyes, but they didn't. Addy flipped to the second page. More pictures of her mother as a child. The next picture she was older, in her teens Ian guessed. The next page featured her mother as an adult with a man, their arms around each other as they posed in front of a massive tree for the camera.

"Oh my God. That's Max!"

Ian's jaw clenched. It indeed was a younger Max. There wasn't much difference from then and now.

The next several pages mimicked the first. Her mother and Max, young and in love.

Ian placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close as she continued to flip through the album, until she reached a photo that proved to him that what Max had told Adrianna was true. The picture featured her mother, Max, and Addy as a baby. Adrianna touched the picture and outlined the face of her mother with her index finger.

"She was so beautiful," Adrianna whispered.

Ian pulled her tighter and kissed her temple. "She was."

"I miss her."

"I know."

Adrianna was silence for a time. So he remained silent and waited for her to gather her thoughts. Finally, she turned in his arms, the album clutched to her chest. "I have to get to know Max, Ian."

Exhaling loudly, Ian took a minute to consider her statement. He considered how he'd feel if the situations were reversed. What would he be feeling if his parents were both dead instead of "retiring" from the pack and living a leisurely life in Florida, and if he didn't have Garratt to lean on when he needed him? What if the only family he knew no longer accepted him?

"We'll keep what and who Max is to ourselves. Although I trust Garratt with my life, I won't even tell him. Just us and Max." He could see her mood lightening, like the veil of sorrow and worry was being lifted and he was seeing a hint of the girl and then woman he fell in love with. "But you have to make it clear to Max that he has to be discreet. If the pack ever finds out about him..." Ian didn't even want to finish the statement.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Excitement rushed through Adrianna, excitement and relief she hadn't felt since her mother's death as Adrianna threw her arms around Ian's neck and pressed her body tight to him, kissing the side of his neck. Her exuberance sent them both toppling to the floor, Adrianna straddling Ian's waist.

Ian chuckled softly, sliding his arms around her waist and holding her tight.

Pushing herself up by planting a hand on either side of his head, Adrianna couldn't have kept the smile off of her lips if she wanted to. "I'm sorry I've been so..."

He placed a finger to her lips stopping her. "You don't need to explain honey. I know."

Sliding his hand across her cheek to thread his fingers into her hair he urged her lips down to his.

Her smile remained and she softly sighed her satisfaction as her lips lowered to his.

"How did I get so lucky to have you?" She murmured as her lips brushed against his.

"I could say the same thing," he responded as he deepened the kiss. She gave him to his tongue's prodding, parting her lips and allowing him entrance. He kissed her softly, sensually, sending her heart fluttering and warming her from the inside out.

She adored the taste of spearmint on his tongue and mouth, and the expert way his tongue danced with hers. She moaned her pleasure against his mouth, and pressed her body tighter against his. For the first time in a long time, she was able to set aside her worries and enjoy being with him, without the cloud that had been hanging over them.