Page 23 of Heartless

Jasper could obviously crack the code, because he leaned down to my ear and whispered, “Feral?”

I couldn’t help my shudder. While I was coming to a new understanding of shifters who were labeled voids, I still didn’t know what to think about ferals and rogues. Given what I’d learned at the academy, I was pretty sure the guys on the bus to the pack lab had been feral, and I couldn’t say for sure that Sin didn’t have a touch of the mad wolf about her, too. But I was almost certain Rhona’s boyfriend was just your garden-variety human asshole, so I gave a small shake of my head.

“We should go check on her…”

The words were barely out of Darkness’ mouth when Jasper’s head snapped up, and the front door blew open. It earned another shudder, both for the icy air that raced inside, and because Driftwood was staring at the four of us with a scowl as threatening as the weather. “Why aren’t you in school?”

I think he was directing the question to me, but with that tone, all four of us probably looked equally guilty. Darkness was the first to recover, spinning on his dad. “We came looking for you! Have you been up here this whole time?”

“I left you a note,” Driftwood grunted, forcing the door closed and pulling off his scarf and gloves. “You didn’t need to drag them all up here.”

My heart pinched at the anger in his voice. But it was the casual use of the word them, that stung the most. Like I was a townie who’d come all this way just for kicks. “It’s my cabin,” I said in a mulish tone. “I can come here whenever I want.”

Driftwood opened his mouth to argue otherwise – and probably remind me I was an indentured slave to the academy – when Jasper’s hand cupped my shoulder. It was a gentle touch, but it seemed to make the words dry up in Driftwood’s throat. It also made him really look at us for the first time, although his focus was on Jasper. “You’re from her school?”

“Yes, sir. Jasper Arras.” I was pretty sure Driftwood recognized the name by the way his brow scrunched, but he still shook Jasper’s outstretched hand. “We got permission from the academy to come up here for a few days.”

I bit back an eye-roll at that, since Jasper was Hunter Moon Academy, and had clearly given himself permission to do whatever the heck he pleased. Driftwood just gave him a tight nod before turning and dipping his chin at Chastity.

“Good to see you again, Chastity,” he murmured, before crossing to the kitchen and checking the coffee pot. We hadn’t had time to get to that, and he muttered under his breath about kids and their priorities, but I was still processing his last words. He’d met Chastity before, which meant she and Darkness really were at the cheesy locket stage…

“What are you doing up here, dad?”

I snapped out of my spiral, watching as Driftwood took an insulated thermos from his rucksack and tipped the dregs down the sink. As he began brewing a fresh batch of coffee, he muttered, “I come up here once a month. Which is just as well, since the pregnant lady up on the ridge is in a bad way and her boyfriend’s taken off.” He turned, resting against the counter as he stared us down. “Bad weather’s closing in and I’ll need to take her down to Ridgemont. You kids will need to leave as well.”

“We can help,” Darkness said. “We’ve got Trey’s Ski-Doos.”

“Saw that,” Driftwood said. “Might work if one of them’s got a hitch to pull a sled.”

Darkness nodded and started gathering up the few things he’d unpacked. As Chastity quickly followed suit, she told Driftwood, “I’m studying veterinary science, but I transferred over from medicine. I might be able to help on the way down.”

My foster dad gave her a nod, but it was the respect in his eyes that made my heart dip. Chastity was winning on all fronts, it seemed… Screw it, I was jealous. But was this all I was going to get from Driftwood after nearly three months apart?

It seemed so, because when he’d finished pouring his coffee, he put his hands on his hips and asked, “Will you two be okay to get back down on your own?” I wasn’t sure what annoyed me more – that Driftwood was questioning my ability to navigate the mountain, or because he was looking at Jasper when he said it.

“We’ll be fine,” I snapped. “But I need to talk to you, Driftwood. I’ve got questions about my parents…”

“I know, Vail.” He took an old key from the hook next to the icebox and tossed it to me. “There might be some answers for you in the cellar.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “There’s nothing but dust bunnies and old creamed corn down there.”

“There’s a door behind the boiler. Not much more than a crawlspace, but there are some things in there your dad wanted you to see.”

“My dad?” I hated the way my voice caught on the word. “Then why didn’t he show me himself?”

It wasn’t the real question I wanted to ask when it came to my dad. Did Driftwood know he was still alive and living under a false name? Did he know about shifters, and that my dad was probably one? And the biggest question of all – if my dad wasn’t the man who’d raised me in this cabin and given me to Driftwood to finish the job, then who was? Because a part of me was certain I still hadn’t heard the truth about that.

But Driftwood just lifted his chin towards the key in my hand. “Come see me after you’ve had a look through the cellar. I’ll do what I can to answer your questions.” He left without another word, Chastity slipping after him with an apologetic look in my direction. But Darkness crossed the room in three large strides and pulled me into his arms.

He buried his face in my hair. “Don’t look like that, V. I can’t leave you here if you look like that.”

“Why? It’s just my face.” A suspiciously wet face, although I tried to rub it dry on his shoulder. “Geez. So much for a family reunion. This sucks worse than the winter we ran out of toilet paper.”

He grunted a laugh. “You know how he is. He didn’t expect us, so he was wearing his grumpy pants.”

“You mean the ones he never takes off?” But that was too close to Callum Sawyer and his awful leather pants, so I buried my face in his neck, trying to block out everything but his embrace. We’d never done much of this before, but it felt right when he gave me one last big squeeze and dropped a kiss on my head. Although his eyes lost their softness when he looked at Jasper. “You better look after her, man. My dad didn’t spell it out, but getting back down the mountain will be the least of your problems if you screw with her.”

“Nice, D.” I pulled back, clearing my throat. “You better go. And tell Chastity… I’m not usually such a bitch. And I hope to see her again, too.”

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