Page 13 of The Broken Wolf's Redemption

“She’s beautiful.” Seren stroked the cat’s fur. It had creepy black button eyes, but Waverly didn’t notice. She kissed its face and flopped down on the white carpet.

“Papa isn’t my real dad.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I’m adopted. He knew my mom and she wanted him to take care of me. He’s my papa now. I didn’t know my real dad. My grandma said that he didn’t know how to be a dad, but my mom really wanted to be a mom and that was all that mattered.”

“Yes.” Seren sat down beside Waverly, resisting the urge to pull her into her arms and hug her so, so hard for the rest of her life. She was five and she’d already seen tragedy and known heartbreak. Kids were so resilient, but it made Seren’s heart melt into a pile of mush.

“I don’t know if my papa wanted to be a dad either, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“That’s not true. He cares for you a lot.” For Waverly, Seren would make up any lies about Rome. But was that a lie? He was undoubtedly a cruel, complicated man, but that was when it came to the world. Waverly clearly wasn’t just anyone and from the girlie pink bedroom, to getting her to teach the little girl all about being a female wolf, he obviously doted on the child. “He thinks of you as his. He told me that. There was zero mistake about it. He would do anything for you, and he loves you very much. I know that for a fact.”

Waverly shot her a skeptical look like only a five-year-old could.

“It’s true. Love makes people strict. Love makes people want to do what’s best for the people they care about. They have to protect them.”

It didn’t even feel like a new low to defend an asshat scumbag who was right now basically controlling her whole freaking life in exchange for cash.

Seren wiggled her eyebrows. “I can’t show you how to shift in here, but maybe one day we can find a nice quiet place and Rome and I can both show you how shifting works.”

Waverly brightened. “I’ve never seen a wolf shift. Or anyone. Not even my mom. Does it hurt very much?”

“A little, the first few times, but you get used to it. It’s like stubbing your toe. It hurts for a second, but then the pain goes away. When you shift, your bones and all the organs in your body have to change and realign to make the wolf.”

“Is it like magic?”

“I think it’s very much like magic.”

“Papa says we have to keep it a secret. Always. He’s been trying to teach me how to breathe and calm myself. He says that we can’t just let the wolf out or everyone will be afraid.”

“People do fear what they don’t know. My parents explained it to me that there is the world people think they know, and the world as it really is. If they find out that what they think they know has been wrong all along, that leads to fear, and fear causes people to panic, and sometimes panic makes for bad decisions.”

“Would someone hurt me?”

Damn it, that was exactly what she didn’t want Waverly to worry about. “No, honey. Rome would always protect you. If there’s ever a time you have to shift and it can’t be helped, I was taught to find as quiet of a place as possible. People are scared of wolves, and it would be confusing to see one, but not as wild as witnessing someone actually shift. The wolf is smart. She will always take care of you and protect you too. If there isn’t a situation where you can find privacy and you can’t stop the shift, then there’s still room for reasonable doubt if you run. Whoever saw it happen, unless they were lucky enough to record it, will probably doubt that it happened at all. In most people’s minds, things like that can’t happen.” She took Waverly’s hands in hers and scooted on the carpet to face her. “But that’s why I’m here. My parents taught me not to fear the wolf, but to be in harmony with her and the other way around. We are two spirits living in one body and we have to share. If one of us is unhappy, the other won’t be happy. Life is about balance in so many ways. Do you know what that means?”

“Being in the middle?” She held up her hands like a scale.

“Yes! That’s completely right.” Waverly was a smart kid. Not necessarily precocious. Intelligence was sometimes a forced thing when kids had to grow up fast.

How was Rome possibly in balance with his wolf? Maybe his wolf was a blackhearted bastard as well. Even so, Seren couldn’t muster up the force of hate that she should have. Instead, her heart felt sore. It wasn’t just kids who had to grow up fast. Sometimes it happened to adults. Age wasn’t a limiting factor on pain. Years didn’t necessarily equip people to deal with tragedy.

Something terrible happened to Rome. She sensed it. Her wolf shifted inside her uncomfortably, sensing it too. She didn’t fear him or want to run. Weirdly enough, she burned with the desire to protect him from a disaster that had already happened. Protection as a shifter was no small thing. Her wolf was clearly as confused as she was.

“You don’t have to fear shifting. We’ll help get you ready. By the time it happens, you’ll know exactly what to expect. You won’t have to worry about the wolf being unpredictable or not giving back your body or losing yourself. That will never happen. Not when you respect and love your wolf.”

Did Rome respect and love himself?

How could he do that for anyone else if he couldn’t do it for himself? Of all the things he was, he didn’t seem to be self-absorbed. He might be sadistic and lacking in empathy, but he wasn’t a narcissist.

“I thought you said you were bad at teaching.” Waverly held up her hand for a high five. “You seem pretty good.”

Seren smacked the little girl’s palm. “I’m just telling you what my parents told me.”

“They were good teachers, then.”

Her throat closed up. “Yeah. They were.” Her parents were the best. It was only recently, since her divorce, that she’d felt the stinging burn of their disappointment. “They still are.” That had to be true. Anything else just hurt too much to consider. She was still their daughter. She knew that.

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