Page 26 of Resurgence of the Pack

‘Lucy!’ he said brightly, far chipper than I’d heardhim sound in weeks.

He turned to give me a kiss hello and I froze. His forehead was unmarked.

I swallowed. Maxwell had promised that he would call me if and when he took my parents back into Common so that I could arrange further protection for them. He hadn’t called.

Greg and I had hypothesised that because my parents had no magic of their own their need to return to the Common would be infrequent or perhaps non-existent. The brethrendidhave low-lying magic; it made them a little faster and helped them live a little longer. Their magic wasn’t showy but it hummed through them constantly, which was why they had to recharge like the werewolves. Though my parents had been adopted by an Elder dragon, they were brethren in name only and magic-less. There was no need for my father to be in Common right now.

A dreadful suspicion curled in my gut. I licked my lips. ‘Dad… What happened to Ben a few weeks ago?’

He frowned and looked confused for a moment before his expression cleared. ‘Dreadful business. Imagine a stray dog getting in our house like that! Thank goodness the beast was destroyed. I’m not usually in favour of destroying an animal, as you know, but we couldn’t risk that beast hurting someone else. Ben nearly died!’

I swallowed hard. ‘And my job, dad. What do I do?’

‘Are you feeling all right?’ Concern lined his face. ‘It’s not another flare-up of that horrible illness you had?’

‘No, I’m fine. Answer the question, Dad.’

‘Well, I don’t see why. You know your job as well as I do.’ He slid me a curious look. ‘Becoming a caretaker for a mansion is a bit of a strange career move, but you know I support you. You have to make your own life choices. Just know that I’ll always be here to pick you up if they turn out to be a mistake.’ He kissed my forehead, right on the triangle tattoo like the one that he no longer bore.

‘Thanks, Dad,’ I said faintly. He would support my decisions as long as he didn’t have to know about them any more.

It was undeniable: he’d had himself cleared and all traces of magic had been wiped from his mind. He was wholly Common once more.

I knew that Dad had been struggling to come to terms with the existence of magic; every time I’d tried to talk to him about something Other, he’d changed the topic or simply walked out of the room. When Mum and I spoke about anything werewolf related, he’d escaped into the kitchen to bake. I knew that he’d been running away from his new reality, but I hadn’t realised to what lengths he had run. He’d arranged to have hunksof his memory altered rather than accept me as I was. The betrayal – the hurt – ran deep.

I’m sorry, Lucy,Esme said, her voice mournful.

Me, too, I said as grief almost choked me. Dad hadchosennot to know me or Ben properly ever again, and it was a bitter pill to swallow. My dad had always been a pillar of support in my life and I’d expected that to continue when he knew what I truly was, but it had all been too much for him.Iwas too much for him.

I left him to knead his bread, wishing it didn’t feel like my heart was shattering into a million pieces. It was odd to feel betrayed by your parent. It wasn’t his fault it was too much to accept – especially at his age – yet no matter how much I told myself that I couldn’t help taking his decision personally. It felt like he was rejecting not just magic butme, who I truly was. He’d seen into the soul of me and he hadn’t liked what he’d seen so he’d wiped it from his memory.

When I walked out of the kitchen, Greg’s arms were waiting.

‘What?’ Ben asked, as I buried myself in Greg’s reassuring love. ‘What happened?’

I took a shuddering breath and lifted my head from Greg’s shoulder for a moment. ‘Dad got himself cleared. He doesn’t remember anything about magic any more.’ Ihid my face in Greg’s calming scent again as he rubbed slow circles on my back.

‘Not a damn thing,’ Mum confirmed, looking as heartbroken as I felt. ‘I didn’t know he was planning to do that, darling. I would have stopped him if I had.’

She took a shuddering breath, ‘We did talk about it in the beginning. Once he found out that clearing minds was a thing we discussed it at length, but I thought we’d put it bed. Iknewhe was struggling to accept magic – he couldn’t see it as a gift, like I can. But…’

She trailed off hopelessly then shook her head as her eyes filled. ‘I really thought he’d turned a corner. I guess he was just masking it, hiding his plans from me so I couldn’t stop him from interfering with his own memory.’

‘It’s his life, his choice,’ I said dully.

‘It’s my life, too – and yours! He took away our freedom to be open as a family without even having a proper conversation first.’ She shook her head. ‘I won’t forgive him for that.’ Her jaw clenched. ‘The first I knew of it was last night when he walked in after work with no triangle.’ She pressed her lips together. ‘It soon became clear that he didn’t remember a damn thing, not about the werewolf attack, the magic, you as the werewolf alpha Queen – nothing. I’mso sorry.’

‘Not your fault,’ Ben said. After a beat he added ruefully, ‘Not really his fault, either.’

‘Mine?’ I said a shade pugnaciously as I stepped out of Greg’s arms.

Ben’s eyes softened. ‘Not yours, love.’

‘Then whose?’ I demanded.

‘Let’s blame the enemy,’ Noah suggested. ‘The ones that started all this. The Domini.’

Iglared a little at Ben as Noah named the secret organisation. The Domini were need-to-know and only Greg, Jacob, Tristan and I were supposed to be aware of them. Harden had been there when Ramsay had spouted off about them, but he’d dismissed them as children’s tales and had said that Ramsay was just trying to disguise who he was truly working for. Noah wasn’t supposed to know of their existence.

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