Page 32 of Rogue Games

But the answer is nothing. At least not by us.

Whether my father pushed her off the cliff or she jumped of her own accord, Graham Reynolds killed her. He did it. Death by a thousand cuts is still murder. Her spirit was dead long before her last breath on this day, twenty years ago.

With a sad sigh, I toss the small posy of white lilies over the edge, watching them get swept away first by the gentle breeze, and then by the current as they land on the water below.

“Were you ever tempted to find a way out? When things were bad?” I ask. I shouldn’t, it’s not a fair question, but I’ve always wondered.

Maggie sighs and hesitates. “I wish I could say it never crossed my mind, but I had it easier than your mum. Your father was horrible to me, but as you got older, and started to become more of a threat, he wasn’t focusing all his frustrations on me.”

He was spreading the love at that point, physically attacking us all. I’m glad that might have saved Maggie’s life, but it’s also a dark and disturbing thing to wrap your head around.

“I’d go with you if you ever wanted to visit them, Maggie. Your old pack.”

We’ve had this conversation countless times. She must have family and friends she left behind when she moved here with my father, but she never speaks of them. I know she was widowed, but there must be others. As dad’s second chance mate, and luna of this pack, she had no choice but to come here with him. Now that he’s gone, she could return to that life, start over, but she’s steadfastly kept herself hidden here.

She shakes her head sadly. “They think I’m dead, and it’s easier that way. And the old version of me did die, I suppose. No point in turning their world upside down again by coming back from the grave.” Maggie squeezes my shoulder and leans on me for balance as she stands up. “Come on. You’ve places to go, and people to see.”

Maggie’s body creaks as she straightens, and I feel a pang of remorse at all the injuries I couldn’t prevent. I move at an easy pace, allowing her to walk alongside me, even with her slight limp slowing her down.

“Once this is over, you should take some time off,” I suggest. I worry that she does too much, helping as a healer, and minding everyone in the pack. She deserves a break, but selfishly, I also love when she’s here, fussing over us. She’s one of the only people who understands.

“You sound just like Jax. He’s in the clinic all the time. He won’t let me do anything for myself anymore. You’d swear I was decrepit. I’m not that old you know!”

I laugh at her indignation. She’s so offended by his helpfulness.

“Good. If he stops helping, you tell me, and I’ll have a word.” My brother’s a good kid. I’m glad he’s spending all his spare time hanging out in the clinic instead of hiding in his room. His wolf is unpredictable, but he’s not going to learn how to control him by locking him away.

Maggie hooks her arm through mine and pats my forearm gently. “You’ve done good, kid. You can stop feeling responsible for everyone else’s well-being now and focus on your own happiness.”

Another tiny thread of tension inside me eases. As the pack healer, Maggie has a good handle on how everyone’s doing. And she wouldn’t lie to me. The pack is doing well.

Even though I know overthrowing my father was the right thing to do, sometimes I doubt myself. The final straw was coming home from training to find Maya, battered and barely alive, and Jax beaten black and blue trying to protect her. That was the night I decided to end our father’s miserable life.

When I saw Maya so badly hurt, I knew that the next time something set him off, he was going to kill someone. It was only a matter of time. When I was away at alpha training, my siblings were easy targets, and no match for a raging alpha with a hard-on for inflicting pain. Things were escalating, his grip on reality deteriorating.

And Jax… well his wolf was never the same again.

So, in one way, it was an easy decision. Not so easy to live with, though. But such is the life of an alpha. That was the first lesson I learned after inheriting the alpha title that day, and something a lot of the wannabe’s sleeping on my territory can’t possibly comprehend. Doing the right thing and the easy thing are rarely the same.

“I saw the changes you had Beckett make to the course for today.” Maggie’s amused tone interrupts the dark direction of my thoughts. “Are you trying to eliminate every competitor on the first day?”

She knows me well.

“I’m saving everyone some time, and if it happens to mean that I have less wolves wandering around my pack by midnight tonight… Well, that’s just a happy coincidence.”

Maggie scoffs. “I see right through you, Dean. It’s not twenty wolves you’re looking to get rid of, it’s one in particular. And she might be the very one you should be keeping around.”

Jamie. Looking down at her with my best stoic impression, I feign ignorance. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Maggie shakes her head. “Fine. Be an idiot. But just so you know, if you were to court a certain beautiful, she-wolf, maybe one you took for a turn on the dance floor last night, the pack would be happy for you. And anyone who isn’t? Well, they’ll get over it.”

Stopping abruptly, I turn to face her. “There is no courting. It was just a dance.” Damn wolves, so fucking nosy. Of course someone went running to tell Maggie. “She’s just another contestant, albeit an annoying, nosy one who I’d like out of my hair as soon as possible.”

I can sense how hard Maggie’s fighting not to roll her eyes. Instead, she settles for giving me a condescending pat on the arm and resuming her walk.

“I caught her snooping around the packhouse,” I blurt out, needing to distract myself from the warm fuzzy feeling I get just thinking how good it felt to have her in my arms.

Instead of looking outraged on my behalf, Maggie merely laughs at my irritation. “What does it matter? You don’t even live there.”

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