Page 67 of The Wolf Professor

Perdita spread her long fingers out on the rock table.

“Your mother was an amazing woman. Complex, determined, fierce… and uncompromising to the point of cruelty.”

Max was silent for a moment, then he said, “I am beginning to comprehend that, Perdita.”

“She was hard to resist for a young wolf from the mountains. My brother fell in love with her on a trip down to Motham as a teen. He chose to enter the ruts, and each year, they found each other in the chase. She came up here once or twice on his motorbike, so we got to meet her. I can’t say our pack loved her, but Alec was obsessed, so we accepted her.”

“But then one summer after the rut, she told him she was moving to Selig to do her PhD. She said if he loved her, he would join her.”

“Alec was destined to be head of our pack. Our alpha. The rules of our pack are very clear. His mate must come and live here with him, or he must reject them. And yes, our codes are rigid—they have to be if we are to survive up here in the mountains. We are fighters. It is our life’s purpose to pit our wits against the ogres, we have done it since our leader brought us here.”

Max nodded. “Colonel Felcin, the mutineer.”

“To us he is a hero. Here in the mountains, we are proud of him.” Perdita’s chin raised, a jut to her jaw.

“I understand,” Max said, bowing his head.

“For Alec, forfeiting his leadership, deserting his pack, was not an option. Even though he loved Angelika, he had to reject her. She left in a rage, of course. And he pined, goddess, did he pine. Every year after that, in summer she would roam these parts, tempt him to follow her into the highest mountains, seduce him and mess up his head—but he always came back to his pack. Then one summer he chose to be promised to another wolf, a young female who would bear him strong cubs. When hetold your mother, she was beside herself. And that’s when she flung at him that he had sired a cub, now a ten-year-old boy. Max was furious beyond measure. Not only because he hadn’t ever known, but because she had denied him the right to be your father.

“He got on his bike, determined to go and tell you the truth. Before he married and sired more cubs, he needed you to know you were his firstborn.” Perdita’s face tightened. “And that’s when the accident happened.”

“The accident that killed him?” Max asked, his voice shaking slightly.

Perdita nodded, her features drawn. “A drunk ogre in a truck came round a bend on the mountain road and clipped his bike. Alec went over at the highest point on the pass; a sheer drop. Nothing could have saved him.”

“Why did no one ever try to find me? To tell me?” Max asked. Charlie could hear the note of anguish in his voice.

Perdita’s face crumpled. “Oh Max, there was too much trauma at the time. Our mother was grief struck, Alec’s bride-to-be was grief struck. I had to take over the pack, and soon after, our mother’s health worsened, and she died. There was no time to think about contacting an angry she-wolf who loathed us and had refused to let Alec have access to his child.

“I consulted a mage, who told me the time to make contact had not yet come. That I must let the issue lay dormant, like a seed waiting for the earth to warm. That eventually love would bring you to us. It was a riddle I had no time to decipher, to be honest. Running this outpost has taken all my energy these last two decades. But now you are here.” Her eyes scanned his face “Maybe you can explain the mage’s riddle?”

“Yes, I think I can.” Max looked at Charlie, his eyes soft as he reached for her hand. “This amazing woman has made meface up to what I was denying in myself. For her, I recently transformed into wolf for the first time in my life…”

Perdita’s brows shot up. “For the first time, ever?”

Max laughed. “I know, it must seem strange to you.”

“We shift nightly,” Perdita said. “We have to, otherwise we could not hold our own against the ogres up here.” She stretched her hands out and touched Max and Charlie’s joined hands across the table. “You are good together, I feel it.” After a moment, she said, “Max, would you like to see your father’s grave? To honor him as his son?”

“I would,” Max said gravely.

“Then you will have to shift into your wolf. You cannot get to the place where he is buried in your human form, it’s too unsafe. But it is something we wolves often do; we trek out there to honor our dead in the graveyard cave over the far pass. Your cousins will take you there, but even for a wolf it is a few days’ journey. Are you up for that?”

“Charlie?” Max looked at her, and she knew there was only one answer to give.

“Max, of course, you must visit your father’s grave.”

“But what about you? I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’ll return to Motham, and you’ll come home when you are ready,” Charlie replied solemnly.

“Babe, I may be gone for days,” he said, his eyes clouding as he stroked her hand.

“That’s okay, Max, take your time. You need to do this. You need to pay homage to your father and make peace with your mom’s deception. You need to heal the wounded wolf inside you.”

He nodded, still grasping her hand tightly. “Yes, I know.”

“Out there in the mountains, that’s where you will find answers. Not in a book, Max. Not this time.”

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