Page 6 of Secrets and Ruin

We pulled into Landon’s driveway without saying anything else. It was close to noon, so I was reasonably certain he would be awake and moving around. With the three hours to the airport and back, then waiting on my call with Niko, half the day was already gone. Landon was never the type to sleep for very long, even after a full moon. Landon didn’t know how to rest, even when it seemed like he was doing nothing.

However, all the lights were off.

“Is he up?” I asked, frowning at the house Landon had bought to share with Dirk.

“He will be,” Heath replied, getting out of the truck.

I followed, staying behind Heath because I didn’t want a cranky Landon to see me first.

Heath didn’t knock. He used his key and went inside first. I hovered on the threshold, not willing to barge into Landon’s house without welcome. I knew he was home. My territory magic told me that much, but he wasn’t moving around.

Or he wasn’t until he realized people had entered his house. I didn’t need my magic to know he barged into the living room and growled at his father, though. My eyes and ears told me that.

“What the fuck are you doing in my house?” he demanded of his father, who sat down on the recliner, ignoring the comfortable-looking couch. No one sat on the couch except for the men who occupied the house.

“Checking on you. I’m doing rounds today,” Heath said lightly, putting his feet on an ottoman I was certain was a newer addition to the space.

“Ah, the tried-and-true Heath Everson coping mechanism,” Landon muttered, shaking his head. He caught sight of me and sighed. “Come in, sit down. I’ll get you two a drink.”

“How are you holding up?” I asked, closing the front door. I wasn’t surprised by what he said about Heath. Heath took care of things he could when others were out of his hands. Of course, he was trying to cope with Dirk heading for unknown territory. He was going to make sure all the other werewolves were okay to keep his mind off the one he couldn’t hover over.

Landon snorted but didn’t give any sort of real answer until he was handing me a soda and sitting down on the couch. I went to the safe loveseat, also avoiding the couch.

“I hate that he’s dealing with his father on his own,” Landon said, staring at his open can as if it held answers to the world’s greatest mysteries. “I know all the plans for his safety. I helped make them… but it doesn’t make the distance easier. It doesn’t make me comfortable knowing he’s doing it alone.”

“Well, his father knows he’s a werewolf now, and… he’s not mad at Dirk,” I said, trying to smile. “They should be fine.”

“Blamed you, did he?” Landon grunted, his annoyance filling the room. “Your family likes doing that.”

“He had some good points. I got snappy with him. He hung up on me. It happens.”

“Stop pretending like he didn’t rip your heart out and stomp on it,” Landon growled. “It pisses me off when you try to play nice with them. They practically never do it for you.”

“He was angry I didn’t keep Dirk safe and didn’t tell him about the life-changing event Dirk was forced to go through. He’s Dirk’s father. He had the right to be mad at me, his sister.” I didn’t need this, not from Landon. I didn’t need a temperamental wolf feeding into my temper. Landon was one of three werewolves in the pack I could lose against if we decided to take our feelings out on each other. It was unlikely we would ever do that, but I was in enough of a mood to think about it.

I’m mad because he’s right. Just like Niko is right. And I’m right.

And we’re all wrong, too, and there’s nothing we can do to fix that. It’s Dirk’s life, and we’re all passengers to his decisions about his future. We just have to weather the storm, no matter how it makes us feel about ourselves or each other.

I wasn’t bitter about Dirk’s decision for secrecy. I fully supported his choice and understood it all too well. In some ways, I agreed with Landon. I was always the one at fault in my family, always the one picking someone over someone else or prioritizing the wrong thing in everyone’s eyes.

Everyone is an exaggeration I can’t allow myself to make. It’s not everyone. It’s just enough of them.

I also agreed with Niko. Knowing Heath would probably react the same way, what else was I supposed to do than take the blame assigned to me?

“You two aren’t going to get anywhere talking about this,” Heath warned. “It’s a family matter, and family matters are complicated. There’s no real right or wrong answer and getting into it won’t help anything. You should drop it.”

“She just lets them continue to—”

“I don’t let them do anything,” I growled. “Niko’s stance is reasonable, and I’m not going to push back when it comes to his son. He’s rightfully angry. This isn’t a situation like Mischa, who’s an angry bitch who just treats me and everyone else as though she’s mad at shit. Mischa’s not justified. Niko is.” I glared at Landon, daring him to challenge that. If he thought Niko and Mischa were the same, then he needed his head readjusted, and I was willing to do it.

“What about Ha—”

“Enough,” Heath snarled, and his power rippled through the room. Like always, it slid around me, ignoring me, unable to exert itself on my will. Landon, though, was definitely put in his place and sank deeper into his couch.

“Apologies, Father,” he mumbled.

“Don’t put your nose where it doesn’t belong. You should be focused on one thing and one thing only. Dirk is, as far as we can tell right now, safe around Niko. That has to be enough. Let it be enough, Landon.”

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