Page 66 of The Secret Keeper's Daughter

“I’ve never heard it put that way. Each pack is its own entity, so there really aren’t ranks from one to another.”

“Only within a pack itself?”

“Right.”

I set my fork down. “But you’re not part of a pack. How does that work?”

“Wearepart of one, but we live away from them.” He shoots me an annoyed glance, but I don’t know what he’s complaining about. If he’d have told me about him being fae at any point over our entire lives, I’d have had the chance to ask questions before this.

Vivvi glances between us, landing on me. “You don’t know about his pack history? I was under the impression you two were tight.”

“Weare,” he says.

“Except I never knew about him being a werewolf until a few days ago.”

“It was a week.”

She runs her fingers through her hair. “I didn’t mean to start anything.”

“You didn’t,” I assure her. “Harek and I go all the way back to infancy, but his family convinced him to keep his true nature a secret from me.”

Vivvi turns to him and gives him a look I can’t read. “But you knew about her?”

I answer. “He knew I was a halfling.

She jolts. “Halfling?”

“That isn’t a problem, is it?”

“Not at all.” She gives Harek another weird glance.

“His family has been watching over me in case anything happened to my mother. Now that she’s…” I can’t say the word ‘dead’ so I clear my throat. “Now he’s helping me find my father.”

“It was recent?” she asks.

I nod, not fully trusting my voice. “My stepfather tried to marry me off to a horrible man as soon as Mother passed, so I fled.”

“That’s awful. He was human and didn’t fear your powers?”

“Nobody in Skoro knew about my being a halfling.”

Her eyes narrow slightly, and only for a moment. “Not even your stepfather?”

Harek scowls. “Especiallynot him. I don’t know why her mother stayed married to him. She could’ve done much better.”

“He’s wealthy.” My tone comes out harsher than I intended, but I feel the need to defend my mother. “If she thought she had a better option, she’d have taken it.”

“She did,” Harek mutters.

“If she divorced Gunnar, she’d lose my siblings. No way he’d give them up. He couldn’t do anything about me, but he’d for sure keep his other workhorses.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

I freeze. “What other option would she have had? To run away? My brothers never would’ve gone with her, and she wouldn’t leave any of her kids behind.”

“Never mind.” Now he chooses to focus on his meal.

“What else could she have done?” I demand. “Enlighten me.”

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