Page 112 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

I smoothed her hair back from her face. “It’s not that simple. You’re in your senior year of high school. I can’t just uproot you and move you across the country on a whim. Then there are Mina and Temperance to consider. It’s unfair to up and leave Aunt Mina to handle the house and everything alone there. We’ve been a team all our lives. And I don’t think I could leave Temperance either. My guess is, neither could you.”

Hannah nodded. “I know, but, Mom, they’d come here with us. We’d all be here, like it was supposed to be.”

I snorted. “Honey, I’m not sure Grimm Cove is where we’re supposed to be.”

“But it is,” she protested.

“I understand that you have always wondered about your father and wanted to know him,” I stated. “But, Hannah, I think you’re old enough to understand we can’t just uproot on a dime.”

She met my gaze. “And I thought you were old enough to understand that life sometimes gives you a chance to right old wrongs, and if you don’t seize the day, you may not get another chance again.”

I hugged her again. “It’s moments like this I think you’re really forty.”

She laughed. “Aunt Mina says I’m just like you when you were my age. She also says Tempi is just like she was. Scary thought.”

I laughed loudly. “Yeah, not sure what the universe was thinking, letting there be two of them, but hey, who am I to judge?”

My daughter smiled. “Can we stay here, Mom? In Grimm Cove.”

“It’s not that simple,” I replied.

“Willa,” said Jonathan softly. “It could be that simple.”

I glanced back at him. He was keeping his distance from us, and if I was right, it was to avoid scaring Hannah.

“Mom?”

“I think your father and I need to talk a bit before I make you any promises.” I took Hannah's hands in mine and met her gaze, giving her a knowing look. “Later, we’re going to have a serious talk about you stealing a car.”

“Borrowing,” she corrected quickly. “That Marcy lady was really nice and told us where the keys are kept at the swanky estate place.”

Jonathan huffed. “Figures. Did she also offer to drive you both here?”

Hannah nodded. “She did, and then she kept talking to herself, saying something about it not being her fault about the mailboxes and then something about spirits popping in and out of the car.”

“Yep, that sounds like her. Marcy always means well,” Jonathan stressed. “And trust me, no one is upset with the girls for taking a vehicle. That’s what they’re kept at the estate for—for people to use them as needed.”

My expression evened out as I stared at him.

He looked a bit nervous. “Ignore me. I’m going to stand here and not butt in on parenting. I understand I have no right.”

A sad smile touched my lips. “Jonathan, you have a right to speak your mind when it comes to her.”

“Love, I really don’t,” he stressed. “I’ve been an absentee father. I wasn’t there to help raise her, to teach her about her wolf side and the line of wolves she comes from.”

“Lucian,” Hannah blurted.

Jonathan stiffened. “W-what did you say?”

Hannah shrank back slightly.

I kept hold of her hands. “Honey, who is Lucian?”

She blinked rapidly, her pulse rate increasing to the point that I could hear it with ease without drawing on the help of my wolf. “No one.”

“Hannah, has he threatened you?” demanded Jonathan, his voice deepening.

“You know who she’s talking about?” I asked.

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