Page 37 of The Vampire in the Potting Shed

“The alphas I’ve met want to make sure everyone knows that’s who and what they are.”

“Sartori is one of those alphas, and you’ve done everything in your power to get out from under his thumb.” Her eyes filled with things that didn’t make it out of her mouth. “Knowing Rían, he didn’t want to spook you. He wants to get to know you, and you him, without the pressure of his title.”

Pity. That was pity in her tone. Pity that I had been raised in a bubble.

“You make it sound like Dad is the bad guy here, when he’s only ever protected me.”

“Then why didn’t you put up a fight?” Fayne stared into her lap. “Why did you come with us that night?” She toyed with the label on one of her medications. “You could have leapt from the SUV, screamed for a sentinel, and gotten us all killed before we left Sartori land. But you chose us. You chose escape.”

The truth bomb she dropped on my head detonated in an explosion of confusion and bitterness.

“What was worth risking your life?” I needed my answers, then I needed to get out of here. “Tell me.”

“Carmichael Sartori isn’t your father.”

The earlier percussive blast must have shattered my ability to hear. “What did you say?”

A low growl poured out of Sloane, and she reached for my hand, providing me with an anchor.

“He took you when you were six weeks old.”

“No.” I shot to my feet. “You’re lying.”

“I knew your parents.” An ache throbbed in her voice. “Sartori killed them.”

“He killed her parents?” Sloane’s words scraped like gravel in her throat. “Just to take her?”

I had stood too quickly, and the room was spinning. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t get enough air.

I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. But I couldn’t move. I was frozen to the spot.

“We never stopped searching for you.” Fayne wiped tears off her cheeks. “Rían never gave up hope.”

“How long ago did Rían find her?” Sloane handled the questions while shock paralyzed my tongue. “Why not introduce himself to her like a normal person? Why jump the gun to claiming Brentwood?”

“About a year ago.” Fayne pushed her hair out of her face, directing her answers to me. “He tried to meet you, many times, but Sartori always has guards on you. They wouldn’t let Rían near you, and that was before Sartori realized who he was to you.” She exhaled softly. “Rían wasn’t left with many good options to get close to you, so this is what he chose. To claim a territory where you would be comfortable, where those you think of as your family would be nearby.”

“But it didn’t work out that way.” Sloane stated the obvious.

“Sartori was never going to allow the Walshes to live in peace. Not in this town—yourtown. But this was unclaimed territory. So, he had to get creative. He forged alliances with neighboring packs and clans and created an impenetrable wall around Brentwood. He forbade those new allies from granting permission for us to cross their land to reach the town. He thought that would keep us from you.” Cold light ignited in her eyes. “But he forgot a simple fact.”

As much as I wanted to turn tail and flee, back to my house, to sanity, I couldn’t unroot my feet.

Unfurling her fingers, she summoned a tongue of flame in her palm. “Dragons can fly.”

“Dragons,” Sloane gasped out, her grip on me painful. “The Walshes aredragons?”

The roar. That was what I heard after Fayne was shot. Rían. Good Lord he had been fierce.

“Not all of us. Not even most of us.” She crushed the fire in her hand. “We’re a dying breed.”

“Does that mean…?” Sloane bounced on her cushion. “Is Ana a dragon too?”

No. Not possible. I wasn’t even a wolf. I wasnothing.

“I can’t be one,” I rasped, my throat tight and sore like I had been screaming.

“You’re certainly not a wolf.” Fayne rubbed a thumb between her brows. “You’re not a latent either.”

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