Page 9 of Property of Prowler
“I don’t just think that, Tay. I’m telling you,he is. You don’t believe me?” Cass not only sounded hurt, but she also sounded disappointed in Taylor. “I thought you, of all people, would believe me.”
“Sweetheart.” Taylor grabbed both of her hands in her own.
“It’s not that I don’t believeyou. But in order to do that, I have to change the way I have always looked at the world on a fundamental level.”
Deep breath in and out.
“So, it’s not you at all. It’s reworking my idea of normal, and that takes time. Not because I don’t believe you or don’t want to, but shifters are something that only existed in movies and books my whole life, so give me some more information and let’s see where that leads us. It could be that either one of us is mistaken.”
There.
Taylor was rather proud of herself for that off-the-cuff, but diplomatic, response. She never wanted to hear that disappointment from Cass ever again.
“Okay, but get ready to have your mind blown.” Cass pulled out a notebook.
Oh shit, little chick brought notes. Taylor was no psychologist, but was she inventing a fantasy world because of a shitty mom? Was it because she needed her dad to be a big bad shifter who would come in and eat the bad guys?
It wasn’t like her dad wouldn’t come in and decimate anyone who hurt his little girl already. Hell, that whole club would scorch the earth for her.
Cass had told her last month that her mom was seeing a new man, and she hated him. Maybe that’s why she dove headfirst into Alexander’s fantasy.
Taylor listened as Cass went through every single point she had. From why her dad was tired after the prison visits … because that was when they shifted and ran in the unpopulated area around it… to eavesdropping on how they used a tattooed rune infused with silver to bind Hunter’s wolf in prison so he wouldn’t accidentally shift behind bars.
Taylor had to admit, if Cass’s presentation was the opening scene of a movie, it was a pretty damn good one. Some of her points, Taylor herself had mused about. Cass’s explanations fit so well, Taylor didn’t have a clue how to explain it away from shifters into something more plausible.
Especially if she had actually overheard some of the things she thought she had. There's not a whole lot of wiggle room in binding a wolf with a tattooed silver rune.
Taylor shook her head. There had to be other explanations, like a weird Harley-worshiping cult or some shit. A secret society that emulated shifters.
Something.
“So, if your dad and some of your uncles are wolves, and Bulldog is a … something else, why would shifters, especially wolves, hang with humans and other animals? I thought wolves were pack animals. Three or four hardly seems like a pack.”
Taylor was drawing on every movie she’d watched and book she’d read as well as her knowledge. She didn’t want to sit in blatant disbelief of Cass, but she didn’t want to exactly feed into her ideas.
“First, there are a lot of misconceptions about wild wolves in mainstream media. We’ve changed their nature to fit our stories. Just like we do every other animal. Second, what we know about shifters, you said yourself, comes from movies and books. Whatif that’s all bullshit? Made up to entertain us, just like every other thing about movies. I mean, it’s an entertainment-driven industry, but the bottom line is to make money, and to do that, you have to make up the best story.”
“You have a point there.”
Shit.
“What about your mom? She would’ve shouted it from the rooftops or used it to manipulate your dad. She’s a—and I’m only quoting you, not calling her this myself—ruthless bitch.”
While Taylor agreed with that assessment one hundred and ten percent, she would never, and has never, badmouthedthat womanto her daughter’s face. Even though she heard from Cass that Allie didn’t have the same boundary about her or anyone with tits who was even remotely connected to Prowler.
Cass talked enough shit about her mom that she didn’t need, or really want, Taylor’s agreement. She just needed a sounding board who wasn’t her dad.
Cass just rolled her eyes.
“True, that was a sticking point for me too. I have to believe that it came about sometime after they broke up.”
Taylor studied Cass for a moment. She really believed what she was saying. The last thing Taylor wanted do was to discount her right off the bat. But somehow, she needed to give Prowler a heads-up but not totally dime Cass out. That would be a fine line to walk.
“Here.” She handed Taylor the notebook. “Just read it with an open mind. If by our next overnight you don’t have even the smallest suspicion, I’ll drop it. Deal?”
“Only if you promise to keep an open mind to other possible explanations.”
“Deal,” Cass agreed. The relief on her face was clear at Taylor’s acceptance of the possibility. She may or may not havementally patted herself on the back a little for the way she handled it.
