Page 33 of Mates for the Rejected Wolf

“What secret?” Fern gulps audibly.

“I fell in love with a dragon. Someone I definitely wasn’t supposed to fall in love with, but you can’t help who your heart wants.”

“So you are telling me that my mother is a dragon?”

Frederick nods, and gasps and chatter explodes around the room. “Yes. Destiny, a dragon, was the love of my life. The absolute best thing to ever happen to me. I didn’t tell anyone about our love because I know it would be considered wrong, and I didn’t want to be judged. I was terrified of being judged. Silly, I know.” He chuckles mirthlessly. “Which is why your bravery is just so impressive to me. When she died in child birth, I decided to make sure people didn’t find out. There might have been some whispers and rumors, but no one knew for sure and I wanted to keep it that way. I thought that was best for you. And it worked…until your eighteenth birthday. When you didn’t shift, I thought the worst was about to happen. Either you wouldn’t be able to shift because your mother and I weren’t ever supposed to be together, or you were going to be a dragon, revealing everything.”

“I don’t…I don’t believe this,” Fern declares. “It would have helped me to know. I wouldn’t have felt like such a freak. All these years I just thought there was something wrong with me.”

“There is nothing wrong with you,” Frederick replies sadly. “There is something wrong with me. Selfishness. I never should have kept it from you. I never should have pulled away from you. None of this should have happened. But it explains why you connect with both the dragons and the wolves. They are both a part of you. This is wonderful.”

I glance anxiously between Fern and her father. I don’t know how she’s going to respond to this and it’s making me very nervous. Frederick has just dropped one hell of a bomb. Now we’ve just got to wait to see what is left in the rubble afterwards.

20

JACE

“Ican’t believe it,” Fern says for what feels like the hundredth time. “Can you believe it? Because I seriously can’t believe it. I’m half dragon. Of all the reasons I thought I might have been a freak, it was never this. I don’t know how to take it.”

“It’s amazing,” I remind her with a little laugh. “I knew there was something special about you. I think we all felt that. It must be this. I mean, you are a part of all of us.”

She grins widely. As much as this is a shock to her, I can tell she’s happy as well. To finally learn the truth about herself and to also learn that we’re all staying in her life. I think it makes acceptingusas a team much easier.

I am so glad we’ll all be moving into my new home once all the expansions are done. I couldn’t imagine anywhere in the world that any of us would rather live. Roddrur has been in his cave for too long, and Griffin needs more of a life than just keeping Roddrur hidden. Slane has had his own life, but Iknowhe prefers this life that we’ve all made, just like I do.

As for Fern, I know this is what makes her happy. Her emotions are written all across her face all the time, she’s as easy to read as a book. I can tell she’s excited to live out the rest of her life with us. Especially now that she has her father’s blessing.

I know she never said that she wants her father’s blessing, but we all knew it was important to her. It just makes everything so much easier moving forward. Echo will come around, as will everyone else. They will have to, because Frederick Almaz said so. That guy holds more power than almost anyone else in the pack. It’s good to have him on board.

Fern grabsher ringing cellphone out of her pocket and makes a face at the screen. I don’t know who it is, but she’s heading away from the rest of us to answer it.

“So, you think they will stick with us if we need them to?” Slane asks me, dragging my attention away from Fern. “The Iron Mountain pack, I mean. You think they will come through if we need them?”

“Of course they will. You don’t need to worry about that. We might not always see eye to eye on everything, but the pack always supports its members.”

We might have bruised Echo’s pride a little by acting without him, but he has to be happy that we burned the stash house down. I’m sure that once he gets over himself, he will be fine. I have no doubt that if Harley or any of the Nightshade Hunters come back to town, they will be right behind us. Same for any dragon outsiders.

“Hey, are you alright? Are you thinking about…?” Slane trails off, but I know exactly who he’s talking about. I guess he doesn’t want to say her name in case it upsets me, but it’s fine.

“Yeah. I’m upset about what happened to Madison and Felicity. Killed by the Nightshade Hunters.”.I imagine Digby killed her with the drug experiments, but that’s only speculation on my part. Unless the police really do something, I don’t know if we’ll ever fully know the truth. “I’m upset about what happened to all those vulnerable people. I know that Madison and I were never going to end up together or anything like that—it was never really like that between us—but it’s still sad to know that her death could have been prevented. She didn’t want to hear any of my warnings about the Nightshade Hunters. And to know that Digby did this…it pisses me off more than anything in the world.”

I didn’t get enough of a fight with him. I mean, we did tear chunks out of one another and I got some of my anger out, but I don’t know what happened to him in the end. Griffin pulled him off me and he ran off. He might have died from his injuries because he didn’t have any of Roddrur’s magic medicine to heal him. Or he might be out there getting ready to take his revenge on me and the town of Iron Mountain. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens.

“At least we know what happened to her, to all of them,” Slane reminds me. “And it’s highlighted an issue in town. That there are vulnerable people living here,, which is why the drugs quickly spread like wild fire, and why so many people died without anything really being done about it. Mayor West has been relieved of his position during the ongoing criminal investigations, so we can only hope that whoever we get next is better.

“You know who that was?” Fern chuckles as she finally reappears with her cell phone still clutched between her fingers. “It was Brian. And he wants to know if I want my job back.Finallyhe understands that I’m not to blame for everything that happened. That the fighting and stuff wasn’t just me letting things getting out of hand.”

“That’s insane,” I say, shocked that he even reached out at all. What are you going to do? Did you agree to take your job back?”

“Not yet. I told him I need time to think about it. He can’t get me back that easily after the way that he treated me. Plus, I want to spend some time with you guys first. There is a lot for us to work out, right? We need to know that we can be together without all the drama.” She grins. “Plus, I want to know more about the dragon side of me and find out as much as I can about my mother.”

“About that,” Roddrur suddenly says, grabbing our attention. “I didn’t want to say anything while we were with your father, because I didn’t want to interrupt your big moment, which needed to be had.”

“What didn’t you say?” Fern asks curiously, echoing exactly what I’m thinking.

“Well, Destiny, your mother, the dragon your father fell in love with, is the woman who rescued Griffin and me in the middle of the dragon war. She is the one who brought us to Iron Mountain and took us to the cave to keep us safe.”

“What? Really?” Fern’s eyes go wide. “So you know my mother?”

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