Page 82 of Haze

He encourages them, “Please help yourself to whatever is in the kitchen. I’ll have Lauren get you a suite ready, and once you’ve settled, or maybe tomorrow, we can have a more in-depth discussion.”

“I see,” Aunt Alora says, using her disapproving voice that I recognize from holidays when younger pack members would give her opinions she didn’t ask for.

‘Opinions unasked for are criticism.’ Aunt Alora’s voice echoes in my head.

The moment recalls a memory of her brushing my hair back and tying it into a low braid down my back as she laughs off an unasked for opinion.

Irony: I always wished she’d been my mom.

As he ushers them out the door with more promises to come out and see them soon, Cade’s voice is tense, like he’s holding back a growl.

The door to Cade’s office clicks closed, and then the lock engages with a stupid little jiggle.

I swallow hard and steel myself against a conversation I’ve been putting off.

“So, do we call Judah?” Cade asks.

I turn back to him. His eyes are wide, and he looks as freaked out as I feel.

“And say what? Hey, I think you lost your parents, better come pick them up before I take them to the pound?” I shrug, letting the joke roll out with a flat sardonic tone. I unwind my arms from around my waist and lift my hands, palms up, in a gesture that I have no ideas.

“Do you think his parents will listen if he asks them to leave?” Cade runs his hand back through his hair. He chuckles as he sits on one of the comfy chairs by his fireplace. “Why does it feel like we’ve been caught by Mom and Dad getting into the Solstice presents?”

I plop down in the one adjacent to him, and my words are cold. “Because... they’re my mom and dad.”

His eyes divert from looking at me, and he bows his head.

Cade takes a few moments before responding. “If you tell me you don’t want to be my little sister anymore, I’ll respect that.”

His words are filled with regret and don’t match the anticipated feelings of rejection pumping in my chest.

“What?”

“I wouldn’t blame you.” Cade’s words drop with each syllable. They’re soaked in sadness and remorse. “For hating me after leaving you with Deacon. If you want to take their last name and look at moving to Maine, I’d get it. I wouldn’t stop you.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t want that. I don’t...”

Words are jumbled and come out too quickly. My teeth close together with a click as I try to process.

Cade lets me think for a minute without trying to finish my thoughts.

“Does it bug you that you don’t have answers about where you came from? How you’re here, and the bitch has been living it up in Romania? And why is she here now?” I swallow hard just thinking about her. I bypass her to keep talking. “Apparently Hugo Arcan is involved now?”

Cade shrugs. “I’m confused, but I don’t know that it matters. Revecca said she believed our parents were dead and that I was dead with them.” He sighs, slouching farther into his chair. “I have a family. I have a life. I don’t know her, and it doesn’t seem like Revecca’s all that interested in knowing me. It’s more so what I can do for her. Hugo Arcan and whatever games the royal family is playing for the crown aren’t my business. I’m not Romanian. Even the US federal government confirmed my citizenship multiple times. As far as anyone is concerned, I’m American.”

The silence between us isn’t awkward like it is most of the time.

“It’s not the same situation for me as you,” Cade explains after a few moments. “There are people who can give you answers. I didn’t think to have Robert’s DNA tested when we were in the thick of it. I’m back and forth on having him exhumed for a DNA test, but I don’t want to disrupt the pack with it. What will it change if he is or isn’t related to us? Or to the Ardelean Bloodline?”

I completely understand. I pull my legs up in the chair. “Dinah wants to know how and why. But I’m not interested in becoming an Alloway. I don’t know that I want to know, but at this point, it—”

Cade’s phone rings. His eyebrows draw together as he answers it on speakerphone. “Ezra, what’s up?”

“Really! What’s up?” The sound of Ezra’s truck idling matches his voice. He snaps and growls, “What’s up is that my parents can get through your gate without any problems, but apparently, I don’t make the guest list? What is this, some sort of nepotism? Oh, cute,” Ezra snarls. “The gate guy thinks I’m compensating with my truck.” The snarl turns into a laugh, and I can hear the way his lips draw up into a smirk as I’m guessing he looks at the gateman closely. “Too bad he’s not my type, or I’d show him a good time and prove him wrong.”

“What?” Cade shakes his head at me, trying to figure it out.

I bite my lips together, suppressing my laugh. Only Ezra.

---