Page 118 of Possessive Wolf Daddy

That counted for a lot.

“I didn’t cheat on your mom, for the record,” Denny said. “We were never together. Not like that. She came on pretty strong to me that spring I was here in Evergreen, working the Houghton case—and I’d just realized I had a blood curse that meant I’d never know my mate. She was pretty, I was reckless… it was doomed from the start.”

“Did she tell you about me?”

“Nah. We had a fight the night I left. She was pissed that I was leaving, but I’d told her from the start I wasn’t looking for anything serious and that I had another job to get to…” He shook his head. “Messy. She told me to never speak to her again, and I thought she was off her rocker, so I took her up on it.”

“That…does sound kind of like Mom,” I admitted. It was the same pattern her other relationships had taken, too. It made me wonder, though… if I’d been an accident, and Mom had never planned on speaking to Denny again, why had she kept me? She’d never had another baby, not even with the men she’d married.

Was it because Denny was a shifter? Had she hoped I’d become one, too?

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. That thought made me a little sick.

No wonder she’d always been so disappointed in me. She’d probably been hoping for an accessory. A little wolf-cub she could play dress-up and fetch with, show off for tail-chaser clout. Haul around in her Birkin bag like a little purse-dog.

“Does this mean I’m… half-wolf, then?” I asked, and Denny tilted his head to the side thoughtfully.

“Have you ever shifted?”

“No. Of course not.” I might have put this puzzle together a little more quickly if I had.

“I’d say you’ve got wolf in your blood,” Denny said. “Having twin shifters—alphas, at that—tells me you got a little of it from me. Might even explain why it took Miller so long to have his moon dream about you. Any shifter kid of mine would’ve inherited my curse. But since you’re human…”

“A half-wolf with a half-curse.”With a mother who only ever half-loved me. Ha.“Yeah. I guess that would make sense. Couldn’t even be a whole disappointment.”

Denny frowned. “I’m not disappointed in you. You’re a better kid than I ever dreamed of. What’s there to be disappointed about?”

My lips curled into a bitter smile as I brushed his kind words away. “You’re not my only parent.”

“Ah. Shit. Your mom?”

I nodded.

“What was she like when you were growing up?”

“Not the best parent, admittedly, or the most stable. I spent a lot of time being told I wasn’t good enough. Spent a lot more of the time just…alone.”

“Yeah, then maybe you should hate me,” Denny said. “If I’d known you existed, I wouldn’t have let any of that shit fly. I would’ve been there for you. From day fuckin’ one. That’s the truth. I know that for sure.”

I believed him. The hurt in my chest was beginning to unwind itself, falling limp.

“You didn’t know, though,” I said. “Mom never told you, so what could you have done?”

Denny merely shrugged.

“Where do we go from here?” I asked.

“I guess that’s up to you, kid. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, I’m feeling a little less chickenshit about all of this,” he said. “Xander’s already met my family. Maybe you can, too, someday. They liked him. They’ll like you even more. Especially my mom. If you cropped your hair short and started wearing leather, you’d look just like she did when she was young.”

My lips quirked. “I think I’d like that a lot.”

“I wouldn’t mind being in your life, either,” Denny said, a little more tentatively. “Wouldn’t mind making up for lost time.”

“I’ll talk to Xander. And I’ll think about it.” There was no telling how he felt about all of this. I was sure he’d agree with whatever I decided, but this wasn’t just my life Denny would become a part of if he stayed. It was Xander’s, too, and the boys’. “It might be nice.”

He nodded, falling silent again. It was a little awkward, but then again, things were bound to be, weren’t they?

I’d take the strangeness of this moment over the dread of the last month any day.

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