Chapter One #2
More ominous words had never been spoken. Girding herself for the battle to come, she strode across the room and took one of the chairs. “What do you want to know?”
****
I have a son.
Cyrus had been shot, stabbed, caught in an explosion once, and in more fights than he cared to remember, but nothing had ever hit him as hard as discovering that sixteen years ago, he’d left a piece of himself behind in a small West Virginia town.
For more nights than he cared to admit, the woman seated at the table had haunted his dreams. Vinnie Grant. It was a tough, no-nonsense name, much like the woman who owned it. She’d matured, her facial features honed even sharper. She’d been beautiful all those years ago. Now she was exquisite.
Cursing his body’s wayward reaction, he dropped down onto his chair at the head of the table. Josiah’s disapproval radiated across the room. Too damn bad. “Tell me everything.”
She rubbed her hands over her face. For the first time, he noted the dark circles under her eyes and the tightness around her mouth. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Tell me about Adam.” Tell me about my son. A sense of possessiveness reared up inside him. It didn’t seem possible. The odds of a human and werewolf creating a child were astronomical. It had never, not once, occurred to him he might have fathered a child that fateful night.
“Here.” Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out a picture and handed it to him. “It’s his school picture from last year.”
When he didn’t take it, she put it on the table and pushed it toward him.
Defiant eyes stared back at him. Familiar eyes—black as sin—his eyes.
Coupled with the shaggy brown hair, square jaw, high forehead, and sharp cheekbones, it was like looking at a picture of himself at that age.
Any doubts he’d harbored vanished. There was no mistaking Adam as anything other than his son.
“Damn.” Josiah reached out to take the picture, but Cyrus beat him to it.
Heart pounding in his chest, he stared into the face of his son before turning his attention to the woman who’d irreparably changed his life. Sixteen years ago, she’d ruined him for any chance at a relationship. He’d never wanted another woman the way he’d wanted her.
“You said he’s missing.” The idea of something happening to him before Cyrus could meet him was unacceptable.
She raked her fingers through her hair and blew out a breath. “You have to understand. Life hasn’t been easy for him. Growing up in a small town without a father...”
“I can imagine.” Tough would be an understatement. Too many people were judgmental and disapproving, quick to point a finger at someone else’s perceived shortcomings rather than face their own.
“My dad was a sheriff’s deputy. He died in the line of duty when I was ten. My mom raised me. I don’t know what I would have done without her. She loved Adam from the second he was born. They shared a special bond. Adam’s been struggling since she passed away last year. We both have.”
“I’m sorry.” He’d lost both his parents and understood what it was like to suddenly be solely responsible for a child. It had been his brothers, but the situations were similar.
“Yeah, me too. Puberty is hard on most kids, but Adam...” She shook her head.
“The change in him has been drastic. He’s moody and angry and secretive.
I’ve taken him camping his entire life, taught him how to survive in the wilderness, but he started going out on his own without telling me. I objected and we had a huge fight.”
She turned away but not before he noted her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. When she turned back, they were gone. His admiration of her strength went up a notch. “I take it you’ve searched.”
She threw her hands in the air. “I hiked to all his favorite places, talked to all his friends. He left a note on his bed saying he was going camping, that he had things he needed to work out.”
Cyrus just bet he did. He glanced at Josiah and saw the realization dawn in his brother’s eyes.
Most hybrids went through life with great health, stronger and faster than most, but they were human.
Still, puberty was never easy on them with the two sides of themselves battling for supremacy.
There were rumors—more folktales than fact—that whispered of some special children who were able to shift, who were more werewolf than human.
“When I couldn’t find him, I contacted the sheriff, my boss.
Local search and rescue teams were mobilized.
” Her voice hitched and she pressed her lips together.
“Five days and nights of trekking through the bush without a sign. Everyone is sympathetic, but they couldn’t keep going indefinitely.
Law enforcement across the state has been notified to keep a lookout for him, but there’s nothing more they can do.
That’s why I came here hoping to hire a tracker.
I took a leave of absence. My son is out there somewhere.
With or without your help, I won’t stop until I find him. ”
Her love and devotion for Adam shone through with unmistakable ferocity.
I want that. The thought came in a flash of knowing that went all the way to his core.
He’d lost her once, but by some miracle here she was.
It went against every rule he’d been taught and lived by.
Humans and wolves didn’t mingle, other than in the most superficial ways.
The safety of their kind depended on it.
But they shared a son, one that might be more like Cyrus than his mother.
Even if that turned out to be the case, he had no doubt she’d do whatever it took to protect him.
It was all conjecture at this point. But human or wolf, Adam Grant was his son, was a Sin.
Drawing on years of practice, he suppressed the maelstrom of emotions swirling inside him and focused on the task at hand. Suck it up and do what needs doing. It was something he’d been telling himself his entire life. If ever there was a time to fall back on that mantra it was now.
“Does Adam have access to money?” If there was a paper trail it would give them a starting point.
“Yes, but it hasn’t been touched. I have an alert on my phone.” She reached across the table and took the picture he was still holding. He reluctantly released it. After a final glance at the image of her son, she tucked it safely away. “Does this mean you’ll help?”
The hope in her eyes made his chest ache.
This could end badly for all of them. Their lives were on a collision course with no way of knowing what the ending would be.
He could be endangering the lives of his brothers, the same brothers he’d spent a lifetime protecting.
But there was only one answer he could give.
Whatever sacrifices had to be made, he’d make them.
He’d let this woman go once because it had been the right thing, the only thing, to do.
His brothers were no longer children, no longer needed him. But she did, and so did his son.
“I’ll help.”
She closed her eyes and nodded. A lone tear slid down her cheek. She impatiently brushed it away. “Sorry, it’s been a hell of a long week. What’s our first move?”