Chapter Twelve
Dominic slowly stirred his coffee, his gaze distant and unfocused.
The rumble of pummeling rain against the roof and the sound of the spoon hitting his ceramic mug drowned out the incessant nagging in the back of his head that he shouldn’t be at the Lunar Lantern.
He should be at Erica’s house. He should be holding her, satiating this need to be close and putting a little less strain on their mating bond.
Instead, he sat in a booth at the far back of the diner, his phone silent on the tabletop as he waited for Cole to show up.
They scheduled this meeting hours ago, shortly after he broke up the bar fight between Rick and Lincoln.
Though the sheriff wouldn’t tell him why he wanted to meet, Dominic picked up on the slightly frazzled, frantic undercurrent in his words.
When Cole requested that he make sure no other shifters would be in the diner to listen in on their conversation, Dominic knew this had to be serious.
He speculated whether this meeting was about what happened between Erica and Cole earlier that day.
Something significant must have happened but common sense told him that Cole would be more forthcoming with the details than Erica.
His curiosity and respect for the older alpha were the only reasons he didn’t try to bail on the meeting and walk to Crescent Lane in the pouring rain to be with Erica.
The diner door opened, and Dominic looked up to see Cole, dressed in civilian clothes and shaking off his thin raincoat, droplets scattering across the already wet tile floor.
He had seen Cole in jeans and a plain shirt before, but not in months.
The cop told him once that he sometimes felt more comfortable in his uniform than in any other outfit.
Maybe that was why the shifter looked like he was about ready to bust out of his skin.
Cole dropped into the booth across from Dominic and seemed to ignore his analyzing stare as he glanced around for any other shifter.
“I told Gwen and Jaime to take a break for an hour. Do you need more time than that?”
“What about Madison?” the sheriff asked. Madison sometimes did her homework at the diner when her parents worked late.
“I told her mother not to let her out in public too often until she had a handle on sensory control. Madison didn’t seem to do well at the festival yesterday … What’s gotten into you? You look like shit.”
Dominic saw a bit of redness in the whites of Cole’s eyes, as if the man had been crying or perhaps he was sleep deprived. Cole appeared haggard and drained, but he could tell that the sheriff was putting on a brave face in front of his superior.
“I feel like shit.”
The other part-time waitress came up and offered coffee. Cole eagerly agreed and she poured him a cup before walking away.
Dominic was unable to wait long enough for Cole to come out about his private troubles. “So, what happened with Erica earlier today? I assume that’s what this is about.”
The Prime Alpha had hit a nerve. At the utterance of Erica’s name, Cole stiffened, and he looked at Dominic from below his brows.
“That bad?” he questioned.
Cole gravely shook his head and took the first sip of his black coffee. “Not bad. Not bad at all … Too good, maybe … I’m not sure yet.”
Dominic pulled out the spoon from his own mug and set it on a napkin. “Are you going to give me the play-by-play or make me guess?”
The cop’s fingertips tightened over the mug, and Dominic wondered if he’d break it. “She went to Decatur. On her way back, her jeep broke down. Bad alternator. I took her to Gage’s and he’s going to get it fixed in the morning.”
That explained why their bond felt so pulled thin this morning and why Erica was in the car with Cole, but not why the cop was so disturbed by her name. “Did she say why she was in Decatur?”
Cole let his eyes fall to the table, and he set the mug down. “She went to visit her mother.” An aura of sadness passed over the alpha that Dominic couldn’t decipher.
“She told me her mom died last year.” That must have been why Erica came into his shop so distressed.
What happened in that cemetery that she didn’t want to talk about?
Then, he remembered a past conversation that began in almost a similar way, with Cole looking like he had seen a ghost. “Did you know Erica’s mom? ”
“I did … Very well.” Cole’s voice dropped so low that no one else in the diner would have heard him except for Dominic.
Contented that the mystery had been solved, Dominic eased away. The sight of Erica may have brought up painful memories for Cole. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
He hated those words. He hated the way they tasted and how little they did. Everyone thought it was the perfect thing to say to someone who had a piece of their life ripped away from them.
Cole passed a hand over his eyes and stared out the window to look over the dark, glistening town square.
The fountain had been turned off for the night, most of the stores were closed, and only the occasional headlight curved its way through the roundabout.
In the windowpane, Dominic could see their reflections.
Two shifters, grieving in their own way.
It had been a long day for both of them.
A question burned in his mind. Did Cole know Erica when she was a baby or a child? Maybe Cole knew where her father was, or at least knew of him. If Dominic came with good news, Erica might be more ready to accept his company that night.
“Felicia was … she was my mate. My wife. I had to leave her and Erica behind when the hunters came. I begged your father to let them come along, but Felicia … she—”
Dominic almost spilled his coffee when he held up his hands to stop the alpha’s confession. “Whoa! Slow down … What did you just say?”
Cole slid a glance his way, but he must have been too numb to express anything but that immense sorrow behind his eyes. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”
For all his dominance, for all his Prime Alpha training, Dominic felt like a little kid being told to shut up by a grown adult. He sat back and stared, a silent listener to everything Cole had to say.
“Things hadn’t been good between Felicia and I for a while.
I convinced Malcolm to let her come to Tolstone.
Maybe you were too young to remember, but hunters were everywhere back then.
Tolstone was packed and I had to room with Ronan and a few others from another pack in a tiny studio apartment.
I knew how crowded it would be, but I wanted my family with me.
Your father was ready to open up his home to us when Felicia told me to just go without her. ”
Cole sighed and covered his bloodshot eyes.
“We fought for days about it. Erica was just a toddler, and I didn’t want them to get hurt.
I felt like I’d be hopping onto the Ark while they drowned in the flood, but she didn’t care.
She said she didn’t want Erica to grow up with shifters.
She barely tolerated the fact that I was an alpha.
I don’t know if I was just tired of fighting or if I was trying to give Felicia what she wanted, but I left without them.
Even when there was room after the hunters moved on, she wouldn’t come to me.
She didn’t want any part of being an alpha’s mate. ”
He dropped his hand and looked at Dominic, more composed than he had been a moment ago. It was a wonder he hadn’t seen their similarities before now. Erica had his eyes, his nose, and his forehead. The rest of her feminine beauty must have come from her mother.
“I told her there was a chance that Erica could become a shifter. They came to visit several times while she was growing up to confirm if she would or wouldn’t, but Felicia never let me spend any time with Erica.
I only ever watched her from a distance while she played on the shores of Jade Lake.
One visit, I looked at her and knew she was old enough to tell or not.
She wouldn’t become a shifter. Felicia was thrilled, and I never saw either of them again.
No cards, no phone calls … I sent what financial help I could, but it was always returned to me.
” A rueful smile spread over his lips, an almost tragic look.
“Felicia was always so proud. Wouldn’t take help from anyone, and it looks like she’s taught Erica to be the same way.
She didn’t want me to help pay for a new alternator earlier today. ”
Dominic could feel the blood drain from his face.
Cole was Erica’s father. It was his daughter that he dreamed about, that he fantasized about, that his cock hardened for whenever she laughed or cast him that flirty glance, whose kiss he savored, and whose body he craved daily.
What was worse, Cole would have known they were mated.
All shifters could sense the mating bond.
If he could help it, the sheriff would never learn about all the things that passed through Dominic’s head when he thought about Erica.
He knew the cop could make people disappear if he had the mind to.
Additionally, this clarified everything. Their visits to Tolstone when she was younger, the way she was raised, and her staunch views on refusing help when it was offered. That didn’t make understanding her mind any easier.
He remembered that time Cole spoke of when packs from all over the Midwest and Northeast flocked to Tolstone looking for a safe haven. He just never imagined that Cole would have left so much in Decatur. They had to have severed the mating bond to make the separation more bearable.