I jerked my head at the trash can she’d tossed wrappers in. June’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Oh. Yeah, Bryce asked me to do that. She didn’t want her brother to see the wrappers or anybody to know they were ours. I told them she has no reason to be insecure, that the pack was young and immature, but, well, scars are scars for a reason, right? They don’t leave easily.”
Her eyes narrowed on me, and a stab of guilt and anger pulsed through me. I recalled Theo’s comments from the other night, always so derogatory about Bryce.
“You should speak to her,” June said. “She mentioned she’s only seen you the day you picked her up from her place.”
“And has avoided me ever since.”
“She’s avoiding pretty much everything, Mason.”
June’s voice was soft and consoling, something I wasn’t very used to with being around my pack so often.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Maybe.”
“You deserve a chance to show her you’re a good guy. I know that the folk around here know it. The one person who needs to know it doesn’t. Maybe she should. Anyway, I gotta run to the museum, but can we meet sometime soon? I want to talk to you about something.”
“Is something wrong?” I asked, my defenses alert, thinking of another fire, another issue to solve.
June shook her head. “Nope, but I want to fill you in on some things I’ve discovered.”
“Sure. I’ll catch up with you soon.”
\She nodded and began to head off, but when she was several paces ahead, she turned. “Give her a chance to forgive you. To see who you are now.”
I only nodded, but as soon as June was gone, I remained half-hidden in the treeline, unable to approach her. My thoughts kept straying to the tossed wrappers. She was that insecure about her eating habits, of one small burger. Her vulnerability about her body had been so deep-rooted, and I had not understood, butshouldhave. The pack had done that, and I had gone along with it, needing to command their respect as their alpha.
Hell, I could kill them. I’d tear them all apart for what they had caused in her—and I was one of them. I was ashamed, and I knew I needed to be harder on my pack, to have them all grovel before her one day. An image gripped me: shoving Theoto the floor, prone before Bryce, and her demanding the apology she was entitled to. I’d watch her, a powerful shifter in her own right, claiming herself back, released from the insecurities my pack had caused.
Back then, when we’d been younger, I’d gone along with it because I’d convinced myself that having any interaction—even at the expense of her—with Bryce was better than nothing. I had been nothing but a stupid bully, going along with the boys. Back then, all of us had been stupid and young, not realizing how deeply we would wound her.
But that wasn’t me anymore.
No, I thought. It wasn’t, and I’d prove that to her. I’d protect her now. I would stand in the way of anything that tried to harm her in any way.
I made my way back nearer to the house. If anyone saw me, they’d ask questions, as June had, but I just needed to benearBryce. I needed to feel that energy of hers surrounding me. Even if she was angry at me, I’d take anything.
She was a siren, and I was helpless to her call. How could I have let her walk away all those years ago? How could the father of her child possibly leave her as well? What had Bryce endured all these years, raising Cassandra alone? Had she been left? Had it been a choice? Bryce loved Cassandra fiercely. I’d sensed that already—seen that—so was it possible she had chosen to raise her independently?
But out there, with nobody else to babysit, babysit, help out on those nights when a baby wouldn’t sleep…
If I had been the father, no matter the issues between Bryce and me, I would have helped. Fuck, I’d have had the entire pack doing diaper runs to the store, and learning how to soothe an infant if I couldn’t have been there.
Who was he?
Why hadn’t he ever shown up?
Did he even know he had a child?
And if he did, was it only a matter of time before he turned up at Honeycreek after finding Bryce gone from White Bay and caused trouble?
My eyes lifted to the guest room, finding it empty. I tracked Bryce’s energy to the living room. I moved around the house, finding her sitting curled up with Cassandra. With a paper and pen in hand, her daughter scribbled away, her tongue sticking cutly out.
Bryce’s own gaze was dazed, staring off. My heart kicked into a hard pattern, and I thought she was having another one of her attacks. I figured they were anxiety attacks, but she always went utterly white, her body freezing up, and her chest heaving as her breath rushed in and out of her.
She had been gripped in the clutches ofsomething, and I couldn’t interfere against every instinct. Part of me wanted to force myself into her space when the two had happened, but I couldn’t. How many of those had she gone through alone in White Bay?
Bryce blinked, and I realized she had just been deep in thought.
