Daniel looks at Maddox, who nods to underline my words.
“Alright, I’ll take your word for it,” Daniel says.
“I am going with Felix tomorrow and will stay in his pack,” Maddox says. He massages his temples once more before he gets up. “I… I’ll be back in a minute.” With that, he leaves in the direction of the restrooms.
“He needs a moment,” Daniel says to me. “Let’s give him that.”
“Of course,” I mutter. “I have such loving parents. I don’t know how it feels or how it would feel…” My voice trails off. It’s impossible for me to even word my thoughts.
“I know,” Daniel says quietly.
“I thought I would hate him,” I say. “After what I heard, I thought he might be a stuck-up, arrogant alpha’s heir and that I would despise him. But he is so different from what I imagined.”
“He has a lot of problems,” Daniel says evasively. “He is detached and acts very slowly, and is often far away in his thoughts,” he pauses. “Sometimes that proved to be a problem when he should have acted but didn’t. There are a lot of things he has been battling ever since he was a child.”
I frown. “After meeting his father, I can imagine.”
“I am glad you are taking him with you to Silverlake,” Daniel says. “I have been trying to convince him to take a break for a long while, but with his responsibilities, he can’t just leave.”
Once more, I ask myself why the fuck I even care so much. Life would be easier if I didn’t, but now that I‘ve visited this pack, I can’t turn my back on this whole shitshow anymore, even if Maddox might not be my favorite person.
“May I ask you something, Daniel?”
“Of course.”
“How is Evelyn doing?” There is no way for me to ask him subtly, so I may as well just ask the question.
As expected, Daniel stares at me, his brows furrowed. “She is well. She recently went on a short trip with her mate,” he finally says while keeping his eyes pinned on me. “You promise me Gwen is safe?”
“She is,” I say. I would never let anyone harm her, I add in my thoughts, but don’t say it out loud. We still need to keep this cover, at least somewhat. I am pretty sure Daniel already has his own ideas of what’s going on.
“I will believe you,” he says. “Maddox wouldn’t have brought you here if you weren’t trustworthy.”
“You really like him,” I say, dumbfounded.
“I don’t have children,” he says. “Which is why I couldn’t help but dote on Gwen and Maddox. Gwen in particular. Her father was one of my best friends, and when he died, I swore to myself to help her as much as I could. As for Maddox… I want to smack him sometimes, but I want to protect him, too.”
“You sound like the dad he never had,” I mutter, more to myself than to him. “Say… there is something I want to ask you.”
“Go ahead.” Daniel furrows his brows again. “I am getting used to being bombarded with weird questions.”
“Did you know Gwen’s mother?”
At that, Daniel looks at me, surprised. “Her mother…”
I know Gwen doesn’t know anything about her. Either her dad truly didn’t know her well or didn’t want Gwen to know more, maybe because he thought she was too young, or it would hurt her. When Daniel stays quiet, I sit up a bit straighter. “You know something!”
“Gwen’s father wanted to tell her when she was older, but never had the chance to do so,” Daniel says. “But, unfortunately, he never told me much. I would have told Gwen immediately, had I known.”
“Her mother is human?”
“From what I know, yes.”
“But they weren’t mates, right?”
“That’s true. And it’s also true that she brought Gwen to Hank – Gwen’s dad - begging him to take her and to protect her. Hank was a very respectful man who stood by his values. He would have taken her as his chosen mate and protected them both. That’s the kind of person he was, but somehow… she… I don’t know. Hank said she was terrified of him being a shifter. I don’t know if that was the whole truth.”
That pretty much correlates with what Gwen told me. “What do you think he hid?”
