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 theirreflections. 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 orif 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.
Cole must have seen Dominic blanch, and he huffed a laugh. “Don’t worry, Dominic. I have no right to be protective of my daughter. You’ll never have to look down the barrel of my shotgun. I wasn’t there for her growing up, and I have no right to barge into her adult life now… I do want to know why you two have mated, and she claims you’re not dating, though.”
Dominic lifted a shaking hand and rubbed at his forehead. “It’s a big fucking mess.” He felt more inclined to be more open with Cole, knowing they had a tighter mutual connection. “I didn’t even intend for it to happen.”
Cole smirked. “The same thing happened with me and Felicia. One minute, we were kissing, and the next, the bond was there. It was unexpected, and maybe that was part of what made it so hard on us. The bond was formed before she even knew what she was getting into.”
If it were possible for Dominic to pale a whiter shade, he would have. He looked into his black coffee that had gone cold. “Erica doesn’t know about shifters at all.”
“You haven’t told her?” Cole’s voice dropped into a near growl that shamed Dominic.
“I’m planning on it.”
Cole sighed and took a long swig from his own mug, probably wishing it was laced with something stronger.
The two men sat with only the sizzle of the grill behind the counter and the soft murmur of voices from across the diner to fill the silence between them.
Cole brought his hands together and thoughtfully laced his fingers. “She hasn’t been in my life for twenty-five years. God only knows what her mother has said about me. Clearly, she doesn’t recognize me, but… I feel like a fool for hoping that things can turn around for us. Now that she’s here in Tolstone…”
Driven by an urge to console Cole, Dominic said, “Anything’s possible. Maybe if you took her someplace and talked, you could—”
