Page 25 of Wolf Revealed

“Ready?” Mike asked with a grin.

Kal nodded and enthusiastically led the way to the kitchen. While Mike added ground beef to a bowl and generously seasoned it, she and Kal grabbed buns and chips from the walk-in pantry, then bottles of iced tea, condiments, and a jar of dill pickle spears from the fridge. Lark started to get the plates when she noticed Mike wasn’t making very many burger patties.

“Isn’t everyone else eating, too?” she asked.

Mike shook his head as he glanced at her. “It’s just going to be us.”

Huh. She wondered if Mike had choreographed that to give them some family time, or if someone else suggested it. Either way, it made her want to do a happy dance.

The outdoor kitchen was like something out of her dreams. A trellis covered both the cooking and dining area, making it easy to use the fancy grill and surrounding granite countertop as well as eat outside regardless of the weather. Today, however, it was perfect.

And so was the company.

“Do your parents live in Dallas?” Kal asked Mike after they’d all sat down to eat.

Mike glanced up as he squeezed some extra ketchup on his plate for dipping his burger. Lark couldn’t help but smile. He’d introduced her to that particular move on their first date, and she’d been putting a pool of ketchup to dip her burgers and fries in ever since.

“They do,” he said.

“Can I meet them?” Kal asked excitedly.

On the other side of the table, Mike chuckled. “You already did when you were a baby.”

Kal scrunched up his face, thinking, then shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

Mike’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “I didn’t think you would. But I know they can’t wait to see you and your mom again. We’ll go visit them after it’s safe.”

“Cool!” Kal ate some chips. “Do they know you’re a werewolf? Mom said not everyone knows we exist.”

Mike’s gaze flicked to hers for a moment. “Your mom is right. And since most people don’t know about werewolves, we have to be careful about who we tell. But to answer your question, yes, my parents know.”

Lark smiled. She’d gotten to know Mike’s parents when she and Mike had been together. They were awesome people. She only hoped they forgave her for taking their grandson away from them. “That’s good. I’m glad you were able to tell them.”

“Me, too,” he said. “It’s made things easier, that’s for sure.”

She felt her chest tighten, once again hating the decision she’d made not to tell him she was a werewolf all those years ago. But she couldn’t wallow in that. If they were going to have a chance at being a family, they needed to leave the past where it was.

“How did you turn into a werewolf?” Kal asked, taking a bite of his cheeseburger.

Lark looked sharply at Mike, bottle of iced tea halfway to her mouth, hoping he’d realize their son didn’t need to know all the gory details. Heck, she didn’t want to know them, either.

Mike gave her a little nod to let her know he understood what her look had meant before turning back to Kal. “You’re in... fourth grade, right?”

Kal nodded.

“Have you talked about DNA in science yet?”

Their son thought a moment. “That’s like why I have purple eyes like Mom, right?”

“Exactly,” Mike said. “Well, I have something in my DNA that turned me into a werewolf when it decided the time was right.”

As Kal did some more thinking about that, Lark found herself hoping he didn’t ask why it had. Luckily, he didn’t.

“Does that mean your parents are werewolves, too, and don’t know it?” Kal asked.

“Um...” Mike started to answer, then stopped, looking questioningly at Lark.

She finished the mouthful of cheeseburger she was chewing before answering. “Maybe? All we can say for sure is that since you’re a hybrid werewolf, at some point, someone in your family was born a werewolf.”