Page 22 of Shadow of Fury

Wren froze, “What? No?”

“You sure? Because she texted me that she’s going back to Louisiana to find her fated mate, said she’d let us know how it goes and to tell you thank you for proving she’s been right to hold out hope all this time.”

“Weird.” Wren shrugged. “No clue what she’s going on about. I uh… better get to work.”

“Yeah. Good idea.” Raven smirked, clearly not believing her but letting it go.

Wren nodded before grabbing her things and hurrying to the door. She didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with Gia’s wild schemes right now. She was too tired. Even if she felt lighter now that Raven knew the horrible truth and hadn’t held it against her she had enough on her own plate to worry about without bringing her cousin’s drama into it.

Gia was as stuck in the past as she was, but her cousin had clearly decided to do something about her theories and so would Wren. If she could find the evidence, she was looking for today, maybe, just maybe, she could start to move on with her life, one way or another.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Standing in his father’s office, Logan felt as though he’d been transported back in time. It looked exactly the same as it had back when he was a kid. If he’d thought about it at all, he would have assumed that someone would have tried to update it at some point but clearly the room was like the man who occupied it.

Old, out of date, and defiantly unchanged.

The walls were wood paneled, and the carpet was a thick, faded gray. Filing cabinets were lined up along one wall and built-in bookcases covered another. The large oak desk that sat in the middle of the room was massive and so was the wine-colored leather chair behind it when compared to the smaller guest chairs.

He could still remember his father explaining to him why those chairs were smaller than the other furniture, teaching him about intimidation before he’d even known what the word meant.

Logan had spent many an afternoon in this room as a child, playing while his father worked and then, once he’d grown a bit older, being shown how things ran in Shadow Pines.

It was in this room that he’d first realized his father wasn’t only in charge of the pack, but the entire town. He’d still been fairly young and naïve when he learned his father was the Mayor of Shadow Pines in addition to being the Pack Alpha but it hadn’t taken him long to understand that the Alpha needed the official title for the outside world, in case it ever came calling. It was in this room that he had come to truly understand that his father was the sole authority when it came to everything in Shadow Pines.

He’d never given a single moment of thought to this office while he’d been away but now that he was here, he remembered just how much he hated it.

He hated the way his father sat tall in his chair, looking down on him. He hated the way it made him feel small, like the kid he had long ago stopped being. He hated that for just a moment when he’d first walked in, he’d been thankful that he wasn’t the one who had to take that all important seat on the other side of the desk.

When he’d woken up in his old bedroom at the house that morning, he’d promised himself that he would find somewhere else to stay today. He’d tossed and turned all night, restless and haunted by the past. He’d planned to get in touch with Dominic and find out if the local inn was still operating or if anyone else had a couple of rooms he could rent. But of course, his plans went out the window as soon as he’d gone downstairs because his father had been waiting for him, dressed for work already, and demanding that Logan come with him to the office.

He’d argued of course. He’d said he had no interest in anything the old man wanted to show him. His father had threatened to use his Alpha voice to make Logan get in the car but, falling back into her usual role as peacemaker between them, Vivian had dragged him aside to remind him that they still needed to find out what their father was up to and eventually Logan had agreed that he might get the answers he was looking for more easily if he played nice instead of starting fights at every turn.

Only nothing with his father was ever easy.

Logan read the letter his father had given him a second time because he could hardly believe what it said. He knew he’d been out of the loop since he’d left the pack but never in a million years could he have imagined the world of werewolf shifters could have changed enough in six years for something like this to be happening. And that was the problem, his father wouldn’t, and couldn’t change, which was why their pack was dying while others appeared to be flourishing.

There was an alliance forming among the packs, led by the Alpha of the Crescent Pack down in Louisiana. He was bringing their kind together, so they could learn from one another, help keep each other safe, and bring their kind into the future. It was a bold and forward thinking plan that Logan knew would benefit everyone involved, but judging from the scowl on his father’s face it was clear he had no plans of letting the Shadow Pines Pack be one of them.

“This is what you wanted me to see?” Logan held the letter back out to him. “It’s a good idea.”

“It’s a stupid idea.” Byron Kemp hissed, eyes flashing with anger. “The minute you let outsiders into your territory you risk losing control. This DeLuca guy is making moves. I guarantee it. He says he wants to bring us all together to keep us safe but what he’s really doing is getting a lay of the land, figuring out which packs are the strongest and who is weak enough that he can march in and take over.”

“You sound paranoid.’

“It’s not paranoia if it’s true.”

Logan scoffed, “You’re only mad that you didn’t think of it yourself.”

“I brought you back here to show you that the pack is in danger. Our people need a strong leader, someone who won’t bend to this nonsense once I’m gone.”

“No, you brought me here because you’re selfish and you’re scared.”

“I am not scared!” his father roared and Logan stared at him in awe.

Finally, he could see a crack in the facade of strength and authority that Byron was trying to project. When he’d first seen his father yesterday he’d noted that he appeared ill but this morning most of the obvious signs of his sickness were gone. His eyes were no longer red-rimmed, and he wasn’t coughing. Logan had been trying to figure out if it had all been an act or if his father’s shifter genes had somehow healed him, at least temporarily. He didn’t know how that was possible but since he’d never heard of any shifter dying from an illness he’d asked Vivian to find out as much as she could from their mother.

Even if Byron was up and about and looking better today, she’d still been in bed and Logan hadn’t found the time to go and see her yet.