Page 266 of His Hungry Wolf

Cage had been kidnapped from the hospital as a baby and had spent his life living with the guy who snatched him thinking his mother had died in childbirth. But then Cage met Quin and all hell broke loose. In a few weeks, Quin had figured out that the man who raised Cage was a dragon shifter and not his biological father, and had found us.

Quin was able to figure out the two of us were brothers based on nothing. The guy was super smart. And, since my mother never told me who my father is, who, it turns out, is also Cage’s father, I asked Quin to look into it. I knew he had been working on it, but he hadn’t given me an update in a while.

“What I’ve learned is that it probably isn’t anyone in town.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Why? Did you suspect someone?”

“I thought so.”

“Well, I could be wrong. But I’ve been talking to your mother about it. She’s been doing a lot better lately. And she certainly isn’t willing to say much, but she gave me the impression that she moved to town after she got pregnant with you. I’m thinking that if it was someone here, she would have been living here before she got pregnant with Cage.”

“So, you’re not basing it on any of your science-y stuff?”

“I can’t just ask every guy in town to take a paternity test.”

“Not every guy… And, you didn’t need a test to know I was Cage’s brother.”

“That’s different. You guys have the same rare genetic traits. Besides, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for that. So far your mother is the only one I’ve found who has them.”

“So, again it’s down to getting my mother to spill the beans and she’s not talking.”

“I’m afraid she’s not. And, maybe that’s a good thing.”

“Why would my growing up not knowing who my dad is be a good thing? At least Cage had that guy. He might have been a dragon shifter piece of shit for doing what he did, but he was there. Mama was all I had. When she lost her marbles, I had no one. How could that be better?”

Quin stayed quiet for a while before answering.

“Nero, I think there’s something going on that you might not want to know about. After talking to your mother, I’m starting to think that it might be better left in the past.”

“What do you mean? Do you know something you aren’t sayin’?”

“No. I’ve told you everything I know. But, have you ever wondered what set your mother on her downward spiral?”

“Yeah. Of course. It was when Cage was snatched, and the hospital lied and said that he had died. She knew it wasn’t true.”

“That’s what she says and that’s possible. But, you said she didn’t get bad until you were much older. So, how was she able to hold it together for so long? And, what finally sent her over the edge?”

“It wasn’t, like, one thing. It was gradual. I watched it.”

“Yeah, but maybe you weren’t watching what you thought you were. Maybe there was something else going on.”

“So, you’re saying something triggered her checking out on things? Like a spell?”

“That’s my guess. And, my other guess is that, you might not want to know why it was cast.”

I thought about that for a while.

“You tell Cage any of this?”

“Cage hasn’t asked about it.”

“So, you’re only gonna bring it up if he asks?”

“Probably.”

“Which is why I had to ask you about it?”