Free Pack Secrets by Shannon Duane Page A

Tidus to manipulate her. She’d had very limited contact with him after she found out she was with child.
    It had been the same day she’d found out who he really was. She had hidden out in his office to surprise him, the office he never allowed anyone in. She found out why. Hiding in the closet, she heard him talk about his forced takeover of this pack and how he’d killed the previous alpha outside of a fair challenge. He spoke about mating a female of every shifter species so he’d have an army of shifter children to mentor.
    As she listened, her blood ran cold. Even as he spoke about her and his fake courting of her and how easy she’d been duped, Dee hadn’t moved. She’d been frozen in place by shock and quite a bit of loathing; add in a healthy dose of shame for believing someone so insane and unstable. Instead of popping out of his closet to share in the joy of what they created, she waited. When he finally left that night she went to her flower shop immediately and masked her scent. She never went anywhere without her trusty overbearing perfume.
    For months she wore that perfume, keeping her secret from Tidus. He hated the scent and couldn’t bring himself to touch her while she wore it. That benefit almost made up for the beatings he gave her for her refusal to stop wearing it.
    Every day she grew a little stronger and far more bitter at her stupidity. One morning, Tidus came to her door before she put on her perfume and kicked it down in anger. Her scent permeated the house, but she hoped it was covered up enough by the lingering perfume so that he wouldn’t notice her underlying pregnancy. Tired of dealing with him, she attempted to take his life and was only successful at angering him more. She smiled, thinking of how she stabbed him in the shoulder with a kitchen knife: she had been aiming for his neck. After that, he tended to keep clear of her. He liked a woman to fight but knew enough to stay away from alpha bitches.
    She delivered her son alone and immediately sent him to live with her parents. It was the only thing she could think of. If she’d fled with him, Tidus would have sent someone after her. Her parents were none too happy about raising an alpha wolf, especially since they were both lynx. They belonged to a small pack of cats and poor Carter was banned from shifting because he’d been so much stronger than the cats and they feared him. Carter would have been at risk wherever he was, if he was associated with her, so she had to keep her distance. She went to visit him only once during those years and it turned out to be a disaster.
    It was a blessing when alpha Blake came to take over. He’d known as soon as she’d completed the blood bond with him, about her situation. He made it known that he’d bring her son back to her so he could ‘be properly raised with his mama and a pack of wolves.’
     
    Justin watched her as a wealth of emotions crossed her face and her scent changed a million times over; fear, hatred, happiness, doubt, love. He knew she was thinking back to the past and all of these feelings were old. He’d let her have her time because very shortly he’d want her to focus only on him and the possibility of their future.
    After a few minutes, Dee shook herself from the past and peered over at him with longing. The walls around her heart began to erode, leaving him space to enter and leave his mark. “Do you believe me?”
    She nodded once.
    “I want you to know deep down to your very core that I don’t blame you or think badly of you. You’ve protected yourself and your son for years. In fact, I’m proud of you and I’d be honored if you chose me as your mate.”
    There was a definite glistening in her eyes followed by a salty scent in the car. He never wanted to see her cry or smell her tears. Dee was a fighter, a mother, a survivor, and his mate. He wiped away a lone tear that spilled over onto her cheek. Then he turned, shot out of the car, and had her up and in