Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 39050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“I won’t hurt her anymore.”
“Then don’t give up on her. Give her a chance.” Blueberry smiled at him and stood. “And maybe it is time for you to stop hitting trees. It is not good for your hands, Alpha or not.”
She shook her head as if she was talking to a child, and he laughed.
He watched Blueberry return to her shop, locking the door. Whenever they had humans close by, they always locked their businesses and their homes. It was a habit they had gotten into.
Decker didn’t go home. He went to the town hall where all the documents were needed. When Misha first arrived, he’d been twenty-four years old. He hadn’t been the one to find her, but his father had been the alpha, and as with any child, he knew there would have been an investigation.
Decker went down to the basement and glanced through the filing cabinets, coming to the date of when Misha would have first appeared. He opened it up and found the file. Lifting it out, he didn’t know why he’d never considered looking into her file before.
His feelings for Misha had never diminished. Rejecting her was one of the worst things he’d ever done.
Opening up the file, he frowned when he saw that it was empty but for a single piece of paper.
Misha’s birth certificate. The parents were left blank. This was so odd.
He closed the file and put a call through to his father, which went straight to voicemail.
This was … odd.
He put the file away, made his way up to the main hall, and left the building, locking it up.
There was no way he could go home with all these questions in his head. He headed in the direction of his father’s home.
Getting to the front door, he held his hand up to knock, but stopped.
What the hell was he doing? Delving into Misha’s past must clearly show he was desperate.
Still, he knocked on the door.
He knew his father would have conducted an investigation. There was no doubt in his mind.
One piece of paperwork was odd.
No name for her parents was also odd.
He knocked on the door before he could stop himself. After a few minutes, he knocked again, and this time, he started to bang on the door.
A light turned on, and his father appeared. “Decker, son, you do know it’s late, don’t you?”
“Misha Parks. Her file has a pathetic birth certificate. You know what I noticed, the date of her birth is the same date you found her,” he said. “I know you, Dad, I know you do thorough investigations. You’re not sloppy. What are you hiding?”
His dad sighed and glanced back in the house. He pulled the door closed, and Decker stepped back.
“Son, you don’t want to know this.”
“Yes, I do. I want to know why Misha was abandoned. She’s going to have questions.”
“And then you tell her that her parents left her because they were sick. That’s all she needs to know.”
“But they’re not sick. Are they still alive?” Decker asked.
His father shook his head after a few seconds passed.
“Dad, what’s going on?”
“Twenty-four years ago, I had heard rumor of … sacrifices. There was a select pack who believed in order to gain power, those of a magical kind, if they made a sacrifice of an innocent, then that power would run within the pack. Blueberry came from that pack, Decker. She was … young, afraid. She was due to marry the alpha’s son of that pack, and they told her their secret. That every girl born on the full moon would be sacrificed to the gods in order to gain them power. Misha was that girl. Blueberry came to me. I was the closest alpha, and she told me everything. On that night, I went and saw what they were about to do. Misha was a big baby, but she was so silent. They had the knife ready, and I … I made a decision.”
“Her parents were happy to sacrifice her?” Decker asked.
“They had been brainwashed to believe her death would bring great power.”
Decker shook his head. “How do I not know this?” he asked.
“Because the alphas and I wanted the knowledge to die with us. Blueberry asked for permanent residence. She is a good woman. A kind woman. A healer. She made a vow to never harm another soul, and in doing so, she asked to help Misha. She and Misha are the only survivors of that pack. I made the decision long ago that Misha will never know the truth behind her birth, behind her survival. We are her pack. We will love her and take care of her.”
Chapter Seven
Misha stared up at the full moon, feeling the energy of it as it brushed across her naked body. It had been a full month since she felt this way. She had thought she wouldn’t get this, but the humans had left the other day, and so the full-moon run was allowed.