“You look like you’re about to piss your pants,” I muttered to Ariana as I fell back on the couch.
When she didn’t answer, I glanced up at her and did a double-take.
“Ari?”
She slowly raised her head to look at me. “I. . .” she hesitated. “I-I was cleaning the desk and f-found photos.”
“Of who?” I asked her.
She didn’t answer me but her eyes dropped to the desk.
Frowning, I got up and walked over to her. For a few seconds I studied her side profile and then followed her gaze. I saw the photos of Mom and Dad first which made me smile, but the smile slowly faded when Ariana pushed a photo towards me.
“It’s Ethan,” she whispered.
With a scoff I picked the photo up and studied it a little closer. It was him without a doubt but the only difference was the fact that his face was clean shaven.
“He called me Lara when we first met,” Ariana told me.
“I don’t understand,” I muttered as I reached for another photo.
My eyes darted over each and every one of them before I looked up at my sister.
“Why would Dad allow Mom to be with another man?” she asked.
I already knew the answer to her question, I just wasn’t sure whether I should tell her or not. At least now I understood why Dad was so happy about Ari and I having our own mates, and later why he was so shocked to find out that we actually shared one.
Dad had to share Mom with. . .Ethan.
It was a rarity for Lycans to share mates unless they were twins or mates were chosen like with our grandparents. Not only did I understand things better but the snippets of conversations I had picked up between Dad and our grandparents made sense.
But it also left so many unanswered questions.
“Eva?”
“Mom had two mates.” I blinked and focused on Ariana. “Ethan was Mom’s mate too.”
Ariana’s frown deepened. “If he was part of our pack then why had he been living out there? Why did he leave? Why couldn’t I remember him being around when we were little?
My eyes dropped to the photos again. How could they have hid something so important from us?
With a growl, I grabbed the photos and stormed out of the room.
“Eva! Where are you going?”
Dad was pissed at us for lying to him and then trying to fix the problem ourselves but he was no better! He wasn’t being fair to either of us. We had always been honest with each other because that was the kind of relationship he wanted us to have, but he had been lying to us for years.
“Eva!”
I ignored her as I stormed out of the house and headed in the direction of the pack house where Dad was. A glance over my shoulder made my frown deepen. Ariana wanted answers but she didn’t have the guts to follow me.
With a irritated growl, I picked up speed.
Because of the map Lucas had of the pack grounds, Dad had changed everything expect for our house. It pissed a lot of pack members off but in the end Dad had pointed out that he would rather have them being angry at him than having to clean dead bodies.
The door to the office was closed—a clear sign that a meeting was in process. I hesitated but it only lasted a few minutes.
All heads turned towards me when I entered the room. Dad’s lips parted like he was about to scold me but then his eyes dropped to the photos I had clutched in my hand.
I felt some satisfaction when he paled.
“We need to talk,” I growled.
He swallowed. “Meeting dismissed.”
I moved to the side and watched as the men left. The moment the door closed behind the last man, Dad turned to glare at me.
“I told you to stay out of the journals.”
“It never bothered me,” I told him. “I don’t like reading but now I’m kicking myself because I haven’t—”
“Stay out of it,” Dad growled.
“Why?” I threw the photos down on the table in front of him. “How many more secrets will we find hidden in them?”
“Eva—”
“Honesty, that was what you wanted between us,” I interrupted him. “We’ve always been honest with you and the one time we lie you make us feel like utter shit but you’re a liar too! You’ve been lying to us for years and—”
“Some things are better left buried in the past,” he growled.
“Are you serious?” I yelled. “I tell one stupid fucking lie and you—”
“It wasn’t a stupid lie! It was a lie big enough to destroy not only your life but your sister’s and two other people too.” Dad ran a hand through his hair. “God, Eva, you don’t understand the destruction one little lie can cause.”
The anger slowly drained from me when I caught the raw pain in Dad’s eyes. For a moment my harsh breathing was the only sound that filled the room.
“Was Ethan also Mom’s true mate?” He nodded. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because it won’t change anything.” Dad leaned forward and picked up one of the photos.
He stared at it silently for a few seconds before he looked at me.
“I lied because I thought that it was the right thing to do,” he muttered, “but by the time I realized how wrong I had been, it had already been too late to fix things.”
I walked closer. “Ethan was the one who called that day and told you where to find Ariana, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Dad?”
He sighed. “Your mom. . .she loved Ethan and I hated it. I hated that I had to share her with him. When the opportunity came, I grasped it with both hands. I told so many lies and I forced others to lie with me just so I could have her all to myself.”
Tears burned my eyes as I stared at him.
“I didn’t care about anyone but myself,” he whispered. “I didn’t stop to think how it would affect everybody else.”
“But now you know.”
Dad nodded.
“Is it because of what Ethan said to Ari before we left Grayson’s pack?”
He gave me another nod. Dad dropped the photo onto the table but didn’t pick up another. Wiping the tear away, Dad stood and walked over to the window.
“Granddad Devon didn’t recognize Ethan when they met,” I pointed out.
“No, he didn’t.” Dad’s fingers twitched at his sides.
“I like him,” I frowned. “I felt like I knew him the first time we met which was why I acted like a bitch.”
“Eva—”
“Was he around when we were younger?” I asked him. “It would explain a lot of things.”
Dad turned away from the window. He stood with his head bent and his hands curled into fists at his side.
It looked like he was trying to work things out in his head first before he answered my question. Finally, he raised his head to look at me.
“Eva, Ethan—”
But whatever he had been about to tell me was cut off by the blaring alarms that echoed around the forest.
The pack was under attack.