“Strange?” I hadn’t heard pregnancy called that before, but I guessed it worked. “Like with a small person inside you?”
“No, like I felt connected with nature.” She walked onto the grass and began to pace. “It was something I’d never experienced before, and that’s when fear overtook me.”
“You had an inkling that Rook was my real dad.” That had to be it. From what I understood, fae were part of nature, and shifters lived in it. “Is that when you knew?”
“No, not at first.” She turned her back to me. “I thought maybe it was the fae coming to kill me. Rook and I having sex was frowned upon, and I figured his fiancée might want to settle the price of his life.”
Ew … she was talking about sex again. Even if we didn’t have the normal mother-daughter bond, there were still some things I didn’t want to hear. However, there were more important things to focus on.
“Are the fae that vindictive?” Being part fae, I hoped to connect with that side someday if they didn’t kill me first.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she said. “They are. You need to wrap your head around that. They care about their race and their kind only. Rook always complained about it. He thought it was an outdated notion.”
“That’s lovely.” I’d never get to know that part of myself truly, only what I could figure out on my own. At least, I had Egan, who could provide some guidance. “But I’m part fae.” I was part of their race.
Winter frowned. “But not full-blooded. It doesn’t count to them. I’m sorry.”
“Of course it doesn’t.” Why would this race be any different from Dad’s family? “Please, go on.”
“After several weeks, when the fae never revealed themselves, I knew. The magic had to be coming from inside me … from you. You weren’t Tyler’s.” She chuckled without humor. “Which was a blessing.”
“You weren’t scared he might figure it out?” Her logic wasn’t the most sound. “That my life could be on the line?” If that’d been me, I’d have done anything to protect my daughter. What was wrong with people?
“Oh, I was, and it made me sicker. That’s one reason why you came early.” She picked at her nail, avoiding my gaze. “The night I went into labor with you, I knew my time was truly ticking down. For some reason, your birth made it even more real.”
And here I’d thought having a baby was a time for celebration. “I’m sorry I was such an inconvenience to you.” Sarcasm and disgust laced my words. There wasn’t a way to hide how much that hurt.
“That’s not what I meant.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I was thrilled to have you. You weren’t the problem.”
I didn’t bother to respond. If she wanted me to comfort her, it wouldn’t happen. I was the one who’d been left behind and raised by a tyrant.
“You’re asking for the truth, and I’m giving it to you.” She scowled. “Do you want me to continue?”
She had me there. “Please, continue.” I almost winced, not sure if I meant it, but the blinders had to come off.
“The jackass demanded to be in the delivery room.” She stood in front of me, rocking on her feet. “I wanted to see you first. I prayed I was paranoid and that you were, in fact, not fae. If you were, I wasn’t sure how the hell I could protect you.”
“How was him not being in the room going to protect me better?” That didn’t make any sense. “I’m not following.”
“I was scared. You—” She cut off mid-word. “I mean … I wasn’t thinking with a clear mind. I wanted to have a few minutes to come up with a plan.”
“But that didn’t happen.”
“No, he refused.” She stilled. “When you were delivered, my heart stopped when I saw your light pink hair.”
“I’m not sure how he didn’t suspect I wasn’t his.” Maybe I was missing a huge piece of information. Tyler wasn’t stupid.
“Roxy was born a few weeks before you with that vibrant red hair.” Winter glanced over her shoulder at the house. “It caused a slight commotion in the pack, seeing as red is very rare among our kind. That’s when it came to light that a witch might have cursed our pack.”
“What?” I’d never heard that before. “A witch cursed us? That doesn’t seem likely.” People seldom rose up against Dad.
“It was when Tyler was taking over the supernatural scene and angering some people. A brave witch decided to make our pack look weak by creating what some might consider deformities. She didn’t do anything physical because she didn’t want to hurt the sweet, innocent children. It was only meant to make Tyler and the pack look undesirable.”
“Is that why Roxy got treated so poorly?” Could my best friend be stronger than what we’d perceived? “But how did I come out unscathed? Shouldn’t I have been viewed the same way?”
“It was a blessing that Tyler assumed the witch had done that to you.” She winced. “Well, maybe not a blessing, but when he saw you, he came unglued.”
I bet he did. He despised losing control. “But the witch would have already been dealt with after what she did to Roxy.”
“Not exactly,” Winter said with disgust. “They locked the witch in a cell and tried to find out who helped her. She insisted she’d worked alone, but they didn’t believe her. When Tyler saw you …”
“He killed her, didn’t he?” It would have infuriated him that someone had made him look stupid or unfit to lead. “Are you sure my pink hair isn’t from her?” Maybe this was all a big misunderstanding and I wasn’t fae after all. I wasn’t sure if I was hoping that was the case or not.
“Honey, you took down that fae barrier.” Winter lifted an eyebrow. “And from what Cassius told Titan, you’ve teleported and stuff. You’re fae.”
“But …did you have doubts?” Maybe that was why she hadn’t thought twice about leaving me.
“No. Your pink hair is the exact same as Rook’s mother.” She smiled tenderly. “He showed me a picture once when he was homesick, and your hair and angular face match her dead on.”
Hearing that made the truth about Rook more real. Not only did I have a dad I’d never get to meet, but I had grandparents and family who might have liked to know me. Even that right had been stripped away. “Does she know about me?” My voice sounded small, which pissed me off.
“I’m sorry, but no.” Winter touched my shoulder. “Your father died before he knew about you, and it’s not like I can get in touch with the fae.”
“What about your parents?” Could I at least have one set of grandparents who might want to know me? Dad—I meant Tyler. Damn, it felt strange calling him by his real name, but it also felt weird continuing to call him Dad. Tyler’s parents had died shortly after my birth, and he’d taken over the pack. The rumor was Tyler had killed them, but no one was brave enough to accuse him.
“I told my parents my plan to run away. They were ready.” Winter inched a little closer. “They’re part of Titan’s pack now and live with the others. That’s another reason I’ve been trying to bring you there. They’re dying to meet you.”
Hope and fear ran rampant inside me. That was just another thing to consider while I sorted through how the hell I felt about everything. I’d definitely need to process that piece later.
We were digressing. I needed to hear the rest of the story. “Okay, so he thinks I have pink hair because of a witch’s curse. Why didn’t the pack treat me like Roxy?”
“After Tyler killed the witch, he cleaned himself up and called all the supernatural leaders on Earth to inform them that his child had been born and she held the sign that he was one of the strongest supernaturals in the world. He said he’d dreamed that he’d have a pink-haired daughter and she would bear the strongest wolf shifter in the world.”
“He believes that?” You’d have thought he’d have been a little nicer to me if he thought that.