Page 44 of Knot All that Glitters: Part 1

My eyes flick over the menu, taking in the options, but not really reading them. “I’m, um, not a huge fan of red sauce. So maybe something with pesto?”

“No red sauce, got it.” Hale nods, reading his menu.

“You guys can eat red sauce.”

“Nope, we want you to have options. So we’ll get pizzas without red sauce.”

Stubborn.

In the end, we get two pizzas without and one with.

They entertain me with stories about their time together as a pack. When I ask how they met, how they became pack, Hale waves away the question. “That’s not an interesting story. Let me tell you about the time…”

But itisinteresting. I want to know everything about them, and how they became a pack is a huge part of what makes them who they are. But I know not all stories are happy ones, and maybe this is one of those moments. Maybe their origin story is tragic and they aren’t ready to tell me about it.

I can only hope at some point they’ll feel comfortable enough to share.

I’ve just finished my first slice of pizza—chicken, spinach, roasted garlic, feta and pesto—when Hale blindsides me. “Tell me about your mother.”

I blink at the seemingly incongruous change of topic.

“What?”

“Your mother,” Hale repeats, sliding another slice of pizza onto my plate. “Tell us about her.”

“I-uh-I don’t really talk about her much.” I glance at the other pack members and find them all watching me closely. Even Creed, who hasn’t really looked at me since he demanded to know what type of pizza I like.

“Your father doesn’t either,” Jude says, cupping his chin in his palm. “Why is that?”

“If she doesn’t want to talk about it,” Creed grumbles. “We shouldn’t force her to.”

The gruff way he’s standing up for me sets me a little more at ease and I wave my hand. “It’s okay. It’s not like anything I tell you is going to end up in the media, right?”

“Right,” Tic says firmly. “We’re just trying to get to know you.”

The tension melts from me. This makes sense. This is normal. Getting to know people means asking about their families, their childhoods, their favorite colors and their hobbies.

I nod and run the tip of my finger along the side of my plate. “There’s… Well, there’s not a lot to tell, really. She was young when she met my father, barely seventeen. He was ten years older than her.” I flick my gaze up at that, because unless I’m wrong, that’s about the age difference between all of us. Though I’m not seventeen and sometimes I feel older than my twenty-two years. “It raised a lot of eyebrows, but my parents said it was love at first sight, so who could argue with that?”

“She was a beta?” Hale asks.

I nod. “Yes. My father wouldn’t marry any other designation, given his beliefs. She didn’t have any family to protest, so they got married quickly, before she was even eighteen. She got pregnant with me six months later.”

Jude has a furrow between his brows. “Was she a good mother?”

I keep my eyes focused on my plate. “She was the best mother… until she wasn’t. At least, I think she was.” I glance up again and then back down, shifting in my chair uncomfortably. “My memory of her is kind of hazy. But I remember she used to make me chicken noodle soup when I wasn’t feeling well, from scratch.” I grimace at the memory, because it's not exactly unique. I’m sure half of their mothers did the same for them. “It was the best, it felt like a hug in a bowl. But it's… it's kind of one of the only things I remember. She left when I was six. On my birthday.”

“What?” Creed snaps out like he can’t believe someone would do that.

I shrug and try to pretend like it doesn’t hurt even after all these years. “I’m not sure why she left, only that she did.She packed a bag and disappeared. My father looked for her, tried to find her, but no one’s been able to find a trace. She just vanished. He filed a missing person’s report, and after a few years everyone just… stopped looking. It’s-well, she’s presumed dead. So my father is a widower legally.”

“Do you think that’s what happened?” Hale asks. “Do you think she died?” I try not to flinch at the question but am unsuccessful. Creed makes a growling noise and Hale winces. “Sorry, mouse. That came out wrong.”

I lick my lips. “It’s a valid question. If I had a better memory, I might be able to give you a better answer, but all I know for certain is she was there one day, gone the next, and my father told me she left.”

She left, and she didn’t take me with her. She left me withhim.

Knowing what I know now, how my father treats me, I suspect she was also drowning under alpha commands. He probably barked her into marrying him, barked her into a relationship with him, and she probably left in the middle of the night to get away from him.

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