Page 60 of In the Mouth of the Wolf

Archer looked the most thoughtful. “How much do you know about your parents?”

“In what way?” I asked.

He set his chopsticks down on his plate and wiped his mouth, then steepled his hands in front of his chin in contemplation. “Where are they from? How did they meet?”

“I…” Wait, what did I know about my parents? I had asked my mom before about our family history, for both school projects and my own curiosity. Why did those memories and conversations feel foggy now? “I can’t remember.”

Archer leaned forward, his curious expression intensifying. “Let’s focus on your mom first, since you knew her the best. Where was she born?”

“Wisconsin,” I replied quickly. “She was definitely born here. I… I think?”

“Did you come across her birth certificate at any time?”

My mom’s death had been much more emotional for me, and my high school friend had offered to help me pack up her house. Thankfully it hadn’t taken long, since my mom was a minimalist. But I didn’t recall coming across any vital records aside from mine and Ezra’s in her paperwork.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“What’s her maiden name and date of birth? I can ask one of my paralegals to start looking,” Elias offered.

“Her name is Thistle. Thistle…” It felt like my brain was stalling. “This is really weird; it’s like it’s at the tip of my tongue but as soon as I start to say it, it disappears.”

Camden dumped more of the beef and broccoli on his plate, completely unfazed. “Maybe she was from one of those shifter communes,” he suggested, shoveling a forkful of rice in his mouth.

Archer tilted his head, considering. “That’s… actually a good possibility.”

“Shifter communes?” I asked.

“They’re like the fundamentalist version of shifters,” Nolan explained. “They live off the grid in rigid, conservative hierarchies, away from humans and modernized shifters like us. We don’t know too much about them because they don’t trust outsiders enough to let us visit, but over the years there have been escapees. Unfortunately, they don’t speak much about what goes on there except to ask for a place to hide.”

That would explain a lot about my mom. She always seemed so flustered by technology and sometimes spoke like she was from another century.

“Are omegas and shifting abilities gone from there, too?”

Archer shrugged. “No one knows. We don’t communicate with them. But if your mom ran away from one, it would make sense for her to not have a full name or proof of birth and also be terrified of being discovered and dragged back. Especially once she had you and your brother.”

I shivered. I’d just escaped those gross old alphas on the farm – the idea of being taken away to join a pack even more dominating than them was nightmare inducing.

“Hey,” Elias said. “You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re bonded to us now. No one is taking you away.”

Reassurance shot straight through the bond from Elias into my heart, spreading warmth and protection.

I wondered what my mom would think of me now. She had gone to great lengths to hide me from shifters, and yet here I was, bonded to a pack of alphas.

“But what about my dad? Could he have come from one of those communes, too? Cam, how did our dads meet?”

He put down his fork and grinned. “It’s the funniest story. They met at an arm-wrestling contest at some bar outside of Osseo. Your dad won, and then my dad got pissed, and they started fighting. After they beat each other up enough, they bought each other drinks and then started talking. My dad was trying to build his own house, and your dad said he had some experience and offered to help. So then…”

A small pang of jealousy started slowly stabbing me in the chest as he continued. I imagined Cam had a ton of stories about my dad like this. Hell, he’d even admitted to me that my dad had treated him like his own kid.

But I would never get the chance to know him like that.

Elias reached over and grabbed my hand, sensing my pain. “Thanks, Cam. Marlowe, I’m sure I asked for your dad’s records when drawing up his will. I might have copies back in Chicago.”

Nolan nodded in agreement. “Maybe you’ll find more as you continue going through his house, too.”

We’d already gone through most of his office at his home, but there were other places he could have possibly kept more information. “Yeah, maybe. Cam, did my dad have an office at the company’s headquarters?”

“Yup. He wasn’t using it much once I kinda took over for him and my old man, but we never touched it.”

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