Page 1 of Echoes of Us
CHAPTER 1
"She’s back," Talon Wessex’s brother announced from behind him.
Talon heard the words, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he kept his focus on the heavy bag, his fists landing with controlled force. Each hit sent a ripple through the bag, his movements precise, smooth, and deadly. His muscles burned, but he welcomed the pain. It was better than the hollow ache in his chest. He didn’t have to ask who was back. He knew.
Willow Campbell had returned to Pineville.
His fists slowed for a fraction of a second before he caught himself, then struck harder as if he could punch the past out of his system. As if he could forget how she once looked at him, had loved him, and then left without a word or reason. She had just walked away. He found out later that she had accepted a job with a big-time art dealer in New York.
"You going to say something?" his brother, Cory, pressed.
Talon exhaled sharply, grabbing the bag to still it. His jaw clenched. "No."
Cory snorted, the sound dripping with amusement, and it took everything Talon had not to spin around and plant his fist in his brother’s face instead of the heavy bag.
His muscles tensed, his grip tightening around the worn leather of the bag. He didn’t need Cory’s smart-ass remarks. Not now and definitely not when his mind was already tangled with memories he had spent a year trying to bury.
"Say whatever the hell you’re going to say and get it over with," Talon growled, swinging another brutal punch.
Cory chuckled, unfazed. "Word has it she got back a week ago and is staying with her grandfather, but I guess you’re not even a little bit curious, huh?”
Talon’s next punch nearly tore the bag from its chains. "Nope."
Cory let out a low whistle. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that."
Talon turned, his eyes dark and dangerous. "Drop it, Cory."
“Fine, I’ll drop it.” His brother raised his hands in surrender and then turned to leave. “Hurry up and finish killing the bag so we can run into town and grab something to eat. I’m starved.”
The door slammed, the sharp sound echoing through the room like a gunshot. Talon dropped his hands and leaned into the heavy bag, his chest rising and falling with uneven breaths. Sweat dripped from his brow, but it wasn’t the workout stealing his air—it was her.
Willow’s face flashed through his mind, how she used to smile at him when she thought no one was looking, the fire in her eyes when they were alone together, and how she had once fit so perfectly against him.
With a growl, he squeezed his eyes shut as if that would be enough to banish her from his thoughts. It wasn’t.
"Dammit," he muttered under his breath, yanking at the tape wrapped around his hands. He didn’t have time for this...orher.He knew there was a good chance of her returning because of her grandfather’s ailing health. He had even tried to prepare for it, but there was no preparation for seeing her again.
Since his father’s death, the weight of leadership now sat heavily on his shoulders. As the eldest, he had stepped into the role of Alpha, a position that came with more problems than he could count. Challenges to his leadership lurked in the shadows, waiting for him to slip. His pack was restless and divided. If that wasn’t enough, females were circling him, each one hoping to claim the title of his Mate.
Talon was not his father...far from it. He led with strength but also with fairness, listening to the needs of his pack instead of ruling with an iron fist. Some of the older members disapproved, clinging to the old ways like a lifeline, but he didn’t give a damn. If they didn’t like it, they were free to leave and find another pack willing to live in the past.
He had respected Arthur Wessex as Alpha because that was how it was; it was their way. But as a father...that was another story. There were times Talon outright hated him. His father had been rigid, stuck in traditions that suffocated growth. He demanded that the pack live the way their ancestors had, refusing to change. But Talon was different. He saw a future where their kind could adapt, expand, and coexist in ways his father never even tried to consider.
Frowning, he grabbed a towel and stalked toward the bathroom. His muscles burned from training, but it was nothing comparedto the fire simmering in his chest. Stepping under the scalding spray, he let the water pound against his skin, his head dropping forward as old arguments swarmed in his mind.
Their biggest fights revolved around Willow. Talon's father had never approved of their relationship. Arthur blamed her for Talon’s thinking, claiming she had poisoned his mind with human ideas. They fought constantly about her, their clashes growing more violent with each passing day. The final blow came when Talon dared to mention his plans to marry Willow.
His father’s response had been brutal. "If you choose her, you’re no longer my son. You’re no longer part of this pack."
Talon had been willing to risk it all. He had been ready to defy his father, to walk away from everything for her. But before he could even buy the damn ring, Willow was gone, just like that. No warning. No explanation. She had vanished, leaving nothing behind but the wreckage of what could have been. Even her grandfather had been shocked by her leaving. Talon had tried to find her, but it had been as if she disappeared into thin air. He found out much later that she had moved to New York.
His father had been relentless in his superiority, never missing an opportunity to remind Talon that he had been right all along...Willow was never worthy of being an Alpha’s Mate. The words had cut deep back then, but not as deeply as her leaving without a word.
There had been a time when Talon had wondered—hell, even accused his father—of having something to do with Willow’s sudden disappearance. But the more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself that if Arthur had been behind it, Willow would have told him. She knew how Talon felt about his father. She knew how he and Cory had blamed the old man fortheir mother’s leaving. She also knew Arthur was a hard man, an unforgiving man.
And if his fatherhadbeen the reason Willow left, Talon would have heard it straight from the bastard’s mouth. Arthur would have looked him in the eye and thrown it in his face to prove that he was in control over his life. Yeah, his father was that cruel.
Talon’s jaw tightened as he pressed his palms against the cold tile. He had tortured himself, searching for an answer that never came. But now, he finally understood.
