Page 37 of The Tiger's Secret Baby (Savage Shifters Special Ops 4)

“It seems that Rose is smarter than I am,” I said bitterly.

She sat there, waiting for the shock to wear off and for my reaction.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, through gritted teeth.

“You were already at boot camp when I found out that I was pregnant. I knew you wanted to go off to fight with Lucian to protect him. I didn’t want you to have to choose between us and Lucian,” she explained, her voice sounding weak and unsteady.

“You should have told me,” I said, growling.

“We said we would keep in touch. At first, we did. I figured that once you came back, I would tell you, we would get married, as we had planned, and live happily ever after. But then, we stopped writing and you stopped calling. I lost track of you.”

“You know where my parents live,” I said, my voice flat with anger.

“I know. But time had passed. I didn’t know who you were any more. I also didn’t want you to come back to me just because we had a child.”

“You had no right,” I said. “You should have told me as soon as you found out. It was my decision whether to stay here or still go to war. Even after, you should have made an effort to find me.” I tried so hard to not yell, but I was furious.

“You had no right,” I continued.

“I know. And like I said, I tried to tell you several times while you were here, but something always interfered.”

“By something, you mean sex. You could have stopped it and said, ‘We have to talk first.’”

“I know,” she answered. “I’m so sorry.”

I quickly did the math. “Rose is ten years old,” I said.

She nodded.

“I’ve missed out on ten years of my daughter’s life.” My voice shook with the effort of keeping my temper in check. I was ready to tear apart the house, because I was so angry.

I closed my eyes and practiced breathing exercises until I was calm again.

“Is there anything else that you haven’t told me?” I asked, hating the nastiness that laced my words.

She shook her head. “No.”

Ember sat in the chair, her head bowed, her hair falling forward, covering her face. She folded her hands in her lap, her fingers white.

I stood up. “I’ll be in contact to make arrangements about spending time with Rose so that I can get to know her. We’ll set up arrangements for custody.”

“You can see her whenever you want,” she said. “I know that she is anxious to get to know you. But please, don’t try to take her away from me. I love her so much, and it would make her miserable if she couldn’t be with me and her brothers and sisters at least half the time,” she begged.

“I wouldn’t do anything like that to hurtourdaughter,” I said. She needs her mother and her father,” I added.

Ember drew in a sharp breath at the jab, but didn’t protest anything that I said or implied. I almost felt bad for the comments, but I was so angry, right now I didn’t care if I made her mad or if I hurt her feelings.

I walked across the room and headed outside.

As soon as I walked out and shut the door, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at me, until Magnar hissed at them to get back to work.

Great. Even all of these guys knew that Rose was my daughter before I did.

Rose was waiting for me on the front porch, sitting on the top step. I sat down beside her.

“I guess you and mom just had a discussion about me,” she said, looking at me, straight in the eyes.

I nodded.

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