A tall, middle-aged redheaded man with a thick auburn beard had also arrived. I’ve heard the others refer to him as Noah, and although no one thought to introduce us, I can tell by the way he stands close to Addison and the way he looks at her, there’s a definite familiarity there.
“Addison, the floor is yours,” Noah tells her, and I don’t miss the affectionate look that passes between them.
Addison takes a big breath before turning slightly in her seat so she can look me directly in the eye. “Fourteen years ago, I had to make the toughest decision I’ve ever made by taking you away from this place and hiding you away from the people that loved you just as much as your parents did.” I freeze in my seat as I listen to her. I’m not even sure my heart is beating anymore or if I’m still breathing.
“Your real name is Grey Thorne, and I faked your death fourteen years ago when—”
“No,” I interrupt. “Wait. You’re telling me I’m… I’m Grey? Ryker’s Grey…?”
Addison simply nods, but I’m too stunned and confused to think clearly, and don’t even have time to take this revelation in before Addison starts up again.
“Your parents were killed by a man who didn’t take rejection well.” I look around the room and see no one else seems to be surprised by this. It’s just me who’s shocked by this news. ”His name is Nicolai Volkov, and your mother Genevieve had been promised to him when she was a young girl. Her parents thought it was a privilege that a strong alpha male like Nicolai would want their daughter, and they had no problem agreeing to hand her off to him when she came of age. But a month before she was supposed to mate with Nicolai, she met Archer Thorne—your father. He was her true mate, and she knew she couldn’t follow through mating with Nicolai, so the newly mated pair ran off together, not telling anyone of their mating or where they were going.”
A sad smile appears on Addison’s face. “No one but me. I was Genevieve’s best friend since grade school, and she trusted me, a human, with her secrets. I remember laughing at her when she told me she was a wolf shifter. The first time she shifted in front of me, I wasn’t laughing anymore. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“My mom was a werewolf too?” I ask, interrupting Addison again.
“Pru, let her finish,” Margot tells me softly. “I promise you’ll get all your answers.”
Addison nods at Margot before continuing. “So when she came to me and told me of her plans to run off with Archer, I supported her and agreed to keep another secret for her. I’d never seen her that happy, and I wasn’t going to ruin that for her. Genevieve and Archer came back here to Montana, where they were the alpha pair for several years before they welcomed a little girl named Grey.”
“And that was me?” I ask my voice, barely a whisper.
“Yes, that was you,” Addison confirms. “You were such a happy child. When I used to come to visit, you were always smiling and playing with the other children of the pack. You were very close to a young girl named Remington and her family.”
My eyes shoot to Remington, who’s sitting there with tears in her eyes. “You were my best friend,” Remi tells me, a sad smile appearing on her face. “I should have recognized you right off, but I didn’t, I swear. None of us did. Except for Ryker.” I look behind me at Ryker, who has paused in his pacing, and there’s a brief shared look between us before he goes back to his pacing.
Addison continues. “A week after your seventh birthday, Nicolai found Genevieve and Archer. He had spent nine years looking for her everywhere before hearing of the young alpha pair in Montana. He knew he couldn’t have Genevieve anymore since she was mated to Archer now, so he turned his eyes to you.”
“He wanted me?” I question. “But I was only a child.”
“It didn’t matter. He believed he was owed something, and he didn’t care if you were only a child. He was willing to wait for you to come of age before he mated with you.”
A growl rips through the room, vibrating against the walls, and everyone turns to look at Ryker. “Sorry,” he grumbles under his breath.
From the corner of my eye, I see the scowl on Avery's face deepen, but I don’t have the time or mental energy to ponder what that’s about.
“Instead of bringing the pack into it, Gen and Archer decided to run away in the middle of the night. The last thing they wanted was for someone in their pack to get hurt or killed fighting Nicolai and his pack. So they called me, and we made a plan.”
Addison pauses and looks at Noah again. “But the plan changed when they were ambushed on their way out of town. Their car was run off the road, causing it to roll many times into a deep revive. As far as we know, Archer and Genevieve fought so hard to stay alive, but they were out-numbered, and they died there in the ditch.”
Tears are streaming down many faces now, including mine. I sense Ryker drawing closer to me, so I’m not surprised when the sofa cushion dips, and I feel a strong arm wrap around me. I sink into him and the comfort Ryker brings just by being close to me.
“I was heading in the other direction with you asleep in your booster seat in the back. When they didn’t meet me at the safe house like we had planned, I knew something horrible had happened. And that’s when Noah found the wreckage. It had been set on fire with their bodies inside. I decided then I would never let you be found by
