Wild Fire (Wilding Pack Wolves 5) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (16 page)

“What’s the matter?” Mama River asked, her voice tight, a scowl darkening her face.

The mayor only had eyes for her—he barely flicked a look to Zoe and Troy. They both stood a few paces back from the front door that Mama River had closed behind the mayor.

“I have to leave, Eleanor,” the mayor said. “But I didn’t want to leave town without saying goodbye.”

“Leave?” Mama River’s scowl had grown darker by the second. “Why are you leaving?”

Zoe had no idea what was going on—why would the mayor run off in a panic only to come back saying he was leaving again? She was thoroughly confused, and a quick look to Troy showed he was just as perplexed.

The dark circles under the mayor’s eyes grew more haunted. “I’m not…” He seemed to struggle for words. “I’m not who you think I am.” Then he slid an uneasy look to Zoe.

Troy’s hand instantly found hers, and he edged in front of her, as if he expected the mayor to somehow leap across the half dozen feet between them and attack her. The mayor grimaced when he saw the protective stance Troy was taking.

But he directed his question to Zoe. “Are you one of them? A white wolf like Grace and the others?” He flicked a glance at Mama River’s face, which had an open look of surprise. “And I suppose, Daniel now, too.” He focused on Zoe again. “I just need to know, Zoe. Please.” The haggard look on his face softened into a kind of desperation that worked its way through Zoe’s chest.

She still didn’t know what was going on, but if he already knew about all the others, it shouldn’t make a difference whether she was or not. “Yes, I’m a white wolf, too.”

Mama River raised her eyebrows, but she didn’t look terribly surprised. The mayor, on the other hand, literally staggered back and braced a hand on the door. “How many more are there?” His voice was a harsh whisper.

“Why do you want to know?” Troy asked, an edge in his voice.

The mayor flinched away, nearly flattening his back against the door. “I just want to know…” He swallowed visibly. “How many I’m responsible for.”

Responsible for?
Zoe narrowed her eyes, examining him—the man was a mess, emotionally. This was taking a toll on him. “That’s all we know of.” She wasn’t sure she would tell him if there were more, anyway.

The mayor’s eyes widened a little. “Except for
him.”

His words struck Zoe in the chest—what
him?
Was there another white wolf the mayor knew about? That they
didn’t?

He turned back to Mama River. “I can’t stay.” His voice was unsteady. “I thought I could, but I just… can’t. I want you to know, Eleanor, I tried to help. I really tried to make things right. But I can’t—” He struggled for words again. “I’m just going to endanger you all now.”

“What the hell you talking about?” Zoe demanded. “And who is this other white wolf?”

He looked at her with a tortured expression. “The Wolf Hunter, of course. He’s a white wolf like you. Like all of you.”

Zoe exchanged a look with Troy and then Mama River. It wasn’t open knowledge that the Wolf Hunter was a white wolf, but the mayor’s Police Department had participated in the rescue of Terra, and her mate Kaden was one of their own—maybe he told him. Or Grace.

“So that’s the white wolf you were talking about?” Zoe asked.

“Yes.” Then he straightened his shoulders and regained some of the confident bearing he had before he freaked out. “You’re all white wolves…
because of me.”

And then he shifted…
into a white wolf.

Zoe’s mouth dropped open. Mama River gasped, and her hands flew to cover her mouth.

“Holy shit,”
Troy gasped next to her.

The mayor was a magnificent white wolf—slightly larger than a normal wolf, with snow white fur that bristled out in a coat so thick that his paws were nearly mittens of fur. His tail stood tall behind him, his ears perked forward—
the alpha pose.
Zoe could feel it resonate inside her, the command of it was so strong.

His
magic
was so strong. Because…
he was really a witch.

The mayor’s beast dipped his head, he scooped up his clothes in his mouth, then he used one of his paws to work the handle of the front door and pull it open. Before any of them could speak, he had slipped out into the night, ducking around the corner of the porch that ran the length of the River estate main house.

“Robert!” Mama River rushed out after him.

Zoe had to hold Troy back from following by placing a hand on his chest. “He’s the white wolf!” she hissed, quiet and low so the mayor and Mama River wouldn’t hear. They couldn’t be far outside the door.

“Well, yeah, obviously…” He trailed off at the urgent look on Zoe’s face. “Wait… you mean he’s
the
white wolf? The one you’re looking for?”

Zoe nodded.

Mama River’s voice rang out on the porch. “Robert Truhall, get back in this house and explain yourself.” She was
pissed.

Zoe’s brain was trying to put it all together. Robert… Bobby… Bobby Wilding.
Holy shit.

The mayor straggled in, his pants on, but his white shirt clutched in his hand, still buttoned from when he shifted out of it. Mama River’s eyes were on fire—and Zoe couldn’t tell if it was anger alone or something more, given the man she had some sort of feelings for was half naked in front of them.

“You’re my grandfather,” Zoe just threw out there. It was still half a guess in her mind, but all uncertainty fled with the look in the mayor’s eyes—guilt, shame, and a weird sort of pain that she couldn’t identify the source of.

“Yes, Zoe, apparently I am. And Noah and Daniel’s as well.” It was crazy—the mayor looked no older than mid-forties—but the logical part of Zoe’s brain knew that meant nothing for a witch. Maybe they had life enhancing spells like the beauty spells the covens used… or maybe longevity was just a part of the natural process of having vast stores of magical energy in your body and in your blood. Constantly renewing. Constantly healing… just like the superhealing serum she had been after…

And that she possessed in her own white wolf.

Her mouth dropped open with the realization that whatever had kept her grandfather alive all these years and looking like he was barely getting a touch of gray at his temples was the same DNA—the same magical blood—that was running through her veins.
How long would she live?
And what kind of immortality gene did she have?

Words escaped her as those thoughts tangled in her brain.

The mayor—Bobby Wilding was his true name, even if he went by Robert Truhall now—seem to take her confusion as some sort of disbelief. “It’s true, Zoe. I’m sure you find it hard to believe. I tried to pretend it wasn’t true for a long time. But all the stories you’ve no doubt heard about that terrible day the Wilding pack broke up—that’s not how it happened. The legend of your family—
our family
—is a lie.”

Zoe had an unsteady feeling like the world was moving under her feet.

Troy’s hand braced her at the small of her back. “You don’t have to listen to any of this guy’s bullshit,” he said quietly. “Just give me the word, and I’ll kick him out.” He was giving a hard look to the mayor, but the last thing in the world Zoe wanted was for the mayor to leave—she had been
searching
for him, and now he had landed at her doorstep.

“No,” she said, gently patting Troy on the chest and looking up into his eyes to reassure him. “I need to hear this.”

The mayor cringed away from Mama River’s piercing stare and focused on Zoe’s face instead. “I’m sure you think I broke up the Wilding pack by seducing the alpha’s mate—something I could only do because I was a witch. And a traitor.” He dropped his gaze to the floor. “All of that is actually true.” Then he met Zoe’s gaze again. “But I didn’t
seduce
my brother’s mate. I
loved
her. And for the longest time—a very, very long time—I remained the devoted beta I was supposed to be. Sophie and I ignored our feelings for one another. She was mated to the alpha of our pack, and our love was supposed to be impossible. But it
wasn’t
—not least because my brother was a complete asshole.”

“What are you saying, exactly, Robert?” Mama River asked. Zoe could hear the anger and judgment in her voice. The same anger that resonated through Zoe’s family—there was a reason why the breakup of the family was a shameful thing. Why it made every Wilding secretly wonder how much of a true wolf they could be, as if evil acts and bad character could be passed down through DNA. No matter how much Bobby Wilding loved his brother’s mate, he shouldn’t have taken her into his bed. Much less fathered children with her—which was obviously what happened with so many of the family’s second generation bearing the white wolf gene.

The mayor grimaced. “I’m saying that my brother was a very dark alpha. He didn’t treat Sophie like a mate should. He brutalized her for
years.
And for years, I watched… dying a little inside each time she showed up with another bruise.” He faced Mama River. “Eleanor, if anyone treated you the way my brother treated Sophie, no one would blame me for killing them.”

“So you broke the beta bond,” Troy said. “And killed your brother.” There was surprisingly little judgment in his voice.

“No.” The mayor hung his head. “You don’t know how many times I’ve wished I had simply done that. But he was my brother and my alpha—it wasn’t just a matter of magic. It took me a long time to break his emotional hold over me, much less over Sophie. I may be a witch, but I’m also a
wolf.
And we were brothers, even if we couldn’t have been any more different. He was wild to the core, and he terrified everyone in the pack. Including me. He was unpredictable. Volatile.” The mayor physically cringed. “It was my own cowardice that kept me from confronting him. But even though I didn’t stand up to him, I couldn’t let her go on being hurt. I tended her wounds, helped her cover them up, and eventually… she found comfort in my arms. I told myself she was getting the love she deserved from me, even if she remained bound to him. Was a comforting lie. A stupid lie. One that I regret even to this day.” He paused like something bitter was in his mouth. “Along the way, we allowed our love to produce pups—although I was never entirely sure which were mine and which were Gary’s. But I couldn’t say anything about that. I was faced with either killing my brother or leaving my lover and my children in the hands of that beast. I wasn’t strong enough to do either one.”

Zoe was reeling, trying to take it all in. But she believed him—his story had the ring of truth. And he certainly wasn’t painting himself as the good guy. “Then what happened?” she asked. “The story is that you were discovered, and then you used your magic to kill them both.”

“That’s a damn lie!” The mayor’s dark blue eyes flashed. In that instant, Zoe could see the family resemblance—the jet black hair under the touches of gray, the dark blue eyes that were a Wilding family trait. She could even see the passion in his stance, a bit of the Wilding wildness that was such a strong part of her family lineage. If there had been any question left in her mind whether he was a Wilding, it was now erased.

The mayor seemed to struggle to rein in his anger. “Gary
did
find out—he caught us in the act, so there was no denying it. But it wasn’t
me
who killed Sophie—it was
him.
In a fit of rage so powerful that it overcame his alpha bond to protect her, he broke her neck. I think it was over before he even realized what he had done. I’ve always suspected he had some white wolf magic in him as well. That’s the only way he could have taken her life.” The mayor briefly closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, then let it out slow. When he opened his eyes, the fire had been replaced by the look of pain Zoe had seen earlier. “The submission bond I had pledged to my brother was simple magic, easily broken. In his rage, he killed her. In my rage, I killed him. It was as simple as that, but it destroyed
everything.
I fled because… what could I do? Become a father to my brother’s children? I was almost certain that Billy was mine; possibly Astor, too. But how could I rob them of their pack when they’d just lost their mother and father? Instead, I ran… and did things I’m not proud of.”

Mama River’s harsh look had tempered somewhat. “The other children,” she said softly.

“Yes, the other children.” The mayor still wouldn’t meet her gaze, but he looked deep into Zoe’s eyes. “I was heartbroken. Not that that’s any excuse. But I slept around, and I didn’t care about the pups I made… no, that’s not entirely true. I
intentionally
made pups when I shouldn’t have. I think I just… wanted to have something to call my own, something separate from my past. Kaden’s mother. Grace’s mother. And
his…”
He swallowed. “The Wolf Hunter’s mother. I remember them all. They were beautiful and wonderful, but whenever I found out they were bearing my children… I left. Like the coward I am.”

That pain was back in his face. “Grace’s mother was the last. She was the one that I thought… I thought I could stay with. I
wanted
her—
loved
her like I had with Sophie—but she was married to a high-powered Senator, a horrible man, and… it was all too familiar to me. That was the one that finally broke me. I stopped being a wolf
or
a witch. I took a new identity as a human. No more shifting. No magic. Eventually, slowly, I clawed my way back to having something like a real life. And then a woman came along—a human woman, my wife—and she changed everything. With her, I was finally someone
decent.”
He frowned and stared at the ground again. “At least for a while. It was her idea for me to run for mayor. But we had no children—I would never to bring another child into this world.”

“But your past wouldn’t stay buried.” Mama River’s voice was filled with a compassion Zoe wasn’t entirely sure she shared. So much of this man’s life and mistakes had driven her to be what she was today. He had said before that he was
responsible
for all of them—for all the white wolves—and he
was.
He broke up her family, he gave her his DNA through the lineage of her father, and he had hidden himself away, spreading his seed around irresponsibly.