Chapter Eight

I took a long sip of my hot coffee before eating, knowing that I'd need the burst of caffeine to get through this. I hoped my sisters weren't hoping for dad-of-the-year stories from me.

The truth was ugly but they had to know.

"You want to know about Dad?" I blurted, not wanting to delay any longer. All three of them looked up from their food, nodding.

Minx covered my hand with hers. "We want to know more about you. Him, yes, but he's not here and honestly, I don't have a good opinion about him anyway."

"My story and his are more tightly wound than I would like," I answered honestly. "When I was a little girl, I believed my circumstances were for my good. That's what he taught me. The princess in the castle. Surrounded by guards who would die before seeing her come to harm. I worshiped him until I got older and realized my kingdom, his kingdom was nothing more than a fairy tale. A twisted one at that."

"He kept you locked up or something?" Kiki asked, scooting closer.

"Not a cell but a prison of sorts. I never went to school. I wasn't allowed off the grounds of the compound."

"Explain compound," Minx said. I spared a glance at Jude, Pax, and Miles. There was a chance they could hear everything I was saying but it was my story and, while I didn't love it, I wasn't ashamed of it either. I had my circumstances handed to me; they weren't my choice. Angie taught me that.

"We lived in the mountains, and it was always snowy and cold out there. I was once told my father, our father, owns hundreds of acres all around the house. Of course, I never saw the guard who told me that again. But there were plenty of others. I didn't make a move without him knowing. When I was a baby, I thought my nanny was my mother. Then she was gone and Angie came. She was my servant but also my governess and my best friend. She helped me escape. I hope she got away herself."

"Your last name is Wulf," Kiki said. "We heard. Gossip travels fast here. Is that our father's last name?"

I nodded. "Yes. He is not just a wolf. He is the wolf. He is the first shifter. The original. The birth of our kind."

"So all of our last names would've been Wulf if…well, if anything about our early years were normal." As predicted, Ava said this in between bites. Minx had been right. Ava was a hungry one. I was as well but I had a lot to say.

"I suppose so. Yes."

"What about your mom? She didn't do anything to stop him?" Minx asked.

That question gave me pause. "My mother died giving birth to me."

"Wait, wait, wait," Kiki said. "We need a timeline here. What's your birthday?" she asked.

A boulder took shape in my throat. This was more emotional than I thought it would be. "It's in the fall."

All three of them shared a look. Predictable. I knew this would cause some intrigue. Everyone knew their birthday, even the people on the TV shows I watched. They had birthday parties and surprise gifts. I'd never had any of that. Unimportant detail, my father said. "The fall? You don't know the date?" Minx asked.

I shrugged. "Something that wasn't important to our father. I was born when the leaves had turned colors and fell to the ground in the forest below. The mornings and nights had a chill. That's all I know. Birthdays weren't celebrated, so I really don't know exactly how old I am."

All eating had stopped. The hairs on the back of my neck rose, and my senses let me know that, as I suspected, we were being listened to. "Minx is older than both of us, and Kiki and I are only months apart."

I shook my head. I didn't like telling them all these truths at all. But I had to remember they weren't my transgressions. They belonged to my father. "My mother was first. After she died, he began taking trips. He would come home smelling of other females, or was the hearsay. I heard some of the servants whispering about him trying to have a son. I think he raised me because he loved my mother. He told me once that if he believed in Fate and fated mates, my mother would've been his."

"So you are older than us."

"I suppose." That was my best guess. "You all were raised by your mothers? That must've been nice."

I listened to them speak about how they were raised. Minx was raised by her mother and someone who she thought was her father. They were still alive. Ava's parents died in a car accident and she found out through some blood tests that her father wasn't her biological one. Kiki had been left at a fire station. Her mother had abandoned her. And my father had abandoned them all.

And here I was complaining about my pampered circumstances.

"So, he let you come here? What changed?" Ava leaned forward.

What I had managed to eat soured in my stomach. "I realized my life wasn't my own. My days were controlled and scheduled. I was limited to the perimeter of our lands physically and mentally. Angie dared to expose me to books and movies. There was a whole world out there I had no idea about. Still don't." I shrugged, embarrassed. None of how I'd been raised was my fault, but I hated being so vulnerable to everyone around me. I could trust my sisters, but the rest of the world, not so much. I could be taken advantage of and never realize until it was too late.

"And he let you go?" Ava asked again. Some of her dark hair fell forward, almost hitting her plate.

"No. Father would never let me go."