Unbound: Shifters Forever Worlds(11)

Dane hadn’t had the hutzpah to tell his uncle he’d already made her his, that he’d taken her virginity. It didn’t seem to matter anyway, if she was already promised to another.

Crushed, he’d packed his bags and struck out on his own. He couldn’t have said goodbye if he’d wanted to. He would have choked on the words. And then when he learned her family had been attacked by shifters, there hadn’t been much point in life. He’d gone through the motions. Made a life — such as it was.

One fact repeated itself in Dane’s head, over and over again. If he had been told the full story, maybe there’d have been a different outcome.

No, this isn’t the time to give headspace to that.

“Please continue, Mr. Shelby.”

Dane kept his hand on top of hers, hoping it would keep her distracted, keep her there, something.



In the course of the last few years, I’ve learned that Glory’s family was annihilated by the same rovers hunting us.



Glory gasped.

Dane’s shifter senses picked up her pulse’s speeding pace.

Mr. Shelby looked up. Waited for a few seconds, perhaps giving Glory a chance to compose herself.

She nodded for him to proceed.



I’ve always refused to answer your questions when you’ve asked them, Dane. I know you were troubled by your father’s and Brad’s deaths. I couldn’t have you taking them on single-handed. They are experienced in the art of killing. They would have no problem killing a young solitary shifter.



I’m still going to kill those bastards. One day.

Dane held his hand up for Mr. Shelby to pause. “Rovers did it, didn’t they? Probably the same ones.” Fury was unleashed in Dane’s body, whipping through his veins, rushing to his nerve endings.

Mr. Shelby took a drink from his cup. “Please allow me to finish.”

“Continue.” Dane gritted his teeth.



Dane, I can only imagine your response to this right now. Heed my advice, please. Promise you will not seek revenge.



Again, Mr. Shelby stopped reading. He glanced at Dane, expectantly.

Dane didn’t respond.

Mr. Shelby’s gaze became pointed. He tapped one fingernail on the table.

“You are waiting for me to make a statement that I won’t seek revenge before you read more?” Dane knew his tone was terse, but he was unable to control the fury.

Mr. Shelby gave a small nod, the tiniest inclination of his head.

Dane looked at Glory. He couldn’t read her expression. Her eyelids were lowered over green eyes he’d always been able to read, she was hiding her emotions from him.

“Fine.” That was all he could say, and barely that.



Dane there is a condition to the property becoming yours. Else it will be given to a developer. You have to live on the premises for a month. Once that condition is met, all rights to the property will be transferred to you.

Glory and Dane, I owe both of you an apology for my role in the course your lives have taken. If I’d stood stronger, if I’d insisted a heart’s desires are more important than protocol, then things would have gone much differently.

Again, my apologies.

Francis Evan Forester



Mr. Shelby folded the letter in half, then slipped it back into the envelope. He slid it toward Dane, then slid another matching envelope toward Glory.

“The original is in my office safe. Here are copies for each of you. If you don’t have any pressing questions, I suggest you have the conversation that Frank wanted you to have.”

“I have a damned question.” Dane was over controlling his anger. “Who the hell killed my uncle?”

“I was going to have that conversation with you at another time.” Mr. Shelby placed papers in a flip-top maroon leather briefcase.

“I’d rather learn now. I don’t have a problem with Glory hearing.”

Mr. Shelby reached for a different pocket in the briefcase. “I was coming for my weekly coffee with Frank. It was a habit we had developed, two older men, having coffee, reminiscing. Only the place was quiet and there were no lights on. He didn’t answer the door, so I used the spare key he’d given me.”

Mr. Shelby wrung his hands, blue-veined, knotty-knuckled fingers seeking solace with each other. “I found this next to Frank’s body.” He pulled on a handkerchief sticking out of his front suit jacket and swiped at his nose.

He took out a piece of paper in a clear plastic storage baggie.

Glory didn’t have to be next to him to notice the dark brown stains on it. She also didn’t need anyone to tell her what it was.

Blood.

Mr. Shelby handed the baggie to Dane. “Then I did as I’ve been instructed to do: I called Mae Forester and she sent someone — a cleaner crew of some sort, I can only presume. In twenty-four hours when I returned, all signs of Frank and a skirmish had vanished.”

“Why didn’t you call me right away?” Dane wished he could have been there for Uncle Frank.

Too little, too late. All I can do now is make it up.

His uncle’s last written words on the matter echoed in his mind. “Promise you will not seek revenge.”

That’s not really a promise I can make. I’s certainly not one I can keep.