“No, honey.” She sighed and sat up, sliding her legs off the bed. “Your father isn’t the same man I once knew. He’s in serious trouble and someone is after him. He said they threatened to hurt me. Your dad left us years ago because he didn’t want a family after Wes died. He didn’t want me.” She rubbed away the tears with the back of her hand. “But deep down, he still loves me in his own way. He came down to protect me from whoever is chasing him. He didn’t want that on his conscience.”

My tone changed to restrained fury. “That man has no conscience. Why did he dump Maizy on the side of the road?”

Her blue eyes dulled and she looked down. “He doesn’t think Maizy is his.”

“But she is.”

“Of course she is, but your dad always had doubts. He was in denial during those last years and didn’t want anything else to tie him to this life like a new baby would. So he accused me of cheating on him. I’d never do anything like that.”

“I know. You’re okay?”

“After he left her on the road, I just—I completely lost it. I went into hysterics, screaming in the car and almost forcing him to wreck it. The farther away we got, the more numb I became. Oh, Lexi, I thought I’d never see her again.” She held my hand and kissed the back of it. “I hit Austin in the face and broke my nail.”

My mouth flew open and a burst of laughter escaped. “You never told me about your right hook. Did you see the shiner you gave him?”

She covered her face. “I can’t believe I did something like that. I’m upset with him, but I didn’t have any right to behave the way I did. He insisted on taking me here instead of my house and… That’s just not the kind of person I am.”

“Well, you’re not going back home until we find the guy who’s after him. It’s too dangerous.”

“I can’t face Austin. Not after the way I behaved.”

“Trust me, Mom, they’ve seen worse. I was just as mad, but life’s too short to hold a grudge. Austin was young and we all make mistakes. You don’t have anything to worry about with his brothers; they’ve been really good to me and Maizy.”

It was a relief to have my mom back, but something was bothering me. It was the fact I was a Shifter. If my aging slowed down, she was going to eventually notice. Would she still love me if she knew what I was?

“Mommy! Mommy!” a little voice cried out from the other room. Mom hopped up and hurried out the door while I stayed behind, lost in my thoughts.

Austin came in and sat beside me, patting my leg. He kept his hand on my knee and I leaned against him, enjoying the subtle scent of his cologne.

“She’ll still love you,” he said, and my heart ached. “We’ll have to tell her the rules about revealing our secrets, but I trust your mom. I’ve known her almost my entire life and I get good vibes from her.” He blew out a breath and lowered his voice. “I put Ben and Wheeler to task finding a new house, or at the very least, some property we can build on. One’s big and has an amazing view up high. It’s modern, has a pool, and will cost me a fortune. The second one is older and used to be a hotel but was renovated years ago. The owners are old and don’t have any kids to pass on their inheritance, but they haven’t had any luck selling because of the location and condition of the house. It’s just as big as the first one, but it needs work. It’s rustic, doesn’t have a pool…”

“That’s the one you should take,” I said decidedly.

He made a “huh” sound. “Why’s that?”

I stood up and looked over my shoulder. “Because you’re not Lorenzo. He would have bought the first house to show everyone up. Sometimes things that are worth having are worth fixing up. Not everything comes in perfect condition, but it doesn’t mean it’s not the right one for you.”

When his eyes slid up to mine, my breath caught. Austin’s next question had a deeper meaning we both understood.

“Which house would you choose?”

* * *

Outside of our brief conversation, Mom had no insight as to why else my dad would have kidnapped her. Deep down, he must have loved her in some irrational way, but his reckless actions had put our lives in danger and it only fueled my hate for him even more. Now that I knew he wasn’t my real father, it was easier to hate him. Because he was Maizy’s, I didn’t say anything out of respect, even though she didn’t know him. I didn’t want her to have memories of me slamming him, because one day she would find out for herself what kind of man he was.

I spent the entire afternoon with my mom, but I couldn’t get the shop off my mind. Ben and Wheeler ate their hamburgers and headed out. When I asked where Ivy had gone, Austin explained he had begun the process of officially claiming her with one of the head Packmasters in the territory, and the man’s wife wanted to speak privately with Ivy.

It was sometimes customary for the women to open their door to one another, and perhaps she wanted to make sure there was nothing being forced on this young woman.

Just after sunset, I headed back home alone. Mom agreed to stay with Austin until they caught my father. While Ivan had retracted his offer to help us any further, Lorenzo hadn’t ended his search. I knew because I’d kept my promise and called him earlier that day.

“How did everything go?” I asked April over Lorenzo’s phone. I was beginning to think having one of these phones would come in handy. I ascended the stairs and twirled my keychain around, looking for the key.

“Um, you could have told me you were sending two hunks over.”

I snorted. “Really? I didn’t think they were your type.”

“Well, kind of not. They’re eye candy, but not really my kind of candy. One of them stared at my ass and the other guy didn’t say much. The store is so clean you wouldn’t believe it! Some of the canisters I’m not so sure they’ll be salvageable. Have you heard from Charlie? What happened?”

I slid the key in the lock and glanced over my shoulder. “Cancer. I’m going to try calling around to see where he’s at; his neighbor said they took him away in an ambulance a few days ago.”

“Oh, no.”

“Yeah.” I sighed when I heard her sniffing over the phone. We really liked Charlie and were fortunate to have a boss like him, even though he had quirky ways about running his store. “Hopefully he’s okay, but I need to get a hold of him so I can find out what to do about the power. Until then, just lock everything up and take off for a few days. There’s nothing we can do at this point. We’re not getting a paycheck this Friday, so you’ll need to let the girls know. It’s not going to hurt them as much as it will us.”

“Gee, I didn’t think of that. I need to be honest and tell you I might be able to let one paycheck slide, but that’s it. I mean it, Alexia. And I’ll need reimbursement for the missed week as soon as the funds are available.”

I opened the door and flipped on the wall switch that connected to a lamp in the living room. Then I gasped.

“What happens if you can’t find him? Alexia?”

“Um, April, let me call you back…” I hung up the phone.

My feet floated toward the dining room as I admired the most gorgeous flower display I’d ever laid eyes on. Seven clear vases of varying sizes were perfectly arranged in two rows, filled with red roses of such a lush shade that I drew in a deep breath and sighed. There was no baby’s breath—instead, white lilies filled all the open gaps. A silver balloon hovered above the table, tied to a chair, with “Happy Birthday” written in elegant letters.

The closer I got, the more I began rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. A note was strategically placed in the center of the table, and while I should have been upset someone got into my apartment, I wasn’t. My birthday was actually the next day, and the only men who knew were Austin and Beckett. This sure as hell didn’t look like something Beckett would dream up.

My heart did a flutter, and I tore open the seal and pulled out the card.

Nashoba,

I could give you a garden and it would pale next to your beauty.

So let me give you the world.

Lorenzo

“Holy shit,” I murmured.

No one had ever given me anything like this before, and then the note? Once the shock dissipated and I sat down, I realized that as beautiful as they were, the gift didn’t floor me like it should have. Lorenzo didn’t know a damn thing about me if he thought he could woo me with flowers. The note was the only thing that earned him brownie points, because you had to respect a man with a poetic heart.

Last year on my birthday, I drove with Maizy out to a diamond mine. They plowed up the dirt every so often, and you could rent a shovel and other supplies and dig in the dirt looking for treasure.

Supposedly, small diamonds were found all the time. The only thing we found were a few rocks that we brought home as souvenirs. It was the best time, and I packed a picnic lunch on the way home after picking up a few things at a local supermarket. Maizy had wanted to give me a diamond for my birthday and was upset. I reminded her that expensive things didn’t make people happy, thoughtfulness did. And she was my diamond because I’d gotten to spend my entire birthday with her.

Still, the flowers were beautiful, and I wasn’t about to be ungrateful for such an extravagant gift. I wondered how he managed to bypass the camera outside, but Lorenzo seemed like the kind of guy who could get away with anything. Probably had the flower delivery guy talk the landlord into letting him in.

I admired the delicate petals for a few minutes before changing clothes and pulling out the phonebook for a listing of hospitals. I made a few calls, but due to certain laws, I couldn’t obtain any information since we weren’t related. I collapsed on the sofa and nodded off for a few hours.