My stomach churned and I put my mug down. “I’m guessing it’s not good. Especially since my grandparents didn’t tell me a thing before they died.”
Cord glanced my way. I didn’t know him all too well, but we were Rachel’s mates together, which meant he had to know everything. There would be no secrets between us.
“Cathryn Taggart was from the Wolf Ranch pack.”
I took a breath and relaxed my shoulders. “So my grandparents really are my grandparents. That’s not a lie.”
He shook his head. “Right. Ellen and Floyd only had one pup. Cathryn. Somehow —no one seems to remember how—she found her matched mates from the Two Marks pack. Harlan Fisher and Noble Mead.”
I looked to Cord who said, “Never heard of them. I know one Fisher family, but they’re too young.”
“That’s right,” Wade confirmed. “I’d say those Fishers might be cousins or something. The Meads moved to a Canadian pack when you were around one.”
There was a lot Wade hadn’t shared yet, only setting the foundation. My instinct told me none of it was good.
“What happened before then?” I asked.
He sighed. “I talked to my parents to get the story. They said Harlan wasn’t a nice man. To put it mildly. He and Noble knew they were scent matches, but there was an age difference, and weren’t friends prior to finding their mate.”
“Meaning they had the connection but led completely separate lives,” Cord clarified.
Wade nodded. “That’s right. They met Cathryn—again, how that happened isn’t known—and formed their triad. As all three were shifters, the connection was strong and from what I’ve found out, Cathryn was claimed right away.”
“Okay,” I said, not sure what the issue was.
Wade clenched his jaw. “Apparently, Harlan was rough.”
“Rough with my mother?”
“With your mother and Noble,” Wade confirmed.
I growled because that was not how shifter males behaved. Females were cherished and protected. Never harmed.
“From what I gather, it’s suspected Harlan wanted Cathryn for himself—he didn’t want to share with Noble. When Jack West, the alpha at the time, refused to banish Harlan for what he’d done, they disappeared.”
Cord made a funny sound and raised his hand. “I do remember this. I was really young when this happened, but the story of a bad match was talked about for years.”
“That means that Harlan was a fucking asshole. Dangerous,” I added.
Wade looked at his paper, avoiding my eyes. “I remember the story, too. Like Cord, I was little so the three shifters involved weren’t real. Just a story. It got so that the names weren’t even used. Just the bad shifter match. I’d forgotten about it and never made the connection to you. I wouldn’t have unless I’d asked around.”
Rachel came to the table, looked between the three of us. Her scent was sweet and strong and it soothed my riled wolf. I wanted to yank her onto my lap. No, I wanted to yank her onto my dick, sink into the pleasure I found in her body.
I couldn’t. Not now.
I felt a stone rolling in the pit of my stomach. Here I’d been thinking I knew nothing about triads, but my biology would take over. My wolf would show me the way. But now I had to wonder if I should even attempt to be a part of Rachel’s triad. My parents were the ‘story’ of the pack. The bad claiming that everyone talked about and remembered. I didn’t think Wade’s story was done, and suspected it was only going to get worse.
“I’m Wade,” he said, introducing himself. He smiled and stood, tipping his cowboy hat.
Rachel smiled prettily up at him. I growled possessively, and Wade dropped back into his seat.
“You met his… Caitlyn yesterday,” he added.
Rachel nodded, her eyes brightening with awareness as she made the connection. “Right. It’s nice to meet you. You okay with coffee?”
She reached for the carafe and topped our mugs off, spilling some when she got to mine. “Whoops,” she said, laughing at herself, taking a cloth from her apron and wiping up the mess.
He nodded. “Fine. I don’t need a glass of water.”
She looked to Cord, her mouth open. “You told him?”
“Told me what?” Wade asked.
Cord chuckled and grabbed her hand, kissing the knuckles. “I didn’t tell him a thing.”
She pursed her lips and switched topics. “Ready to order some food?”
We gave her our orders, then she headed for the kitchen. My wolf wasn’t excited about that, and I stared at her ass as she went.
“Tell me about Harlan,” I said, getting back on the subject once the swinging door closed behind her.
“Yeah. He was a loner,” Wade continued. “Always had been. He worked as a mechanic—ran a shop in town, then he moved up into the hills and supported himself—barely—by repairing tractors, snowblowers, whatever had an engine, for shifters through the valley. Like a traveling vet.”
“Go on,” I said, knowing there was more.