Violet shot him another dirty look. "We'll talk about it later."
His daughter slumped her shoulders dramatically. "That's what you say when you mean no."
He put his hand over his mouth to suppress a laugh. He wasn't going to win any points with her if he undermined her authority in front of her daughter. He knew that much from being around his pack mates that had children.
They kept walking. Violet stayed silent but her daughter continued to chatter.
His daughter.
He had clearly missed many years. But he wasn't going to dwell on that. He still didn't even know her name. That hurt. But he wasn't going to ask. Not yet. Not in front of her. He had a feeling Violet would react negatively to any information he asked for.
They finally reached the park of the elementary school. The girl jumped up and down. “Mommy, can I go play, please?”
"Yes. You know the rules.”
"Yes, Mommy, I do.” She gave her mom's waist a quick squeeze and took off running. She headed straight toward the tube slide and scaled the ladder with a few quick hops.
Violet was seething. "How dare you. How dare you follow me. How dare you insinuate that you know something about my family. How dare – –"
"Save it. I've heard enough."
Her eyes widened. He’d never spoken to her like that before, but he was done tiptoeing around. "I don't want to hear any more bullshit. I know she's mine. She looks just like me. Her voice even sounds like mine did at that age. She moves the same way too. You know she's mine, don't you?"
All of the fire seemed to fade from Violet’s body. "Yes. I know she's yours. You're the only one that could be her father."
He'd known she was innocent when they met, but he hadn’t expected her to have remained celibate since. But a swell of pride filled his chest to look out at the healthy little pup climbing all over the playground equipment. She was concealing her natural abilities and looked merely like a very athletic child.
"What's her name?"
"Arabella Grace."
"That's a beautiful name."
"Thank you. What are you going to do?" Violet asked.
Her entire body was rigid, every muscle tense as if she were preparing for the worst news. "Are you worried that I'm going to try to take her from you?”
"That's exactly what I'm worried about. I don't know why you wouldn't. And I don't know why your pack wouldn’t help you." She held her hand up and began ticking the reasons off on her fingers. "First, I disappeared on you. Second, when I found out I was pregnant, I didn't tell you. For seven years I tried to avoid you. By chance you found me. You saved my life, and I still ran away. Third, I used an artifact filled with dark magic to curse you. Fourth, I left you alone in the woods so that anything could have happened. Isn't that reason enough?” She spread her hands apart. "Your pack has already declared me an enemy."
“Once I talk to Roman again and explain, he'll understand. Believe it or not, he was in the exact same situation not long ago. He found out he had a pup that he didn't know about. His mate had concealed her existence as well, so he may be more sympathetic than you expect.”
"He forgave her? He didn't try to take her pup?"
“Well, she's half bear cub, half wolf pup, but no, he didn't try to take her. They’re mated and they all live together, and they just had a new baby.”
Violet sat up quickly. "No. That's not going to happen."
"I'm not going to push you on that. But I do want to see my daughter. If you're going to keep a nomadic lifestyle, then I want to know where you go, and I want her to visit me, and I want to visit her. I want to get to know her, and I want her to know me. I'm her father."
Violet sank back down on the bench and buried her head in her hands. "I just wanted to do the right thing. I just wanted to keep her safe. And now it's all gone to hell."
"It doesn't have to be hell. We can work this out."
"No, we can't. Because to you the conclusion of this is that we end up mated and married and living together and I join your pack and follow their rules. And your rules. And so does Arabella. I just cannot let that happen. There is no part of me –" She stood up again and turned to face him, fists clenched. “There is no part of me that will ever allow that to happen. I won't put her through that."
"I wouldn't expect you to. I'm glad you're looking out for her. I'm glad you don't want her to be raised like you were. But I promise, our pack is not like that. We don't control anyone. We worked on our outdated methods and beliefs. Why don't you come visit? You can see. Just don't run away again. Because this time, I will find you. And that's not a threat. I can just tell where you are now. I feel like it's going to work all over the world."
He would always be able to find her, whether either of them liked it or not. He didn’t ask for that gift. It was given to him.