Tristan
He stared at the photo of him and Arabella.
He had a daughter. He couldn't believe it, and now finally Violet was going to cooperate.
All those years ago he had underestimated just how traumatized she was from her upbringing. He hadn't felt like he blew it off, or that he minimized it at the time, but he had no idea how strongly she felt about avoiding pack life.
Maybe he could've approached her differently seven years ago. Maybe nothing would have worked. Maybe her ideas were so entrenched because of the way she'd had to live and survive that there was nothing he could do.
He had to talk to Roman though. Tristan had to make him understand that she was not the enemy.
And then he had to get a cabin rented for her and her pack, and get Arabella signed up for some camps.
But before he did that, he wanted to find out which camps she actually preferred. He might have to always tread carefully when making decisions for his daughter.
But talking to Roman was the first priority. He went straight back home and burst into Roman’s office. “I need you to listen. Violet is not our enemy. She had a reason for what she did.”
“And what could that possibly be?”
“I have a daughter. She was hiding her from me. I know it's wrong, but she was terrified. She grew up in an abusive pack and left when she was eighteen. She's been on the run ever since, moving from town to town, and country to country. But today she let me meet my daughter.”
He held up his phone and showed him the picture. Roman just stared at it for a minute and then swallowed hard.
“Okay. I'll let everyone know. I'd only told a few of our brothers – Jameson, Derek, and Daniel. I was going to call a meeting tonight for the rest of the pack, but now I won't do that. At some point they will need to know that there's an artifact out there that can paralyze them. But I'll let you tell them, and you can leave out the fact that she used it on you."
Roman got up from his desk and came around to stand in front of him. "How are you doing?" Roman asked. "I know this isn’t easy. From experience."
"Right. I just keep thinking of all the time wasted. I'm not mad though. I feel sort of a sense of relief because I've been missing Violet all this time. Now I know where she is and what she's doing. While I'm frustrated that she hid this from me, I know it wasn't malicious. She truly is very traumatized from her childhood. And with good reason."
Roman’s hand landed on Tristan’s shoulder. "I'm happy for you, man. Just don't try to deny your feelings. You're going to be pissed off sometimes and that's okay. And…”
His eyes darted away for a moment, and he seemed to debate saying something else. "I would say this is none of my business, but it kind of is. As your brother and your Alpha. And just your friend. Are you sure you want to go down this road? Not with your daughter. I know you're going to do everything you can to be a good father to your pup. But with Violet? Are you sure you want to pursue having her as your mate? She may have good reasons for her choices but that doesn't make them any easier on you. Do you want a lifetime of chasing her?"
Tristan did get angry. He felt the swell of it in his chest. He yanked away from Roman and held out a hand. "I understand why you said that. But it does make me angry. She's my mate. Just like Everleigh is your mate. Would you abandon her because she was a lot of work?"
"Everleigh was a lot of work. And so was I. That's why I understand, maybe better than anyone else in this pack. Everleigh has her own way of doing things too. It took a lot of adjusting to work that out.”
Tristan deflated. His anger dissipated. "Well, between me, you, and Derek, none of us have had a straightforward relationship."
“That’s an understatement,” Roman said.
Kyra, Derek's mate, had been spying on them for a vampire coven. The vampires had planned to take all of the pack youth and turn them into hybrid vampire wolves. At the last minute, she’d had a change of heart before it was too late. Poor Derek had really had to do some soul-searching to figure out their relationship.
"I'm not sure that we can get more dramatic than what Derek went through. Kyra makes Violet seem downright placid,” Tristan said.
They both laughed. "Just be careful, okay? And if you need to talk, come tell me. I've been through this. While it may look easy from the outside, it's not,” Roman said.
He felt much better after leaving Roman’s cabin. It was nice to have someone to talk to who truly understood.
And Roman had easily agreed not to make Violet an enemy of the pack.
If his brotherhad done that, Tristan would've had to leave the pack. And he would never be able to return.
Now he had the unpleasant task of telling the pack about this artifact. He would have to find out more from Violet first, and then share it with them.
He went straight over to Everleigh’s real estate office.
"Hey, Tristan, what's up. Is everything okay?” She got up from her desk when she saw him.