Alpha's Rescue (Shifter Ops 5) - Page 56
Darius nods. “You need to know about Tiffany.”
Great. As if this ride wasn’t awful enough, I get to hear about Teddy’s ex.
But Darius seems determined. “Teddy was young. They were only eighteen. He thought that she was his mate.”
Pain slices through my heart. Mate. There's that word again. “So why isn't he with her?” I have to sound like this means nothing to me, like I don't care. In a few hours, I won't remember anything. Will I sense something’s missing, like a phantom limb? Will my thoughts stutter over the place where the memories of Teddy were? Or will it be like he never existed at all?
I can't imagine not being able to remember Teddy. Whatever this vampire’s going to do to me, I’ll probably know deep down that I met someone special and now he’s gone.
“Teddy had every intention of spending his life with Tiffany,” Darius says. “But the day after Teddy told her our secret, she contacted a reporter with news that she had the story of the century. She reached out to not one but three major newsrooms to see if she could get a bunch of cameras here to break the story.”
“Oh,” I breathe, stunned.
“Yep. Teddy didn’t know any of this. He’d borrowed Ma’s truck for a special errand. He’d commissioned an engagement ring from a jeweler all the way down in Albuquerque. While he was planning to propose, Tiffany was going to tell our secret to the world.”
The love of Teddy’s life planned to betray him after he trusted her with his secrets. No wonder he was twitchy about cameras. “What happened?”
“I overheard her talking to the reporter. She needed proof for the reporter to believe she wasn’t making it all up. I grabbed her phone, and Matthias sedated her and made arrangements for the mindwipe. But then we had to tell Teddy. He…didn’t take it well.”
“I bet.” The pain in my chest cavity transforms, softening. I hurt for the young werebear, the hopeful boy that Teddy used to be.
“I was the one who broke the news to him. He didn’t believe me until I showed him Tiffany’s phone with the record of texts and calls. The only reason Tiffany hadn’t told the reporter everything was because she wanted money. Three hundred thousand dollars.”
My stomach lurches. She was going to sell Teddy’s family out for money? This story is making me ill.
Darius glances in the rearview mirror. “The reporter said Tiffany could get all sorts of money and book deals, but first they needed proof. Tiffany’s greed bought us time. Teddy and Matthias took her to the leech.”
“Did it work? Did she forget?” I haven’t heard a newsbreak about werebears, so it must have.
“Her case was more complicated. She and Teddy had been together for a while. They’d met in high school and were together when Teddy took a few community college courses. The leech had to wipe several months’ worth of memories. When Tiffany woke up, she had trouble remembering her own name.”
Oh shit. I don’t realize I’ve whimpered aloud until Darius touches my arm.
“It’s okay, Lana. It won’t be that bad for you. We might have been a little harsh with the mindwipe, too, because we needed to destroy Tiffany’s credibility. And it worked. The reporter chalked Tiffany’s story up to a delusion, and our secret stayed safe. Thank Fate.”
I’m holding my pink bag so tight, my hands cramp. I ease my grip.
“Tiffany recovered after a few months. Matthias kept an eye on her–he’d been a junior EMT, so he had a pretense to check in with her. Last I heard, she took a job driving trucks cross country. She’s never come back to this area. No memory of werebears, no trying to get money for the story. But Teddy…A few days after taking Tiffany to be mindwiped, Teddy joined the military. He didn’t come back to the mountain for five years.”
We drive a few more miles in silence. Me, digesting this. Darius looks grim, like he’s reliving the past.
“Is that when you went to college?” I ask, mostly to say something. During the fight between Darius and Teddy, Darius threw out the fact that he’d studied business.
“Someone had to stick around and help Ma,” Darius growls. “Teddy was gone. Matthias needed to focus on getting into med school. The Terrible Threes were growing up and getting into everything. Ma didn’t have a second to spare. I worked construction and went to school at night. I taught myself to day-trade. Then I went to New York for my MBA. Teddy thinks I abandoned the family, but he did it first.” Darius grips the steering wheel tight. If he were Teddy, I’d put a hand on his back to ease the tension in his shoulders.
Maybe this ride is less about me and more about him talking his own stuff out. No better person to hear your secret shame than someone who’s about to be mindwiped.
Source: readsnovelonline.net