Chapter 3: Emery's POV

At three in the morning, I’d snuck out of the room so as not to wake Leo while I called an old friend. Lena Coleman, my oldest friend who has been my best friend since childhood, had moved back to our hometown of Moonridge only a month prior, after her husband, Wren died. I’d told her she was mad for going back to that place, but she insisted that being away for so long had given her a newfound admiration for the town.

It was late, but she answered on the second ring, her voice groggy and worried. “Emery? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” I opened my mouth to say I was fine, but all that came out were sobs. It took her a few minutes to get me calm enough to speak. When I told her my predicament, she didn’t hesitate. “Come home,” she said. “You still own your grandfather’s house. It’s sitting there, waiting for you. I drive by it every day. You have a place to go. Come home. We’ll figure it out from there.” The old house was still in my name. I’d planned to sell it and use the proceeds for my son's college fund. Now? It was the only refuge I had in the shitty hand life had dealt me. I agreed with her and told Leo what we were doing when he woke up the next morning.

The expression on his face almost made my heart shatter more than finding my fiancé with someone else. It now really dawned on him that he’d be leaving everything behind—his friends, his hockey team, his school—if we moved to a little town in West Virginia. But my boy was more of a man than the person who’d almost become his stepfather. Instead of arguing, he nodded sadly. “Okay, Mom. Let’s go.” I choked back tears as I hugged him, and then we headed back to the house. Jaxon had left for work, and I already had seven texts and three missed calls from him. We packed a few bags, only what we could fit in the rental car I’d arranged to be delivered while we were there.

My car had been a gift from my ex nine months ago, so his name was on the title. I didn’t want to go through the headache of him being an asshole and having to deal with the police because he reported it stolen. I would rather bear the extra cost that comes with renting a car for a couple weeks. I tossed my engagement ring in the toilet, then we left.

Before we got into the car, I blocked my ex-fiance’s number. In less than twenty-four hours, my life had been turned completely upside down. Now, here we were, on the most unexpected road trip of our lives, heading toward a new and unplanned future.

For his part, Jaxon was making the best of it. “Is Aunt Lena gonna be there when we get there?” he asked as we took the exit for Moonridge. She wasn’t his actual aunt, but it was what he’d called her since he was a baby, and my best friend and I loved hearing it. “She’ll be at work, but she’s going to come by as soon as she can,” I said. “Cool. I miss playing with Isabelle,” he said, then rested his head against the window. Isabelle was Lena’s one-year-old daughter. I hadn’t been back to Moonridge in over fifteen years. 

A company I had minimal contact with took care of the maintenance of the house over the years. Yet, even after so long, I began to recognize things, and everything looked like it had been stuck in some sort of stasis apart from a few changes.

“Are there other shifters here?” Leo asked. I can't lie, the question caught me off-guard but I knew that wasn’t the real question he’d been wanting to ask. I know the team question is that “is my father here”. We’d never talked about his real father, but he’d always wondered about him. He had been born an alpha, and I’d made sure to explain to him what that meant knowing fully well that as a human, I could never truly help him through the change that was beginning to take place in his body since he had just hit puberty a little over a while ago. “There are,” I said.

“Moonridge has a small pack and your father’s family is in charge of it. Your grandfather is the alpha here.” Leo nodded, like he’d already known the answer before I spoke. Then, in a tone that tried its best to be conversational and nonchalant, he said, “Does my dad live here?” and here it was, the question I've been dreading. I'm beginning to think that meeting his biological father may be the reason he hadn’t fought me hard on the move. Leaving his friends behind was not great, but the chance to finally meet his real father must have been too enticing. His father, my first love, Jaxon Blackwood.

Six-foot-five inches of a possessive and alpha wolf that walked into the room with his piercing blue eyes and the confidence of a man who knew his place in the world. He had an aura of quiet power, a sense of authority that commanded respect without demanding it. He’d swept me off my feet with his intense and captivating gaze and I’d fallen head over heels for the man. Then, after what happened with his family, he’d left me. I didn't even know I was pregnant when he broke my heart and disappeared into thin air.

“No, sweetie,” I said in a calm voice that was nothing like the turmoil in my brain and heart. “He doesn’t live here anymore.” Leo didn’t answer, just continued to stare out the window as we turned into the old neighborhood where my grandparents had lived.

What I didn’t tell Leo—and I would soon—was that his grandfather did still live here. One of the reasons I’d so willingly accepted Lena’s solution was because I hoped the old man might finally acknowledge his grandson. Might, in fact, help him through puberty and the upcoming first shift he would have to deal with. My grandfather's house looked the same, the maintenance company did a good job and had kept it in good shape.