Tara Westover Father Burns Novels & Stories

A breeze moved through the training field, carrying the sound of a warrior calling out a correction to the morning drill. “I think it said everything my father deserved to hear and refused to listen to,” Enzo said finally. “And I think reading it was the last time my father felt anything genuine about what he had done. And then he burned it and went back to his life.” He turned the thought over visibly. “He came to the border once. Dexter. After his mother died, he stood at the edge of his father’s pack, looking at the lands that were half his by blood.” “They turned him away,” I said quietly.

Eventually, I forced myself to stand, lifting her up carefully. “We’re going home,” I murmured. Home. If you could even call it that. When we got back, the house was still dark. My father hadn’t moved from his chair. The same vacant stare. The same flicker of a cigarette in his hand. He didn’t even ask where she was. He just looked at me and muttered, “Told you she was trouble.” Something inside me snapped. I wanted to lunge at him, to make him feel every ounce of pain I felt, but Tara whimpered softly against my chest, and I stopped. For her.

I have barely been able to speak in four days. In these four days, I have simply moved through the motions. I am not myself. How can I be when half of me is dead? How did Father rip apart his own mate and still have the strength to take on a full-grown Alpha, like Finch. Did he really not love her? Mother was burned and will be returned to her home pack in Oklahoma. Father was burned and his ashes scattered to never be at peace. I don’t know how but we are here at the arena.

I winced in pain, tears sting in my eyes. “To the Cells.No One is ever going to find out what happened to the West Brothers and this omega” His father says as he attempts to snap my neck but the lines of confusion on his face tells me something was wrong.He uses all his strength but I could barely feel it as if he was being held Back. “Why is it–

“He fed the man’s body to the dogs. Said someone like that didn’t deserve a funeral.” Tara didn’t meet anyone’s gaze. But Amarok’s voice broke through. Low. Deep. “You don’t know how proud I am that you survived… then and now.” Tara finally looked up. Their eyes met. And in his, she saw emotions —respect, pride, pain. “When our father died, we had no one. Curtis took us in, and his kids treated us like family. It meant everything. I swore I’d protect Taylor with my life. If it meant learning how to fight, then so be it.”

The other two spots went to Luna Lily and Beta Andy’s father Alexander, both of whom are furiously loyal to the both Alpha Keen’s. After my father found my mother dead in her cell we didn’t know what to expect from him, but true to who my father was he was as steady as ever. Comforting me trying to explain that it wasn’t my fault for following my heart, but it was hard to believe his words when I knew that choosing West was why she was dead. At first West tried to give me space thinking that I was going to be mad at him for what had happened to my mother, but that was the last thing that I needed or wanted at that moment.

I said, looking at him cautiously. “It’s a long story.” “If there’s something about Wesley that I should know, tell me.” I insisted. “It’s not Wesley. It’s his father.” Dad said. And I looked at him, expectantly. He can’t expect to just say something like that and then not tell me what the fucking problem was. “His father was your mothers gamma. He dropped the ball and let her run away with you. His father has been banished from this mansion and he was lucky that I didn’t have him executed for what he did.”

"What are you doing? You're not strong enough for this yet." "I have to be," I said through gritted teeth, fighting against the weakness that made my legs feel like water. "People are dying, Tara. Other couples like us are being hunted, and I'm lying here like an invalid while—" "While you recover from nearly bleeding to death," Tara finished firmly, guiding me back to the bed with surprising strength. "You're not helping anyone by pushing yourself too hard too fast." I allowed her to help me lie back down, but my eyes remained fixed on my father. "Tell me everything. All of it. No more protecting me from the truth because I'm injured."

Owen knelt beside his father and made the same praying gesture. His small hands clasped together as tears streamed down his soot-covered face. Mom. I don't want anyone else to be my mother anymore. I don't want any other family. Dad and I have already avenged all the wrongs you suffered. We burned the woman who hurt you, just like she burned Grandma. Please come back, okay? Owen misses you so much it hurts to breathe. But at that time, I was already far away in the Northern Snow Pack.

“I was wondering when you’d show up.” I walked toward the desk calmly. “You are destroying evidence.” My father’s voice was cold. “You should not be here.” “And you should not be burning university records.” The fire crackled in the metal bin between us. Drake crossed his arms. “You really thought you could stop this.” I looked at the burning documents. Then back at them. “Yes.” For the first time that night, my father’s expression hardened with something close to anger. “You are interfering in matters you do not understand.”