“You certainly don’t have to, but I’m asking.I’m asking not as your enemy but as your daughter.As the daughter who’s done your bidding these last years.Please.”
His features soften when I use the wordplease.This may be the first time I’ve used it with my father.
“All right,” he says.“What is your question?”
“When you first sent me here, to Las Vegas, you said something about Rogan.You said, ‘he’ll jump through all kinds of hoops to get to you.’What did you mean by that, Dad?”
He doesn’t respond.In fact, he moves away from me.
Yeah, I definitely made the right choice.
But he’s not getting off that easily.
“Answer me,” I command.“Tell me what that meant.”
“Tell me why you’re asking,” he says.
“That’s not part of our deal.”
“There is no deal between us, Hannah.”
“There is.You said you’d answer a question.”
“I did.I did not specify which question I would answer.”
“This is a simple question, Dad.I only want you to explain what you meant when you said those words.”
He twists his lips, and just when I think he’s not going to respond—
“I know what alpha wolves like, Hannah.They like strong, independent, and intelligent women.They don’t want submissive women because they’re responsible to their pack.They need women who can take care of themselves, and though their instinct to protect their women is strong—and they’ll do so at the expense of their own lives if they must—they’re attracted to women who can protect themselves.Women who fill up a room with their presence.Women who don’t shrink from adversity.”
“And that’s me, you think?”
“Are you denying it?”
“No.”
My father knows who and what I am.He knows how much I hate being bound by my blood to come at his command.He knows I’m exactly the kind of woman he described.
But his response is too easy.
And I don’t buy it.
It’s the only answer he’ll give me, though, so I don’t bother trying to debate the issue.I know only this—Rogan thinks I’m his mate.KnowsI’m his mate.
The first ever wolf to mate with a non-wolf.
Do all wolves truly want strong women, as my father claims?I don’t know.I can ask Rogan...if I can find him.
If he’s still alive...
He’ll jump through all kinds of hoops to get to you.
No.I don’t buy it.I don’t buy my father’s explanation at all.
I’m far from the only strong and assertive woman in Las Vegas, yet Rogan was drawn to me.Only me.
My father knows more than he’s saying, and now that I’ve chosen to renounce my vampire blood, I’ll get no more of an explanation from him.It’s a waste of time to try.