I knew how much Karl had loved his father. Shortly after we’d met, I’d made the mistake of commenting on a father who’d raise his son to be a thief, and it had been the first time I’d seen Karl’s composure ripple. He’d been as quick to his father’s defense as I’d been when he’d commented on a mother who set her daughter up with blind dates. After that, we’d come to an unspoken agreement: taking potshots at one another was fine, but our parents were off-limits.

Karl’s father had raised him as he thought best, into the only life he knew for a lone werewolf.

“That afternoon I showed you was the only time I actually saw someone from the Pack,” Karl said. “We were in Vermont, working, at a resort, and the Pack arrived for a vacation. I only caught that glimpse before my father whisked us out of town. I don’t think I’d ever been so angry with him. He’d always made them sound like monsters. That’s why we had to keep moving—he said they’d kill us if we stayed. But seeing Jeremy and Antonio…” He shook his head. “They looked like ordinary young men, joking and teasing and hanging out. I saw that and I wanted it so badly. But, when I got older, I started to resent them because they kept us from settling down.”

“From holding territory.”

“Testosterone kicking in, I suppose. Joining them wasn’t as important as showing them we weren’t afraid. When I was sixteen, my father came to the motel we were staying in and told me we had to leave because a few Pack wolves were in town. But that day, I decided I wasn’t going anywhere. I thought…” A bitter laugh. “I thought all my father needed was some encouragement. If I forced him to stay, he’d either see that his fears were ungrounded or he’d learn to fight for his place in the world. So I used the one stalling tactic I knew would work. I’d been Changing for a few months, and at that stage, it’s very difficult. When the urge comes, it can’t be denied.”

“So you said you had to Change.”

“I did. He took me into the woods behind the motel, and I did my damnedest. Eventually, it started, but even then it didn’t go very far. My father stayed outside that thicket, encouraging me, for probably half an hour. Then he heard something and told me to stay still. A few minutes later, Malcolm Danvers found me.”

“Jeremy’s father.”