Lucas didn't even watch her leave. He stared at Kylie, his gaze almost a caress. "I'm sorry. She had no right to-"

"She didn't do anything." Kylie twisted the paper towels extra tight, ripped them in two, ripped them one more time, and then tossed them in the garbage. She swallowed the knot of pain down her throat.

"You should go to her. Agree to go through with the engagement."

"What?" He stared at Kylie if she'd lost her mind.

"You heard me!" she insisted.

He shook his head. "You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do!" she said. And she did with all her heart. How could she stand by and watch him lose everything? Watch his own pack push him out, knowing it was because of her?

"You're just angry with me."

"Yes! You're damn right I'm still angry at you." Tears filled her eyes as honesty echoed in her voice.

"You betrayed me. It hurts like hell knowing you left me all those times and went to see her. But do youwant to know who I'm angrier at? Myself. I knew for the longest time how this would end. I knew that me not being a were would end up destroying any chance we had."

"I don't care what you are!" he growled.

"You should. Because the price you'll have to pay is too much." She saw the hurt flash in his eyes.

"Even if you hadn't betrayed me, I wouldn't let you pay it. It's over, Lucas, accept that and don't screw up your life because of me."

Head held high, she walked out. Unfortunately, her heart felt like the towels she'd just trashed- mangled and twisted.

* * *

Kylie watched Perry-still a hawk-follow her dad's car as they returned to Shadow Falls. While her stepdad drove, he talked about the possible hiking trip. When he slowed down to turn into the Shadow Falls parking lot, Kylie noticed the silver Cadillac in front of them with its blinker on, also pulling into the parking lot. The car's tinted windows prevented her from seeing who drove, but she couldn't help wonder if it might be the Brightens-her real dad's adoptive parents.

Kylie's stomach started to flutter. She still didn't know what to say, what not to say. Her heart kept echoing the pain she'd felt when talking to Lucas, but she needed to shift mental gears now. Unfortunately, she had too many issues to give herself over to just one.

She glanced at her watch. It was twenty till two. It could actually be them if they were the type to be early.

Glancing at her dad now talking about the camping gear they would need, she realized how awkward this would be if he had to meet the Brightens. It would probably lead to having to explain a whole hell of a lot of things that Kylie didn't know how to explain. And it would probably end up hurting her stepdad, something she didn't want to do.

The silver car pulled in and parked in a visiting parking spot. Her dad pulled in and parked two spots down. Releasing her seat belt, before her dad even had a chance to turn the car off, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for lunch. I'll see myself in."

"Not so fast, I have time to walk you in. I need to take advantage of every second with you."

Chapter Twenty-four

"Okay," Kylie said, in a bit of a panic. "Well, it's gonna be a quick walk because I ... I have to go pee."

"You went to the bathroom at the restaurant," her dad said as if her peeing habits concerned him.

"Tiny bladder." She popped out of the car. She cut her eyes briefly at the other car and saw the passenger side door opening and then she saw ...

"Oh, crap!" It was not the Brightens. And right now she really, really wished it were.

Her mom and ... She watched in sheer horror as John's head appeared on the other side of the car.

"Kylie?" her mom called out in a stern voice.

She turned to her dad. "You should leave before ... before things go crazy."

"It's okay." Her dad looked embarrassed. "Just because of what happened last time doesn't mean we can't be civil to each other."

Her mom's posture and expression as she came stomping over to the car didn't seem to agree with her dad's "civil" declaration. Oh, lord, Kylie was so not in the mood to deal with her parents' drama right now.

But as she got closer, Kylie noticed her mom, her hair mussed, her clothes wrinkled, and her eyes bloodshot, didn't have her frown zeroed in on her dad, but on Kylie.

Okay ... whose drama was this? Her parents'? Or ...

"Is it true?" her mom snapped.

Kylie instantly remembered her mom had just flown back from England, which explained her appearance, but it didn't explain what was wrong.

Kylie looked to her dad to see if his expression would tell her if he had a clue to what her mom was talking about. But he looked equally puzzled.

"Is what true?" Kylie asked, and noticed John walking up to stop beside her mom. He didn't appear wrinkled or jet-lagged. But just seeing the man sent a bad feeling wiggling its way inside her.

"You called your dad about this, but not me?" her mom asked.

Kylie saw Holiday and Burnett high stepping it out of the office, probably thinking another free-for-all fistfight was about to occur.

Glancing back to her mom, Kylie sent up a prayer that this-whatever this was-wouldn't escalate into chaos.

"I didn't call him about anything. What are you talking about?"

"Did you use the credit card I gave you?"