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Gerald flinched. “It’s not that simple.”

“It is,” I argued. “I assume you’ve tried to talk to him, send him to the naughty corner, whatever it is that permissive parenting calls for—though I doubt they covered this.” My arm was beginning to ache from holding up my gun. Fuck if I was going to lower it, though.

“He doesn’t know what he is,” Gerald sighed.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure he knows since he turns into a beast every time he has a hankering for hearts or human flesh. Kind of a dead giveaway. Pardon the pun.”

“He doesn’t, he hasn’t. Not since the start. He does not know what he is, we cannot tell him, and we cannot help him.” Gerald’s voice was tight with raw pain. Suffering that had been cultivated for years.

I would usually say the parent of a monster was lying to do anything to save them. And that could still very well have been the case. But my instincts told me that Gerald was telling the truth. Not telling it plain enough for my liking, but I was smart enough to read between the lines.

The dots began connecting as I came to a conclusion that didn’t fit exactly into the narrative I’d hastily created since finding out Colton was the werewolf.

“He’s cursed,” I muttered, my vision blurring as the words slipped off my tongue. It made sense.

Gerald nodded gravely, and the grief on his face punctured me in a soft place I didn’t know existed.

“We didn’t know.” He rubbed his hand across his mouth. “We just thought, for whatever reason, the beast never woke in him. Skipped a generation, faulty genes.” He shook his head. “It happens. That’s why we don’t tell our youths what we truly are, what they truly are, until their first change.”

“Well, that’s fucking cruel,” I scoffed. “Teenage boys are fucked-up enough as it is. Adding them turning into a monster out of storybooks with no warning is a ticket to a lifetime of issues.”

Gerald smiled without warmth. “Yeah, we’ve got a lot in the pack who share the same sentiment. They believe we should be living how our ancestors did, in a community where we don’t have to hide or lie to our young. But that isn’t logical in today’s era. It’s safer for everyone this way. Our true nature going public will be a death sentence for our species, one way or another.”

He wasn’t wrong. If the wolf ever got out of the bag and people could comprehend that werewolves existed, they’d do what humans do best—hunt them for sport, do experiments on them, and eventually drive them to extinction. Not before a very messy war.

Better for all involved for humans to remain ignorant. And though I didn’t entirely agree with Gerald lying to Colton about a huge fucking part of his identity, I got it.

Well, I might’ve, had the lie not led to Colton unknowingly becoming a mass murderer and a monster to boot.

Now I was in the middle of a shitstorm. It wasn’t as simple as killing the monster who murdered my parents, getting my closure, vengeance, whatever, then going on my merry way. No, now I had to wrestle with my conscience as to whether it was ethical to kill my good-guy ex-boyfriend, who was a monster without his knowledge.

“If you’ll trust me, I’ll take you to the alpha. We can talk more there. Maybe make a plan.” Gerald’s proposition jerked me from my inner conflict.

“Trust you?” I shook my head. “No way in fuck do I trust you.” With my shoulder shrieking in pain, I considered my options for a second. Calculated the odds that Gerald was telling the truth. Then I lowered my weapon. “But I’m curious enough to meet the alpha of a pack that, apparently, doesn’t murder humans and has been unable to find and kill a witch in over a decade.”

Gerald winced. “A demon-blessed witch,” he clarified. “Not exactly the easiest thing to find and kill.”

I tossed my hair over my shoulder. “I’ve killed eight over the years, all by my lonesome. Forgive me if I find it hard to swallow that a bunch of wolves couldn’t find one in a town small enough to spot a dark witch a mile away.”

Gerald pressed the pads of his fingers into his temples. This was obviously a sore spot. I would hope the fuck so. A big failing on their part.

“The alpha will explain more.” A weary crease deepened between his eyes.

“I can’t fucking wait.” I holstered my gun, then gestured with my hand. “Lead the way.”

Gerald looked at me for a beat, appearing uncertain. He was looking at me differently, like I was unpredictable. Deadly. He was afraid of me. As he fucking should’ve been. The triumph at that feat felt frail and unsatisfying. Gerald had discovered the truth about who I was but only by revealing the sheer depth of his own lies.

“I’m not going to shoot you in the back,” I reassured him. “I haven’t ruled out killing you and the whole pack, but have no doubt, I’ll do it to your face.” My words rang true, though they tasted acidic. Something deep inside me told me Gerald was telling the truth. That he was a werewolf in a pack that didn’t harm humans. But that didn’t mean if I caught a whiff of anything to the contrary, I’d hesitate to exterminate them all.

I’d find a way to sleep at night. That’s what whiskey was for.

“How noble of you,” he replied dryly.

I pasted on my best acerbic smile, even if it took all my effort. “I do my best.”

He looked at me with a scrunched brow, eyes sparkling like he was going to say something. He just shook his head, as if he were thinking better of it, turning on his heel back toward the trailhead.

I’d follow Gerald to find the alpha of the pack. First, I’d listen to them. Information was my best weapon.