Chapter 108

The car was already waiting for me when I got out of class, just like Arielle said it would be.

I barely had time to register it before a man stepped out of the car and opened the back seat. The sleek black car was polished to perfection.

"Ms. Mountainhowl."

I nodded, thanked him and climbed into the care, remembering Arielle's words and all the text messages.

Do not say no to the coat. It's cold in Brightclaw.

Or the shoes.

Or the jewelry, I mean it. Grandpa deserves his simple pleasures, and you deserve to be doted on.

There he was, seated like royalty with his signature pocket square, cane across his lap, and a smile that made me forget, for just a moment, how complicated my life had become.

“Good afternoon, little one.”

I couldn’t help it. I beamed. “Hi, Grandpa.”

His expression melted.“Come here,” he said, pulling me into a warm hug. “You look beautiful. I trust Arielle has been dressing you?"

I grimaced. "You can tell?"

"She has all the gentleness of a hurricane," my grandfather said, chuckling. "And… she has missed you, as have I." He grinned. "Unfortunately for her, I outrank her and will be taking over your spoiling today."

I laughed as I settled beside him. “I really don't need spoiling."

“Lies.” He tapped his finger to my nose. "Every grandchild needs spoiling from their grandparent, and as your grandmother has moved on to another life, I must do the work for both of us." He turned to the driver. "Let's get going. Today, we shop.”

“For what?”

He waved a hand. “Everything.”

When he said everything, he truly meant it. We hit the most exclusive strip of Brightclaw’s high-end shopping district. He had to come here often, either with Arielle or some other cousin of mine, because the attendants knew his name and were tripping over themselves to make me feel like a queen.

Dresses. Trousers. Shoes. A coat that probably cost more than my old tuition bill. How did Arielle know that he was going to buy me a coat?

It was overwhelming and surreal. I tried to protest at first, but he cocked his eyebrow and waved his phone menacingly.

" I will call your cousin. And if you think I am bad alone…"

I held up my hands in surrender. "Fine. Do whatever you want, just don't call Arielle."

He nodded. "It is poor form to deprive me the joy of spoiling my granddaughter."

Something told me that the gentleness of a hurricane was something that actually ran in the family and had somehow missed me entirely.

So I gave in. And.

After the third boutique, he paused on a bench while the driver stored our bags.

“Let me tell you something, Renee,” he said, folding his hands over his cane. “ It's a conversation I got to have with your mother but never managed to with you. You were much too young for it. Before she died, and then after well. Your father had an investment in keeping you away from us…"

"I still don't exactly understand why."

"Because he is a sad, bitter man who could not handle his place in your mother's life. He could not handle the results of his actions and decisions, so he sought to take his resentment about his situation out on you. Arielle has a great time taunting him while he's in jail. I think she takes a trip at least once a week. She calls it relaxing."

"Ariel has a very deep-rooted sense of vengeance, doesn't she?"

"Of course she does. She's a Mountainhowl. I suspect you have it as well. Though you do not seem to be using it…." He shook his head. "Men like Tyler get as far as they do because no one teaches young women like you the standard to expect. You should have been able to trust your father to teach you that. May he rot in a pit of ego and mediocrity for not doing do so and allowing his own ambitions to come before your well-being.”

I blinked.

“That’s… you make it sound like it's my fault for not knowing."

" Do I? Or are you simply used to taking the blame for your father's actions? Or inaction as the case may be." He sighed. “If you’d had a proper example of how a man should treat you, you would’ve taken one look at that weak-jawed ferret and tossed him into the recycling bin.”

I snorted. “Grandpa.”

He just looked smug.

“You think I’m wrong?”

“No,” I admitted. “But… To be fair, he was apparently under compulsion.”

"I grant him that... I do not grant him leniency for how he chose to treat you, however. But I suppose no path has to always be straight. Now you’ve got two fine men sniffing around, and as Arielle has reported, adhere and exceed expectations without threats. I was rather looking forward to breaking kneecaps… He's letting your cousin do it for me.”

I paused. “Wait… rules?”

“Oh yes.” His smile widened. “I had very firm conversations with both of Arielle's paramours early in their relationship. I look forward to having a similar one with yours."

"And… what will this conversation entail?"

He grinned, vicious and dark. "If either of them cross a line with you, they’d be finding their own teeth in their wallets.”

My mouth dropped open. “You'd threaten Neil and Dominic?”

“Only mildly.”

I buried my face in my hands, mortified. “This is worse than Arielle.”

“No,” he said, patting my knee. “It’s better. She learned it from me, and your cousin is far more creative with her threats. She would draw it out and make them beg. I will simply end them.”

I shook my head. What kind of family was I from?

Then he stood. " Well, that's enough of a break. Shall we continue?"

"There's more shopping?"

Hours later, we ended up at a private restaurant tucked away in one of the old upper floors of the Brightclaw trade district. The view stretched across the distant sea. It was quiet, refined, and steeped in luxury I was pretty sure the Mountainhowls had some stake in.

Over dinner, he asked questions. How was work going? Was Arielle letting me rest? Was I excited about getting my license completed? Had any plans for what to do with it? It felt… paternal. Like every conversation I had ever hoped to have with Philip, but never had.

Then he leaned back with a gleam in his eye.

“Now, that we've gotten most of the future out cleared up, tell me about your present,” he said, “Tell me the truth. Do you like the older one?”

I choked on my water. “Excuse me?”

“Dominic, dear. Do you like him?”

I fumbled for a napkin. “I—I mean…." I ducked my head. "Yes, but… it's not--- we haven't---"

"The pace at which you take your relationship is your own business, so long as it is your pace." He eyed me with a question in his eyes.

I nodded. He nodded.

"As expected, you can always trust a Brightclaw to do what is right."

“It’s complicated.”

“Isn’t it always?” He tilted his glass thoughtfully. “Your mother always said older men are like aged whiskey. Slow to open up, but worth savoring.”

That made me blink. “Wait… she dated someone older?”

He gave me a mischievous grin. “She had a full rotation, darling. Philip was for business, nothing more. Her heart belonged to two others."

"What?"

He bobbed his head. "A younger man, closer to her age—a troublemaker from a neighboring pack. And there was the widower. Polished, intelligent, a bit tragic. She always said he made her feel seen.”

My jaw hung open.

“You’re joking.”

“Not at all.” He tapped fingers on the table. “Of course, Philip knew from the beginning about the other two. He thought because she agreed to a marriage contract, he’d win her over, but she never viewed him in that light.”

“Did you like her… lovers?”

“Mm. The younger one was a pain, but I respected his heart." He chuckled. "Still is. The older one? He was a good man. Loyal. He died soon after your mother did, unfortunately.”

I sat back, processing all of it.

“She really had a full life, didn’t she?”

“She burned bright,” he said softly. “And she didn’t let anyone dim her. I hope the same will be true for you.”

A soft smile touched my lips.

“Like mother, like daughter?” I teased.

“Exactly.”

After lunch, we walked a bit by the gardens of the shopping plaza. He had a driver take the bags ahead while we paused beneath a row of ivy-covered archways. The wind was crisp and salty, carrying the sound of birds from the nearby park.

“Do you think she’d be proud of me?” I asked suddenly, the words tumbling out without warning.

My grandfather turned to me, eyes piercing and kind.

“I think she’d be in awe of you.”

That brought the tears I didn’t expect.

I nodded, quickly blinking them back, and took his offered hand.

"Let's get you back. A young, brilliant mind needs rest."