Chapter 5

　　Orion

　　She sighed and dropped into the chair across from me. "I didn't question it. Honestly, I was still shocked about his death. I wasn't thinking about anyone else. I've been gone for a long time. Long enough not to see how bad things had gotten. Orion, Dad was only fifty-seven when he died. That's not old at all. People said he was drinking a lot, and he even gained weight, which is strange for a shifter. I should have talked to you about Nikolai and the others earlier, but I forgot."

　　"Maybe he spent all the pack money on alcohol," I said, half-joking.

　　"Do you even know how much alcohol it takes to get a wolf drunk?" she said. "If he kept drinking the way he did after Mom died, you might actually be right."

　　I made a low sound, unsure. Even if that was true, it still didn't explain how so much money was gone. Someone should have been here to manage things.

　　That guilt I felt when I first heard about my father's death came back. Maybe if I hadn't left years ago, things would have been different. If I stayed, maybe I could have stopped whatever happened.

　　Selene had come back first after his death and tried to fix things, only to find everything in chaos. She was the one who called me and asked me to return.

　　Both of us had left for similar reasons. After Mom died, Dad changed—and not in a good way. Neither of us wanted to stay near him. Part of it was because of what he did. He had an affair, and his other woman got pregnant. Even though doctors say you can't die from a broken heart, Selene and I believed that was what happened to Mom. After everything came out, and Dad admitted the affair and the child, I watched Mom slowly fade over the years.

　　When she finally died, Dad started drinking heavily. Selene and I left Pinecrest Valley as soon as we could, leaving all that pain behind.

　　"Have you seen Vale since you got back?" I asked.

　　Selene's face dropped, and she shook her head. "No. Our little brother hasn't been around much."

　　Vale, our half-brother, was never close to us. Every time I saw him, I felt a strange mix of pain and disappointment. He reminded me of how my father hurt my mother. Even though I knew it wasn't his fault, it was hard not to feel that way. Selene always tried to include him as part of the family, and I did my best too. Vale never did anything wrong, and I knew it would be wrong to blame him. But since I got back, I heard he was rarely around and might be mixed up with bad people.

　　"I haven't seen him either," I said. "Was he at the funeral? I don't remember seeing him."

　　"If he was there, he stayed hidden. I didn't see him at all." Selene looked at me, worry clear on her face. "Can we fix this, Orion? The money problem?"

　　"I'm not sure. I've run a lot of businesses, so I know how to fix financial problems. This—" I picked up a stack of papers and dropped them back on the desk "—is a mess, but I think we can fix it. It would help if I knew where all the money went. Maybe I'll get lucky and find it hidden somewhere in the house."

　　Selene sighed and nodded. "That would be great."

　　I looked at her closely. "Is there something else you want to tell me? You look tense. Is this really just about the money, or something more?"

　　She brushed her hands over her pants and looked away. "No. That's it. I have to go. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

　　"Wait—"

　　Before I could finish, she quickly got up and left the room. I stared at the door, trying to understand what just happened. Has everyone in my family lost their minds?

　　My phone rang, pulling me out of my thoughts. The caller ID showed it was the office. Now that we were back in Pinecrest Valley, Selene and I were running the family business—the local water company. Unlike most places, the town's water system wasn't owned by the government, and I was now managing it along with doing most of the work.

　　"This is Orion," I said, answering the phone.

　　"Hey, Orion, it's Carter from the office. Did you check the disconnect and reconnect list? There's a woman complaining because her water still isn't on. I sent the request almost two days ago, and she says nothing has been done. The system shows you saw it, but no one went. Did you assign it to someone who forgot?"

　　Damn. When was the last time I checked that? I had been so busy going through Dad's papers that I hadn't looked at the work app in days.

　　"I'll take care of it right now, Carter. I promise."

　　"Good. If she calls again, I'll send her to you so you can explain."

　　"Thanks," I said, then ended the call.

　　I scrolled through the app and found the assignment sheet she mentioned. More than twelve old jobs with addresses passed across my screen, each marked in green to show I had seen them. Next to each one was a green check mark. One section was marked as completed jobs. But at the bottom, one job was outlined in green with a red "X" beside it. There was also no technician assigned to it.

　　Damn. I had missed one. With everything going on, I must have seen it and confirmed it but never assigned anyone to do the work. Not a good way to run a business. Forgetting to give a customer a service they paid for was one of the worst mistakes you could make.

　　My irritation quickly disappeared when I read the address. My heart started beating fast in my chest. My hands became sweaty. The street name and number felt very familiar. Just a day after I returned to town, I had driven around to look at old places, and I had passed that exact house.

　　From how it looked, no one was living there. It was taken care of but clearly empty. After asking a few quiet questions around town, I found out that Elara had left Pinecrest Valley only a few months after I did.

　　Carter said it was a woman who called. Could it be her? After all these years? Has Elara come back?

　　Just thinking about her name sent a chill through me. For the second time in minutes, guilt hit me hard. Guilt for what I did—and what I didn't do. For years, I thought about reaching out to Elara, apologizing for leaving her. About five years ago, I almost did it. I even searched for her on social media, but at the last moment, I stopped myself.

　　The thought of seeing her happy, maybe married with kids, was too painful. It would have broken me. But I had no right to feel that way. I was the one who left her. I was the one who hurt her. Even if I reached out, she had no reason to reply. She probably hated me, and she had every reason to.

　　I cursed my younger self. It was crazy how the choices you make when you're young and angry can ruin your life.

　　One last fight with my father pushed me too far. Elara didn't even know I was leaving. I shouted at Dad, grabbed my things, and walked out, leaving Pinecrest Valley behind. My anger at him made me forget everything else. I broke the heart of the woman I loved for something so small and stupid. I have regretted it ever since.

　　Dad wanted me to leave Elara and find a shifter mate. He believed an alpha should not be with a human. One day, when he was drunk, that belief turned into a huge argument. As I stormed out, I thought about going to get Elara. I thought about taking her with me somewhere far away, into a future we didn't understand.

　　But Elara was in college then, happy, and her grandmother needed her. Even as I slammed my truck door that day, I knew I couldn't ask her to leave all that behind. So I drove away, leaving everything.

　　Leaving Elara.

　　Before I could change my mind, I called Carter again.

　　"Yes, Orion?" she said.

　　"The reconnection job… did the woman sound, uh… how old did she sound?"

　　"I don't know what you mean. She didn't sound old, if that's what you're asking."

　　"Okay. I'm going there now. I'll handle it."

　　"Orion, you can just send one of the technicians. That's all you need to do. You're in charge. You don't have to go by yourself. I just meant you should assign someone."

　　"I know," I said quickly, feeling a strange excitement inside me. "I want to do it. I should have assigned it days ago. No need to rush the others to fix my mistake. I'll take care of it."

　　"Alright. Let me know when it's done so I can update the records."

　　"I will," I said. Sometimes it felt like I was the one working for Carter, not the other way around.

　　I grabbed my truck keys and left the office. There was no way to know if the woman in that house was Elara. Maybe she rented it, or maybe she sold it. But a small part of me—and my inner wolf—hoped it was her.

　　The thought of seeing her again, maybe even getting a chance to fix what I broke, gave me more hope than I had felt in years.

　　As I got into my truck and drove away, my wolf gave a quiet, eager growl at the thought of seeing Elara again.