Page 30 of Wolf Revealed

Mike chuckled as he dipped his spoon in his bowl. “You remembered I like peanut butter cups on ice cream.”

“I remember everything about when we were together,” she said softly.

Their gazes met for a moment before Mike focused on his ice cream.

“Are you hoping to find the guys who attacked you tonight somewhere in that stack of photos?” she asked, gesturing to the large stack of mugshots on the desk with her spoon.

“Yeah. I was hoping at least one of them would be from Roman’s old crew. I still don’t know why they tried to kidnap Carter.”

“Maybe they thought they could use him to get you to turn over the flash drive, like they tried to use Kal.”

Earlier tonight, Lark had overheard Hale and Khaki talking to Mike on the phone. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but when you were a werewolf, and your hearing was so good you could hear a mouse sneeze from a hundred feet away, sometimes you couldn’t help it. Regardless, she’d known there’d been a fight of some kind, and had assumed it was with Roman and his crew. It wasn’t until Mike and his pack mates had returned looking bruised and battered that she’d gotten the whole story.

“No luck, I take it?” she asked, glancing at the pictures, not comfortable with the idea that these were the kind of scary men he’d been working with all those years ago when he was undercover.

“No,” Mike said with a sigh. “I’m hoping the department comes through with an ID on those guys based on descriptions.”

“Having that one guy’s fingerprints should help,” she said, thinking of the man Mike had been forced to kill. “From the way you described them, I have a hard time believing this is the first time they’ve done something like this. They probably all have police records.”

“I’m hoping that’s true. Wayne has put a rush on the request to AFIS, so we’re hoping to get something soon.” Mike ate some more ice cream, his expression thoughtful. “This is the flavor you always used to crave when you were pregnant with Kal. I remember running to the store for it quite a few times.”

Lark smiled at the memory. “I was kind of addicted to it during the last few months of the pregnancy, wasn’t I? You’ll be happy to know it’s Kal’s favorite flavor as well. He jokingly tells me he must have gotten a taste for it before he was even born.”

Mike let out a snort of laughter, then looked down at his bowl again, his face serious. “I’ve missed a lot of things when it comes to Kal.”

Lark couldn’t miss the pain in his voice. Her heart squeezed in sympathy, knowing it was all her fault. “There are things you’ve missed, but there’s no reason we can’t start making up for that now.”

He turned his head to look at her, his mouth curving into a smile. “I’d like that. I’d love to know more about our son. I know he’s already told me some stuff, but maybe you could tell me everything else.”

Lark couldn’t help laughing as she ate some more ice cream. Everything else was rather broad, but she’d do her best.

“Well, as you’ve probably already guessed, video games are Kal’s favorite thing to do in his free time,” she said, pleased when she found an especially large chunk of peanut butter cup in her ice cream. “In fact, when he grows up, he wants to either become a game programmer or a professional gamer.”

“You can play video games as a profession?” Mike asked, baffled.

“If the posters on Kal’s bedroom walls are any indication, you can. Personally, I hope it’s a phase he’s going through. If not, I’m praying for the programmer career over the gamer one. But then again, maybe that’s just me being a mom and worrying about him having a paying job.”

Mike chuckled. “When I was a kid, I changed what I wanted to be when I grew up once a week. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“You’re probably right,” Lark agreed. “Lately, all Kal seems to think about is his first shift.”

“Okay, I have so many questions when it comes to what that means for a ten-year-old to change into a werewolf. How does it work? Does it usually happen at a certain age?”

“When we start going through puberty, our bodies get ready for the shift,” she explained. “It’s small things at first, like our hearing and vision get keener. Then we start eating more. There are some mood swings, too. He’ll go from being happy one moment to annoyed the next. I don’t know if you noticed how much he ate when we had lunch, but I definitely think he’s getting close.”

“It won’t hurt, will it?” Mike asked softly, worry etched on his face. “When Kal finally shifts the first time, I mean?”

“No, it won’t hurt,” she promised him. “It’s just a matter of relaxing and letting the change sweep over you. One moment you’re on two feet, and the next you’re on four. In fact, it can actually be harder to revert back to your human form that first time, simply because being a wolf feels so natural for us.”

Beside her, Mike visibly relaxed.

“Was your first shift pretty bad?” Lark asked softly. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but I’d like to hear about what happened if you feel like telling me.” She absently stirred her now soft ice cream around in the bowl. “In some ways, I can’t help feeling like it’s my fault it happened in the first place.”

“That’s not true,” Mike said. “At least, not in the way you mean. Everything that happened after you left, after I thought you and Kal had died, was complicated.”

Lark winced at that, but didn’t say anything.

“When I thought you and Kal had died, I didn’t handle it very well,” Mike said softly, his gaze a little distant, like he was replaying the events in his mind. “I guess you could say I pretty much fell apart.”