Chapter 29

She was telling him the truth. If this thing between them that had blasted out of nowhere like a space capsule and hit them both with the force of a runaway train was to work, then the Volkas would need to accept her. She hated to think what would happen if they didn't. It wasn't only Jamie's misgivings that had to be set to rest. She needed to know if Mike Volka was indeed wolf and which pack he descended from.
Settling herself in her chair, she lifted her glass of wine, needing the drink to settle her nerves.
"To us." Mike touched his glass to hers.
His smile alone settled her. "To us," she agreed.
They kept the dinner conversation light, discussing the kind of movies and books they liked, the activities they enjoyed, things like that. But when dinner was over, they carried the dishes into the kitchen, and Mike refilled their wine glasses yet again and guided her back out to the patio. The sky was the bluish-slate color of midevening, the moon an emerging silver slice against the background surrounded by stars beginning to twinkle. A soft breeze washed through the air, carrying the fragrance of freshly mowed grass and blossoming flowers, the combined essence soothing her even more than the wine.
Lia leaned back in the lounge chair she'd chosen, stretched her legs out, and took one more quick sip from her wine glass.
"You know I'm Romanian," she began. "I told you that much, earlier."
Riley nodded. "Which is why I told you about the books I've been reading and offered to help you with your research."
"Yes. That was nice of you."
"I had an ulterior motive." He chuckled. "I still do, but the direction has changed. Go on."
"My parents were killed when I was very young." She swallowed back the sad memories. "My grandparents on my father's side raised me. They were wonderful people and did their best to make up for my loss."
"You were lucky," he noted.
"Very," she agreed. "Anyway, we really had lost track of all of our, um, relatives." She stumbled over the word. "My grandfather passed away a few years ago and, this year, when my grandmother was dying, she made me promise to try and track down any relatives I could find. See if I could reconstruct the family tree."
Riley frowned. "She didn't have any information on them?"
Lia shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. A lot of things were lost over the years." Or stolen by the ravaging pack members.
"But I still don't know why you thought Jamie could help or what it all has to do with your interest in werewolves."
Lia sighed again and took another sip of her wine. "You have no idea how hard it is to track people down when you don't know who they are or where they are. Some of the earliest stories of werewolves came from Romania. They called them varcolac, and the stories became family folktales passed down from generation to generation."
"But - "
She held up her hand, needing to get this out first before answering any more questions. "Generations ago, they wrote the stories down in ledgers, in longhand." She grinned. "This was long before computers. Anyway, in a lot of families, the ledgers were passed down from generation to generation. They often used the pages in the back of the book to record family births and deaths, marriages and even divorces, although the latter were rare."
Riley leaned forward in his chair, elbows on his knees, wineglass in hand.
"So, if I'm following you, you're looking for the ledger or ledgers that hold your family history?"
"You got it." She shook her head. "Easier said than done, though. I have to track way back to see who had the ledger for our particular, um, family." God, she'd almost said pack.
"You have no idea who that is, right?"
"None." She shrugged. "I've tried to trace others who might be related, from bits of information I dredged out of personal papers my grandparents left. But I'm also trying to trace the lineage through writings about werewolves. Every family had its own stories and legends."
"You saw the review of Jamie's book," he guessed. "And thought she might be able to help."
"I wanted - still want - to get a look at her book to see if there is any information I can use. Maybe there is some faint mention of my family."
She waited for him to tell her she was nuts. That studying werewolves had nothing to do with her family lineage. That he wasn't letting her anywhere near his friends. But he just sat there, scrutinizing her face as if truth or lie might be written on it. Her skin began to itch, and her stomach tried to tie itself into knots.
Instead, he nodded, got up, and refilled both their wine glasses before sitting down again.
"I'm sure it isn't news to you that Mike is Romanian, although I don't know when his family migrated here. And you can understand he would be protective of his heritage, for reasons I'm really not able to go into right now. Jamie is fierce about it, so your questions pushed all her buttons."
"But I just - "
He held up his hand. "I know. You wanted to chat with her. But what if the book you want to see has nothing to do with your family? What if it holds secrets that have to do with Mike's family tree but nothing to do with yours? You can put yourself in his place, right?"
Of course she could, even though she really didn't want to. If only her bunica had shared things with her before her last days, she might have been able to start searching earlier. Now, impatience was taking over, and she had a hard time restraining it. This was the first thing she'd come across that made all her senses tingle with possibilities.
"I can try," she said, "but can you also put yourself in mine? I had to wait for the last of the family I know to die before I even had a clue to head me in any direction."
Finally, he drained the last of his wine, set the glass down, and came over to sit beside her on the lounge.
"All right." He leaned forward and briefly touched his lips to hers. "I understand exactly what you're saying. I can also see both sides of the argument. And keep in mind, Jamie is a brand new, freshly minted author with her first release out there, getting a lot of coverage. More than she ever expected. So Mike is also in protective mode to keep her safe from the public that wants to devour her." He grinned. "If you'll pardon the expression."
"So, what do we do now?" she asked, again tamping down her exasperation.
"You let me talk to Jamie and Mike, tell them about you, explain your situation, and see if yours intersects with Mike."
"They'll want to know if you trust me," she reminded him.
He took her hands in his, gently squeezing them. The warmth from them infused itself through her entire body and settled her. It also ignited every nerve and set her pulse to pounding. She wondered if they'd ever be able to touch each other without this reaction.
"Do you really think I could feel as strongly about you so fast, so intently, so completely if there was no trust? Remember, this thing exploded between us even before we really talked to each other. Before you were willing to tell me your story. I like to think I have excellent instincts, Lia, and none of them warned me away from you."
"When will you be able to do that?" She was so anxious to see if Mike and Jamie had the answers she needed.
"Maybe tomorrow. I'll swing by there after shift and see if Mike is home. I can talk to them both together."
"Thank you." She swallowed. "Really. Thank you."