Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) by Amanda Kelly

Your friends like you, James but they don’t respect you because you
don’t respect them or their time. You don’t even respect yourself. I’m sick of
the fighting, the drinking, and the messing around. You are 24 years old, you
have responsibilities and you are throwing it all away because you are as
selfish as anyone I’ve ever met. So no, I do not need you and neither do those
people out there. What they need is a bright future with someone who will put
them first, with or without my blessing, as you call it.”
    I sat once again because my legs could
no longer hold my weight. He had never spoken to me like this. I found myself
saying the only thing I could, hoping he would understand. “Mom wouldn’t want
this, dad. She wouldn’t give up on me.”
    He exhaled a harsh breath and walked
toward the door. “That is why I allow you stay. You will remain in the pack but
nothing more.”
    He paused at the door. “You know, it’s
funny, I had this talk with your uncle yesterday when you weren’t answering my
calls and he was convinced you were turning it all around. This is the first
time, I’ve ever hated that I was right. ” He said and then he left.
    I blanched, finally feeling something significant
inside of me. Maybe it was the pain that comes with irrefutable proof that my
own father bet against me. It was too bad that these feelings made me yearn for
the emptiness. How stupid I’d been to want anything else.
    I sat there in shock for who knows how
long when Will stepped through the door. I banged my head into the chair behind
me. Why Will, why now? “Look, there’s really not a worse time for you to be
here, so get the hell out.”
    “I want to talk to you.” He said as he
sat on the edge of the desk.
    “Will” I croaked, hardly getting the
word out. “I’m not…just not now.”
    “I know things aren’t right between us
but this needs to be said, if you go out to fight, you need to bring me too.”
    Of the freaking things…“I know this is
hard for you to believe, but this is not even close to my priority list right
now.”
    “I don’t care. It’s on the top of mine.
I’m not saying you need backup or any of that shit but I want to be there just
in case. I’m not letting you get ambushed or worse. You go, I go. That’s it.”
    “You didn’t seem to care all that much
when you went to Texas for two and a half years, or since
you’ve been back for that matter. I don’t see why you should care now.” I said,
angrily.
    He kicked the desk leg. “Not this,
again, Jay. I did what I had to do. I care because I’m your freaking Beta and
I’m not letting you drown. You want to go nuts so you can feel something, fine
but don’t go alone.”
    It unhinged me that somehow he could he
see what my own father couldn’t see. “Well lucky for you, you won’t have to be
my Beta for much longer. You’ll be handed my spot anytime now-“
    He cut me off. “Don’t say that, Jay. I
don’t want it and nothing can make me want it.”
    I stood and walked to the door,
resigned. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”
    He got a steely look in his eye. “We’ll
see about that. Wait, Jay…did he even remember?
    I turned. “What?” “Did your father
remember what yesterday was?
    My voice shook. “He had no effing
clue.” I pushed my forehead onto the doorway, feeling lifeless. My own father
hadn’t remembered the anniversary of my mother’s death.
    I’d figured it out when he called
yesterday around 3 p.m. and left a message about some meetings followed by two more voicemails about
him being angry that I wasn’t answering. None of these messages showed me he
had any clue at all.
    Will smoothed his hand over his shaved
head “I’m going to take care of this. In the meantime, you call me, no matter
what. You want to fight, you call me.”
    I walked into the hallway “Whatever.
Later.”

Chapter 10
Kira
    I got a late start this morning making
me feel extra grateful that it was a Saturday.