The Good Daughter

Chapter Five - Father

Not by a long shot.

Her father was well known within the shifter community. He was best known for his stubbornness – he refused to convert to human ways, and so kept them out here in the middle of nowhere. Rowynn supposed it was only her who felt trapped. Tatum and Mia didn't like to go out into town, let alone the bigger cities, and Liam was so far up their father's ass he wouldn't dare do anything to make him angry.

No, because Liam was next in line to take their father's place. He wouldn't do anything to jeopardise his place.

Her lips fell into a grim line as she neared her childhood home – well, the only home she'd ever known, really. She'd ran away so many times that she often wondered why her father even bothered to bring her back. Tatum used to call it the Marsden Cells, because it had been like a jail, but she hadn't referred to it like that in a long time. Tatum would have her own home soon with her mate, and Rowynn would be the last daughter left in this big, lonely house. When Liam found his mate, it would be awkward having his little sister around when he had pups of his own.

Before she knew it, she was already inside the home and making her way upstairs. Rowynn took a deep breath before she knocked on her father's office door. She ignored all the thoughts rushing through her head at that very second. Everyone was hyped about the New Moon festival, everyone but her father, however.

"Come in, Rowynn."

He sounded mad – really mad. Carefully, she opened the door and peeked in. She noticed her father immediately as he sat at his giant oak desk, surrounded by paperwork. Although they were shifters, her father still had to maintain the massive land space he owned, and that took business. Her father prided himself in his knowledge of human business.

She made her way into the office as slowly as possible. He noticed this, and glared. Rowynn understood exactly what he was angry about and closed the door before making her way towards his desk. No use in everyone hearing this.

It was silent for the longest time before he finally said, "Rowynn, I have raised you to be a decent, sensible-"

Oh, here it comes. She went to interrupt, but he simply held up his hand to stop her, and continued in his rant. She knew it off by heart by this point in her life.

"-self-respecting young woman, but it seems you didn't take a liking to the way you were raised. Correct?"

Humans waited to have sex until they were married, while shifter's waited until they chose their soul mate. Rowynn hated waiting for anything. Males were very territorial over the females in their pack, whether they were mates or not. Now times that by ten, and you had Jack Marsden.

She arched her brow in apprehension. "You mean, because I've had sex?"

Her father's face turned so red she thought he would pop. Whenever she dropped the sex bomb on him it was always a battleground. Today, however, something was different. He just sat there and stared at her, instead of blowing his top and yelling. Her father's silence was always more terrifying than his temper.

He was calming himself down – she could tell – because the redness started to ease. "You say it like it's nothing. I suppose when you see yourself as nothing, that's how you start to act."

This was odd. He had never said something like that to her before. Rowynn started to regret coming here almost instantly. Her father was plotting something, and she didn't like it.

"Tatum is smart, beautiful, and fierce. She's also mated with a very decent young man. Mia is graceful, kind and expecting my first grandchild – her first pup. I raised them the same way I raised you, Rowynn, so why is it that you cause me the most trouble?" he growled.