Page 87 of Bonded By Blood

Joe and Brianna looked over at her.

Trista glanced at Brianna before focusing on Joe. “Brianna’s mothering her daughter the best way she knows how, but of course the only true example she has is me. And as you can tell, I’ve never let her leave the proverbial nest for long.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mother,” Brianna said, a definitive note of defensiveness in her tone. “I’m not doing that to Kendall.”

Trista cast a doubting stare at her daughter. “You’re not? Aren’t you quite literally in a panic over how you’re going to pull her back in now that she’s spread her wings, as they say?”

“I’m just worried about her.”

“As I’ve been worried about you,” Trista said. “For a very long time.”

Joe set his bottle on the nightstand, stood, and stepped up to Brianna. He rested his hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently. “She’s an adult, Bri, and she needs to be allowed to make her own decisions. Scary or not. What you can do—what she really needs from you—is to be here when she’s ready to come home.”

Brianna swallowed heavily and slumped against his chest. Her voice was muffled, slightly, as she said, “Mercy, I’ve become my mother.”

Joe’s lips twitched.

“I can hear you,” Trista said in a mockingly sing-song voice. She stood as Joe and Brianna stepped apart enough to face her. “Well, that is all I needed to tell you. Drink up, get dressed, and we’ll have a proper introduction ceremony later.” She wiggled her fingers at them as she let herself out of the room.

Joe looped his arm around Brianna’s waist. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Brianna said. She sighed. “Yes. I’m sorry. You’re right, I was overreacting. Thank you for stopping me.”

He smiled at her and tipped her chin up to kiss her slowly. “You know, I am starting to feel a little better.”

She rolled her eyes at him and pushed out of his embrace. “Again with those primal instincts? You heard her. We’re expected to socialize tonight. And I imagine your friends would also like to know you’ve survived.”

She did have a point. He’d received a voicemail from the cabin, specifically from Whitney, but he hadn’t seen Adam or any of the pack since the fight with Boris. They’d lost only one wolf in the battle, by some stroke of luck, but they were probably worried about him. And aside from that, Whitney was surely due any day—he should call just to make sure he hadn’t missed the announcement. “Later, then,” he teased as he reached for his bottle again.

“Yes, later,” Brianna said. She pulled open her large walk-in closet, revealing walls of dresses and shoes, then paused to throw a flirtatious grin over her shoulder. “We do have eternity, after all.”

The End