Page 52

52

WARNER

Of course my family followed me.

Zoey is in my arms, saying all the things I’ve been dying to hear, but my mother’s biting words demand my attention. I glare over my shoulder.

Rebecca Jameson stands at the mouth of the alley, my uncle laying a staying hand on her shoulder. With a jerk, she shrugs him off.

Roderick approaches with unhurried steps, his face not giving away any emotion. However, from the way his eyes flick between our mother and me, I’m betting he’s considering whether the pack leader needs to intercede in this conflict.

Tanya and Isaac linger at a distance, hesitating to come closer. My sister bites her thumbnail in the way she always does when her anxiety rises, and my younger brother crosses his arms and wears a blank face. Isaac tends to be more like Roderick than me, facing conflict with a stony defense.

“This is between Zoey and me. We’d like a moment alone,” I say as calmly as I can manage.

“So you can ride off to Denver together?”

“What?”

At Zoey’s question, I turn back to her.

Tuning out my mom’s unwanted comments, I try to have an actual conversation about our future. Zoey told me she loves me. All I want is a moment to savor the words.

“I shouldn’t have asked you to stay here.”

Zoey flinches back as if I struck her, but I keep my arms tight around her waist before she can stumble away.

“What I mean is, your life is back in Denver. Your family and friends. Your business opportunities. It was selfish of me to ask you to give all that up.”

“Warner—”

“I’m coming with you.” I speak over her, needing to get the words out. Needing her to know that I’ll follow her anywhere.

“What about your pack?” Her eyes flick to my family and back to me.

“They aren’t the only wolves in the world.”

She’s shaking her head, and I want to grip the sides of her face, keep the denial at bay. I want her nodding and smiling and telling me about the place we’ll get together in the city.

“I don’t want you to go to Denver.”

Now, I’m the one flinching, and she’s the one clutching me close.

“I want us to stay in Pine Falls,” she says. “At least for now. I want us to stay here. Together.”

Happiness balloons in my chest, and I’m just about to pull her in for another breath-stealing kiss when my mother’s snarl shatters through my good mood. Again.

“Damn it, Roderick. You’re the pack leader. She’s an outsider. Do something.”

Zoey’s head jerks to the side as if my mother’s words were a blow. My wolf bristles in defense, and I turn to examine my brother.

Will he try to step between us? Does he feel the same as our mother?

The man has his arms crossed, his eyes locked on Zoey and me. He’s silent at first, and everyone waits for him to speak.

Then, Roderick shrugs. “She doesn’t look like an outsider.”

Mom’s mouth hangs open before she snaps it shut and lets out another menacing growl.

Rebecca Jameson is not the bubbliest woman on a normal day, but this level of anger worries me. I get the sense that something deeper is going on that I’m not aware of.

“Mom, I know you want what’s best for me, and you don’t think this is it. But I’m telling you, Zoey is all I want. I’ll only be happy if I’m where she is. If we’re together.”

My passionate words don’t sway her.

She continues to glare at the woman in my arms. “Until she leaves you.”

“Rebecca”—a new voice enters the fray, somehow both apologetic and commanding—“please stop putting my sins on my daughter’s head. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me.”

The gentle words come from the mouth of the alley, and we all turn in sync. Standing under the light of a streetlamp is a beautiful woman. Her hair hangs in a golden braid over her shoulder, and there’s an impressiveness to her that’s only amplified by her height. I’m guessing that she’s close to six feet.

“Selena?” Uncle Mason whispers the name, and I realize who I’m looking at.

Zoey’s mother.

The gorgeous woman smiles, but the expression is regretful. “Mason. Been a long time.”

“Could’ve been longer and we all would’ve benefited,” my mom snaps.

Selena Gunner looks back at my mother, taking in the defensiveness of her posture.

“I know you don’t want me here. But this isn’t about me. It’s about our children. Believe me, I didn’t expect something like this to happen. But it did. And I swear, Zoey is a more reliable person than I ever was.”

“Am I missing something? I feel like I have half the story,” Zoey asks as her gaze jumps around the group, taking in Mason’s grimace, Roderick’s scrutiny, Tanya’s lost look, Isaac’s confusion, Rebecca’s disdain before finally landing back on me.

“Drama from another decade,” I mutter, suddenly very annoyed that all of this is being bickered over when I’m trying to declare my love. “Not our problem.”

“I mean, for what it’s worth”—Zoey leans to the side, meeting my mother’s glare head-on—“I love your son, and I want to be with him.”

“You don’t deserve him!” My mother’s declaration tears from her, and I notice her eyes are half black with anger. “He fixes your car! He pulls you from trees! He nurses your wounds! And how do you pay him back? By threatening to leave town! Like mother, like daughter. But I won’t let you play your games with my son.”

She takes a menacing step toward us, as if she plans on ripping Zoey from my arms. Roderick and Mason tense, and I shift my body between my love and my mother.

Then, something in her words registers in my mind.

“How did you know Zoey was hiding in a tree?”

The color leaves my mom’s cheeks, hinting that my instinct is correct. What felt like a slap to the face now feels like a hand around my throat.

The truth chokes me.

“You mentioned it.” Mom waves my words away, keeping her glare trained on the woman I love. But now, it seems her glowering is an attempt to keep from meeting my eyes.

“No”—I speak slowly around the despair and anger that clogs my chest—“I didn’t.”

In fact, I haven’t said much to my mom about Zoey at all. Every time I brought her up, I noticed the tight lines get deeper at the corner of my mom’s eyes. A subtle hint that she was unhappy. So, I’d cut my stories short. Talked to Roderick or Courtney instead. But I thought she just didn’t like the idea of me dating Zoey because human-werewolf relationships could be tricky.

But it was more than that.

“I’m sure you did. You just forgot.” Her continued denial snuffs out my sadness and leaves behind rage.

“I did not . It was you. All of the shit that Zoey’s been dealing with was you, wasn’t it?”

Rebecca Jameson—who taught me everything I know about cars, who can turn into a wolf, who has unlimited supplies for cutting wood—crosses her arms over her chest defensively.

“You disconnected the truck’s battery and messed with its gas gauge. You used your wolf to scare Zoey in the woods.”

I want my mom to meet my eyes, but she won’t. My mind is filled with the memory of Zoey soaking wet, shaking with cold, rambling about a large animal that had her climbing a tree for safety.

It’s almost as bad as Zoey sitting in the emergency care unit, broken and bleeding. And no matter how much I might want to step into my mother’s space and force her to acknowledge me, I’m more worried about keeping my arms around Zoey. Keeping her safe.

From my family.

“You sabotaged the tree house. Why? Were you trying to break her neck?” The words rasp and crack as I ask them, and I have to bury my nose in Zoey’s hair, breathe a deep inhale of her scent to remind me that she’s here. Not unmarked, but she’s alive.

No thanks to Rebecca Jameson.

“That’s not?—”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

For a moment, I’m sure a werewolf just spoke, the words menacing and infused with a growl. But then I realize the exclamation came from Selena Gunner, who stalks toward us, her eyes locked on my mom.