AVERY

A shton holed up in his room for hours after Cole left.

I didn’t have the emotional energy to talk to him, so I sat on the couch, thinking about everything.

For so long, I’d believed I would never see Cole again.

Opening the front door had been like opening a portal to the past. He hadn’t changed much in fifteen years, and for half a second, it had been like I really had gone back in time.

What really irked me was that smile of his, like he’d half-expected it to be me when I opened the door.

Now, I had to explain to Ashton what was going on.

I groaned. Good God, I hadn’t had such a stressful time in my life since I’d lost my grandmother and Cole.

When the sun finally started to arc toward the horizon, lengthening the shadows in the living room, I heaved myself up and went to the kitchen.

I wasn’t in the mood to cook, so I tossed a frozen pizza in the oven.

I rested my hands on the counter, trying to organize my thoughts as I waited for the pizza.

When it was done, there was nothing left to do but face the music.

“Ashton!” I called. “Dinner.”

A few moments later, his bedroom door opened, and he came shuffling down the hallway.

He glanced at me while I cut the pizza and took a seat at the kitchen table.

He was chewing on his lower lip, eyes darting from the tabletop to me.

I could almost hear the questions forming in his mind, like bullets being loaded into a gun.

I slid a plate of pizza and a can of soda in front of him, then sat down in front of my own plate. Crossing my arms, I said, “All right. What do you want to know?”

He blinked, looking at me like he wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “Really?”

“Yeah,” I said, taking a bite of my pizza. “No reason to hold back now.”

He nodded as he tore off a piece of crust and popped it into his mouth. “So, that woman at the store today… she’s my aunt?”

“Yes,” I said with a weary sigh. “She’s your aunt. Her name is Farrah Garrett.”

“I thought so. Even back at the store, before I found out, I was getting major aunt vibes off her.”

Unable to help myself, I snorted a laugh. “What the hell are ‘aunt vibes?’”

“You wouldn’t get it,” he said. “You’re too old.”

“Ouch. Thanks for that.”

“Truth hurts.”

He grinned, and it was genuine. Some of the darkness that had been suffocating me the last couple of hours lifted, and I gave him a small smile in return.

“I know the next question,” I said.

“The guy at the door today.” Hope gleamed in his eyes. “Is that… uh, is he my dad?”

The sad, yearning desire in his voice was like an icy rod stabbing deep into my heart.

“Yes, Ash. He is. His name is Cole Garrett.”

“Why didn’t I ever meet him?” Ashton said, the hitch in his voice betraying just how upset he was. “Why did we live so far away from here so I could never be with my people? My actual pack?”

Hearing that hurt even worse. For years, I’d wondered if I was doing the right thing.

I’d done my best to put him in diverse schools to ensure he was around other shifter children.

I’d wanted him to be around others of his kind, but that hadn’t worked out as well as I’d wanted.

Those shifters hadn’t been part of his pack.

His true pack. It had been awkward and difficult for him to make friends with them.

It also didn’t help that Ashton was an alpha like his father.

He’d intimidated the other shifter kids.

All the more so when in the last year or so, as he started puberty, they’d sensed the power within him.

That power imbalance meant most of his friends were humans. That was fine, but I was very aware that something was missing in his life, a piece of a puzzle I’d tried to fill for fourteen years but couldn’t.

I’d always know that sooner or later, I’d have to bring him home.

I’d put it off for as long as I could, even though I knew he’d only feel complete if he was with his true pack.

It was partly why I’d gone along with Stormy’s suggestion of coming home.

Before my engagement with Perry had fallen apart, I’d dropped hints about how nice the rural areas of Georgia were, trying to work up the courage to talk about moving closer to my childhood home.

Now, instead of easing Ashton into it, I’d thrust him into this world.

A father, an aunt, a pack, a hometown, all with barely any warning or preparation.

I felt like a goddamn terrible mother, even though the rational part of my brain told me it wasn’t true.

“It’s hard to explain,” I said. “I’d planned on bringing you back one day, but things didn’t work out the way I wanted.”

“Well, was it true my dad didn’t know about me before he left town? Is that why he never tried to find me?”

“That was…” I paused, trying to figure out how to explain. Technically, that was correct, now that I’d heard the truth. Finally, I said, “A bit of a lie.”

“ What ?” Ashton gasped. “You always said the most important thing is telling the truth.”

“Yes, but sometimes the truth hurts,” I said.

“And I didn’t want to hurt you. Now that I’ve talked to your dad, it turns out, in a roundabout way, that was the truth.

I thought he knew about you and didn’t care, but he really and truly didn’t know.

I don’t know if that makes any sense.” I put a hand to my forehead.

“What the hell does that even mean, Mom?” Ashton said, shoving his plate of mostly uneaten pizza away.

“Fine. You’re still my baby, but you aren’t a child anymore. This is partly your story, and you deserve to hear it.”

Then I told my son the whole story. From the moment Cole left town all the way to the conversation out on the porch. The anger on Ashton’s face faded as I spoke.

“So,” I said, “your father says you’re welcome to join the pack, and they’ll accept you with open arms, but it’s up to you. The ball’s in your court now. You’re not eighteen yet, but I can’t make this decision for you. Whatever you decide, I’ll go with it.”

Saying the words felt a little like jumping from a high cliff into a pool of water below. Would I be safe? Was the water deep enough? Would I float back to the surface, or sink to my doom?

“Can I think about it a little bit?” he asked, looking a little shell-shocked.

It was so much information and pressure to put on a boy so young. I hated this. Silently, I cursed Cole’s father and sister for what they’d caused.

“Yeah, buddy, that’s fine,” I said. “I figured you’d need some time.”

Nodding, he pulled his plate back toward him. Not even all these life-altering revelations could halt the appetite of a teenage boy. Before he could start eating, I got up and pulled my chair over so I could sit next to him.

“I love you so much. I hope you know that,” I said. “I would never have done any of this if I’d ever thought there was a better way. I’m sorry for everything.”

“I love you, too, Mom. It’s okay. It’s all sort of weird, isn’t it?”

“Very,” I agreed.

We hugged, and I held him tight for a few seconds longer than usual as I fought to keep my tears at bay.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Ashton,” I said, my voice muffled against his shoulder.

“You’re choking me a little,” he said in a strained whisper.

I loosened my hold on him, then scooted back. “Oh, damn! Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“Listen, I’m going to turn in early. It’s been a rough couple of days, and I could use a good night’s sleep. Are you good?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll probably look around the house a little before I go to bed. One question?”

I groaned. “What is it?”

“If we do end up staying, can we get a new TV? I have no idea how to work that thing,” he said, nodding toward the monstrosity in the living room.

I ruffled his hair. “Whatever you say. We’ll call it an early Christmas present or something.”

Leaving him to his food, I rolled my suitcase down the hall to Grandma’s old room—my room.

Somehow, it looked both bigger and smaller than I remembered.

The room had a smallish bathroom attached and a door that led out to a small, covered patio.

Grandma used to love sitting out there watching birds and squirrels.

I smiled to myself as I pulled some linens from the closet and made the bed.

After showering and brushing my teeth, I got in bed, closed my eyes… and didn’t sleep. I tossed and turned for almost an hour, hoping and praying that sleep would overtake me. Nothing. The outside world was cloaked in a gray darkness.

Screw it .

I got up, wrapped myself in a bathrobe, then stepped out onto the patio, tucking my phone into the pocket of the robe as I went. The Georgia air was warm, even at night. A humid breeze swept over the grass in the backyard as I stepped off the patio, the green blades tickling my toes.

The moonlight illuminated the ancient oak tree, and I laughed in delight when I saw the wooden swing hanging from a thick branch. I’d spent hours swinging on it when I was little.

“Oh, wow,” I whispered as I walked over to inspect it.

It amazed me that the thing hadn’t rotted and fallen off the tree, and it looked remarkably good for being out in the weather for fifteen years.

After checking its strength with my hand, pushing down on it until I was sure it wouldn’t collapse, I sat down.

The chains leading up to the big branch above were rusted, but not so much that I’d get tetanus from touching them.

I swung back and forth gently, my hair flowing behind me, memories of my childhood playing through my mind. God, I wished I could go back in time. It would make things so much easier.

I needed someone to talk to, someone who understood where I was coming from. Ashton was too young to have his mother unload on him, my grandmother was dead, Perry was out of the picture forever, and Cole was absolutely out of the question.