Page 39 of Crave

“Mom!”

Brody crushed her in a hug, stepping back only when Dallas pushed in. Sofia cupped his face, barely getting a word in before August was picking her up and spinning her in a circle.

A knot formed in my stomach.

“Kinda feels like a party where you’re not invited, huh?” Hayden held a shaking Major by the collar. His tail was thrashing so hard it was getting tangled up in the plumbago, his attention darting between all the new people and the unmonitored table of food. Golden retriever heaven. “I’m thinking we go eat that cake. You game?”

“Try it, and I’ll cut you.”

“I’ll take off the top, carve a piece out of the middle. You’ll put it back together. No one will be the wiser.”

“I can’t take you anywhere.”

“You’re no fun.” A pause. “Uh oh. Incoming.”

I looked up. Sofia was striding across the yard.

My breath stilled, a sharp buzzing ringing in my ears. How was it possible all these years later that I still felt the instinctual urge to run to her side? That despite how wholly my human mind understood the effed-up nature of my time at the Caldwells, there was no erasing the bond I still felt towards her as my adoptive sire, or the wolf’s yearning for her approval? I dug my fingernails into my palms until the pain caused my vision to clear. Swaying in place, I blinked.

“—so happy you and my son are finally together. Ben would be, too.”

I froze. The wind gusted, swirling dust into my eyes. Black spots appeared at the edges of my vision. I gritted my teeth as Sofia turned from Hayden to me, willing my pulse to slow. I would not show weakness.

“Lacey. You get more beautiful every time I see you.”

Her eyes narrowed. I knew there was no way she’d missed Dallas’s scent on me. And even less chance she’d liked it.

August caught my eye. “Mom, any word on Dad?”

“There’s a lead I’m following up in Denver. A separatist group that may have information.”

And as everyone turned back towards the house, no one seeming to notice when I didn’t follow, it was suddenly hard to believe I hadn’t seen this coming from the start. They were family, united by bond and blood. And I was… what?

There were many forms of exile. A quarantine necessary for the safety of others. A son sent thousands of miles away in shame. Punishments meted out over the course of years, day by day, until breathing became unbearable under their weight. Some memories we cradled in cupped hands, savoring every sunbeam, first kiss and warm press of a palm in dread of the day they would inevitably spill like sand between our fingers. Others we found a way to heal from, facing down unspeakable nightmares worse than an army of the undead. But some memories were like tiny fragments of glass, so deeply imbedded they would never form scars. I’d fractured something that could never be made whole that night. And I would never stop paying for it.

* * *

Thor: You okay? I know I made fun of the whole cat cam idea as too Big Brother.

Thor: But I’m sure Fancy’s fine. We left her wet food and like three bowls of water.

Me: I didn’t want her to miss the first two and get dehydrated.

Thor: Our girl will be taking on Phelps in no time. So you gonna tell me what’s really bothering you?

Shutting down my screen, I turned my attention to the table.

“We traced Tuesday’s bombing to one of the covens based in Houston.” Guillermo swirled his scotch, the warm amber liquid seeming to glow in the light of hundreds of tiny tea candles. “We were able to recover almost a dozen shapeshifters being held prisoner in a makeshift lab, including the young woman dubbed Athena by the news media who was forced to release the video saying she was responsible for the explosion.”

“Who is she?” I asked.

“As she’s received a flood of death threats in the last forty-eight hours from the human and shifter community alike, at the moment her identity is being kept confidential. I’ve asked Calgary to coordinate with our team after they’ve been debriefed to find suitable trauma specialists to work with all the victims.”

I made a sound under my breath, wondering how much trauma the specialists would have to undo from the werewolf council’s methods.

“Any of them the human girls they were trafficking out of Austin?” Brody asked.

“Seven—all werewolves now.” Though she answered her son, I felt Sofia’s eyes on me from across the table. “Plus three males and one child.”