“You’re insane!”my mom hisses.“You think my turning down your brother-in-law’s proposal three decades ago gives you the right to attack my daughter?I can’t believe I was trying to apologize to you!”My mom’s brief hiatus from screeching has come to an end.
She struggles against Mason’s restraining hold, and I pity the man.Sounds like he used to love her, and now, he only gets to hold her to keep her from hurting someone.
Not that I think he should get to hold my mom in a loving embrace.I’m one hundred percent Team Dad all the way.But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel for the brokenhearted werewolf.
“They were scare tactics.It’s not like I was trying to hurt her.”Rebecca meets my mother’s eyes this time, defiance clear in her posture.
“You could havekilledher!You almost did!”Mom is wild, to the point that I consider if we might have some wolf in our veins.
“She’s alive?—”
“It doesn’t matter, you selfish bitch!”Shit.This is not a good indication of future Thanksgivings.“You almost killed my daughter!”
Mason Jameson is fully carrying my mother now as she tries to scale him to get at Warner’s mom.
“I’m—”
“CHALLENGE!”The word roars so loud that I bet half of Pine Falls heard it.
And from the triumphant, slightly scary grin my mom wears, I think she somehow upped the stakes of this confrontation.
Every wolf, including the stoic Roderick, wears a wide-eyed expression.Tanya even lets out a strangled gasp and now clutches her twin’s arm so tight that her knuckles stain white.
Clearly, I’m the only one who doesn’t know what’s coming next.
54
WARNER
Zoey glances up at me,confusion twisting her brows.She has no idea that her mother just demanded to fight a werewolf.
Selena Gunner has no fear.
“Selena—” Uncle Mason starts, but the woman won’t be censured.
“You know the rules.”Zoey’s mom jabs a finger toward mine.“Time and place.Name them.”
“Do you see this idiocy?!”Mom stares at Roderick, even as she waves toward Selena.“This is what comes of wolves and humans associating.They think they know our ways.That they can be one of us.”
“I couldn’t give adamnabout being one of you,” Selena hisses.“But I sure as hell know I want to kick your ass.Especially”—the woman glares around at every single one of us, her eyes burning into mine last—“since no one else is willing to protect my daughter from Rebecca’s ridiculous vendetta.”
Shame spikes hard through me.Here I am, hoping to bring Zoey into my world, trying to convince her to be my mate, all while my own mother puts the woman I love in danger.Maybe her actions were born of some warped sense of protection, but that doesn’t excuse them.
“No.”Roderick’s voice rings clear, cutting through the night.“You are not a wolf.You cannot give challenge.”
A frustrated, strangled shriek comes out of Selena’s throat.
This is not how I wanted my first interaction with Zoey’s mom to go.
Suddenly, the woman stops struggling in Mason’s hold.The switch in energy level is eerie, and I worry she hurt herself in some way.Selena stands still, and strangely, it almost looks as if Mason is embracing her rather than restraining.
I wonder if this is torture for him.To have the woman he loved in his arms, but to not really have her.
“Zoey,” Selena says.
My woman turns to face her mother, clearly struggling to understand what she’s missing.
Selena speaks in a steady voice, her gaze locked on her daughter’s eyes.“If you stay here, Rebecca will hurt you.”
