I nodded, grateful that he was here. I couldn’t even imagine what kind of freaked-out mess I’d be if I’d woken up alone. “Thanks. That means a lot, Nico.”
“No problem. Are you ready to go back to bed?”
I glanced at the clock over the stove. I’d assumed it was getting close to daylight, but it read three forty-five in the morning. “Ugh, yeah, I guess so.”
Nico led me back upstairs and helped me get back into bed. I lay back on my pillow and assumed I’d lie there staring at the ceiling for the next four hours. Thankfully, I was asleep before Nico even got in bed. Better yet, my sleep was dreamless.
Later, I woke up, and Nico was already up. I rolled over and saw it was almost eight in the morning. The house was quiet, but I could hear noise coming from outside. I lay in bed, trying to figure out what it was, but the sound was too distant for me to make it out.
I got up and dressed quickly. While I was brushing my teeth, I glanced out the window toward the big field at the back of the Lorenzo property and saw what I’d been hearing. There were a few dozen shifters running around. They looked like they were moving in some predetermined formations and attack patterns. Nico must have rounded everyone up for another training session.
Once I was ready, I headed out to the field to watch them train. The closer I got, the clearer the noise became. It was a combination of human yells and screams, wolf howls and chuffs, the scraping sound of boots and paws on dirt and grass, and above it all, Nico’s voice calling out orders. I stopped about a hundred yards from the group and watched.
While I stared at the men and women running around, shifting and shifting back at will, I sensed my own wolf deep within me. She wasn’t happy as she paced in irritation in the back of my mind. Her mood probably stemmed from the factthat she still hadn’t figured out a way to come forward yet. Every day I communicated with her, trying to let her know I was here for her, that it was safe to come out. So far, none of the techniques I’d used had worked.
I’d asked around, and most shifters had told me the behavior was pretty normal for a newly awakened wolf, but that didn’t make things any better or less uncomfortable. At this point, not being able to shift was like having a pebble perpetually stuck in my shoe. Not pleasant at all. The wolf was more irritable than usual today, and it quickly became obvious why.
Across the field, Nico had shifted, and he was amazing. His wolf was something to behold, larger and more forceful than any of the other wolves. Ever since we mated, he’d been a different person. Pheromones pulsed off him like crazy and were sometimes too strong. My wolf had to be reacting to that, too. She must have been desperate to meet him—I would have been because I reacted in a similar way when he was in his human form.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “Whenever you’re ready, I’m here.”
She must have heard me because she calmed down almost immediately. The feeling I got from her was relaxed and kind. I smiled as I sat to watch Nico and the other shifters. My smile didn’t fade even when my mind drifted back to the nightmare I’d had. My wolf wasn’t like that awful thing I’d become in my dream. I had to believe that.
Nico and the rest practiced and trained the entire day. At noon, I put in a massive pizza order for delivery, and after everyone had refueled, they were back at it. It was impressive to watch. Their stamina, strength, and speed were incredible. By late afternoon, everyone was exhausted—and rightfully so. I felt a little guilty watching them all walk off the field and toward their cars and houses because I’d spent the day catching up on my reading while they’d busted their asses in training.
I headed back home to see about dinner but found Nico’s mother in the kitchen, cooking what looked like a feast for an army. It smelled like she’d already been cooking for hours. My mouth watered, but I hesitated to step further into the kitchen. I still remembered that she’d basically told me I wasn’t good enough for her son.
Before I could turn and disappear, she glanced up from stirring a pot and locked eyes with me. Instead of any venom or vitriol, I only saw surprise mixed with a little shame and anxiety in her eyes. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t relish the abashed look. She’d made a few attempts to make up over the last week or two, but the road wasn’t fully smoothed over.
“Oh, Maddy. Sweetie, do you want to help me cook dinner? I could really use the help.”
I chewed at my lip in contemplation, then decided to be the bigger person. “Yeah, sure. What can I do?”
Julia smiled and tapped the cutting board. “If you could dice some tomatoes and cucumbers for the salad, it would help so much.”
I stepped over and started chopping. From the corner of my eye, I watched Nico’s mother hesitate. She was standing over a bowl that held what looked like dough for some type of bread. She had a pained look on her face, and I could almost guess what was going through her head.
“Maddy?” she said, “I’m… so very sorry.”
“For what?” I asked, knowing full well what she was talking about. A small part of me was ashamed of my pettiness, but it was averysmall part.
Julia put a hand to her forehead. “I was—to use a vulgar term—a bit of a bitch to you.”
I almost dropped the knife. I stopped chopping and glanced across the kitchen island at her. I didn’t respond. Instead, I just looked at her and waited for her to continue.
Julia sighed and wiped her hands absently on a dishtowel. “I should know better than to have such bigoted thoughts. I’m sorry I said those things to you. My kind has been through awful things over the centuries, and I think I still have some ingrained things in my head about family and what an alpha and his mate should be. The thing is”—she finally looked into my eyes again—“you make my boy so happy. That’s the only thing a mother should worry about. Is her boy happy? Does he love the woman he’s with? Is she good for him? You, my dear, check all those boxes. From the moment Nico was born, I told myself I would do anything for him to be happy. And then,” she said, sounding exasperated, “he finds the one person who makes him happy, and I treat her… well, I treat her like shit. Your whole life has been turned upside down. Your friend and parents were kidnapped. It feels like I’m the absolute worst person on Earth when I think about what I said to you. I’m so sorry. Is there any way we can start over?”
I stood there, dumbstruck and on the verge of tears. Finally, I nodded slowly. “I think that would be nice. To start over, I mean.”
Julia’s face burst into a smile that was both happy and relieved. She’d probably thought there was a fifty-fifty chance between me forgiving her and me waving the chopping knife in her face until she ran screaming. She stepped forward and put a hand on mine. “Thank you for giving me a chance. The… the chance I didn’t give you. I’m here for you. I’d love for you to look at me like a mother one day.”
A single tear spilled over and onto my cheek, and I wiped it away quickly as I smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I think that would be great.”
Dinner was amazing. All of Nico’s friends and brothers came over along with his dad, and even after all the guys stuffed themselves, there was a ton of food left over to send home witheveryone. Julia pulled me into a hug before she left, and I almost broke down sobbing as I hugged her back. Once everyone left, I went out to the back porch to be alone.
Nico found me there once he’d finished cleaning up the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around me, and I rested my head on his chest. “What are you thinking about?” he whispered in my ear.
I was honest with him. “My family. Being around yours is wonderful, but it makes me think about my parents being tied to those chairs.”
