“Mama!”
I’m suddenly snapped out of the trance when Gio tugs the hem of my sweater. Shaking my head, I let the frown subside before I give my son my undivided attention.
I reach down and scoop him into my arms, a sudden sense of peace washing over me despite how strange the last few seconds were. Perhaps it’s my intuition again, nudging me in the right direction and telling me it’s not a trainwreck for us to make ourselves comfortable here, especially when Gio wears the broadest smile I’ve ever seen.
Everything I’ve done since the moment I left Girdwood the first time around was only for him. I couldn’t bear for my son to face rejection in the pack or rejection from his father.
At least I have an advantage—Dawson doesn’t know Gio is his son. Everyone believes that Gio’s father was a Moonshine wolf and that he’s the reason I left the pack in the first place.
Dawson shouldn’t know the truth. I can only imagine how he’d react—like he did the day after he took my virginity in the library. He was cold and heartless, and nothing like the man I experienced the night before that.
His outer persona is only a front for what’s truly hiding beneath the fur armor of his wolf—an inner wolf tormented by the woes he’s probably faced.
Still, it gave him no right to use me the way he did, and then reject me as if I didn’t have a heart that could break.
Luckily, that heart has been stitched back together by the love overflowing from my son since before he was born. I feel it now as he springs to his feet and grabs my hand, then eagerly pulls me toward the low-lit corridor.
“Are we exploring our new home?” I ask, feeling my own trepidations dissipate as my son leads me toward the bedrooms.
He nods fervently, then points to the first door.
“My room!” he proudly declares as his chest puffs out, and I etch the moment into my core memories, wanting to savor this particular one for the rest of my life.
I’ve never seen Gio happier, and I’d give anything to maintain that smile on his face—even brave the woes of my old life in my old pack.
“Wow!” I exclaim as Gio rushes into the bedroom with its pastel blue bedding to match the trimmings all around. It’s evident that Luna Aurora went out of her way to make it a comfortable living space for my little boy, with a chest set up in the corner, overflowing with toys.
“Look, Mama!” Gio brightly exclaims as he rushes to the trunk and pulls his bag off his shoulders. He crouches in front of the toy chest as he unzips his bag, then pulls out his stuffed elephant. “Elie has friends now!”
Giggling lightly to match my son’s joy, I’m about to step fully into the bedroom when I hear a knock on the front door.
“You have fun playing with your new toys, Gio,” I tell my son as I glance down the corridor. “Mama’s gonna go check who’s at the door.”
“M’kay!”
Smiling to myself and looking at the bright side of things, I leave Gio in his new bedroom and head to the front door, thinking it must be Luna Aurora coming back to check up on us.
But when I remove the latch and turn the handle, the door parts on an unexpected face beaming brightly at me with glittering blue eyes.
“Dawson…?” I groan internally. I knew I’d have to face him eventually, but I was counting on having tonight free fromthe inhibitions that come naturally as a defense mechanism against him.
As they come up now, my walls standing firm in the foundation he planted when he rejected me in the past, I narrow my eyes at him.
What does he want now?
Chapter 6 - Dawson
I thought Yvonne would be glad to see me, since I saved her twice the night before.
But the glum look on her face paints a different picture, and I can already tell that she’s not happy to see me standing on the porch of the log cabin behind my house.
What was she expecting? That I’d just leave her to her own devices while she’s under my care?
Pfft! As if!
“Hey, Yvie, I—” I quickly catch myself when her unabashed silver glare threatens to unleash some deeply hidden wrath that perhaps even she’s unaware she possesses. A shiver courses down my spine, and I hide the effect she has on me by taking a deep breath for composure that flattens my voice. “Hi, Yvonne. I was just checking that you and your son are settled in.”
Yvonne huffs her contempt with a sturdy grunt, then steps aside while tilting her chin defiantly.
