Seeing her use our mugs brought a happy flutter to my chest. But at the same time, it felt off. Like she was buttering me up before she told me something bad. Or like I stepped into someone else’s home.
“This is nice,” I said softly as I hung my keys on the peg by the fridge. “But why?” I tried really hard to keep my tone light, but I was pretty sure I failed. It was getting late, and I was bushed. Surely she was exhausted after all her time running around with people who wanted vampires to kill shifters.
Tilly sighed and sat at the table, pulling her mug closer to her, then looked up at me with big, watery eyes. “I think you might’ve been right,” she whispered. “But I don’t know what to do or how to fix this.
Hope soared in my heart. Slowly, I made my way across the room and sat down at the table. “Right about what?” Perching in the chair beside her, I almost touched her hand but pulled back. I didn’t want to push it.
With a bone-deep sigh, Tilly’s shoulders slumped even more. “I think Holly is trying to hurt someone. Or… I don’t know, something bad is going on with that pack.”
Oh, thank heavens. She was seeing the light. My smart girl had come around. “Why do you think that?” I asked, taking my mug of coffee and forcing myself to stay quiet. She had to come to all these realizations on her own or this wouldn't work.
“I was supposed to wait back at the hotel, when everyone else went to the forest. But I didn’t. I—” She cut off and bit her lip. “Holly told me stuff, stuff I believed. But when they said to stay, I hid in their car, shifted. I fit easily under the seat. Then, when they parked, I let them get well ahead of me and followed.”
“Didn’t they smell you?” I asked.
She blinked a few times. “I didn’t consider that. I guess my scent was probably already in the car.” After a little head shake, she sighed and continued, “I followed them and saw them talking to vampires. What they said…”
“I know. I was there. I was in the trees.” I shrugged. “They’re going to give some fae over to the vampires in exchange for protection.”
She nodded. “That was exactly what they’d told me they wouldn't do. That they were protecting all the local shifters from the vampires. They lied to me, Mom.”
“Oh, honey.” I chanced taking her hand and that was all it took. Tilly broke down into sobs and threw herself into my arms.
As much as I hurt for my daughter’s pain, I was beyond relieved to have her back. “We can fix it, honey. We can handle this.”
“I screwed up so bad, Mom.” Her voice was barely discernible against my shoulder.
“Not so bad that it can’t be fixed. Nobody is dead. Now, go to have a shower and get a good night’s sleep. I’ll talk to my pack and we’ll come up with a plan, okay?”
When she looked up at me, it was with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “You think?”
“I know. Go.”
Watching my broken, hurting daughter walk away was one of the happiest moments of my life. Not because she was hurting. I would’ve done anything to take that away. But because she’d made the right decision. It had taken her a minute to get there, and she’d gone thelongway round. But in the end, she’d come home to me for help.
Hell, yes!
* * *
I got Estheron the line as soon as I heard the water running in Tilly’s bathroom. Esther promised she and Tabi would be over first thing in the morning, and sure enough, before Tilly had even rolled out of bed the next morning, they arrived with coffee and pastries.
“You’ve got to come to the salon,” Tabi said. “You have stunning natural highlights. I want to get my hands on that hair.”
I took a coffee gratefully and smiled. “As soon as this drama is over, I’m yours.”
“Before the gala, I should think,” Esther said. “Now, Tabi and I have been thinking all night. And we’ve got a plan. Get your girl up.”
She busied herself around my kitchen like it was her own, but I’d come to understand that was her way, so I left her to it and hurried to Tilly’s room.
“Wake up,” I hissed as soon as I closed the door behind me. “Throw on a robe and come out here.”
Tilly blinked owlishly at me. “Why?”
“Esther and Tabi came and they have a plan.”
Her face morphed from confusion to excitement as my words registered. “Okay!” She launched out of bed and yanked on a pair of flannel pajama pants, then stuffed her feet into some fuzzy boots she used to wear all the time.
“Comb your hair.” I handed her the hairbrush from her vanity. “I’ll meet you out there.”
