“What you’re looking for is a life mate, and once you find him, you’ll be out of our lives.” He readjusted his grip on Storm, shifting him to the side.
I wanted to remind Liam that we were pack, that I’d always be part of their lives.
“This needs to end now.”
“Storm calling me Mama?”
“No. Us, Nicole.”
My lashes rose so high they grazed my browbone. “You’re breaking up with me because of two syllables your son strung together in place of my name?”
“They’re not just two syllables.”
My shoulders snapped back. My heart, too. It struck my spine before slithering down. “His coat is hanging by the front door.” I kept my voice placid so as not to worry Storm, whose head was swiveling between his father and me.
“I’m just trying to protect him.”
“Yeah. Sure. Whatever.” I pivoted before my burning eyes could expel any tears. “Please leave.”
“Nik—”
“I said,leave.”
When Liam’s footsteps petered out, when his heartbeat decreased in volume, I tossed the book on my desk and yanked on my blinds, and then I curled up on my bed and lamented into my pillow about what a fool I’d been to believe I could bend an inflexible man.
Chapter 55
The next morning, when Niall stopped by my bedroom to see if I was ready to head up to Mom and Dad’s for lunch, I faked stomach cramps. Considerate boy that he was, he placed a glass of cold water and a bottle of aspirin on my nightstand. If only that could cure what ailed me. I should’ve listened to Adalyn and stayed away from our Alpha whose trust issues were so big it was a wonder he could see past them.
After Niall shut the door, I closed my eyes and forced my whirring mind to switch off. I woke up to a cool hand gliding across my forehead.
“She doesn’t feel warm,” Mom was telling someone.
I cracked my lids open, found her and Adalyn gazing worriedly down at me. One look at my swollen eyes and both grasped it wasn’t my stomach that ached but my heart.
Mom crouched next to my side of the bed, her palm combing locks of hair off my forehead. “Sweetie, what happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Her face puckered.
“Not yet.”
Adalyn touched Mom’s arm. “Meg, let me talk to her.”
Even though I didn’t want to discuss Liam at all, sending both away with zero explanation was as impossible as asking the sun not to set.
Mom straightened and walked away, her gaze lingering on me before she softly shut the door.
Adalyn plopped down on the bed beside me, making the mattress jiggle. “Whathappened andwhen?”
I hugged my pillow and shut my eyes. “You know how Storm was calling memama?” I swallowed past the huge lump which sat inside my throat like one of Storm’s toy balls. “Liam thinks I taught him to say it.”
Resentment dimmed the brightness of Adalyn’s eyes. “Jerk.”
I pressed my lips together.
“I’m disinviting him from my wedding.”
