“I know a lot of us do Christmas because that’s fun? Oh, and kids like to debate if Santa is a shifter or mage?” Emeric’s brows pulled together as he shrugged. “We weren’t allowed to do that, though. So I just saw it online.”
“I think—” I managed not to squeak but I probably looked like a startled rabbit at the woman sitting at the kitchen table.
We were going to have a talk about knocking too.
I didn’t care if it was the packhouse or not, everyone was going to at least announce their presence.
“Hello, ma’am.” Emeric seemed to know her which told me the woman who looked too young to be Braun’s mother was actually Braun’s mother.
Before she could respond, he turned to me. “Uncle Dorian, this is Alpha Braun’s mother Sylvia.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
In my kitchen.
“Braun spoke so highly of you, I had to come and meet you myself.” She was doing her best to sound like June Cleaver but she looked a bit like she was thinking about climbing on the back of a motorcycle and heading off with her boyfriend Rocky.
Emeric wasn’t buying it for a second based on how he was coughing, but I pretended the whole thing was perfectly reasonable. “Emeric and I had been thinking about coming to visit you after lunch. I hope that would’ve been alright.”
Before she could do more than clap her hands together and give me wide eyes, Braun appeared in the doorway. “Mother.”
Werewolf hearing was amazing.
“Your mother stopped in to visit.” As I smiled at Braun and went over to finish getting lunch organized, I realized we needed to make sure the bedrooms had solid locks.
“She’s nosy.” Braun’s unsurprising announcement had her inhaling like she was shocked, but I just did my best not to react at all. “She’s not staying for lunch, though. She’s got a meeting at what’s basically the magical chamber of commerce in about thirty minutes and it takes thirty-five to get there.”
Ah.
“I don’t know why the mages think their hall is the end-all, be-all of meeting spaces.” Rolling her eyes, she rose gracefully. “They don’t even have coffee.”
“They don’t like you. I’m pretty sure they remove all the coffee for those meetings.” He shrugged as she pretended to be offended. “You shouldn’t have shot down that mage so rudely. He was nice.”
Oh.
Had Braun said what happened to his father?
“He was rude first.” Sticking up her nose, she stomped toward the back door.
“He asked if you knew your bra was showing.” Braun rolled his eyes. “He was trying to be helpful.”
They had the weirdest relationship and even Emeric’s gaze was darting back and forth between them like we were watching a soap opera.
“It’s a beautiful shirt.” She didn’t argue about the seemingly see-through nature of it, though. “And he keeps downvoting every option I put up just because he’s a pain in the…butt.”
Emeric managed not to laugh, but as she headed out of the house, his grin was ear-to-ear.
We all waited in silence until we heard a car start up, but once we were safe, I turned to Braun. “Your mother was waiting in the kitchen when we came down. She wanted to introduce herself.”
He winced.
Smart man.
“Was this her house before you became Alpha?” That would make sense but he shook his head.
“No. She’s always lived in her current house. My uncle was the previous Alpha and I took over when he passed about eight years ago.” The loss didn’t seem fresh anymore based on the matter-of-fact tone he was using. “She’s just nosy and I think she’s the reason I don’t have the ability to set boundaries.”
Possibly.
