I shake my head of the thought.Wishful thinking.
When I pick up the book again, turning it upright, a page falls out. I inspect it and find it to be the same page that fell out of my copy.
Wait a second . . . Could this be . . . ?
I flip to the title page and sure enough, there it is—the stain.
That fucker.
He’s been reading my book and... writing in it? What would make him want to read such a thing?
I look around, for what, I don’t know. I’m seeing something I shouldn’t be, even though it is my book. When I spot the clock on the wall, Caleb’s mother comes to mind. Will she make it to the meeting?
These walls echo with every door that shuts, and I would have heard her leave her room. I haven’t yet. And the meeting will be starting any moment.
She’s not going to show up for him.Fire ignites inside me, and I’m marching to her room and bursting open her door. Luna Kathy is sleeping.
Well, not for long.
I stomp over to her bed and pull the covers off of her. “Get up.”
Luna Kathy groans and bundles herself in the covers.
I tug on them again, this time, confiscating them completely. “I saidget up. You have a meeting, and Caleb is waiting.”
With her arms wrapped around herself, she waves me off in dismissal. “I don’t feel well. I’m tired.”
“No. Nuh uh. You’re coming.”
She sits straight up, flabbergasted. “I beg your pardon? What makes you think you can speak to me this way? You’re a—”
“A rogue. A lowlife. A nobody. Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before. Your son has been running this pack for months and could really use your help. People are starting to talk about your absence.”
“Let them talk. I don’t care. I putyearsof service into this pack. If they don’t appreciate it, fine.”
“Caleb needs you.”
“My son isfine.”
“He is not fine!”
She scoffs. “I think I know my son a little better than you.” She stands from the bed and moseys on over to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her to pee.
I follow and talk to her through the door. “How would you know? You haven’t been around. People grieve differently. And with you constantly out of commission, I don’t know if he’s had time to.”
“You’re still here?” she says, annoyed and astonished at the same time.
After a flush and the sink running, the door opens. She walks past me. “I appreciate your concern—I think—but Caleb didn’t lose his mate.”
“No, he lost his father. Now, he’s losing his mother.”
She crawls back into bed, practically ignoring me.
“You’re being selfish, you know that?”
“Excuse me? Do you have any idea who you’re talking to? I could have you—”
“It’s clear you don’t know who I am. The fact that you think I’d let you do anything to me shows how little you’ve been paying attention,” I say. “I thought I was talking to the Luna of this pack, but there’s no way this sad sack is her.”
