Mother
In the morning, Kai and I atebreakfast hunched over his laptop looking at commercial properties in Greshamfor Safe Haven. When he entered a price point of 1.5-2 million dollars my eyesbugged out of my head. “Kai, you can’t.”
He glared at me playfully. “I’m an Alpha.I can do whatever I want.”
We called a realtor on three of ourfavorite properties, and a few pack members went to take video of them. Kai andI reclined on the sofa. He was playing with my hair when I started thinkingabout Sylvia. She was a high priestess witch and I was related to her coven. Mybiological mother was a Matefinder wolf but I was born a human witch mix. Howdid that make sense? I relayed this question to Kai.
His face looked concerned. “Iwondered the same but figured we shouldn’t prod into something we might notlike the answer to.”
I chewed on that. “No, I want theanswer. I always want the answers.”
He sat up and took a deep breath. “Wellthen we can ask Sylvia later today when she comes for the barbeque. I’m sureshe has a spell for everything.”
I jumped up and began taking off my shirt. Kaigrinned. “Now that’s my kind of morning surprise.”
I shook my finger at him. “Turnaround! I want to go for a run.”
Kai let his eyes rest on my pink lacebra, and then lowered his eyes and undressed himself. We shifted incredibly fastand leapt out an open window in the living room.
We ran through the forest all the wayto the edge of the mountain and back. I loved running with Kai. We were bothfast, really fast, and running next to him made me feel free. After gettinghome, I took a shower and then we got the backyard ready for the barbeque. Alight sprinkle of rain fell as we set the tables and it created a foggy mist.
I sighed. “I love this mountain.”
Kai smiled. “Now you see whywerewolves can be territorial.”
I laughed. I was excited to see mymom but even more excited for her to bring me all of my stuff. I had called andexplained the entire ordeal (or at least the moving in with the boyfriendversion) to Lexi, my roommate, and apologized profusely for having to move out.I told her that I would pay her rent until she could find a new roommate.
A few minutes later, Sylvia drove upthe driveway. I had also called her and explained the alcoholic treatmentcenter cover up and she was happy to play along as a therapist or patient.
I greeted Sylvia and asked her if shewouldn’t mind staying after so we could talk, that I had questions for her. Sheagreed. While Sylvia and Emma were chatting, I saw the huge moving truck pullup with my mom at the wheel.
Kai grabbed my hand and we walked outto greet my mom. She parked and jumped down from the truck and rubbed herhands on her pants. Now that I knew she wasn’t my biological mother I could seethat we looked nothing alike. She had dark brown hair to my light blonde. Shewas shorter and I was tall. I didn’t care. Shewasmy mother. I choseher as my mother now, even knowing she didn’t give birth to me. She was the onewho held me when I was sick or pushed me to follow my dreams of opening SafeHaven. We had been through so much together, the death of my twin brother, theabuse of my father, and so much more.
Oh my god. My father wasn’t my realfather. I had always hoped as a child, when the abuse started, that my motherwould one day tell me that he wasn’t my real father. My mother and I hadcrawled through a disaster and made it out alive together, because we had each other.
“Mom!” I ran to her and hugged her.
She smiled and grabbed me in a tighthug.
I stepped back. “This is Kai.”
Kai shook her hand. “It’s a pleasureto meet you, Ma’am.”
My mom looked at me. “Ma’am? Do Ilook that old?” We shared a laugh and Kai looked nervous.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Kai.You have a beautiful home. You can call me Beth,” my mom told him, looking atthe large modern house that stood before us.
Kai smiled. “Thank you.”
“So you live on the grounds of therehab center?” She mused.
Kai cleared his throat. “Yes Ma’am,umm Beth. I own over twenty homes on the mountain that have been converted tosober homes for the patients that come to stay at the facility.”
My mom smiled genuinely. “You andAurora are one and the same, always trying to help others. You’re a good boy.”She patted his shoulder and shared a look with me.
She liked him. I laughed to myself atthe fact that she was treating the Alpha of the Mount Hood wolves like a littleboy.
We walked towards the backyard andintroduced my mother to the pack. We made sure to tell everyone not to bringbeer to the event and blow the cover of an alcoholic rehab center. My momtalked with everyone thinking they were struggling alcoholics. It was prettycomical to watch.
