My father nodded and started to stack plates on his arm as Sawyer got our glasses.
“Come on, I want to show you the pool.” My mom stood and rubbed her belly. For as long as I could remember it had been this way. Mom cooked, dad cleaned. I was raised in an equal household and I was happy to see doing a dish or two wouldn’t kill Sawyer. He’d probably never done dishes in his life.
I linked arms with my mom as she pulled me through the hallway.
“Is Raven safe?” I asked suddenly. I hadn’t gotten around to getting a new phone, but I wanted to check in with her.
My mom nodded. “She’s safer at Delphi. The witches are having their own civil war right now, so Sawyer had her taken back to Spokane where she can lay low.”
I sighed. Poor Raven. What must it have been like for her to be in the Witch Lands finally and be waiting for me with my mom, when she was pulled back out again?
My mom opened the large glass double doors and my mouth popped open at the lush backyard. It wasn’t huge, but it was a well-done space. To the right were empty cedar beds for gardening, and to the left was a stunning rectangular swimming pool. In the center was a small, trimmed strip of grass with various trees and bushes all around it.
“Honey, Sawyer told us what you are…” my mother whispered, catching me off guard. “A split shifter.”
I froze, unable to say anything, and she carried on.
“I mean, he had to. I threatened to kill him multiple times.” She laughed nervously.
Wow, I would have paid to see that. I wished I had been the one to tell them, but I understood that with my disappearance they would have been asking a lot of questions, namely why the heck the vampires wanted me in the first place.
“That’s a good man there.” My mom gestured to the house. “He was so patient with your father and me and he foughtso hardlooking for you.”
My throat squeezed. “He’s pretty perfect… now if only he wouldactuallypropose to me…”
My mom grinned. “Oh, honey, I’m not even sure this house has solar panels.”
I frowned, taken off guard by her random comment about the house after I’d just confessed I was waiting to be proposed to. “Wait, what?”
My mom spun me around and tipped my chin up to the roof, sans solar panels. “I don’t think Sawyer wants to take your dad into the garage to talk about solar panels.”
Oh.
Ohhhh.
A huge grin swept across my face. “You think… he’s asking dad for permission?”
She nodded.
I did a totally lame involuntary squeal and my mom laughed, looking younger and less worn-out than she did in the human world. Coming back to Werewolf City had brightened her. The bad days were behind her and my father. All because of Sawyer.
“Honey, back to the split shifter thing…” My mom smoothed the top of my hair and forced me to face her. I was hoping she didn’t want to get into it; it would probably turn into a big crying fest. I mean, my soul split in half because I was raped; it wasn’t a pretty topic.
“Only Paladins can transform into split shifters. Run grew up with one. A woman who was trapped in a house fire. Her wolf split and dragged her human out half dead. He talked about her to me often.”
Oh lord. Chills ran up my arms at the news that there might be another like me. “You think she’s still there? With the Paladins?”
My mom shrugged. “I mean, I don’t see why not. She would be a bit older than me by now. Anyway, I just wanted you to know… in case you needed to find someone else to talk to.”
Something brightened in my chest. If this other split shifter had lived this entire time without the vampires or anyone coming for her, then maybe I would be okay too. Maybe she had a secret to keeping her smell under wraps or something.
I leaned forward and took my mom into a big hug. “Thanks, Mom.”
She sighed, her chest shaking as she held me. “Your entire job as a parent is to keep your children safe at the very least.” Her voice broke. “First when you were fifteen and now… your father and I went crazy when Sawyer told us the vampires had taken you.”
She pulled back and there was a fierceness in her eyes, a warrior I’d never seen before. “If it happens again, your father and I will go to the ends of the Magic City looking for you and we will leave a trail of bodies in our wake, you understand me?”
My eyes widened. “Mom!”
