Page 74 of In the Light of the Moon
I gritted my teeth, “Yes. I’m pulling up now, Sylvie. Just wait for me to get there, please.” I tried my best to soften my voice but knew that I was doing a shit job.
Surprisingly, though, I heard her snort something close to a laugh, “I just waved to them, and your mom waved back. Your sister is just staring at her phone. I’m gonna get out of the car.”
“No, Syl—” but the call cut off. Did shehang up on me?If I weren’t so furious about my mother and sister popping up unannounced, helping themselves tomy home, I would’ve been dreaming up more ways I would be teaching my little witch a lesson when I got home. But no, now I would have to deal with Meredith and Ramona. Horror made my stomach clench. Were they expecting to… spend the night? “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I was chanting as the house finally came into view.
All three of them were standing on the porch now, and I homed in on Sylvie’s nervous fidgeting but warm smile pulling across her face. I had hoped that Sylvie and Meredith would never meet, or at least, not for a long while, but it seemed as though I wouldn’t be getting my way in this.
My car screeched to a halt, releasing a puff of gravel dust and dirt, and I’d barely put it into park and turned it off before I was darting toward them.
“… and your flight went smoothly?” My nostrils were flaring, taking in the scents of Meredith and Ramona, but focusing in on Sylvie’s cool cherry to ground me. The sourness of her anxiety was spiking, but there was no fear.
Meredith was surely enjoying it nonetheless.
I leapt up the steps, and Sylvie turned to gift me with one of her bright smiles as I wound a hand around her back, gripping her waist. She relaxed into my touch, and I pulled her closer.
“Hey, O, what took you so long,” Ramona droned without looking up from her phone, and I just grunted.
“Yes, son, we’ve been waiting for quite awhile,” Meredith gave me a mocking glance while displaying perfect calm in the face of my shivering rage, adrenaline still pumping. Her nostrils flared, and her smile grew wider.
I didn’t attempt to hide the rumble in my voice, “You didn’t tell me that you were coming to visit.”
“Hard to let you know when you don’t pick up the phone,” Ramona sank into one of the rocking chairs Sylvie had gifted me.
Meredith flicked her hair behind her back, almost as pale as mine. “Your sister’s right. I tried to call you many times,” she shrugged, “so, what were we to do?”
“A text message. A voicemail.” They both knew that I abhorred talking on the phone. Well, with anyone but Sylvie. Especially when I got to listen to her little teasing earlier. I bit the inside of my cheek—to think, I’d been planning on which surfaces to take her on throughout the night. And now, this.
Meredith rolled her eyes that were a pale blue instead of my green, “Oh, well, it’s too late for any of that, son. Your sister and I are here to visit with you. We haven’t come since you moved away, so it’s long overdue.”
“Meredith—”
She scoffed, “So disrespectful,” like I hadn’t called her by her name since I was a child, “and you never even mentioned that you were seeing someone,” she gestured to Sylvie, whose scent shifted with discomfort and whispers of hurt.
The growl that rumbled from my chest was far louder than I would have intended had I done it consciously. But Sylvie didn’t stiffen at the outburst. Though I would never be able to claim her like I would another Wolf, I had in every other way. The dress she wore displayed my mark proudly, and the fabric of my shirt shifted over the one she’d given me, reminding always of its presence.
My protective instincts were surging at the threat their visit posed. Ramona was fine, but my mother brought her own sort of danger. She’d never laid a finger on me, and I didn’t fear for Sylvie’s physical safety. But I knew how her words could hurt. And how my anxious mate could possibly react to her barbs.
Though Sylvie was growing used to and was blessedly unafraid of all parts of me, the same could not be said formy mother. She was between Sylvie and I height-wise, and though she appeared slender and self-possessed, my mother’s appearance often belied her true nature underneath.
Meredith’s answering growl, one meant to put me in check for my outburst,didmake Sylvie stiffen. To her, it was undoubtedly unexpected.
“Oh, calm down you two,” Ramona called over, disinterested in our confrontation. She’d seen us descend to this place many times before.
Meredith straightened and smoothed a hand down her blouse. Her scent was simmering with irritation, probably with Ramona and I both not bristling at her show of dominance. But she hadn’t had that over me for a long while. “Forgive us, Sierra. My son and I admittedly have quite the tempers, don’t we?”
My claws and fangs drew instinctually, rage at my mother’s slight fueling me. I’d had all my life to learn when her seemingly innocent words were merely veiled insults. When her passive expression contrasted with the vindictiveness in her scent. “You willnotcome into my home and disrespect my mate. Apologize to her. Now.”
“It’s okay, baby, I don’t think she?—”
“No,” I met Meredith’s eyes to make my threat abundantly clear, “she intentionally insulted you. You will apologize to my mate. Or leave.”
Meredith’s eyes and scent flashed with challenge before she scoffed and cut her gaze away, backing down. I belatedly realized that I’d been clutching Sylvie’s side very tightly, nearly ripping the fabric of her dress. I fought to loosen my hold, and I felt my fangs begin to retract. “My apologies, sweetie. I didn’t mean to get you or my ungrateful son in a tizzy.”
“It’s fine, really,” Sylvie said sweetly. She looked up at me, and I tore my eyes away from my mother. “I can go back home and let you all catch up?”
“No,” Meredith and I said at the same time, but I kept my eyes on Sylvie. She was so kind, so sweet. Selfishly, I wanted to keep her here, even with my mother and her vicious words. Not that I didn’t think she would protect herself if needed. But I knew that she would hold herself back in a show of respect because she cared aboutme.
Just like I thought, her lips tugged downward in a slight frown, “But this is family time. They deserve all your attention.”
