Page 27 of An Anomaly of Sunlight

A vision flashes in my mind of that wolf vividly jumping into me. Pine trees whipping by as the cool night air whispered across my... snout? The fallen autumn leaves crunching beneath paws. The wolf’s paws. Not mine of course. Right?

Did I do this?

A maniacal chuckle rises up my throat. No, that’s not possible. My parents are human. Maybe I’ve just got my head in the clouds after spending all this time around Skyler. But if I didn’t claw the nightstand, then who… or what did?

Mom should be home now from her night out. I’ll shower and have breakfast, then head over. She’ll be able to make sense of all this; she always does. Moms have this way of always saying the exact right thing to reassure.

First, a message. No shower thoughts necessary after all.

Amethyst

Gunning for a promotion from Angel to Savior? A ride sounds great. Thank you… endlessly.

Slipping through the matte red door and into the kitchen of Mom’s house, a knife falls from her hand, clattering on the floor when she sees me. “Creators, Amethyst! You scared the hell out of me.” She points a scolding finger at me.

I wrap my arms around her waist for a brief hug, mumbling a quick, “Sorry.”

“I didn’t even know you were home. Where’s Delilah?” I bite the inside of my cheek, the questions I was ready to ask dying on my tongue. Stepping back to lean against the counter, I answer, “She broke down on my way home last night after coffee with a friend.”

A slight shrug of my shoulders and quick bite to my thumbnail. “I have no idea why. Nothing seemed off until I turned on 18. She started smoking and then just... quit.”

Mom raises an inquisitive brow. “I didn’t see her when I came through this morning around seven. Were you up that early to call a tow?”

Both hands reach to push my hair behind my ears and suddenly the floor is the most interesting thing I’ve ever seen. My cheeks burn as hot as the sunlight Skyler refers to me as. The realization that I’m being way too weird about this question is like a bucket of ice water.

Clearing my throat, I meet her gaze again, “No, Skyler called for me. He...” If there’s one power Mom does possess, it’s reading me like the damn Tarot Times, and I’ve already given her far too many details.

I don’t want to admit that I’ve fallen for him out loud. That makes it too real. But her brown eyes are dancing with mischief, and I know that she knows. Now she won’t stop until she confirms her suspicions.

“He gave me a ride home.” I finish, feeling like a kid who just got caught stealing from a cookie jar. Mom just lets a wicked grin settle on her face as she returns to cutting the vegetables she had been working on before I made her drop the knife. I’m practically squirming under the crushing pressure of the silence.

Mom glances at me through her thick lashes. Her mouth says nothing, but her eyes say everything. She wants the inside scoop of my feelings for Skyler.

I’m not ready for that conversation. So instead, I blurt out, “I woke up from a weird dream this morning and there were claw marks on my nightstand... not scratches like from fingernails, actual claws, like a wild animal.”

It's too late to take it back now. I simply stop breathing while observing Mom have the most unexpected reaction possible. She freezes mid-cut of a carrot, and I swear her skin pales. Her eyes, which moments ago held playful trouble, were now pinning me in place with fear.

“Mom?” Apprehension creeps up my spine, shoulders tensing. Her eyes fall back to her hands, and I suddenly regret saying anything at all. Clearly, she knows something about this. Which sends an array of unpleasant thoughts through my mind.

What is she hiding from me?

With two painfully slow steps, I lean on the kitchen island beside her. “The dreams,” she asks carefully, planning her next words, “what are they of?”

Jolting upright, my mouth opens, then closes as I struggle to form any intelligent thought. “Well,” I stammer, “there’s always this wolf that...” I’m truly not sure how to explain the dreams. The more I think of them, the less it’s like the wolf is jumping into me. It’s more like...

The wolf becomes me.

Holy fucking hell. Is my mother a shifter? No. No, no, no. But it makes sense. It all makes sense. The dreams, the claw marks, the pull to Skyler. Surely she wouldn’t hide something this important from me.

She…

“Amethyst...” Mom starts but I shake my head. “No. No! Don’t you dare say it!” Wincing, I wrap my arms around my chest, backing away from her. I’ve never spoken to her like that, but betrayal has wrapped its fist around my heart and fucking crushed it.

I was almost killed! And I could have defended myself all along? Being apprehensive of Skyler when I was one of his kind? No, I can’t hear this. I can never forgive her for this.

“It’s not exactly what you’re thinking, Amethyst.” She pleads. “Please, let me explain.”

Her eyes hold remorse, but it’s too late. All the fury I’ve felt since waking up bloodied and broken is burning through my veins.