Page 124 of Alpha’s Possession

“Mommy,” Mason calls pointing at his castle. Zara cranes her neck to look, but he is too far for her to see.

“Pass me your phone. I will take a photo,” I tell her, and she stands to retrieve it from her back pocket. As she hands the phone to me, I grip her hands and hold her there. Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head.

“Harlow, I can’t,” she rushes out. Still, I don’t let her hands go.

“Yes, you can,” I tell her, but she is still stuck in her own head. Mason calls for her, excited to see his mother standing by the door.

“Just a few seconds,” I tell her. She closes her eyes and shakes her head, her fingers digging into my wrists.

“Do you trust me?” I ask her.

“Always,” she whispers.

“Then keep your eyes closed,” I tell her, and I see her swallow.

“Remember when we went to the theme park?” I ask her, and her lips tug up at the corners.

“Yes, Mom didn’t want to get on the rollercoaster,” she laughs, and I take a step back. Her lips part, but her feet slide across and over the small lip of the door frame.

“But we couldn’t get on it without an adult,” I chuckle. “And Dad refused. He was more chicken than she was. He wouldn’t let go of the railing when she tried to force him to go with us.” She laughs, and I take another step.

“I still remember his squeal when Mom tried to pry his fingers off the railing,” Zara laughs. I glance over my shoulder at Mason.

“So Mom went, and she screamed the entire way,” I laugh, remembering her ear piercing screams between us, and her death grip on our hands to the point that I thought my fingers would never work again. The way she prayed to some god about not dying and confessing her love for him, if only he would let her survive.

“She threw up on Dad when she got off. She was so green, and Dad had to walk around with no shirt on for the rest of the day,” Zara laughs. “Dad was so sunburned.”

I chuckle, remembering that day as if it were yesterday—a day not long before we lost them.

“Yeah, then she got back on it again with us at the end of the day,” I tell her, and she smiles.

“I miss them,” Zara says. I nod my head and give her hands a squeeze as we inch closer to the sandbox.

“Do you ever wonder why we survived and they didn’t?” she asks.

“Every day,” I whisper, and she nods.

“Me too.”

“They would have loved Mason,” I tell her.

“And Little Low,” Zara says. She shudders as the breeze rushes over her skin and she tenses. We are still a few yards away, but she is outside. “I can’t, Harlow.”

“You are already here,” I tell her, and her eyes pop open, darting to mine. “And just look at how excited Mason is,” I tell her. Her lip quivers as her eyes dart past me to her son.

Mason moves closer before rushing toward her and grasping her legs. I let her go as she brushes her fingers through his hair. I retrieve the chair from inside the door and bring it over. She may not move any further from where she is, but this is something. She left the house. No matter how small a step that is, she at least took it.

I wait with Zara until Sam returns home. The shock on his face when he sees her sitting on the back patio watching Mason makes me giggle. He looks stunned before shaking himself. He doesn’t make a big deal out of it, for which I am glad, instead coming over to peck her cheek. I get up from my seat, offering it to him, before retrieving my phone from inside. I need to lie down and don’t feel like being a third wheel.

Walking back down the pathway to the guest house, I am excited to sit down. The moment I enter, I instantly fall onto the couch, only to groan as my phone starts ringing. I pull it from my back pocket, seeing the private number cut across the screen, just as the door opens and Jake steps inside.

“I’m sorry, Harlow, I couldn’t stop him from passing the border. I did ask him to wait, and Raidon came with him.”

My stomach sinks as the phone continues to vibrate in my hand. I sit up.

“Pardon?” I ask. Jake sighs and glances back at the front door.

“Thane is here. It’s why we went into the city. I thought you had been talking with your mates? He says otherwise,” he asks, and I swallow guiltily.