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My mother kept shaking her head, her brows pulled low as she spoke quickly with Adryan. She looked unmovable, like a stone wall, like the one we had surrounding the estate, mystically protected, but somehow stronger than even that.
Adryan started to say something, but Mam held up her hand, shaking her head, a fierce look of frustration on her face. Even though it was just the seven of us in my Da’s study, it still felt like too many people, too many bodies crammed into this massive room.
There was the soft humming of a cell phone going off, and Mam quickly reached into the pocket of her plush robe to pull the phone out. She still hadn’t bothered changing out of her sleep clothes.
I could hear her heart racing as she looked down at the screen, then she lifted it up and showed Da.
The screen said BLOCKED NUMBER.
I straightened off the wall, knowing it had to be Ainslee. Mam’s number—hell, all Lycan clan members’ numbers—weren’t listed in any human network. You didn’t have it unless you were directly connected to us. Who else could it be if it wasn’t my little sister?
“Ainslee?” Mam begged softly, her voice full of emotion and hope. My Da was right by his mate’s side, his arm around her shoulders and keeping her close.
Everyone was silent for so long, maybe afraid speaking or moving would ruin everything. I could see the stark relief on my Mam’s face and knew it was my sister.
Minutes passed until it felt like hours, and the entire time, my Mam listened, only speaking every so often. She kept nodding, refusing to let Da take the phone when he grabbed for it.
It was an eternity before she was walking quickly toward my Da’s desk and grabbing a pen and slip of paper. Then she bent down to write down what was clearly a number to get ahold of Ainslee. And then she whispered, “I love you, darling, and yes, I’ll speak with them,” before hanging up and staring at all of us. My heart lurched in my chest.
No one spoke. No one moved. Da was all but seething, no doubt pissed at not being able to speak with Ainslee, or maybe to rip Luca a new one. He had no control over the situation, and for an alpha, that was hell.
Mam straightened her spine and pulled her shoulders back, looking directly at Da. “If I’d let you speak with her, you would have made the situation worse, Banner, and you damn well know it.” She looked at Adryan. “Same goes with you. All you males would have done was scare the hell out of her by threatening to tear her mate limb from limb.”
I looked at Adryan, his expression impassive, stoic. But then a slow grin spread across his face. And once again the reality that Uncle Adryan was a sadistic son of a bitch slammed into me.
“That’s why you called me, isn’t it, Luna?” His tone wasn’t mocking. It wasn’t challenging. It was matter-of-fact. “To tear apart the fucker who took Ainslee?”
My Mam shook her head, her stoic expression just as fierce as her older brother’s. “You know damn well that’s not why I called you. I called the three of you”—she gestured to the cousins as well—“to help keep things in line.” She exhaled through her nose from her frustration. “But I can tell being the head of the vampires in the States has gotten to your head. You’re just as arrogant and bloodthirsty as that one.” She tipped her chin toward Da. “None of the males in my life have any damn self-control. You all want to battle if anyone even looks at you wrong.”
“Sweetling,” Da said, clearly not liking that he was in the “doghouse” with his mate. “We’re just concerned. If the Lycan was no’ as far gone as he is, we would no’ have an issue with her being mated.”
Mam snorted at that, because she knew that was a load of horseshit. We all were very overly protective of Ainslee.
“Listen, she’s reached out, okay.” It wasn’t phrased like a question. “She wanted to let us know she’s fine, that Luca is keeping her safe. She doesn’t want any more conflict, especially not with the shit that happened in the woods.” My Mam dropped her arms, and her shoulders slouched.
“With all the shit going on right now, and now with Caelan disappearing, I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.” There was a long beat of silence before she whispered, “You’re all going to make her so scared you’ll push her away and we won’t ever see her. She’ll fear bringing her mate here, because you all will destroy him.”
“Oh, little Luna,” Adryan said and took a step toward her. Mam was a grown female at one hundred years old, with a family of her own, but still, my uncle saw her as his baby sister.
