Page 2 of Broken Wolf

She shrugged. “Your wolf doesn’t trust her own judgment. She was pissed you sent off Clayton. You had issues there, and then she met your birth mom and wanted to shred her. She assumed you were the issue and missed things, but now she’s doubting herself and not giving you signals. Cues on what to do. It’s her confidence that took a hit.”

It made sense… But I was worried.

I was hurt.

I was confused.

I didn’t know what I was.

“Are you going to be okay, Sera?” she asked me gently.

“I thought I was doing okay,” I answered, my voice hollow.

“Hey, you’re doing great,” she said firmly. “You’re doing—How can I help?”

I shrugged. “You’re doing it. You’ve taken over all of the fitness clubs and buildings that are now mine. That’s a huge—I would have broken under all of that, Simone. We have building managers and—I could never have handled all of that.”

“Jimmy Havers has actually been a huge help,” she admitted, nodding when I couldn’t hide my shock. “He’s really smart and has a great head for business. I think he honestly just needed someone to notice.” She gave a half shrug. “It’s not easy to be in the shadow of a rock star sibling. I know that well. It’s why I’m here and not by my family.”

Fair enough… And I left it alone. I knew Simone had older siblings, one positioned to take over their family’s pack in Europe, but she was low contact with all of them. Mostly just sending birthday wishes or if important information needed to be shared.

And she did not like to talk about them.

Ever.

Which seemed a bit hypocritical given how she involved herself in my family and pushing me to open up. I’d brought that up to Phobie once, and she told me that one day I might get to that point and then the topics would be just dead and settled for me, left in the past. That was the goal and Simone could discuss it, but she wouldn’t give her valuable time to something settled.

Maybe.

Maybe that was what it was, but it seemed like it pained her, so I didn’t think that was what it was… But I didn’t need to go looking for trouble or poke at my friends’ problems.

We finished with the fun, and I saw it was what we all needed more of, but even more so on a night where Beth could join us. I waited until I was alone on the rooftop to make the call I needed to.

“It is never good when you are calling me right as I wake,” Alena worried.

“Sorry, but I—my wolf is—Mom, something is wrong with me and—”

“You figured out that your wolf isn’t sensing when people are lying to you,” she said sadly.

“You know?”

“Yes, Carter immediately contacted me and asked if we had any information on it and what he could do,” she answered. “He was worried you would spiral if you felt anymore at odds with your wolf. I said the same after speaking with Phobie. I’m so sorry we kept this from you, my beautiful daughter, but it was for your health. I swear it.”

“I’m trying to see it that way,” I whispered. “Right now it just makes me feel more broken than I did.”

“No, no, please do not see it like that. We were going to tell you soon. After Father’s Day,” she rasped. “You were so excited for the surprise you have planned for their first Father’s Day. I thought that would help. Mother is coming to work with you on your new power, and she was going to—you are not the first this has happened to. She will help you.”

I nodded as she spoke. “I’m not the first?”

“No, I’ve experienced it myself, Daughter. Being powerful comes with many problems. The weight we carry as the Alpha—your wolf is doubting herself after she wasn’t on your side. You have to see it that way, and she is scared to give her opinion basically. That is how you have to look at this. You are taking on so much more, expanding and—”

“She doesn’t want to tell me the wrong thing when she messed up,” I muttered, letting out a heavy sigh when Alena confirmed it. “And fucking telling me wasn’t an option? Seriously, I could have gotten into deep shit not knowing this and someone lying to me—”

“Which is why your Carter has been hovering,” she promised me. “Noah caught it as well and clued in your security to protect you. We weren’t going to let this continue. Mother was going to sit you down and explain, talk to your wolf and make it clear that she did make a mistake but to not handle it like this and to not fail you. You both are the team—she knows how to work through this.”

“How long until she fixes me?” I asked, wincing when Alena growled. “I’m broken, Mom. Something about me doesn’t work. That’s broken.”

“You are injured. That’s not broken. You have to stop seeing it that way, Seraphine! You do emotional and mental damage to yourself when you do. When I was injured this same way, I slowed things down. I asked for help to take things over as you have done. You have better foundations and more in place. You are doing everything you should.

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