Page 66 of A Wolf in the Garden

“You did not!”

She laughs at his shock. “We did! I’ll show you photos when we get in the car. Come on, we’ve got a taxi waiting for us outside.”

* * *

Amaia, Ellie’s mother, is slightly less enthused to see me again when we meet up with her at the restaurant. While she gives both Ellie and Hemi great big hugs and wide-mouthed smiles, she simply nods at me, and says “Kia ora.”

“Kia ora, Amaia. It’s been a long time.”

“Mmm. It has.”

She’s a beautiful woman — it’s where Ellie inherited her looks from, after all — and sitting together they look near-identical except for the differences in their hair and skin. While Ellie has a light golden tan, Amaia’s skin is a deeper olive in tone, and her hair is a dark brown that falls in curly waves, only slightly streaked with grey. She barely has any wrinkles, making her look at least a decade younger than her true age of fifty — impressive for a human.

We all sit outside, at one of the tables with a clear view of the marina that the Town Basin is known for. Amaia puts on a polite smile, but I can see the strain in her eyes every time she glances my way as we eat, despite her father’s jovial mood, and it has me wondering what bothers her more: the fact that I’m a wolf, or the history between Ellie and I?

When Ellie rises from her seat, offering to escort herkoroto the bathroom, I eventually get my answer.

“Ellie told me you renovated the bach,” I begin after a moment of charged silence.

Amaia nods. “I did.”

“Do you get many people staying in it? It’s a vacation rental, right? You live behind it now?”

Another nod. “Yep. I do.”

I clear my throat, placing my glass of beer down on the table. “Amaia, if you’re worried about me being a wolf, I want to assure you, I’m not dangerous. Not to you, not to your father, and certainly not to Ellie. I am not affiliated with any of those idiots that have been in the news recently, either. They’re from a completely different pack.”

“I’m not worried about that.”

“You’re not? Because, you seem—”

“Iwantto like you again, I just don’t know if I can after what you did,” she cuts in, the directness of her gaze making me feel like a young boy being told off, and I resist the urge to squirm in my seat like I used to do as a kid whenever she used that tone.

“I hope you can. I love Ellie, and I’m here to stay.”

“See, you say that, but you also said that last time. I don’t know if you remember, but I asked you, that summer, if you loved my daughter. I knew you were sleeping with her, and I knew she was head over heels for you.”

“I did—”

“Youlefther, and you left her broken. It took her forever to put herself back together, and I wasreally scared, for a long time. She was eighteen, Evander. Eighteen, and you broke her.”

I hate hearing how it was for Ellie, after I left. I’d been in the thick of shock and grief, confused and under the orders of my pack alpha, but I know none of that matters to Amaia. She’s always had a close relationship with her daughter, and although Ellie was afforded a lot of freedom during her childhood, when it came to important issues, Amaia was always fiercely protective of her child.

“I know I should have handled things differently. I wish I could turn back time. I need you to know I’m never,neverseparating from her again.”

“You better not, because if you do, I will hunt you down and…I don’t know.” She runs a hand back through her dark curls, wearing the same pensive expression I catch on Ellie’s face from time to time. “I want to like you, but when I think about how hurt she was, I still get…” She cuts herself off, sucking in a breath. “I get really mad. You have no idea.”

Given her tone, I think I can take a guess. “I hope you can forgive me someday, because I am truly sorry. I’ve apologised profusely to Ellie.”

“She’s too forgiving.”

“She is.”

“She’s got a big heart, my girl.”

“She does. It’s what I love about her.”

Amaia purses her lips, her eyes growing teary as she focuses on the waterway behind me. “You have a big heart, too, Evander. I don’t want you to think I don’t see that. I’ve always seen that. You took care of my girl when you were both kids, and I see you taking care of her now. I do see it.”

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