Page 65 of The Alpha's Stolen Mate

Her words from a moment ago ran through my head. My mom hadn’t wanted to talk to me in front of Gabriel’s door. Why?

My mom took my hands, and the look in her eyes shocked me. This was the first time since we had learned about my father’s attack that my mom seemed to be fully present. It was like whatever she had to tell me was making her enraged, and she was holding tight to that anger to keep herself from falling back into her grief.

“This morning, I was talking to Sandra on the phone,” my mom started, but then a guilty look crossed her face. “She and a couple of my other friends had been trying to get in contact with me since your father's accident to check in on me and see how he was, but I just couldn't bring myself to call anyone back…not with everything going on.”

I squeezed my mom's hands.

Sandra was my mom's best friend. She lived in Brindle Creek and was a member of WaterLock. When we moved to Aunt Mia's farm, my mom had started talking to Sandra on the phone almost every day.

“Of course, it was hard to talk about Dad being in a coma, Mom. You don't have to feel guilty about that,” I told her gently.

A tear slipped down my mom's cheek, but she quickly wiped it away.

“Sandra and I talked for almost an hour while I was getting coffee in the hospital's cafeteria, and before we hung up, she told me something…interesting,” my mom said and looked down at the clothes I was wearing again. Gabriel's clothes.

What the hell had she heard?

I prepared myself for the worst.

“Sandra asked me if I heard the good news,” my mom said with a sarcastic edge to her voice. “She told me that WaterLock was going to be protected by the Royal Guard thanks to Gabriel marrying the Alpha King's daughter in a week.”

Chapter Twenty-one: The Other Stream

Summer POV

“What? But that doesn’t make sense, Gabriel has his own plan. He…” I trailed off.

I’d been about to say Gabriel wouldn’t do that. But obviously, he had, right? My mom’s friend wouldn’t make that up. Gabriel was getting married. And it wasn’t to me. Logically, I understood why he was getting married to Olivia. To gain WaterLock and his compound protection from the Rogues—it was the same reason he had been in an arranged marriage with Olivia when we were eighteen. But Gabriel had his own plan…

This didn’t make sense.

My head was full of racing thoughts.

I cleared my throat and blinked away tears.

“Did Sandra say anything else about the…wedding?” I asked my mom in a hollow voice.

The word “wedding” felt foreign coming out of my mouth.

“No, honey. I’m sorry. She didn’t know anything else. Sandra said that Alpha Everett held a meeting announcing that WaterLock was going to be protected thanks to Gabriel marrying Olivia,” my mom told me, her eyes full of concern.

“Gabriel’s dad held a pack meeting to tell everyone that?”

My mom nodded.

“Do you know if Gabriel was there?” I asked.

“Sandra didn’t say, honey. I’m sorry.”

My mom squeezed my hands again, but it did nothing to comfort me.

A painful ache had begun in the back of my skull, and I couldn’t think clearly. My head was so crammed with questions that it seemed like it might explode.

“What do you need right now, honey? What can I do for you?” my mom asked.

“I…need to think.”

That was all I wanted right now. Just a quiet place to organize my thoughts. And I couldn’t do that when I was in Gabriel’s house, surrounded by his things. I needed space from him.

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