Page 81 of The Alpha's Stolen Mate

I looked past my dad’s shoulder and made eye contact with Summer.

For a moment, the gold thread that connected us flickered, then disappeared.

Hopefully, I would get a chance to rectify my past mistakes.

Chapter Twenty-six: The Space Between

Summer POV

“Summer, will you please help me with dessert?” my mom asked from across the table.

“Of course,” I said, squeezing Grayson’s hand before I stood.

Gabriel and I were engrossed in listing all the food they wanted to try to grill.

“What about watermelon?” Grayson suggested, his eyes shining with excitement.

“Good idea, buddy. I heard watermelon is weirdly good when it’s grilled,” Gabriel said, smiling down at our son.

“There’s nothing weird about watermelon!” Grayson said and giggled as Gabriel tried to tickle him.

My mom, Grayson, Gabriel, and I were just finishing dinner out on the back patio. Gabriel had grilled steaks—he had explained the process to Grayson, even letting him flip one. I made Caesar salad, baked potatoes, and roasted asparagus. My mom had spent hours making a blueberry pie from scratch.

We were celebrating.

After the pack meeting earlier this afternoon, where Gabriel had revealed the truth about the Alpha King, my mom, Gabriel, and I met up with Aunt Mia and Grayson, who were at the compound hospital visiting my dad. In the middle of the visit, Healer Nia came into the room to share my father’s latest CT scans.

His most recent test has shown increased brain activity. My dad wasn’t completely out of the woods yet, but it was a good sign. Healer Nia was hopeful that my dad might wake up. Aunt Mia was going to spend the night at the hospital to sit with her brother, and the rest of us came back to Gabriel’s house for a celebratory dinner.

As I stood up from the table to follow after my mom, I admired the beautiful pink and orange sunset. But when I looked down to see the colorful clouds reflecting off the surface of the pool, I inwardly cringed at an image in my mind of Grayson struggling to stay afloat in the water. I tried not to let the fear show on my face.

Even though I was terrified of my son ever swimming again, that wasn’t realistic. I wanted him to become a better swimmer, so if something like that ever happened again, he would be able to swim to the edge. After the pack meeting, Gabriel and I had discussed putting him into swimming lessons when he was ready to get back in the water.

I followed my mom into Gabriel’s kitchen, and the delicious scent of fresh blueberry pie hit me.

“It’s almost finished cooling,” my mom said, gesturing to her dessert on the stove.

“It looks delicious, Mom.”

She crossed her arms and leaned against the counter. There were dark circles under her eyes, and when she looked at me, her gaze was full of guilt.

“Honey, I’m so sorry.” Her voice broke as she whispered the apology.

My heart began to frantically pound.

“F-for what? Why are you apologizing? What happened?”

“It was my idea that you go on a walk that morning. It’s my fault that you were kidnapped,” my mom said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“Oh, momma, no.” I stepped closer and drew her into a hug, inhaling her familiar smell of flour and a hint of the floral perfume she wore. “That wasn’t your fault. Axel was determined to use me against Gabriel. He would have found me eventually.”

I could feel my mom stiffen in my embrace.

“If Gabriel hadn’t killed him already, I’d track him down and kill him myself,” she said in a low voice as she stepped slightly away.

“He’s gone, Mom. I watched it happen myself.”

I traced the scar Axel’s knife had made across my neck. Since he hadn’t been in his wolf form when he gave it to me, the pink line would eventually fade.

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