Page 10 of Betrayed Alpha Bride

“Will do,” I answer, waving goodbye as I shut the door. Nico leads me over to the couch, and I sit down beside him, taking a slice of pizza.

“Did you have a good time with Gwen?” I ask him.

“Yeah, I like her much better than Mrs. Florence.”

I chuckle a little. “Mrs. Florence is eighty, and she doesn’t believe in pizza for dinner.”

“You made my point for me,” Nico says, grinning.

For a few minutes, we just watch TV and eat, but I can sense a rising energy in Nico, and my own anxiety rises in response.

Now I’m back here again, struggling with the same problem, not knowing how to help my son.

What am I going to do?

“Did you do your homework?” I ask.

Nico glances at me, a flash of fury in his eyes. “I didn’t. It’s a stupid assignment.”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter what you think about it. You need to give it a try.”

“School is boring,” he mutters. “Nothing interests me.” He sighs and groans. “I just feel like there is something else I’m supposed to be doing.”

“We talked about this, Nico,” I say, feeling irritated. “Just because school isn’t interesting, it’s no excuse to give up. If you can apply yourself, that’s all I’m asking.”

“You wouldn’t understand, Mom!” Nico says with a bit too much force. “I have so much trouble concentrating, and now I can hardly ever sleep. You don’t know what it’s like for me.”

My heart screams in my chest. The jumble of emotions inside me feels like it’s tearing me apart.

I have to help my son, but how?

Even though I can’t shift myself, I know that if a shifter is not guided through their first time, terrible things can happen. Nico could hurt others or himself. And there would be nothing I could do about it.

I have to figure this out.

A knock at the door startles me, and I jump up off the couch.

“Who do you think it could be?” Nico asks.

“Probably just Gwen,” I say. “Maybe she forgot something.”

I hurry to the door, trying to calm my teeming thoughts. I’m not paying attention at all as I open the door, and when I look up and see who it is, a wave of shock hits me so hard that I almost collapse.

Galen?!

“Clara,” Galen says in a low voice. “We need to talk.”

I can’t move, let alone speak. My hand grips the doorknob, and it’s the only thing keeping me from falling down. While I struggle to organize a coherent thought, I hear Nico’s light footsteps coming up behind me.

Oh no!

Galen looks over my shoulder and sees Nico. I watch the color drain out of his face as he stares at his son, who is his spitting image. His mouth goes slack with shock, and his dark eyes glimmer with spots of vibrant green.

Those beautiful, deep eyes flicker up to my face, and I can feel the impact of this moment slamming into Galen like a freight train. He looks wounded, as if I just shot him straight through the heart.

While I’m still reeling with shock, Galen turns his gaze back to Nico, his expression an equal mixture of awe and infinite pain.

Turning slowly, I look at Nico and find him staring at Galen the exact same way. He looks so much like his father—high cheekbones, delicate mouth, broad shoulders—but his bright golden eyes are all me.

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