Page 14 of Lost Touch

Two women stepped in, the older one obviously Drew’s mom, and the other just as obviously Drew’s sister by her age and also the striking resemblance. They matched the well-appointed house in a way I distinctly didn’t: nice clothes, nice make-up, that overall perfectly-groomed and polished look that I didn’t understand how any human achieved.

Well, they weren’t human. Maybe that helped.

I stood there awkwardly, feeling extremely human and shabby, as they hugged Drew and made their way into the living room.

And then they both turned their terrifying focus on me. Somehow I managed not to shrink in on myself and try to disappear.

“This must be…Ash,” Drew’s mother said, without a trace of warmth. She looked me up and down with chilly dark eyes, her mouth tightening.

“Sorry,” Drew said, in a way that suggested he was apologizing to her…but looking directly at me, his own dark eyes worried and pleading. I locked my gaze with his and took a deep breath. He’d rescued me. I owed him. I could do this, even though I didn’t understand what the hell was going on and knew this woman would’ve been willing to leave me to die in a ditch rather than risk her family’s reputation.

Fuck. She really would’ve. That chilled me to the bone.

But Drew had already crossed the room to me and slipped his arm around my waist, his heat and strength pressed against my side.

I’m on your side. Period.

He’d asked me to believe him, and now he was proving it, literally. I leaned into his hold, hoping he couldn’t feel me trembling. He’d think I was such a coward.

“Ash, this is my mom, Jeanette, and my sister Alyssa. Mom, Alyssa, my mate, Ash.”

They both stared at me, Jeanette still looking like she’d just as soon be introduced to a piece of garbage, and Alyssa with her matching dark-brown eyes narrowed, one manicured finger tapping against the side seam of her very expensive-looking jeans.

“I didn’t realize he’d recovered enough to be out of bed,” Jeanette said at last, as if I weren’t standingright there. “You could have called me instead of sending that absurdly vague text message, Drew.”

A heavy silence fell, and I could feel Drew’s anger and annoyance in the sudden tension of his body, the clench of his hand around my waist that might’ve been painful if I’d been capable of feeling it.

My spine stiffened. Yeah, so I might be an amnesiac, magically-fucked-up wanted criminal who wasn’t even in Drew’s sport, let alone his league. Not to mention human.

But seriously? I was supposed to be Drew’s mate! His husband, basically! Which meant this was my house. Not really, of course. But she thought it was!

I lifted my chin and stared her down, hoping that if she wolfed out and tried to rip my not-groomed-enough face off, Drew would intervene.

“Well,youcould’ve called before you showed up on the doorstep before breakfast, too, and yet here we are,” I said.

The silence froze into something that felt like icicles should’ve been forming on the end of my nose.

Alyssa let out a sharp crack of laughter and then coughed dramatically, covering her mouth and turning her head and hacking in a way that sounded incredibly forced. E for effort, although the sidelong glance her mother shot her would’ve had me ducking for cover.

“I beg your pardon?” Jeanette’s hand flexed. Claws trying to come out? No glow, though, so she couldn’t be an alpha. Were there female alphas? I had no idea. And I so,sodid not want to find out the hard way. “I visit my son whenever I wish, and some of us have things to do with the rest of the day. Drew? You’re allowing him to speak to me like that?”

Drew had turned into stone beside me, it felt like, and the increasing pressure of his fingers on my waist let me know I’d definitely have a bruise, pain or no pain. Hopefully he’d keep his own claws in check, because I was pretty sure they’d go straight through my liver at that angle. Or my kidneys, or something. Anatomy clearly wasn’t my strong suit.

“We’ve only had a few hours to get to know each other again,” Drew said, his voice low, clear, and deadly, only with a faint undertone of…God, fear? I glanced up. No, not fear, although that rumbling vibration had resembled it. His eyes glowed gold, and that wasn’t fear—it was suppressed rage. “A call would’ve been nice, yeah. This isn’t the easiest situation, Mom. And he can speak to anyone however he wants. This is his home. Our home.”

Jeanette leaned back a little as if trying not to step back, cowed by Drew’s alpha anger. But her face twisted with fury of her own, and she opened her mouth—

“He has a point, Mom,” Alyssa put in, drawling the words like no one in the room had gotten to the point of near-violence. “You raised an alpha, right? A real alpha. Of course he wants some alone time with his mate in his own space.”

I stared at her in awe, at the way she brushed her thumb over her shiny red fingernails, frowning down as if doing nothing more than inspecting a flaw in her manicure. She glanced up at her mother through her lashes. Measuring.

And Jeanette deflated, given an out through her daughter’s manipulation. “Of course,” she said, still cold, still hard. But with a hint of relief bleeding through. “I’d never have birthed a boy who couldn’t grow into a true alpha.” She smiled tightly, looking at Drew—but not quite meeting his eyes, I didn’t think. “We’ll leave you to rediscover your bond, Drew. But call me. Regularly. Everyone will want updates.”

Had I imagined that slight emphasis oneveryone? I didn’t think so, and it made my blood feel all cold and sluggish in my veins all over again.

That was what Drew had been afraid of, hidden under his fury. His mother might not be much of a threat on her own, but she’d come to inspect me. Us. Our bond. For Drew’s uncle and for the rest of the family, for the pack and its alpha.

To see if they could get rid of me?

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