Page 58 of Wolf Unleashed
Alyssa couldn’t stop staringat her mother. Adeline Monroe was more gorgeous than Alyssa remembered. And very much alive. Had everything she remembered from her childhood been a lie?
Her father’s hand hooked around her mother’s waist as they led the way to the last building, the one she’d thought had been munitions. It held housing for the staff, and her parents appeared to besharinga room. The guards that had escorted them waited outside.
“I’ll return later, after you two have talked,” her father said as he left.
As soon as her father shut the door, Alyssa spun around to confront her mother, even when all she wanted to do was run to her and hug her. “I don’t understand. I saw the photos of you in a cage, shifting.”
“Staged,” her mom said nonchalantly as she walked into the back room of their quarters.
“Why? Just to terrify me?”
“No, darling. But there were other potential business associates that needed to be convinced. We never expected you to find those photos.”
“Convinced of what? What’s going on, Mom? You’re a shifter helping anti-shifters destroy people just like you.”
“They’re doing no such thing, Alyssa,” she said when she returned. She had changed into a casual pair of leggings, an oversized sweatshirt, and socks. Adeline stood facing Alyssa and pushed her hair back. “You’ve grown into a beautiful young lady.”
Alyssa stepped out of her reach and shook her head. “You left when I was eleven. One day you said we’d be leaving soon, together, and then you disappeared. Without me. I didn’t know what to think. I knew Dad was lying when he said you no longer wanted to be there, that you had dreams you wanted to pursue. Then I found those pictures. I thought you were dead.”
“I had planned to take you with me, but your father convinced me you were safer with him, that I should lead the shifters who were chasing me away and keep them from discovering you. The pictures were meant to be proof of my death if they tracked me to our home.”
“Who?”
“My pack. We’d heard rumors that they were nearby, that they knew the name I’d been using before I married Woodrow. Thirteen years after I ran from my pack, they were still looking for me.” She twirled a lock of Alyssa’s hair around a finger. “And it’s why I stayed away. To be sure they weren’t watching and waiting for me to return.”
“Where did you go?”
“I moved around to a few shelters.”
“For years, mother?”
“I would do anything to avoid returning to my birth pack. A few years wandering around the country was a small sacrifice.”
“You left me behind. I thought you were dead!”
“I would have returned for you, but it was too dangerous.”
“The only danger was the man you left me with.”
“You’re doing your father a disservice, Alyssa. He saved me. Not all shifters are evil, but some are. My pack—” She stumbled and her hands shook. “They’re abusive, vile creatures, and I use the wordcreaturesintentionally because they have no humanity in them.”
“Is this why you hate shifters?”
“I don’t hate anyone. Except my pack. I’m working with your father to save shifters.”
“By killing them? The Shifter Elimination Virus—”
“Stop right there, Alyssa. You need to know the WSSO has many branches, and not all of the people in charge agree. There have been many discussions and endeavors over how to handle the shifter problem.”
“The shifter problem? Do you hear yourself? The only problem are the humans who think they’re superior to shifters.”
“And you think shifters don’t think they’re superior to humans? Wait until you meet one of the packs such as my birth pack, the Bordelon in Kisatchie National Forest, Louisiana. Or the White Wolves in Devil’s Peak, Colorado. Oh, but you have met them. You’re mated to one, aren’t you?” Her mother’s expression softened. She looked sympathetic to Alyssa, as if Alyssa had some illness and had to be handled gently. “The white wolf they captured has been influencing you through the blood-bond. The blood-bond is very powerful and not fully understood, even by shifters. You will be more yourself when we sever the bond.”
Alyssa couldn’t believe what she was hearing. From hermother. The entire day felt surreal. “You left me,” Alyssa repeated. She still couldn’t get past that one fact that her mother had been gone from her life all these years. Willingly.Intentionally.
“I had to, for both of our sakes. If I had stayed, my presence would have put you in danger. The pack I came from would have taken us both. They don’t let their females leave. I escaped when I was twenty, before I could be forced to mate and blood-bond a high-ranking shifter in my pack. They nearly found me before I changed my name, got human ID, and met your father. Your father knew who I was from the start, Alyssa, but we decided not to tell you of your heritage on my side, to protect you. He’s dedicated his life to learning everything he could about shifter anatomy so he could free me. Freeus.”
“You returned at some point. Why? To be with dad or to work with the WSSO?”
