Page 59 of The Awakened Wolf

“No.” Tears blurred my vision as I remembered that awful first night in Manhattan, curled on that stiff ivory couch until I fell asleep to what turned out to be the sound of my own mother’s bedtime story. “But you both wound up at NYU.”

Father sucked air through his teeth.

“Mateo told me,” I said. “Before he died.”

“Ah, Mateo.” Moira’s gaze drifted over to Cody, who had taken a few steps into the room but seemed oblivious to our presence.

“Oh my Gods,” I whispered. I didn’t dare say it out loud. I didn’t know what Father might do, even as a human, but when Moira’s eyes met mine again, I knew that she knew that I knew. She had changed the ending of my mother’s story. Mateo got the girl.

“I’m sorry.” Kiana pushed between us. “But what the fluff are you talking about?”

Except Kiana said the other word, not fluff, and Father clutched his heart. Moira rolled her eyes with utter disgust. “You know, Phelan, if you kidnap a woman so you can do that to her, then you really ought to be able to say the damn word.”

“I did no such—” Father’s roar sent him into a coughing jag, and he leaned heavily against the table. “She was my fated. We were in love.”

“There is no love without choice.” Moira’s right arm jerked as if she wanted to lay into him a third time.

“Please.” Kiana touched Moira’s wrist. “He’s very ill.”

“Good to know karma is a raging bitch too.” Moira smiled. “Here’s hoping all dogs don’t go to Heaven.”

“We’re not dogs,” Kiana said. “And we go to the Yonder Field. Our mother waits for us there. Father will send her your love when he gets there.”

Moira softened with pity and laced her fingers through Kiana’s. “I was happy when my stories came a little bit true, and your mother discovered a secret shifter society in the middle of Manhattan. Her wolf was so lonely, and Mateo was so good to her. A friend, first and foremost, as it should be.” She gave Sebastian a sidelong look. “And then one night, he comes to me with tears in his eyes and says my sister won’t be coming home. I thought she was dead, of course, but he says no, no, she’s been claimed by her fated mate, he’s taken her home to his own pack.”

“As was my right,” Father said. “And her desire.”

Moira whirled on him. “And was it her desire to never speak to me again, Phelan, after our last visit?”

“Yes.” Father lifted his chin. “You paint yourself to the papers as a champion of female independence, but you refused to believe your sister might know her own mind. Her own heart. We were in love. She was my life. And I think you have some gall to storm in here and claim my daughters as your nieces while wishing their mother had never met me. I can take very little credit for how they’ve turned out, but they were meant to be mine, not Mateo’s. Fate brought Dinah to me so our girls could be exactly—”

“Is that what this is?” Cody asked, his trembling voice emanating from the middle of the room.

He stood before the giant black screen, his human body dwarfed by the hazy reflection of his inner wolf whose eyes were fastened on the eager reflection of Jayla’s at the end of the long table. Human Cody pushed his hoodie back, letting his dark curls tumble over his forehead into his hazel eyes. He immediately shook his forelock to one side and smiled at my friend the way he smiled at the girl on TV.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Cody,” Moira bit out the syllables, her tone full of warning.

I whispered the forbidden word as two realizations hit me at once. First, my cousin Cody Chism was the world’s hottest nepo baby, and second, Jayla hadn’t been joking all those times she said she was going to marry him one day. He closed the gap between them as she rose from her chair, no longer caring about her hideous outfit, and crawled onto the table so that when Cody arrived, they were eye to eye.

“Cody Leonato Cavallo!” Moira shouted his real name, the one he secretly shared with her, and I wondered if she had a husband, or if that had once been my mother’s last name too. She wasn’t wearing a ring.

“Hey,” Cody said ever so smoothly to Jayla as they stared helplessly into one another’s eyes. “I’m, uh, I’m Cody.”

“Leonato?” Jayla gave him a skeptical look. “Seriously?”

He shrugged. “My mom really likes lions. It’s weird. I know. I’m sorry.”

“I’m Jayla.” She paused. “My mom likes giraffes, but my middle name is Deloris.”

Evan gasped. She had never told us that.

“Jayla Deloris,” Cody sighed dreamily. “That’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.” He glanced down at her body. “I like your, um, dress.”

“It’s two men’s shirts,” Jayla said. “But it’s as close to a dress as I ever get. You should probably know that before we kiss.”

“That’s cool,” Cody said. “When are we going to kiss?”

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