Page 75 of Drive me Wild (South Island Shifters)

We get out of the car and slowly make our way inside. She grips my hand the entire time. Through the doors, we go. I have no idea what to expect. The first person I see to greet me is Zane. Thank fuck. I don’t know if I could deal with it being anyone else.

He smiles. “You ready?”

“Nope.”

He walks down the hall towards the respite care facility. Its white walls remind me of a hospital: cold and clinical. This is not a home. I try not to glance around. Instead, I focus on Zane and Winter. My heartbeat gets faster with each step. We are shown to a private room, and my Nana is there along with Ravin when we enter.

My mother is on the bed, her eyes closed and long golden hair draped down around her shoulders. I’m floored as I realise how similar my mother and Winter look. Dad and I must have great taste in women. My mother truly is beautiful. Her blue eyes fly open, and she turns her head, then smiles. “Declan, my son. You have come to visit me.”

I take a step back in disbelief. Is this even real? She climbs off the bed and walks over to me. “You’ve grown a beard. I never liked beards on your father.” She inclines her head. “Are you going to introduce me?”

I’m speechless. This is not the woman I saw the last time I was here. She’s different somehow. “Mum…” I choke out. I can’t even form words. I take a breath as Zane comes to my side. My body is going into survival mode, and I don’t know if I can stay here. This is all too much, too soon.

“This is Winter. Winter meet my mother, Laura,” Zane says for me.

My mother circles Winter, looking her up and down before stopping behind us. “Margaret, you were right. This one will make a fine Luna for my son. Come sit and have tea.” She moves over to the bed, pulling Winter along with her. Zane comes over to me. I’m numb and utterly unsure of what to do or how to act.

“You okay?” Zane asks.

“Not in the slightest. I feel like I’m in a movie right now, and this isn’t real.”

“Enjoy it, brother. I don’t think we have long with Mum left.”

There is something wrong here, and I think Zane is right. I need to make the most of my time with my mother.

Twenty-Eight

DECLAN

I’m in a dream. A fucking dream. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t my mother to be so with it today. Other times I’ve seen her as a kid, we would tell who we were, but there was no reaction in her eyes. Then, as I got older, it got worse. She couldn’t even look at me.

Now, it’s like she is the mother I knew before Dad died.

I’m not in a dream. I’m in a fucking living nightmare, and I want to wake up right this minute!

Winter is talking to her, and they’re all staring at a framed photo on the nightstand. I haven’t moved; my entire body feels like it’s been filled with concrete, and I’m going to shatter with a simple nudge.

“Look at your hair,” Winter laughs, turning the picture around to show me. It’s at my sixteenth birthday. The last time we were together as a family. “You had a curly mop.”

My Nana laughs. “He wouldn’t let me cut it.”

Winter looks at me with her soft sexy smile. “Come here, and sit with me.” Finally, my legs find some sort of movement, and I make my way to the seat beside her. I’ve always wanted to find the true love my parents had when I was growing up, and I finally have. I have found it with this woman right here beside me. Tonight, I’ll tell her, and I’m not letting her shut me down.

“I used to make all their birthday cakes,” Laura says. “Ravin’s favourite was always a strawberry cake; Zane’s was banana. Declan never wanted a cake, however. I always made one for his friends, but he wouldn’t eat it.”

“You don’t like cake?” Winter asks.

“Nope.”

“Why not? It’s the best bit about birthdays,” Winter says.

I shrug. “I prefer muffins. Especially lemon.”

“You see now, Winter, why he’s such an asshole. Not enough cake as a child.” Zane chuckles.

“If you were closer, I’d punch you,” I say.

“Catch me if you can. We both know I can run faster than you.”

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