“Turn on the AC. I need to call someone real quick.” Might as well do it while they, and their huge wad of cash, were still under the watchful eye of the bank’s security cameras and door guard.
While Summer got the engine going, Rylie paced in front of the truck, trying to make up a reason that she shouldn’t have to call her mother back. Maybe she could pretend that she had lost Jessica’s phone number. Or maybe her own phone number had changed, and she had never seen her mother’s text message.
The thing was, she hadn’t spoken to Jessica since sending her an invitation to Rylie’s failed wedding. Not once. And she had only spoken to her twice since she graduated from high school anyway—five times if she went all the way back to her dad’s death. Saying that they weren’t close would have been like saying that Venus wasn’t close to Pluto. They were barely in the same solar system, much less the same gene pool.
Most importantly, Jessica had no clue that her daughter was an Alpha werewolf, leader of the last pack in the United States of America, and near the top of the Office of Preternatural Affairs’s most wanted list.
They had nothing in common. Nothing to discuss. That meant that the phone call could only mean bad news: a death in the family, nuclear war, whatever.
Rylie’s choice was taken from her when her phone rang. She almost dropped it. Instead, entirely by accident, her thumb hit the button to answer the call.
“Oh no,” she whispered, holding the phone away from her at arm’s length.
Jessica’s tinny voice whispered from the receiver. “Rylie?”
Okay. I can do this. She took a deep breath.
“Hi,” Rylie said, pressing the phone to her ear.
“How are you, sweetie?” She sounded awfully cheerful for nuclear war.
I just cashed out on the entire trust fund that your dead ex-husband left me, with the help of your adult granddaughter, and will be using it to build a werewolf village. How are you?
“I’m...fine,” Rylie said.
Jessica didn’t even wait for Rylie to finish the sentence. She continued talking. “It’s been so long since we chatted, hasn’t it? I have so much to tell you. Are you still at your aunt’s house?”
“Yes,” Rylie said. For a few more days, anyway. Then they were dropping half of that trust fund on a real estate agent willing to sell two thousand acres of remote, inhospitable land in the Appalachian Mountains, no questions asked, and moving far away from civilization.
“Great. I’m arriving on Friday. Can’t wait to see you. Have to run, sweetheart, I’m sorry—I’ll email my itinerary to your aunt. Kisses.”
And then she hung up.
Rylie felt dizzy.
A visit from Jessica? At the townhouse her aunt shared with a half-dozen werewolves, which were waiting for Rylie, their Alpha, to build a sanctuary for them?
Nuclear war would have been far preferable.
Summer leaned out the window. “I feel like a bank robber sitting on all this cash.” She had probably heard every word of the conversation with her super shapeshifter hearing, but there was no sign on her face that she actually understood what the conversation meant.
Jessica would be there on Friday. Friday . Just three days away. It was nowhere near enough time to make the condo look like it wasn’t occupied by werewolves—not to mention Rylie’s ex-fiance and current boyfriend, who were brothers. Her mom, one way or another, was about to learn something about her daughter that Rylie had never wanted her to know.
It felt like a target had been painted where Rylie stood on the sidewalk, and a nuclear missile was hurtling straight toward her.
“Rylie?” Summer prompted.
Rylie pocketed her phone with shaking hands.
“Yeah,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Ka-boom.
TWO
“THAT BITCH,” AUNT Gwyn told Rylie the instant she pulled into the driveway.
“Bitch who?” Summer asked, hopping out of the truck and planting a kiss on Gwyn’s cheek. Despite her scowl, Gwyn returned
While Summer got the engine going, Rylie paced in front of the truck, trying to make up a reason that she shouldn’t have to call her mother back. Maybe she could pretend that she had lost Jessica’s phone number. Or maybe her own phone number had changed, and she had never seen her mother’s text message.
The thing was, she hadn’t spoken to Jessica since sending her an invitation to Rylie’s failed wedding. Not once. And she had only spoken to her twice since she graduated from high school anyway—five times if she went all the way back to her dad’s death. Saying that they weren’t close would have been like saying that Venus wasn’t close to Pluto. They were barely in the same solar system, much less the same gene pool.
Most importantly, Jessica had no clue that her daughter was an Alpha werewolf, leader of the last pack in the United States of America, and near the top of the Office of Preternatural Affairs’s most wanted list.
They had nothing in common. Nothing to discuss. That meant that the phone call could only mean bad news: a death in the family, nuclear war, whatever.
Rylie’s choice was taken from her when her phone rang. She almost dropped it. Instead, entirely by accident, her thumb hit the button to answer the call.
“Oh no,” she whispered, holding the phone away from her at arm’s length.
Jessica’s tinny voice whispered from the receiver. “Rylie?”
Okay. I can do this. She took a deep breath.
“Hi,” Rylie said, pressing the phone to her ear.
“How are you, sweetie?” She sounded awfully cheerful for nuclear war.
I just cashed out on the entire trust fund that your dead ex-husband left me, with the help of your adult granddaughter, and will be using it to build a werewolf village. How are you?
“I’m...fine,” Rylie said.
Jessica didn’t even wait for Rylie to finish the sentence. She continued talking. “It’s been so long since we chatted, hasn’t it? I have so much to tell you. Are you still at your aunt’s house?”
“Yes,” Rylie said. For a few more days, anyway. Then they were dropping half of that trust fund on a real estate agent willing to sell two thousand acres of remote, inhospitable land in the Appalachian Mountains, no questions asked, and moving far away from civilization.
“Great. I’m arriving on Friday. Can’t wait to see you. Have to run, sweetheart, I’m sorry—I’ll email my itinerary to your aunt. Kisses.”
And then she hung up.
Rylie felt dizzy.
A visit from Jessica? At the townhouse her aunt shared with a half-dozen werewolves, which were waiting for Rylie, their Alpha, to build a sanctuary for them?
Nuclear war would have been far preferable.
Summer leaned out the window. “I feel like a bank robber sitting on all this cash.” She had probably heard every word of the conversation with her super shapeshifter hearing, but there was no sign on her face that she actually understood what the conversation meant.
Jessica would be there on Friday. Friday . Just three days away. It was nowhere near enough time to make the condo look like it wasn’t occupied by werewolves—not to mention Rylie’s ex-fiance and current boyfriend, who were brothers. Her mom, one way or another, was about to learn something about her daughter that Rylie had never wanted her to know.
It felt like a target had been painted where Rylie stood on the sidewalk, and a nuclear missile was hurtling straight toward her.
“Rylie?” Summer prompted.
Rylie pocketed her phone with shaking hands.
“Yeah,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Ka-boom.
TWO
“THAT BITCH,” AUNT Gwyn told Rylie the instant she pulled into the driveway.
“Bitch who?” Summer asked, hopping out of the truck and planting a kiss on Gwyn’s cheek. Despite her scowl, Gwyn returned
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