Chapter 153: Chapter 152

Lanie A hot surge of anger coursed through me.

| pulled my mother away from Mason. This was between us.

“If you think Selena is getting hurt, then why won't you stop it?!” | snapped at her. “Why don’t my dads stop it? Where even are they?”

Selena was barely seventeen, she needed people to look out for her. What the f uck were my parents doing letting her run around by herself?

“Your dads have been called away to help build a council facility at the far edge of our territory,” she said. There was a twinge of bitterness in her tone.

“What kind of facility?” | asked. My dads had worked as pack engineers for as long as | could remember, but they'd always made time for us, too. They’d come home for dinners, and even cook for my mother sometimes.

It wasn’t like them to leave her and my sister alone.

“They can’t say,” my mother said, her eyes going glassy and unfocused. “I keep waiting up at night, hoping they'll surprise me with a visit home, but it’s been over a month now...”

She trailed off. So that’s why she looked so exhausted. My heart ached for her, and for Selena, too. She’s needed me here with them, but she was forced to pretend | didn’t even exist. | couldn’t imagine doing that with Stella.

was.

| pulled my mother in close, and her body shook with s obs.

“When Gabriela told me you were coming back, that you were Lanie again... can’t tell you how happy!

| was crying now, too. | wanted to be angry at my mother for allowing Gabriela to lie to me and for not protecting my sister from wolves who wanted to prey on her, but she was a victim too.

Plus, I'd missed my family so much, and | had no idea how badly they’d needed me here.

My mother clung to me tightly.

“I've tried to talk to Selena,” she said. “I’ve even tried tracking her, but she knows how to throw me off too well,” she choked out. “I don’t know how to help her anymore.”

“I'm sorry to interrupt, | know this is personal,” Mason said, “but is there anything | can do to help?”

My mother stood up straighter and wiped away her tears. She gave Mason a watery smile.

“It's just nice to have someone big and strong here to look after my baby,” she said. “I’m Julia by the way?”

Che prended her hand “Nice to meet you, Julia,” he said, flashing her his most charming smile. A tingle of warmth crawled up my spine seeing them together like this. My mother’s smile brightened as they shook hands, and | could tell he was already winning her over too.

He had that effect on she-wolves.

Just then, Stella’s cries carried in from the living room. Without missing a beat, Mason ran in to grab her, and she quieted instantly.

“I'm going to put her down for a nap!” he called.

“Upstairs bedroom!” | called back, and we listened to the sound of his footsteps retrateating up the stairs..

“He really has a way with Stella, doesn’t he? my mother asked.

“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing.” | said.

She My mother’s smile faltered for a moment. “I like him, Lanie, and | can tell that you do too, but...” pursed her lips and breathed in deeply through her nose before continuing. The mate bond isn’t something you can just ignore. And neither are the fathers of your child.”

| shook my head. My mother couldn’t just be happy that we were here with her, she had to remind me of Xander and Zane.

“Mama, you know my situation is complicated. They didn’t want me as their mate. They replaced me and cast me off,” | huffed.

“But you might never be able to connect with or communicate with Mason like you can Xander and Zane, not as long as they're still alive and well,” she said. “They're your true mates, whether any of you like it or not.”

“| don’t even know that’s even true now that the spell has been broken!” | cried.

There'd been no trace of the mind link Xander, Zane, and | had shared before when | spoke to them at the cabin, maybe the spell had f ucked everything up.

Still, my heart was thudding hard against my chest. The way my mother described my relationship with Mason sounded eerily similar to the one that Xander and Zane had with Alice. They loved her, they wanted to be with her, but she wasn’t their true mate.

Something was missing, and by the time I'd left, it had slowly but surely been tearing their relationship apart. Would the same thing happen to me and Mason?

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