In fact, I haven’t said much to my mom about Zoey at all. Every time I brought her up, I noticed the tight lines get deeper at the corner of my mom’s eyes. A subtle hint that she was unhappy. So, I’d cut my stories short. Talked to Roderick or Courtney instead. But I thought she just didn’t like the idea of me dating Zoey because human-werewolf relationships could be tricky.

But it was more than that.

“I’m sure you did. You just forgot.” Her continued denial snuffs out my sadness and leaves behind rage.

“I did not. It was you. All of the shit that Zoey’s been dealing with was you, wasn’t it?”

Rebecca Jameson—who taught me everything I know about cars, who can turn into a wolf, who has unlimited supplies for cutting wood—crosses her arms over her chest defensively.

“You disconnected the truck’s battery and messed with its gas gauge. You used your wolf to scare Zoey in the woods.”

I want my mom to meet my eyes, but she won’t. My mind is filled with the memory of Zoey soaking wet, shaking with cold, rambling about a large animal that had her climbing a tree for safety.

It’s almost as bad as Zoey sitting in the emergency care unit, broken and bleeding. And no matter how much I might want to step into my mother’s space and force her to acknowledge me, I’m more worried about keeping my arms around Zoey. Keeping her safe.

From my family.

“You sabotaged the tree house. Why? Were you trying to break her neck?” The words rasp and crack as I ask them, and I have to bury my nose in Zoey’s hair, breathe a deep inhale of her scent to remind me that she’s here. Not unmarked, but she’s alive.

No thanks to Rebecca Jameson.

“That’s not⁠—”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

For a moment, I’m sure a werewolf just spoke, the words menacing and infused with a growl. But then I realize the exclamation came from Selena Gunner, who stalks toward us, her eyes locked on my mom.

53

ZOEY

Earlier, I had the calm version of my mother. The one who smiles sweetly and hands out wisdom as if she had daily phone conversations with the Dalai Lama.

This is another one of her sides. The mama bear.

But this mama bear looks like someone shook a hornet’s nest and shoved it up her ass. Rage of epic proportions I’ve never witnessed burn out of her eyes.

Mom lunges for Rebecca, stopped only by Warner’s uncle, who steps forward just in time to wrap his arms around my mom’s torso.

“You fucking self-serving asshole! You think you have the right to torment my daughter?”

“Mom—”