Chapter 2
The sun was just starting to come up when I pulled onto the gravel road leading to my mother’s place. My eyes were burning. I had been driving for six hours on nothing but adrenaline and gas station coffee, and now that I was finally here, my body was shutting down.
The cabin came into view, and I exhaled. Even at my big age, knowing my mom was there made me feel relaxed. She had always been a safe place for me. Even when I hadn’t listened to a damn thing she had told me.
And here I was, eating crow again. Because I thought I knew everything.
She had told me to get a townhouse with security. But no, I had to go against the plan. Had to prove I could do it on my own.
I parked and sat there for a minute, hands still gripping the wheel. The whole drive, I had been running through scenarios in my head, trying to find the right words, but nothing fit. How do you tell your mother that your ex-husband posted you on a rape fantasy website?
I shook it off. Got out of the car and unbuckled Zoe from her car seat. She stirred but didn’t wake up. I held her against my chest and walked up to the front door.
I knocked.
Nothing at first. Then I heard movement inside. The door swung open, and Nathaniel was standing there, shirtless and sweating, looking like he was damn near shifted. His eyes were wild for a second before they focused on me.
“Kendra. Hey. Is everything okay?”
“Hey. Sorry. I know it's late.”
“No, don't be silly. You guys are always welcome here. Come on in.” He was already backing away from the door, grabbing a shirt off the back of a chair.
He disappeared down the hallway.
I stepped inside and stood in the living room.
A few seconds later, my mother came out. She was closing up her robe as she walked, her hair a sweaty, tangled mess.
“Baby!” She pulled me into a hug, careful not to squish Zoe. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. I just missed you.”
She pulled back and looked at me.
“You drove six hours in the middle of the night because you missed me.”
“Zoe missed her nana too.”
“Mm-hmm.” She wasn’t buying it. “Well, have a seat. Let me go get dressed.”
She disappeared down the hallway. A few seconds later, I heard the water turn on.
God, they had been in here getting busy.
I was mortified. I felt like shit for barging in on her life like this.
My mother had worked hard to get here. She had been through her own stuff, and she had finally found somebody who made her happy.
She deserved to have a nice life without her grown daughter showing up in the middle of the night with problems.
But here I was anyway.
I sat down on the couch with Zoe in my lap. She was wide awake now, babbling and grabbing at my necklace. I let her play with it while I looked around the cabin.
It was nice. They had renovated it, made it more modern, and now pictures of Zoe and me were on the mantel.
I looked at the pictures of her and Nathaniel. She had finally gotten him to get out and travel. I could tell by the pictures that he hated every second of it, but he loved her, so he was smiling through it. That made me chuckle, but I knew that type of love didn't exist for me.
A few minutes later, she came back down the hallway. She was dressed now, her hair wrapped up in a silk scarf.
My mother reached for Zoe.
“There’s my baby!” she said as she bounced her gently. “Oh, I missed you so much.”
“You hungry?”
“I’m okay.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
I smiled despite myself. “I could eat.”
She got up and headed to the kitchen, Zoe still on her hip. I followed and sat at the small kitchen table while she moved around, pulling things out of the fridge and cabinets.
“So.” My mother had her back to me as she cracked eggs into a bowl. “You want to tell me what’s really going on?”
“I told you. I just missed you.”
“Mm-hmm.” She didn’t sound convinced. “And you didn’t bring any clothes because...?”
I froze. I hadn’t thought about that.
“I forgot. I was in a rush.”
“In a rush to miss me.”
“Exactly.”
She turned around and gave me the look. The one that said she knew I was full of shit, but she wasn’t going to push.
“Good thing I keep clothes here for you and Zoe.” She turned back to the stove. “Guest room is all set up. Has been for months.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to.” She glanced at Zoe. “Look, daughter. I love you. But this wasn’t about you. It was about my grandbaby. You know she likes it out here. All this land? She could run around. Get some fresh air. Be a kid.”
Here we go, I said, blowing out a breath like I was exasperated. I really wasn’t, but if I acted too eager, my mother would call me out on it. She always knew exactly when I was trying to get over on her. She had been since I was a kid.
She sighed, and I relaxed. She had bought it.
“I’m sorry, I know you love that city life,” she continued. “But I’m just saying. You could move closer. It wouldn’t be the worst thing.”
This wasn’t a new conversation. My mother had been trying to convince me to move to Shadow Wolf Creek for a while. She had a whole pitch—lower cost of living, good schools, safe community.
But I had my own life. My own plans. I was finishing my degree. I had finally gotten my own place.
Moving to the middle of nowhere to be closer to my mom felt like giving up.
At least, that’s what I had told myself before last night.
My mother waved her hand. “I’m sorry. I know you and David are working out custody, so I guess it wouldn’t be fair to move.”
I flinched.
She raised an eyebrow. Damn it, she had caught it. “So how is that whole thing going anyway?”
“Fine. David’s fine. Him and his new fiancée are doing well.”
“So, no drama?”
“No. It’s all good.”
The lie sat heavy in my chest. She turned around and looked at me.
“You know, back in my day, the folks used to say you should never build a house on another woman's tears.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, Mom. I'm not worried about what they have going on, and I'll think about moving seriously.”
She shook her head and turned back to the eggs.
We ate breakfast together. I watched my mother with Zoe. A lot of people said that the grandparents they met weren't the parents they had, and for me, that wasn't true.
My mother had always been patient. I remember a time when I was ten and trying to assert my authority.
She had made some type of new dish I didn't want to try, and instead of getting mad or making it a power struggle, she had offered to let me make a sandwich.
But I wanted her to make me pancakes, and instead of getting mad, she just kept chatting with me.
When I told her I wasn't leaving the table until she made them, she didn't yell or cuss at me.
She asked if I wanted a blanket and pillow, and then she said I love you and she left.
But not only that, she came back to chat with me periodically until I gave up and walked to my room and fell asleep.
For some reason, that memory had always stuck with me.
It's like she never had to force her authority on me.
I could only remember a couple of times she had pulled rank on me, and that's because I had really pushed her too far.
I sat there listening to her as she caught me up on the town.
I watched how she smiled as she talked about the little shops in town, how some gargoyle had done something extravagant for his mate.
I was happy for her. But my mind kept drifting back to that townhouse, to the darkness that had tried to pull me in, and all I kept thinking about was how I had messed up again.
“Kendra.”
I blinked. My mother was staring at me.
“Where’d you go just now?”
“Nowhere.” I stood up and started clearing the plates. “I’m just tired. It was a long drive.”
Zoe was dozing off too. I walked over and picked her up. She fussed a little bit.
“Don't worry. You can see Nana later,” I said as I walked into the guest room.
There was a full-sized bed with a floral comforter. A crib in the corner that looked brand new. A dresser that I opened to find clothes in my size and more things for Zoe.
I gave Zoe a bath in the guest bathroom. My mother had everything—baby soap, towels, a little rubber duck that Zoe went crazy for.
I got Zoe dried off and dressed in pajamas that fit perfectly.
I put Zoe down in the crib. She fussed for a minute and settled, her eyes already drooping. I stood there watching her until her breathing evened out.
Then I sat down on the edge of the bed and fell apart.
The tears came fast and hard. I pressed my hand over my mouth to keep from making noise. My whole body was shaking.
I crawled under the covers without even changing my clothes. I was asleep within seconds.
I woke up to sunlight streaming through the curtains and an empty crib.
I threw the covers off and ran out of the room, my feet screaming in protest. The cuts had scabbed over a little, but they still hurt like hell.
“Zoe!” I rounded the corner into the kitchen and skidded to a stop.
Nathaniel was standing at the stove with Zoe on his hip. He turned around when he heard me.
“Sorry. She was fussing, and I didn’t want to wake you. You looked like you needed the rest when I saw you this morning.”
I put my hand on my chest, trying to slow my heartbeat. “It’s okay. I just—I didn’t know where she was.”
“Totally understand.” He turned back to the stove, flipping something in a pan. “Are you hungry? Diane ran into town to grab a few things.”
I walked over and looked over his shoulder. It was salmon and eggs. My stomach growled.
“Of course it’s salmon,” I said.
He looked over at me and smiled. “You got something against salmon?”
“Not a thing.” I smiled. “Bear thing, right?”
“Bear thing.” He chuckled. “Your mother’s gotten used to it. Fish for breakfast, fish for lunch. She says I’m going to turn her into a seal.”
I laughed.
Then his eyes dropped to my feet.
I was wearing the sandals I had put on before they rushed me to the station. I had slept in them. But they were open-toed, and the bandages were visible, stained with dried blood.
“What happened there?”
“Stepped on one of her toys. You know how kids are.”
He looked at me for a long moment. “Right.”
I walked over to Zoe and reached for her. “Come here, baby. Let me—”
Zoe balled her face up and turned away from me, burying her head in Nathaniel’s shoulder.
Nathaniel grinned. “Welp. Looks like granddad wins again.” He bounced her gently. “Go rest or call your mom, and you all go shopping.”
I wasn’t surprised. Since Nathaniel and my mom had gotten married, he had become a father figure to me.
The fact that he was a shifter made the whole dynamic interesting, but he never got offended when I hit him with my million questions.
And the way he loved my mother was like something out of the movies.
Sometimes I would call to talk to him instead of her.
“I’m going to go get changed,” I said. “Thanks for watching her.”
“Anytime.”
I went back to the guest room and closed the door behind me. I found a pair of sneakers in the closet that fit and put them on, hiding the bandages. Then I heard my phone buzzing on the nightstand.
Tavailia.
I grabbed it and answered, keeping my voice low.
“Hey.”
“Kendra. I got your message. Tell me what happened.”
I gave her a rundown of the events from last night.
“This guy has no damn bounds. Are you okay? Where are you?”
“I’m at my mom’s place. In Shadow Wolf Creek.”
“Good. I’m glad you got out of there.” She paused. “Listen, I have this contact with a forensic IT team.”
My heart jumped. “Really?”
“They’re good. Like, elite good. I worked with them before, and the case was a mess. I’m talking VPNs overseas, red tape, all of it, and they still found the information, so I know they could help us out on this even if he is some type of tech genius.”
I scoffed. “Nothing about David is genius.”
She laughed. “Look, I believe it, so if we get these guys on board, it’s a done deal.”
“Ok, that sounds amazing. What do we have to do?”
“That’s the thing.” She sighed. “This team isn’t cheap. There’s a fifteen-thousand-dollar retainer and depending on how well he did or didn’t hide his tracks, we could be looking at another ten or fifteen thousand on top of that.”
I sat down on the bed and put my head in my hands. How in the hell was I supposed to get that type of money? But I knew if I didn’t get this done, I might not have a leg to stand on legally. I knew if I asked my mother for the money, she would give it to me, but I didn’t want to do that.
I knew one way to get the money, but it broke my heart to think about it.
When Zoe was born, my mother gifted me some certificates of deposit.
David had never had me financially audited, and I just didn’t report them.
My mother had given them to me as a push present, but I had planned to put them in Zoe’s 529.
I had never gotten around to it, and now, because of my bastard ex, I had to use it just to keep us safe.
“Ok, that’s fine. I can get the money?” I said.
“Ok, perfect. When can you send the retainer?”
“Tomorrow. Day after at the latest.”
“Ok, great. I’ll let the team know. And, Kendra, we are going to get him. And one more thing—I’m going to email you a waiver that lets me go into your townhouse and take pictures of the scene. Just virtually sign it and shoot it back over to me.”
“Ok.”
“Take care of yourself, Kendra.” And then she hung up.
I sighed and sat back
I had just gotten here. I could finally breathe again, and now I had to turn right around and go back to the lion's den.
But I wasn’t taking my daughter back there.
Zoe would stay here with my mother and Nathaniel. She would be safe. Where else could she be safer than being protected by a bear shifter?