ELENA
Everyone was being a little weird around me.
It started the moment I got back from the hospital. Whispers in the Moonstone packhouse–not loud enough to catch the words, but sharp enough to notice. The kind of hush that dropped when I entered a room. The kind that made you wonder what they knew that you didn’t.
Even Mason and Erin were acting off. Erin, who normally bounced through the kitchen like a caffeinated bunny, had grown quieter. Her smile was still bright, but her eyes kept flicking toward me with concern she didn’t voice.
And Mason–Mason was the worst of them. He hovered. I love my brother, but the man doesn’t hover. He gives orders, tosses out sarcastic commentary, and disappears. But now? He lingered.
Walked me to my room, asked about how I slept, triple–checked the pack’s security schedule like someone was planning an ambush.
It made my skin crawl.
And then there was Aiden.
My son had always been a little intense–bright, sensitive, full of that strange emotional intelligence that made him seem older than he was. But ever since I’d come home from the hospital, he’d been acting strange, too.
A few times, I’d caught him staring at me like he wanted to say something. His little brows furrowed, lips twitching like he was about to spill something big. But then he’d stop himself.
And that wasn’t like him.
He was also suddenly determined to come to work with me every day. It was summer break–he should’ve been riding his bike around the pack lands or building some kind of mini–fort in the backyard. He’d told me just a month ago that my job was “so boring it made his ears hurt.”
But now?
He was up before me, dressed, shoes on, backpack slung over his shoulder, asking if we were leaving yet.
It didn’t make any sense.
There was something I wasn’t being told. I could feel it in the air, like static. Like lightning waiting to strike.
And then there was that man.
The one from the hospital.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
The silver swoop of hair over his right eye. The quiet way he stood in the corner like he was afraid to breathe. The way Nox–my wolf–had howled the moment we laid eyes on him.
There was something about him. Something electric. Som hing that felt too big for my chest.
But I hadn’t seen him again. Not once.
I’d asked. Quietly. Casually. I’d asked the nurses at the clinic. I’d asked Mason. I’d even asked one of the kitchen maids, as if maybe he’d dropped by with a delivery or a question.
No one knew who I was talking about. At least, they pretended not to. That was the sense I got.
It was maddening.
Chapter 274
+25 BONUS
But I shook it off. Eventually. What else could I do?
car
Oh well,” I sighed to myself, as I loaded Aiden into the car. He was already buckled, playing some kind of animal puzzle game
pulled out behind me as I turned onto the main road–Mason’s latest overprotective on his tablet. A Moonstone security
measure.
I’d barely parked at the Foundation when Aiden unbuckled himself and darted out.
“Bye, Mom!” he called over his shoulder, backpack bouncing.
I blinked. “I thought you wanted me to-
Too late. He was already through the door.
>>
I laughed under my breath and shook my head. So that’s what this was. He’d made a friend. Probably a new best friend. That explained the sudden enthusiasm. Maybe I could meet them at lunch. See what all the excitement was about.
By noon, I’d made up my mind.
I picked up a box of donuts from the break room–still warm, thank the Goddess–and made my way toward the lower level where the day care rooms were.
The moment I walked in, Miss Crystal looked up from the check–in desk and lit up.
