Eternal Hunter

Chapter 14

A shifter’s weakest moments came during the time of change from man to beast. The shift wasn’t instant. It was fast, yes, but the bones had to snap and reshape and the flesh had to change and the—

It was brutal. Hard.

And dangerous.

Erin had seen her share of shifts before. She knew the game. And she knew that Jude couldn’t take the wolf right then.

So she did the only thing she could.

Erin ran in front of him. The tiger snarled in fury behind her, but he couldn’t attack yet. He was trapped between man and beast.

She stared at the wolf. She hadn’t smelled him. Because of the kymine or because he’d cloaked his scent? The bastard had been able to sneak right up on them.

All the better to kill.

“You stay the hell back!” She lifted her claws, ready to do as much damage as she could.

The wolf was big, with a long, muscled body. A thick muzzle, pointed ears, and those glowing eyes—

Her heart slammed into her chest.

Those eyes.

The wolf froze, staring up at her. A rumble rose in the beast’s throat.

Oh, God, no.

She’d seen those eyes before.

Something bumped against her thigh, a hard jolt that had her stumbling. Erin looked down, eyes wide, scared, stunned.

Jude had finished his shift. The tiger stood near her, using his weight to force her to the side.

So he could stand before her.

Red stained his fur, darkening that thick, white and black pelt. But the tiger easily outweighed the wolf. Hell, he had to be twice the other animal’s size. His teeth were bigger, sharper. His claws far longer and stronger.

“No!” The cry was ripped from her. She couldn’t let this happen.

The wolf’s head swung toward her and the beast howled. A long, mournful sound.

A sound she knew too well.

“No,” a whisper this time.

The tiger’s muscles bunched as he prepared to attack.

She couldn’t let him do it. Erin threw herself against him, holding on tight as she sank her fingers into that fur and clung with all her strength. “Jude, let the wolf go!”

He trembled against her, and his head turned toward her as he opened his mouth with a cry loud enough to rattle her bones.

The wolf lunged forward, ready to attack.

“Leave him alone!” Erin screamed and held on even tighter. This couldn’t be happening.

But the wolf was there. Watching with eyes that never blinked.

“Get out of here.” Erin stared into those eyes. The tiger’s body was too tense against her, and she knew Jude was using all of his control in an effort to hold back his attack.

The wolf’s black muzzle lowered toward the ground.

Jude’s left claw lifted as he got ready for a deadly swipe.

“Run, now!” Erin pressed all of her weight against the tiger. Dammit, go!

The wolf turned and fled into the darkness.

Her breath choked out. She turned her head and buried it in the tiger’s soft fur. Oh, hell.

Jude leapt away from her. Erin slipped and almost fell flat on her face. For the second time that night.

Jude shot toward the twisting trees.

“No! Jude, stop!” She knew the man inside the tiger understood her perfectly.

She just wasn’t sure if he’d listen to her.

When he didn’t slow down, she shouted, “That’s not the asshole after me!”

Still didn’t slow.

Another few seconds and he’d be gone.

“Jude, that — that’s my mother!”

The big cat’s claws dug into the ground as he came to a shuddering halt. He glanced back at her, blue eyes too bright in the darkness.

Now he knew. The last secret.

She pushed to her feet. Wished that her knees didn’t feel so weak. “Remember those crazy, psychotic wolves you told me about? Guess it’s time I told you, I’m one of them.”

In the distance, a wolf howled and the sound ripped right into her heart.

“Jude! Jude, dammit, wait! You’re still bleeding!”

He shoved open the motel room door, heard the crash as it banged back and hit the wall. Keeping his head low, he stormed across the threshold, fighting to keep his rage in check while—

Erin grabbed his arm. “Stop! Listen to me!”

Teeth clenched, he spun to face her. He’d managed to jerk on the spare jeans he kept in the truck, for shifting emergencies, but with his side still burning like hell, a shirt hadn’t been an option.

Erin stared up at him, face stark, lips quivering. So beautiful.

A wolf?

Hell.

“I–I should have told you before.”

Uh, yeah. She should have.

Her fingers curled around his arm. “You made it clear how you felt about wolves—”

“Sweetheart, that’s the way everyone feels.” All the Other anyway. They all knew the rule: If you were smart, you stayed away from the wolves.

Smart. He grimaced. Not him because he sure hadn’t stayed away. He’d run straight to her and gotten his ass addicted to her sweet flesh.

Sweet wolf flesh.

A tiger tangled up with a wolf. His grandfather had to be someplace, laughing his striped ass off.

Her hand fell away. “How many wolves have you actually met, other than me?”

His brows flew up, and he ignored what was turning into a dull throb in his side. At least he was healing. “Um, you mean other than the asshole stalking you?”

She kicked the door shut with her heel even as her eyes slit. “No one’s perfect, Jude. Not wolves. Not tigers. You should know that.”

Oh, hell, no, she hadn’t just thrown his past into his face. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back against the mud-brown wall. “Don’t go there, sweetheart.” He’d trusted her. Bared his soul. While — what? All the time she’d been keeping her secrets from him? He’d been trying to help her.

But the woman was working her own agenda.

Wolf.

“I–I didn’t mean—” She broke off, shaking her head and sending those silky locks flying. His nose was working again — he’d felt lost for a time without the onslaught of scents teasing him — and the heady fragrance that was Erin filled his nostrils.

“What did you mean then?” Her mouth was close. Tempting and close and he would not kiss her. Not now. Because, dammit, he couldn’t help but wonder…what other secrets was she keeping?

She wet her lips.

Damn her. That swiping pink tongue had his cock jerking.

“Do you — do you remember what you told me about Lones?”

No, he had no idea.

His expression must have said as much because she glared at him. “How screwed up do you have to be,” she quoted, “to get kicked out by the pack?”

Okay, he remembered. Jude tried real hard not to wince. So he’d been a hardass on the Lones, but after that Feral butcher who’d killed his family—

“I got kicked out.” Said with dignity. Said with a stare that was straight and unflinching. “They thought I was weak. Unworthy.” A pause. “Not fit for the pack. When I couldn’t shift, they threw me away.”

His hands clenched into fists. It was either ball ’em up or grab her again and hold tight. And he couldn’t hold her, not yet. She’d kept this secret from him after he’d bared his soul to her.

He should have seen this coming.

He says I’m his mate.

Because the bastard after her was a wolf. Just like she was. Like to like.

So why the hell was the beast inside him screaming that she was his mate?

No way could a woman be a mate to two shifters.

“My mother took me to my father’s house. Dropped me on the doorstep without a word, and left.” Memories trembled in her voice. “She’d kept me from him for fifteen years, because while they were mates”—Erin said the word like it was a curse. Maybe to her, it was—“she didn’t love him, because he wasn’t pack.”

He tried to think. Hard to do, when she was so close and his fury still rode him. “You could have just been delayed. Shifters don’t change until puberty. If you were just fifteen—”

A slow motion of her head, back and forth. “I don’t change, Jude. The claws and the teeth are all I have. All I’ll ever have. There’s no running in the woods for me. No beast who can break through the surface. There’s just”—her hands lifted, fell—“what you see. And that wasn’t enough for the pack or for my mother.”

The mother who’d appeared tonight, more than ready to attack him. “Why is she here?” He didn’t believe in coincidences.

“I don’t know.”

He snorted.

“I don’t.” Erin exhaled on a hard breath. “I haven’t seen her since then — until tonight, anyway. I–I remembered those eyes.” She straightened her shoulders. Stiffened her spine. “My father was scared of me because he was scared of her. He loved me, I know he did, but I think he was always worried the wolf would come out.”

“Your dad — you said he was human?”

“He was a shaman for his tribe. He was used to helping people. When he first met my mother, she was hurt. He told me she’d been attacked by vampires. He wanted to help her, but in the end, she didn’t want to be helped. She wanted the blood and the violence and pack.”

And she’d taken Erin into that world.

Then tossed her out.

Bitch.

“My father was psychic. He could see things, change lives.” She blinked quickly. “He was a good man.”

Erin had loved him. No denying the emotion in her voice. “What happened to him?” he asked, because there was so much pain there.

“He was killed. One of those horrible wrong place, wrong time things. He was mugged. Caught one night coming home. The guy stabbed him and my father bled out on the street. On the filthy street, with his eyes wide open.” Her lips twisted. No smile this time. “I saw it happen. My damn dreams. But by the time I got there, it was too late. He’d left me, too.”

He jerked her into his arms. “I’m pissed as hell at you,” he growled, but held her all the tighter. What was she doing to him? What?

“I couldn’t let you kill her,” she said, words muffled against him.

His side stung, but no way was he gonna let her go. “Yeah, well, sweetheart, looked to me like she was the one wanting to do the killing.”

No response.

“And if that gnome with the gun was anything to go by, she’s made a habit of hunting folks at that bar.” A wolf who hunted humans was a wolf that had crossed the line.

Rogue.

Her pack wouldn’t take her ass back if she’d gone Rogue.

Erin’s head lifted. Her long lashes were spiky, wet. “I don’t know what’s going on anymore. I just want things to go back to normal.”

Ah, normal. That word again. The one she liked so much. “Not gonna happen.” His nose twitched. So many scents assaulting him now that his enhanced smell was back. But, what was—

Hell.

He pushed Erin behind him and glared at the door.

“Jude!” Erin’s nails scraped down his arm. “It’s her!” Looked like Erin’s sense of smell was working, too.

This time, he could catch the lighter, feminine scent of the wolf shifter. Yet knowing that it was Erin’s mother on the other side of that door didn’t make him relax his guard for a second. No, it only made him tense more. “Stay back.”

He grabbed the doorknob. Wrenched it open—

And came face-to-face with Erin. No, not his Erin. An older version, one with faint lines around her eyes. One whose face was more haggard, whose hair was a bit shorter.

And whose eyes were more yellow than gold.

Sonofabitch.

She stared at him, measuring him. Then one black brow shot up and she said in a voice too much like Erin’s, “You gonna stand there staring all night, cat, or are you gonna let me see my daughter?”

Detective Ben Greer eased under the bright yellow line of police tape, his gun holster pressing into his side. He’d had exactly two days of vacation — two days of sitting on his ass and going insane at the cabin — and then he’d gotten the call about Donald Trent.

Trent. Like he’d ever forget that bastard. He’d put down ten to one odds that the guy had offed his wife a few months back. Not that Ben had enough evidence to prove it, though.

But after being on the job for ten years, some things were just pure instinct.

Trent was a killer. A psychopath who got off on hurting women. If Trent’s body really was buried in those woods, then the women in Lillian would be one hell of a lot safer, and their sleep would be easier.

“Detective!”

A female uniform waved him over. Kristen Langley was still pretty fresh to the force, but she was a fast learner, and she knew how to keep a scene safe.

“What have we got?” he asked as his gaze swept the area. That house. He’d been there before. Been to tell Katherine LaShaun the news about her daughter. He’d seen the boys, peeking from behind the stairs.

Sometimes, the job really sucked.

“The dogs found something…” Excitement had her voice cracking. “Come on, we’re pretty sure it’s—”

Ben ran past her. He could hear voices rising in the distance. The rest of the team. He caught the thud of a shovel. Dammit, they’d better be careful with his scene.

He twisted, avoiding the thick brush as best he could, then he broke into the area with his group. Stumbling to a halt, he eyed the large hole his men had sectioned off. Not too deep. Not deep at all, really. The spotlights lit up the area, and in the black dirt, he saw the faded blue fabric.

A shirt. Ragged.

More of the thick dirt was carefully brushed aside and he glimpsed—

Bones.

“Think it’s Trent?” Kristen asked, that excitement still in her voice.

He glanced at her, mouth grim. “It’s him.” Tests would have to be done. Dental records checked. But he could see a long, thin necklace, one with intertwined snake heads, laying across the bones.

Trent had worn that piece of crap around his neck every time Ben had seen him.

“Careful, people!” Ben yelled. “I want every piece of evidence here! Tag it, bag it, and don’t miss anything!” This case was going to have a shitload of media scrutiny. There would be no room for mistakes on this one.

Buried behind his kids’ house. How freaking twisted.

And who’d done the bastard? Who’d finally managed to kill Trent?

Even he’d been tempted. Especially after he’d seen Sylvia’s broken body.

Ben rubbed his hand over his face. His eyes were gritty. “I want to talk to the family.” Had to be done. Better to just get it over with now.

Kristen nodded, her short red hair bobbing around her face. She looked barely eighteen, but Ben knew that image was deceptive — and one that Kristen used to her advantage on the streets. When you were expecting fluff, it was easy to get taken down by a bulldog.

Crickets chirped around them. The cadaver dogs barked as their handlers held them back.

When they approached the house, he saw Katherine walk onto her back porch. A worn robe covered her thin shoulders and she hugged herself. “You found him, didn’t you?”

He didn’t want to suspect her, but the questions in his mind wouldn’t stop. Had she known about the kill? Been in on it?

Katherine LaShaun. A strong woman. One who would do anything for her family.

Buried behind the house. In the woods that the boys probably played in every day.

Sick.

He walked onto the porch. He hesitated under the bright light. “We’ve found a body. Too early for identification yet.”

Kristen crept to his side, almost soundlessly. The lady knew how to move and she knew how to track killers. One day soon, she’d make a good detective.

Katherine nodded. “It’s him, then.” Certainty. A jagged breath. “My boys won’t have to worry anymore.”

Ben glanced around. The house seemed too quiet. Sure, the boys should have been sleeping — but no, they would have woken up with all the cops and dogs there. It was too loud for the kids to still be sleeping. “Katherine, where are the boys?”

Her gaze left the woods and came to rest on him. “At a friend’s house. They’re safe. They don’t know…won’t know…about this.” Her lips shook. “They play there—they won’t know.”

She’d moved the boys before the cops arrived. How the hell had she known to do that?

“You knew we were coming, didn’t you, Mrs. LaShaun?” Kristen asked.

Katherine glanced her way. Slowly. “Don’t believe I know you, honey.”

Kristen slapped a smile on her face. The non-threatening one she wore so well. “Kristen Langley.” She offered a hand. One that wasn’t taken.

Katherine rocked back on her heels. “All this time, I was afraid, and he was right here.” Her gaze skittered back to Ben’s. “Do you know who killed him?”

Not yet. But, God willing, he would soon. “Who told you we were coming, Katherine?” The person who’d given her the tip could well be the killer.

Only the officers on his team knew about this body. The cops — and the killer.

Her lips, already thin, flattened even more. “I need you cops to be done by tomorrow afternoon. My boys will be comin’ back then.”

Kristen opened her mouth—

“You got a phone call, didn’t you?” he pressed, not about to be led off track. He wasn’t new to this game.

Kristen’s mouth snapped closed.

“We can subpoena phone records, you know. We’re going to find out, one way or another.”

She stumbled back. “You didn’t do a damn thing to help my girl! Not one damn thing! You let that bastard out and he killed her — he killed her!”

“We don’t know that, Mrs. LaShaun.” Yeah, right.

“Bullshit!”

Katherine had never been one to mince words. One of the things he liked about the woman. “I’m sorry about your daughter, Katherine. I did try to help her. Erin—” Don’t think about her now “and I did everything we could.” It just hadn’t been enough.

Her gaze fell. “Erin Jerome fought for my daughter even when Sylvia wouldn’t fight for herself.” Soft. Sadness passed over her face. She sucked in a sharp breath and her shoulders shoved back even as her chin came up with new determination. “Get your subpoena if you have to! Do it! But I’m not tellin’ you another thing!” Then she turned and stormed into the house, slamming the back door behind her.

Well, well. Katherine was hell-bent on protecting someone. From the look on her face, she thought that someone might have been involved in the killing.

Who? Who would Katherine protect? Only her boys. Just the boys.

His eyes narrowed as he stared at the back door. “Kristen, get the DA. Let him know we need that subpoena yesterday.”

Ben kissed the rest of his vacation good-bye and got ready for his business of murder. Murder — just what he did best and—

Voices. Shouting, the snarls of fury drifting on the wind.

His stare snapped to Kristen’s. What the fuck?

He vaulted off the back porch. She was with him, her smaller body hurtling behind his.

They rounded the house. Good, more police tape was up. That should keep the gawkers back, for a while anyway.

“Get out of my way! Don’t you know who I am?” An asshole was all but screaming at one of the uniforms, shoving a long, thick finger at the young guy’s chest. “I’m—”

“Judge Lance Harper.” Bastard extraordinaire. Ben braked to a halt and glared at the idiot who would no doubt be headlining the local news for the next three days.

The judge’s head jerked toward him and his muddy brown eyes slit. “Greer.” Sounded more like a curse than a name because, yeah, there wasn’t exactly a whole lot of love lost between him and the judge, arrogant SOB that the guy was.

Ben braced his hands on his waist, knowing the move would show his holster. Shooting the judge probably wasn’t an option, but a man could dream.

Oh, yes, he could dream.

“I’ve got this one,” Ben said to the uniform. “Langley”—Kristen’s gaze was on the judge—“go make that phone call.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw her head bob and then she backed away.

The judge’s hands fisted. “I demand that you tell me what is going on here.”

“Ah, you demand, huh? Since when do you have the right to demand anything at my crime scene?” What was the guy even doing there? No way was this the man’s business anymore.

A muscle flexed along Harper’s jaw. “Cartwright told me about the body on the property.”

Did no one in this city believe in keeping things under wraps? This was a murder for shit’s sake! “His mistake,” Ben managed, the words grating in his throat.

“It was my case, detective. The man was in my courtroom, he was—”

“You let him walk.” A mistake. Not Harper’s first, not his last, and the judge’s insanity on the bench was only part of the reason why Ben couldn’t stand the guy.

The other reason? Ben had once had a lover leave him…for the judge. The guy might be old, but the bastard was hell with the ladies.

Very slowly, Harper’s fists unknotted. “You think you know me, don’t you, detective?”

No, he didn’t know him particularly well. Didn’t want to, either. “I’m working a murder, Harper. I don’t have time for your games.”

Harper’s chin rose. “I didn’t want to let that bastard walk, but I had no choice.” He shook his head. “When the wife changed her story, what was I supposed to do? There wasn’t enough evidence to hold him.”

“You know he probably killed Sylvia, don’t you?” Ben fired right across his words. “He walked and he killed her.” That knowledge had burned in Ben’s gut more nights than he could count.

Harper’s Adam’s Apple bobbed. “I–I know.” A rasp. Remorse? What? From Harper? Their eyes locked. “What I do in this world isn’t easy,” Harper said. “Justice never is.”

Ben thought of those dirty bones. Of the boys who’d grow up without their mother or their worthless excuse for a father. “Go home. There’s nothing left for you here. This isn’t your case anymore.”

Harper’s gaze drifted to the house. “No — no, I don’t guess it is.” His shoulders slumped and he turned away.

For an instant, Ben could almost feel a stir of sympathy for the fellow. Almost.

Then the instant passed. He wheeled around. Back to business. “All right, people, I want this scene combed for every bit of evidence you can find. We’ve got a body, and we’re damn well gonna find his killer.” Because Ben didn’t believe in letting monsters walk. Not in his town.

Even if the vic had been a cold-blooded asshole, he’d find Trent’s killer. That was his job.

He was good at his job.

“What are you doing here?” Erin stared at her mother — oh, damn, her mother—and kept every muscle in her body locked tight.

Not going to her.

Not going to hold her.

Not going to hit her. Not!

“I came to see you.” Flat. No emotion there. Never had been. That one eyebrow rose again. “Can I come in or do I have to stand out here all night?”

Leave.

“Come in,” Jude growled. “But at the first sign of a shift, your ass is gone.”

She sniffed and crossed the threshold. “I can’t talk to my daughter in wolf form. She doesn’t change—”

“Yeah, I fucking know. Big damn deal.” Jude shut the door behind her. Too quietly. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared.

Her mother — Theresa — blinked and glanced over at Erin. “You told him? And he’s still with you?”

Oh, yes, her mother was full of love and maternal instincts.

Erin felt her blood heat. “He’s still here.”

“Standing here, big as day,” Jude murmured. “Not planning to go anyplace.”

In a flash, her mother attacked, jumping back, and thrusting her claws right up to Jude’s throat. “Don’t even think about hurting her. Just ’cause she’s weak, you can’t—”

“Get away from him.” Not screamed. Not shouted. Erin gave the demand coldly, despite the fire in her gut, and she felt the rip of her claws tearing through her flesh.

Her mother’s head swung toward her. “Erin? What are you—”

Jude threw her back. A hard toss with his hand that had Theresa flying through the air and slamming into the floor. She scrambled up, fast, crouching, snarling and spitting.

Erin hurriedly stepped in front of Jude. “Don’t come at him again.”

Her mother’s face went slack with surprise.

Looking at her hurt. Erin sucked in a breath. “I don’t know why you’re here, and I really don’t care.” Lie, lie. “But you are not going to attack Jude. He’s done nothing but help me, and he doesn’t deserve that shit.”

Yellow eyes slit. “You care for him?”

The silence behind her was thick. Good thing Jude couldn’t see her face right them. “What I feel for him is not your business.”

But her mother saw too much. Always had.

After a moment, Theresa rose to her feet. Tossing back her hair, she said, “You’ve grown up hard.”

Yeah, because being abandoned by her mother should have made her grow up easy. A growl built in Erin’s throat.

Jude’s hands came down on her shoulders. Squeezed.

She stiffened. He shouldn’t touch her. No. Don’t do that. Don’t show her any weakness.

Too late. Her mother’s gaze had already noted the telling move.

“Attached to her, are you, tiger?” She smiled and seemed satisfied. “I hope you’re a fighter.”

“I am.” Close to a snarl.

“Good.”

Her eyes raked Erin. “Long time, baby girl.”

Baby girl, her ass. This wasn’t some movie-of-the week reunion. “What do you want?”

A shrug.

Red lights danced before Erin’s eyes. “Then get out.”

Jude pulled her back against his chest. “Easy.” Breathed in her ear.

But she didn’t want to be easy. She wanted to scream. To rage. Like she’d done years ago.

The yellow eyes dropped. “Been looking for you,” Theresa said, lifting her hand to rub the back of her neck. “You disappeared on me. I got…worried.”

What? “You left me years ago. You knew where I was.” She hadn’t moved until her dad died. “Not like I was real hard to find.” Theresa had never come looking for her. Not once.

Still gazing at the floor, her mother said, “Not then. I…watched you then. Had to stay far back. You would have caught my scent.”

It wouldn’t have hurt more if someone had carved her heart out with claws right then.

“Lost you…a few months back.”

What? All that time? All that damn time, her mother had been close by — and she’d never contacted her. Why?

Theresa glanced up. Her mother had to see the question burning Erin alive because she said, “You didn’t fit in my world.”

Like Erin didn’t know that.

“I didn’t fit in yours.” Another shrug of Theresa’s shoulders. But this time, the move seemed…tired. Sad. “But I still…wanted to make sure you were okay. I–I needed to see you.”

Erin shook her head. Jude felt solid behind her. Strong and steady — just what she needed then. “You threw me away.” A whisper, one she hadn’t meant to voice.

That stare bored into her. “Had to. You couldn’t shift—”

She flinched.

“—and the pack would have torn you apart. No way were you strong enough to handle what they would have thrown at you.” Theresa’s shoulders set. “I did what I had to do in order to protect you.”

Erin stared at her mother. At the tense expression on her face. The steady hands. And she said, simply, “Bullshit.”

Theresa’s jaw dropped.

“You didn’t leave me on that doorstep because you wanted to protect me.” Not buying that. Not for a minute. Jude’s hold on her tightened. “You did it because you were ashamed of me.”

She saw the hit in the slight widening of her mother’s eyes.

“You think I didn’t know?” Erin asked, stomach knotted. “You think I didn’t see the way you looked at me?” Not a proud mama. Never that. Always pushing her into the shadows. Away from the others who might see her.

“You were supposed to be like me!” A scream of fury and pain that broke fast and hard from her mother’s lips. “Supposed to shift and fight—just like me!”

“But I wasn’t just like you.” Sadness there. “I was like my dad.”

Theresa’s head jerked. “I should have been mated to the alpha! He loved me! We were supposed to be together, but then I screwed everything up and—”

“And had me.”

Her mother’s mouth snapped closed but she gave a grim nod.

Honesty, at least.

“You had me,” Erin continued, “and you didn’t think I was good enough for the pack — or for you.” This hurt.

“I wanted to be with him,” a stark whisper. “I loved him.”

Erin knew the him hadn’t been her father.

“He saw me,” Theresa said, voice soft. “Such dark, dark eyes that saw into me so well.” Her shoulders sagged. “He didn’t look at me the same way after he learned about your father.”

And what? That was Erin’s fault? Her father’s? Erin bit back the snarl that rose within her.

“When I got pregnant,” her mother said, “he knew I wasn’t his mate. Knew that somewhere out there, another woman waited…only a matter of time.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “I lost you.”

Not real hard to lose something when you threw it away.

“But first, I lost him.” She swiped away the tear with the back of her hand. “He left the pack before you were born. I–I kept thinking he’d come back, but he…turned his back on everyone. On me.”

Just like Erin’s mother had turned away from her. The woman wasn’t going to be getting any sympathy from her.

“Why did you come here tonight?” Jude’s gravelly voice.

Her mother blinked. “To…see Erin. I caught her scent at Mort’s. I wanted to…talk to her.”

“And what? Make up for lost time?” he demanded. “Or just jerk her around some more?”

Theresa’s hands fisted. “I wanted to make certain she was happy and safe. I didn’t know what you were to her, I was afraid—” She exhaled. “Shifters go after the weak.”

Weak. Was that how her mother truly saw her? Erin glanced down at her hands. Her claws were gone.

But they could come back in a second’s time.

“Other hybrids were in the pack,” her mother said, swallowing, “but you were the only one who couldn’t change. You were in danger, you were—”

“When I was fourteen,” Erin said softly, cutting through her words, “the girls in the pack jumped me.”

“What?”

“They thought I was weak, too.” They’d taunted. Teased. Then attacked her with claws and teeth.

But, luckily, they’d been in human form.

So she’d wiped the floor with their asses.

Erin met her mother’s shocked stare. “They were wrong about me, too.” She’d bet some of them still had the scars to prove just how wrong they’d been.

“Y-you never said — and they didn’t—”

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry.” She’d always tried to protect her mother. Stupid really. Theresa was the last person on earth who needed protection. “They didn’t tell — well, I guess because they didn’t want everyone knowing the little freak had kicked their furry butts.”

They’d left her alone after that. No more teasing. No more taunts. She’d thought she was fitting in—

Until she’d been forced out.

Her spine straightened. “So don’t talk to me about being weak, okay? I know why you left me, but what I don’t know is why the hell you’ve come back now.” Or why she’d been coming back. Spying, all these years.

She’d never known. It hurt.

“I…missed you.”

She wouldn’t weaken.

“I wanted to see how you turned out.”

“And when Dad died? When I stood by his grave, crying, alone, where were you?”

No answer. She hadn’t expected one. Enough. “The reunion’s over, mother. Time for you to go.” Hopefully, before her mother decided to go after Jude — or her — with claws and teeth.

Theresa held her gaze, then gave a grim nod.

Erin and Jude stepped away from the door.

Her mother hesitated. “Things are…good for you. I know you used to be a lawyer—”

“Still am.”

“—but now you’ve got a mate.” A smile. Wistful, dammit. Her mother had been given a wonderful mate. “A strong shifter, someone who can—”

“My mate is a fucked-up wolf shifter, a hybrid like me who kills and tortures people because it gets him off.”

The smile vanished. Horror took its place on her mother’s face. “A-a hybrid…wolf?”

“Erin.” Jude’s tense voice. “Don’t. There’s something that I need—”

But she just rolled right over him, the rage too much to hold back. “So don’t think I’ve walked off into some sort of happily-ever-after la-la land for wanna-be shifters. I’ve got a mate, all right, mother. A mate who thinks he’s my perfect match in every single, sick way.”