Chloe spent her entire life not daring to dream she’d find a mate. Sure, Warren had chased after her a little when she moved back to Tremble and began teaching, but that was left over from a crush he’d had on her when they were kids. Just childish infatuation, not true love.
The moment she laid eyes on Drew, a tiny flame of hope had sparked to life. She’d held onto that little flame with the same tender care she would a burning tea candle. She loved how it flickered and glowed, but if she clutched it too tightly or too long, the melting wax would burn her. She knew that.
Then she’d walked in to hear Drew publicly claim her as his mate. In front of her alpha! That little tea candle instantly grew into a bright, blazing torch, held aloft for the world to see.
Rushing to her mate, she brushed aside Zeke’s arm and wrapped her arms around Drew’s body—mostly because she couldn’t stand not to touch him, but also to keep him from delivering a beat-down to Warren. Reaching for him with one hand, she turned his face toward hers until she had his full focus. His fiery gaze cooled and softened until he looked at her like she was the only person in the room.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, but she silenced him with a gentle kiss.
“Don’t be,” she sighed as joy and light filled her heart to overflowing. “I couldn’t be happier.”
“Now listen here…“ Warren’s hurt gaze bounced between her and Drew.
Chloe felt for him. She really did. She’d never given him false hope, yet he’d stubbornly held on to his crush all these years. He was a good guy, though, and she didn’t relish the idea of him suffering.
“Warren,” she gave him a gentle smile, “you’ll find your mate one day. I know you will. It’s just not me. Drew is my mate.”
Zeke and Trina shared a worried glance, and Chloe could almost read their thoughts. Even though she loved what Drew had done, it also forced her hand. She could no longer keep her ugly secret from him. He had a right to know while there was still time for him to change his mind.
Pulling free from his embrace, Chloe moved to face him and then clasped his hands in hers. She took a moment to collect her thoughts and then met his curious gaze. “Drew, I need to tell you something.”
“I don’t care.” His soft voice filled the quiet. He skimmed his knuckles down her cheeks, sending shivers spiraling to all of her fun bits. Now wasn’t the time for that. She just hoped she’d get the chance for that after he heard what she had to say.
“No, really, you need to know,” she insisted, and pulled his hand from her face so she could concentrate. “You know the scars on my stomach?”
Fire blazed in his eyes as they both remembered the night before. Warren growled with jealousy, but no one paid attention. Drew nodded.
“They were from the accident. You see, I didn’t just get a broken leg or shattered wrist. A part of the car…”
Her throat closed up, not letting the words pass. She glanced down at their clasped hands and pulled strength from the way Drew’s thumbs stroked the back of her hands. Taking a deep breath, she tried again.
“A part of the car impaled me. I was in critical condition for weeks. Everyone says it’s a miracle I survived, but I didn’t come out unscathed.”
“Chloe.” Zeke’s voice was strained, tight with emotion, but she ignored him.
“The truth is that the accident left me unable to have pups. It’s not just a guess or a maybe, Drew. I’m completely infertile. That’s why I never thought I’d find a mate. It’s why I tried to deny the connection between us. It’s also why my father treated me like damaged goods and my mother sank into such a terrible depression.”
That’s when the tears finally came. Her mother had always blamed herself for Chloe’s condition, even though a drunk driver had been the true cause. The asshole had not only taken Chloe’s future children away from her, but also her mother.
“Oh god, Chloe,” Zeke moaned miserably. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could have changed Dad’s—”
“You did the best you could, Zeke,” she spoke without taking her eyes off Drew. He was the only one who mattered now. “Well?”
He stroked her cheek again, and this time she let him. “Is that it?”
She pressed her face into his palm and nodded. His arms slipped around her waist and pulled her in so close she had to crane her neck to maintain eye contact.
“Like I said, my love, I don’t care. I don’t care if you can’t have pups. I’m here to love you, to protect you for as long as I live. We’re destined for each other, babies or no babies. If we want, we can always adopt. We both know there are plenty of pups out there in need of a good home.”
They’d both had less-than-idyllic childhoods, and the thought of giving another mistreated pup a better life lifted her spirits to the point of flying.
“Chloe, I don’t want you for the family you could give me. I want you.”
Her tears of pain, of fear and sadness, turned to tears of joy as she pressed her face into his chest. His heart beat a slow and steady rhythm against her cheek, and for a moment, the rest of the world faded into nothingness. All that remained was their love.
Turning her face up to him, she was met by his lips. Snaking her arms around his neck, she pulled him closer, deeper. His tongue slicked along her lower lip, darting inside for a flash before disappearing again. Her body ached for him and she sighed her delight.
“Ahem.” Zeke cleared his throat pointedly.
Drew smiled against Chloe’s mouth, took a deep lungful of her scent, and then pulled away. She wanted to tell her brother to get the heck out and give them some privacy, but he spoke before she could. And Zeke’s words pushed all other thoughts from her mind.
“So, I understand you figured out a cure for our mother?”
Chloe gasped. “What! Are you serious?”
Drew frowned and shot Trina a dark look, though Chloe wasn’t sure why. For her part, Trina did look rather abashed.
“Maybe,” he explained. “After Trina here ratted us out to Warren, I had just enough time to test my theory a few times. I have no idea if it will help your mom, but I can tell you that it shouldn’t hurt her.”
“What are we waiting for?” Chloe cried out and tugged Drew toward the door. All the while she wondered if her day could get any better.
“You heard the lady,” Zeke barked. “Let’s go.”
“Trina,” Drew called as Chloe dragged him from the shack, “grab the antidote!”
“On it!”
Ten minutes later, they were gathered around Deidre Soren’s bedside. Except Trina. They’d lost her along the way. Without thinking twice, Chloe moved to “her spot” next to her mother and clasped her cool, dry, bony hand in both of hers. Her face had thinned and wrinkled over the years, and her muscles had withered from disuse, but she was still Deidre Soren.
“Hi, Mom,” she murmured, just as she had every time she’d visited her mother over the years.
Deidre had been her only reason to visit pack lands since she left for college, and she’d come religiously at least three times a week since moving back to Tremble. The pack’s previous healers never saw the point of her visits. They thought talking to Deidre was like talking to a potato. Pointless.
Thankfully, Trina became the pack’s healer not long after Chloe and Zeke’s father passed away. She’d encouraged Chloe’s visits, saying no one really knew what went on inside the heads of comatose patients. At the very least, it would make Chloe feel better. And it had. But she’d feel so much better if Drew’s cure worked.
The world came into sharp focus as Drew sat on the other side of the bed. The air in the room, which had always felt and smelled stale, crackled with tension. Zeke’s gaze bounced between Drew, Chloe, and their mother, and she knew he was just as frightened and excited as she was.
What if it didn’t work?
What if it did?
Trina joined them, walking slowly and carefully so she wouldn’t spill the tea tray she carried. It didn’t seem like the time for tea to Chloe, but healers had their own ways of doing things. When Trina set the tray on the bedside table in front of Drew, Zeke scowled at them.
“What the hell? You ordered tea? At a time like this!”
Trina took a risk by shushing her alpha and Drew didn’t so much as glance at Zeke as he got to work. As he tore a big, fat syringe from its packaging, Chloe noticed it didn’t have a needle attached. Then he poured a small amount of tea into an empty cup and swirled it around.
“It needs to cool,” he muttered under his breath to no one in particular.
Trina passed him a vial, which he poured into the cup. He swirled it around for a minute, mixing and cooling it at the same time, and then drew the concoction into the syringe.
He sought out Chloe’s gaze, syringe poised over the bed, silently asking for her permission to continue. Hers. Not Zeke’s. The moment had come, and she couldn’t wait another second.
With her nod of approval, Drew reached around Deidre’s shoulders and propped her up. Zeke raced forward to hold her upright while Drew gently parted the woman’s lips and squirted a small amount of the tea into her mouth.
Chloe had fed her mother many times but had never given her liquid for fear of it going down the wrong pipe. But Deidre swallowed the brew like a champ, so Drew continued until the cup was empty. He and Zeke gingerly laid her back on the bed and the waiting began.
They didn’t have to wait long. Within a minute of her first swallow, Deidre’s eyes fluttered for the first time in twenty years.
“Guys, look!” Chloe cried and clutched her mom’s hand to her chest while moving closer.
Everyone eased closer, except Drew. He stepped back to give the family space. Zeke took his place, gingerly grasping Deidre’s other hand. If Chloe hadn’t known any better, she might have thought the moisture in Zeke’s eyes was tears.
“Mom,” the alpha squeaked.
Deidre opened her eyes fully, blinking against the sunlight streaming into the room. When Warren moved to close the curtain, she croaked, “No.”
Turning her gaze to Zeke, and then Chloe, she smiled. It was small and weak, but it was there. She recognized them, even though she’d never seen them as adults!
“E—“ she started, but it had been so long since she’d spoken, her throat closed up. “Ezekiel,” she eventually managed, gazing at her son with boundless love.
When she turned that gaze on Chloe, tears pooled in her eyes. “Chloe,” she whispered. “My sweet girl.”
As fragile as her mother was, Chloe couldn’t stop herself from gathering her up in her arms and holding her as close as she dared. Deidre was so weak she could barely twitch her arms, but Chloe didn’t need anything more. She finally had her mother back!
“I’m sorry, my sweet girl,” Deidre murmured into Chloe’s hair. “So sorry.”
Laying her back against her pillows, Chloe smiled and stroked her precious face. “Oh, Mom, you have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I do. I ruined your life.” Tears spilled from her eyes and followed the paths of the lines etched on her cheeks. “I’ve spent so long locked in my own head, listening to all of your stories. Yours,” she spoke to Chloe and then turned to Zeke, “and yours, my son. Even your father’s.”
Chloe choked back the sobs that threatened at the thought of her mother being aware but unable to speak for so long. She had to hold it together.
“I had so much time to think, but I’ve never been able to forgive myself for ruining your life.”
Chloe gave her mother a reassuring smile, an honest one. “Mom, my life isn’t ruined. In fact, it’s absolutely perfect.”
Love for her mate nearly stopped her heart, and when she glanced back at Drew, he stood there smiling at her, waiting for her.
Deidre followed her gaze and gasped. Then she smiled broadly. Chloe hadn’t seen that smile since she was eight, and it nearly broke her.
“You found a mate? I’m so happy, my dear, sweet one. He looks like a fine man, Chloe.”
“He is,” Chloe insisted, sniffling back her tears. “He’s also the one who brought you back to us.”
“He is?” Deidre turned to face Drew again. “Is that true?”
Drew stepped forward. “Yes, ma’am. Name’s Drew Cooper. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise. Please take care of her for me.”
“Ma’am,” Drew replied with a smile, “I think Chloe is pretty good at taking care of herself. She’s the daughter of an alpha, after all.”
Deidre smiled, her eyelids drooping a little. Then she glanced at all the faces in the room and her brow furrowed. “Where is he?”
“Who, Mom?” Zeke asked, leaning in close.
“Your father. Where’s Boyd?”
Zeke and Chloe shared a worried glance before Zeke finally answered. His mouth was set in a firm line and a muscle twitched in his jaw, but Chloe knew their father’s death had been a serious blow to her brother.
“Mom, I’m so sorry, but Dad’s gone. He passed away.”
Deidre blinked, sending more tears sliding down the gullies in her skin. A sad resignation dimmed her eyes.
“Oh, yes. I remember now. You told me all about it. Didn’t you, Zeke?”
Zeke’s lips were pressed together so tightly he couldn’t answer, so he simply nodded.
Deidre sighed and let her eyes fall closed. For a moment, Chloe panicked, wondering if she’d ever reopen them again. Now that she had her mother back, she didn’t want to lose her again.
“I wish I’d had the chance to say goodbye,” Deidre finally sighed, her eyes fluttering open again and seeking out her children.
They both leaned in close, holding their mom’s hands to their faces, soaking up every moment with her. They’d been deprived for so long. They couldn’t get enough.
“Mom, we’re right here,” Chloe’s tone was urgent. “We’re going to get you better and soon—”
“Oh, my beautiful little loves,” she interrupted. She seemed to be having trouble keeping her eyes open. “I don’t have much time left.”
“No,” Zeke barked, as if asserting his dominance would somehow force his mother’s body to obey. “No, we’ve waited so long for you to wake up.”
“I’m only awake because of Chloe’s mate.” She nodded toward Drew. “But now it’s time for me to join my own.”
Tears spilled down Chloe’s cheeks like rivers and she didn’t even try to stop them. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be losing her mother all over again.
“P-please don’t leave us, Mom,” she sobbed. “We just got you back.”
Deidre didn’t cry, though both of her children did. She simply smiled, and that smile soothed Chloe’s heartbreak.
“My dears, you’ve always had me, and you always will. But your father needs me now. I’m sure he’s waiting for me and I can’t wait to see him again.”
Her eyes sparked to life again at the mention of her mate, reflecting Chloe’s own feelings when she thought about spending the rest of her life with Drew. Not even death could keep fated mates apart.
“But, Chloe,” Deidre whispered, the spark fading and her eyelids shading most of her eyes, “please forgive your father. I know he hurt you, but he loved you in his own way. He was a broken man after—”
A coughing fit took the rest of her words, and by the time she could breathe normally again, her face had paled to an alarming shade of grey.
“Mom?” Zeke whispered.
It seemed to take a Herculean effort for Deidre to open her eyes again. She tried to smile but only the corners of her mouth lifted by that point. Chloe felt the slightest movement of her mother’s fingers against her own. She was trying to squeeze them, but it felt more like a butterfly landing on her hand.
“I love—” she paused for a shallow, rasping breath “—so much.” She took another breath, this one even shallower than the last. “Be good…”
Her eyes fell closed as her body relaxed into the pillows. Her fingers went limp in Chloe’s hands. A long, slow sigh released from her lungs, sending her spirit into the ether and leaving behind an empty shell.
She was gone.