Sab: I really hope you’re not banging your hottie right now
Sab: I mean, for your sake, I hope you are. But you really need to answer your damn phone.
Sab: ARGH
Sab: I didn’t want to text this, but you leave me no choice, woman
Sab: Your parents are here. They stopped by the house, I tried to buy you time but you wouldn’t answer your damned phone. I gave them Elliot’s address, they’re headed your way right now.
I blinked down at the phone, eyes wide.
That last text was two minutes earlier; the vibration had been the second notification.
“Shit.”
“What?” Elliot frowned, his gaze flicking to my phone.
“Apparently my parents decided to hunt me down.” I tried not to let panic rise in my chest. “I told them about the werewolf thing, back when I found out I was pregnant. Right before they disowned me.” I handed Elliot my phone, and he quickly scanned the texts.
“Why are they here, then?” he asked, frowning. “You said they showed up at your old place, too.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, frustration welling up in my chest. “They don’t know a lot about the werewolf thing—just that me and Evan are werewolves. They’ve never met Ev.”
Elliot hit a button on my phone, and turned it on speaker.
It only rang once before Sab picked up. “You finally checked your phone?”
“Sorry, Sab. What do my parents want?” I asked quickly.
“To make amends, I guess. I didn’t ask many questions; you know your dad has always scared me.”
Yeah, I knew that. Most people were afraid of him to some extent, because my dad was intense. He hadn’t grown up with money, but had built a multi-billion-dollar company from the ground up in his twenties, and married my mom, who was born into a wealthy family, when he was nearly thirty.
They had been good parents up until the werewolf thing, though. They’d always supported my dreams, and had never tried to push me into the family business. I’d never doubted that they loved me, and I was their only child, which had made the way that they’d disowned me sting even more.
“Should we be worried?” Elliot asked. His eyes were on me, and I didn’t know which of us he was asking.
“No. I don’t know if they really want to make amends, but they’d never hurt me, or try to take Ev. We’re good.”
Elliot nodded, his expression solemn.
There was a knock at the door, and my stomach clenched. “Gotta go, Sab. We’ll chat later. I love you.”
“Love you,” she echoed, throwing in an extra apology before Elliot hit the button to hang up.
My eyes remained locked with my mate’s.
“Do you want me to send them away?” he asked.
The way he looked at me, I knew he was being serious. If I asked him to get rid of them, he would get rid of them, no matter the cost.
“No. I’ll see what they want,” I said quietly.
When I stood, he stood too. I doubted his protective instincts would allow him to sit at the table with his back to the front door while I faced my family for the first time in years, and sure enough, he headed for the living room while I took wooden steps toward the door.
Another knock rang through the room, and my stomach clenched further.
Finally, I unlocked the door and pulled it open.