I rolled my eyes. “Your son picked this dress for me,” I replied, enjoying the way her eyes widened a little. “As it were, I don’t believe in spending a week’s salary on a single garment, and Eli happens to like the way I dress. ‘Fake’ is so last decade, don’t you think?” I allowed my eyes to flick down to her chest, just for a moment.
But she knew. She knew I knew. Her eyes flashed again. If she was an alpha, I was certain her eyes would have turned red by now. “You’ve got a smart mouth for someone who needs my approval to mate with my son,” she hissed.
I didn’t roll my eyes again, but it was a near thing. “You’re getting a bit ahead of yourself there,Viola,” I replied, mirroring her posture. “First of all, no one is mating with anyone. Secondly, and more importantly, Eli is a grown man. He doesn’t need your permission to doanything.”
Eli and Viola clearly didn’t have that kind of relationship. His father? That might be a little different. Nic was the alpha of the pack, after all, but Viola? As far as I could see, she was just some self-important bitch clawing at the last bit of influence she had left.
Viola finally snarled, her upper lip curling. “You don’t know a damn thing about the relationship I have with my son,” she snapped.
I shrugged. “I do know he avoids talking about you. He certainly avoids talkingtoyou. Anyone with a pair of eyes could see that,” I growled back. “I also know that, again,as an adult, he can decide if he wants to take a mate at all, and who he wants that person to be. A supportive mother would know that.” I smiled at her again, well-aware it was a wicked wolf’s smile — all teeth and no joy. “I know everything I need to know about the relationship you and Eli have.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Viola growled.
“Iris — you said it yourself. And ifElihas a problem with it, then we aren’t meant to be. It’s as simple as that.” But this woman? I didn’t know her from a hole in the wall. She didn’t get to tell me how to dress — or anything else, for that matter.
“You know, I heard someone dragged you out of the north. Alaska, or something like that. I thought to myself, my son would never associate himself with someone so uncultured, but I see now I was clearly mistaken,” she seethed, staring daggers at me. “There’s a reason white wolves are so rare now, you know. They’re so simple. Unambitious. Content to dig in the snow and let the rest of the shifters do all the real work to move their species forward.”
I was no alpha, but I swore I saw red in that exact moment. I fixed Viola with a dark stare. “You have no idea what the fuck you are talking about,” I ground out, my fingers curling into firsts. “But you need to stop talking about things you don’t understand, or I am going to shut you up.”
Viola sniffed and took a step back. “You see?” she said, waving a hand at me. “Trying to solve your problems with violence. Exactly as I expected.”
She turned on her heel and marched off to torment someone else before I could say anything else.
I flashed my teeth at her retreating form.
Bitch.
A few moments later,I wheeled around and stalked towards the stairs. I still didn’t know where Eli was, but…he was on his own. This was his family. His pack. He had years of experience dealing with them, and I had tried — and for what? To have my family attacked by his witch of a mother?
Is that really who I want to deal with for the rest of my life?
If I stayed with Eli —are we even together now?— then that would be my fate. And it would be Bella’s fate, too, until we found her family. I couldn’t imagine how the woman would treat the little girl — she was so callous. So self-absorbed. There wasn’t an ounce of maternal instinct in her. No wonder Eli wanted to avoid her.
I hate it here, I thought again, marching up the stairs with purpose. It was only the fact that Bella was still sound asleep in the guest room that kept me from slamming the door, and only just.There’s no point in me being here.
I slipped off my shoes and padded over to my bag, digging my phone out. No texts, of course, but…
I found Luna’s contact, my fingers hovering over the screen as my thoughts raced. I didn’t know Remus’ mate that well, but she had been more welcoming to me than anyone else. Honestly, if anyone understood what I felt like right now, it was probably her. As far as I could tell — I might or might not have done a bit of research on the Silverstreak family, alright? Let no one call me unprepared — Luna had been in a situation similar to my own. Not so wealthy. Missing parents. Bitchy…mother-in-law. I suppose Viola wasnotmy mother-in-law, and Fiona and Luna seemed to have set aside their differences, but still. There had been tension there, once.
Not that I want to get along with Viola. Ever. What a piece of work.
I stared back at my phone, biting my lip. Some part of me felt bad, like I was abandoning Eli, but…I never should have abandoned the case. There are wolves in danger — real, mortal, life-or-death danger — and I’m doing jack shit about it right now.
I took a deep breath and steeled myself. I tapped out my message quickly and sent it, hoping I wasn’t disturbing Luna. I couldn’t remember what time it would be in Texas right now.
Hey.I know this is a big ask, but can you do you think you could help me out? I think Bella and I would be better off in Texas right now. The Archers are…a lot.
30
ELI
Archer Family Estate
London, England
Ihadn’t expected much from an Archer family dinner, but…I had hoped, at the very least, that Iris and Bella would enjoy themselves. Bella seemed to have an alright time, more or less. She didn’t speak, but I wasn’t surprised, and no one seemed particularly concerned. Iris only had to mention that she was quite shy, and my aunts all nodded sagely. My cousins were more interested in talking with me, what I’d been up to since I was overseas, and my uncles…
Well. I didn’t get to watch them as closely as I would have liked.