“You’re doing a brilliant job, Eva.”
“Am I?” she cried. “Because I have no idea what I’m doing. Half of the time it’s like I’ve stumbled into a dream and this dream, God, it’s so perfect it hurts, and then in the next breath, I’m frozen with fear.”
“That’s motherhood,” Addison murmured, smiling gently.
“I’m not even his mother,” Eva whispered, rubbing the tears flowing down her cheeks. She wasn’t sure what she was to him, only there was some inbred instinct in her that had driven her to do what she’d done. She loved him—how could she not? He was so sweet and innocent, and he’d already lost so much. Eva had had no choice but to stop Mathew from suffering more loss. He’d chosen John, and therefor he’d chosen her.
“Eva, you became his mom the second you took him from Melody’s arms and told everyone to stop,” Addison said, opening her arms. “I’m not your mother, but I am John’s, and he once told me I give out the best hugs.”
Laughing through her tears, Eva went into her offered arms, closing her eyes as the strength of John’s mother held her up.
“Matty said our names this morning,” Eva told Addison. “You should have seen him. He was unbelievably cute.”
Pulling back with joy on her face, Addison cupped her cheek. “I can imagine. With those curls and blue eyes, he’s going to cause you no end of adorable trouble.”
Eva smiled. It might have all hit her at once and overwhelmed her half of the time, but she wouldn’t take it for granted. Her mother’s death had taught her that.
“Would you mind coming for a walk with us after he’s had his lunch? I’ve a few things I need to look up and some calls regarding my degree. I can’t talk and keep my full attention on him.”
“Oh, yes, John told me you’re going to be a vet.”
“Hopefully. If I can juggle all life has thrown at me.”
“Ah, but dear, that’s the beauty of a pack. You’ve plenty of people to help you.”
And somehow, coming from Addison’s lips with her motherly smile, Eva believed her. She’d prove her father wrong. She’d have the man and the child and her career.
Her mom had once told her she could do anything and damn it, she was going too.
***
Walking back after finishing her jobs, Eva smiled as she spotted Mathew being pushed on the swing by Tilly and mulled over everything she’d learned from her phone call. If she was going to become a vet, it would mean committing to years of travel. It wasn’t like there was a university down the road available to her. Ideally, she’d live on campus during the week and come home on weekends, but it would mean leaving Mathew and John for days at a time, and she had no idea what John would think of that.
Mathew waved as he spotted her, and she was about to jog over when her brother’s voice caught her attention on the wind. Turning toward the sound, Eva’s frown deepened when she realized Zackary was yelling.
Racing over, Eva arrived just as Zackary shoved Max in the chest, the curse on his lips thick with the anger of his wolf. Cooper was trying to hold Zackary back as Cory sneered, egging Max and Eva’s brother on. She couldn’t understand what they were fighting over, the argument had turned into a snarling match, with cursing thrown in here and there.
“What’s going on?” she demanded. “Zac, stop!”
Tyler was there a second later with another older man. They jumped between the boys, dragging them apart and regaining some order, but Eva knew her brother had already crossed a line he couldn’t step back from.
“Zac?” she warned as he heaved in and out, his body trembling. Taking a few careful steps, Eva ducked to meet the angry, pained eyes of her brother. “Come on, little bro, you’ve got this.”
Shaking his head, Zackary took a leap back. “Stay away, Ev,” he begged, his tone anything but human. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’d never hurt me.”
Turning away, his body shook as he clenched and unclenched his fists. It was as if his skin was rippling, shifting in and out of the change as Zackary fought for control.
“I think you should listen to him, Eva.” Tyler placed a hand on her shoulder. “He wouldn’t mean to hurt you, but he could.”
“He’s my brother,” she insisted. Eva didn’t care if he was angry or out of control. She had to believe he wouldn’t hurt her. Even when he’d been in the grips of his first change, completely lost to the rage and fear controlling him, he’d thrown things at the wall, not her and their father. “Help him.”
“Breathe, Zac, breathe. Remember it’s you who’s in control, not the wolf,” Tyler murmured, closing in.
For one awful second, Zackary looked back, his eyes human and full of torment, before he shook his head and took off into the forest.
“Zac,” Eva screamed.
“He’ll come back,” Tyler said.
“Will he?” Because she’d seen his face. She’d seen what he was running from.
“Yes. I’ll make sure he does.” Tyler turned his stern gaze on the other teenage boys. “Now, does someone want to explain why Zac was pushed to that point?”
Eva ran a hand through her hair, staring at the trees her brother had disappeared into and contemplated going after him.
“Eva!”
Dragging in a deep breath, Eva plastered a smile on her face and turned toward Mathew just as he wrapped himself around her legs. “Hey, Matty.”
His curls bounced as he whipped his head toward the trees as she’d done moments before. “Zac, sad.”
“Yeah, buddy, he is,”
