Exiled Mate, Future Luna novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Saturday

On Saturday I sat on the quad bench with Dani and a paper cup of coffee and watched the parking lot.

I had skipped Thursday's lecture, and I had not answered Rhys's two emails.

I had also answered Blake's text, once, with a single word.

Why?

He hadn't replied.

At ten fifteen, Mom's grey sedan pulled into the visitor lot.

She got out slowly, in her good cardigan, with her hair clipped back and her steel thermos in the crook of her arm.

She looked small, and her eyes were red.

"Is that her?" Dani said.

"That's her."

"She seems nice."

"She is nice," I said. "That's the problem."

Mom saw me, and her whole face crumpled.

She crossed the grass at almost a run and wrapped her arms around me, and she smelled of lavender soap and cold tea.

"Oh, my girl," she said into my hair. "Oh, my girl. I'm so sorry."

I stood stiff in her arms and did not hug her back.

When she let go, she held me at arm's length and looked me over.

"You're thin. You haven't been eating. Look at you."

"Mom, this is Dani. My roommate."

"Lovely to meet you, dear."

Dani gave a small wave.

"I came to bring you home," Mom said. "The Alpha has spoken to Dalton. They know it was wrong. Nobody wanted you to go, honey. It was all so fast."

"Nobody said my name," I said.

"We were frightened. You saw what he's like."

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