Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,13

my lips. “Maybe it did … I dunno, but then I met the alpha’s son, Sawyer, at Delphi, and … a few hours later I was being invited here. Now I have a room, and everything is paid for and it’s crazy.”

Silence.

“Mom?”

“I know … I was a mating year girl too. It’s nice, they give you a nice life.” Her voice sounded hollow. Why did she sound sad? OMG did she almost marry Sawyer’s dad?

“What happened?” I asked her. “Did you and the alpha…?”

“No. I never even made the top twenty.” She laughed nervously but it didn’t sound real.

“Mom?”

“Yes, hun?”

“Why did you and dad get banished? You made this place sound awful, but it doesn’t seem so bad.”

I was afraid I was going to hear about it from someone like Meredith, and I wanted to hear it from them instead. I’d asked a handful of times over the past twenty years and always got the same answer.

Silence.

“Tell her.” My father’s voice was low.

“No, dammit,” she growled at my father, and chills ran the length of my arms. It must be worse than I thought; they never argued.

“Mom. I’m twenty, I’m not a kid anymore.” Whatever it was, I deserved to hear it from my own parents.

She sighed. “I can’t. I’m not ready.”

Holy shit … this whole time I’d been told we were banished because of something my father did, but now I wondered if it was in fact my mother.

My hands shook. “Mom, you’re scaring me.”

“I’ll tell you when I’m ready,” she said. “Your father and I are surprised, but happy for you. Even if Sawyer doesn’t pick you, you’ll get a top-notch education, a great job upon graduation, and a nice house in Werewolf City. It’s great news … we’re just shocked is all.”

I knew she was trying to steer things away from talking about her, so I let her. “How many window washers does this place have?” I went for humor and was rewarded with her laughter, followed by my father’s. I’d give her a week or so to settle into the idea that I was here and then I needed to know everything. We made a bit more small talk before we hung up and I promised to call them every day.

When I left the room, I found Sage leaning against the hallway wall tapping on her phone. “Ready to shop until you drop?”

I laughed nervously. “Not really.” The most shopping I ever did was like fifty dollars at the thrift store. It could take hours to get decent thrift store finds, but when you stumbled across a vintage Beatles shirt autographed in silver sharpie … you struck gold. You also never machine washed that shirt in case it washed off the autograph, so instead you drowned it in perfume and hand rinsed it gently, avoiding the pen markings.

She waved me off. “Don’t let your little run-in with Meredith get you down. She’s like that to everyone.”

I’d forgotten my run-in with Meredith until that moment. I was actually more worried about spending someone else’s money. “I’m not used to shopping,” I confessed.

She nodded. “I’ll help you. It will be fun!”

Three hours, thirty-six pieces of sushi, and five shopping bags full later, we exited the mall.

“I can’t believe I just spent two grand of someone else’s money.” My eyes were wide as we loaded my bags onto the back of an electric scooter.

Sage waved me off. “I do it all the time on my dad’s card. It’s fine. The cards have a daily limit and it didn’t get declined, so that means we did good.”

I snorted. We had very, very different upbringings. I gestured to the bags. “I only got one fancy dress. Think that’s enough?” The rest were ripped jeans, shorts, tank-tops, and sneakers, and a few flowy bohemian dresses. I also got make-up, a flat iron, and some cool purses with studs on them.

Sage gave me a conspiratorial look. “You want to stand out? Don’t dress like the lemmings here. Seriously, my cousin picked you for a reason. I think he digs the t-shirt and jean shorts vibe.”

She motioned to my outfit.

I chuckled, but the smile fell from my lips. Sage was becoming a good friend and I didn’t want to lie to her. “You know your cousin doesn’t really like me. He just pulled all that because it was the only way to get me out of banishment and he feels bad for me.”

Sage looked at me like I was five years old. “Aww, is