Havoc's Mate (Badlands Territory #2) - Lila Rose Page 0,12

piece of my soul away. I knew I wasn’t the only one watching her leave.

“Alpha,” Alton whispered.

Hand clenched, I closed my eyes and ground my teeth together.

Ten.

Nine.

“Havoc?” Kathy said softly.

Eight.

Seven.

“Not in here,” someone said.

Six.

Five.

“Out. Everyone, get the fuck out!” Alton yelled. They scattered.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

A roar erupted out of me. I couldn’t stop the shift even if I tried. My bones broke, changed, morphed, and my wolf and I mourned our mate running from us.

Fearing us.

We tore into the seat, the table. We slashed at the floor and anyone who got close. We growled, snarled, and howled.

I didn’t know how long it lasted. I didn’t know anything but agony.

Chapter Five

Cora

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. That was all that ran through my mind on the drive home. My body wouldn’t quit shaking, my heart wouldn’t stop thundering, and my ears were ringing. I parked the car, jumped out, and raced to the house. I flung the door open and yelled, “Mom? Mom?”

“Right here, honey, what’s wrong?” She rushed down the stairs.

“Werewolves. They’re all werewolves.” I ran by her on the stairs and into my room. “We don’t have much time. Grab what you can.” I took the suitcase from under my bed and threw it open. I moved over to my drawers, opened one, and started throwing things in the suitcase. “We need to leave. I know it sounds crazy, wild, and out of a book, but I swear on my life there are werewolves. I saw one change right before my eyes.” I spun to where she stood in my doorway. “And I’m sure Jackson and Alton are too!” Turning back, I grabbed more things to throw in. “I don’t know about Kathy. She seemed really sweet.” I paused, jerking my head back. “Can werewolves be sweet?” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.” I glanced over my shoulder to find Mom still standing in the doorway. “What are you doing? You need to pack.”

“Sweetheart,” Mom said calmly. How could she be calm? Then again, she hadn’t seen a man burst into a wolf in mere moments. She didn’t see the man shift and change. She didn’t hear the bones…. God, the bones. I would never get that sound out of my head. When I reached Mom, I tried to turn her and push her toward her room, but she grabbed my arms and shook me.

“Darling daughter, you need to listen to me.”

“Mom, we don’t have time.” I went to turn back around, but she held strong.

“Come sit down—”

“Mom!”

She shook her head. “For a moment, sit down and listen to me.”

Groaning, since she wouldn’t listen, I went to the bed and sat. She took a spot next to me, taking my hand in hers. “Honey, just think about this…. Think about my powers. How I can see ghosts? No one else that we know of can do this, but don’t you think out there in the world there would be others?”

Some of the tension left me, and my shoulders dropped. Mom’s insight opened up a new possibility to the world and had me rethinking. “Well… I suppose so.”

She nodded. “Good. Now, don’t you think, since I have this power, that there could be others in the world with different types of powers? Like shifters, vampires, witches, warlocks, and so forth?”

My body jolted. I wanted to deny it. Plead my case that she was wrong. But how could I when everything she said made the strangest sense?

“The world isn’t so black and white, honey. Yes, we’ve never spoken about it or thought about it because we’re used to what’s right in front of us. You accepted me with this power because you were brought up with it. These people, these… shifters in this area, are the same as how you and I are. They were brought up knowing about the other things in the world. Heck, I bet they’ve never met someone like me before either.”

With a shuddering breath, I let everything sink in. Mom was right. Just because we didn’t know about other species in the world didn’t mean they didn’t exist.

“You saw things tonight that opened your mind. It’ll take time to process, but I know you will because you’re strong and brave. Unless something happened when you were out that could harm you in some way?”

Nothing had. Brea—who seemed obsessed with Jackson, leaving a sour taste in my mouth, which I ignored since I had enough to deal with—had caused a situation for Alton and Jackson to not consider