Page 220 of His Hungry Wolf

“Come,” he said nervously before leading us up the wobbly stairs to the front door.

Waiting at the bottom of them, I put my hand on the railing. Paint chips stuck to my palm. Subtly brushing them off, I waited my turn to ascend and enter.

Inside was worn, but tidy. The linoleum floors, floral wallpaper, and wooden kitchen cabinets had all faded to the same shade of beige. It was also very small. To the right of the door was the kitchen. To the left was the TV room and past that was a small hallway with three doors.

I turned to Cage. His eyes were locked on the woman sitting on the couch in front of the TV. With her dark, graying hair, angular features, and distinct wolf shifter scent, there was only one person she could be. She had clearly been as beautiful as Cage was handsome. But time, and a hard life, had caught up with her. Not having turned when we had entered, Nero called to her.

“Mama?” Nero said getting her to turn around.

Seeing Nero, Cage’s mother next turned examining us. She looked confused.

“Mama, remember I said that I was going to bring some friends by?”

She didn’t say anything but her eyes bounced between the three of us.

“This is Cage and his boyfriend Quin,” Nero said speaking slowly.

“Nice to meet you,” Cage said stepping forward. He lifted his hand to shake hers, but when she didn’t move, he abandoned the gesture.

“Nice to meet you,” I said questioning if I should be here.

“Mama, I found out something about Cage that you should know.”

Her eyes turned to Nero.

“Cage is… my brother.”

Her increasingly confused look said that she had understood.

“Your brother?” she said slowly.

“Yeah, Mama. Quin took our blood and everything. He’s my brother.”

“Your brother?”

“Yeah. Our blood says that we share the same father… and mother.”

She looked extremely confused after that. As she fought to wrap her thoughts around what Nero was saying, Cage stepped forward.

“Mama, you know how you say that they took your baby away from you and told you that he had died? Mama, this is your son. He’s your baby,” Nero said getting emotional. “You were right, Mama. He was alive. This is him.”

“Nice to meet you,” Cage, said again.

She stared at his face from the couch.

“Augustus?” She said squinting at him.

“My name’s Cage,” he told her.

“I named you Augustus,” she said slowly melting into tears. “They took you from me and told me you had died. I knew you hadn’t died. I told them to show you to me. They couldn’t. They couldn’t,” she said reaching up for Cage overwhelmed.

Throwing himself into his mother’s arms, both held each other crying. I couldn’t imagine what Cage was going through. But it felt good to know that I had helped do this for him. It had to be the most fulfilling thing I had ever done.

Soon, Nero joined them on the couch and embraced the two. The three cried and held each other not saying a word. I couldn’t escape the moment. Tears rolled down my cheeks as much as they did theirs.

This was their private moment, though. I shouldn’t have been there. Without any of them noticing, I slipped outside and made my way to the truck. Getting in, I bundled up and thought.

I had grown up surrounded by wealth and humans. This was a different world than anything I could have imagined a short time ago. I knew that it wasn’t just wolf shifters who lived like this. But, did being a wolf shifter mean that this was the life you were forced to have?