Page 43 of His Place in the World
Angus opened his mouth, but Del wouldn’t let him explain.He couldn’t risk it.“I think you should leave,” he told his mother.
Her eyes narrowed.“Your father said I could stay.”
“Until you talked to him,” Matt said from behind Del.“Doyle already told you he’d meet you in town, and Cora isn’t here.She won’t be coming back today because she’s having a sleepover with a friend.”
“I thought I’d see her today.I miss my little girl.”
Del almost snorted.She missed the little girl she’d abandoned at only a few weeks old without looking back?At least she’d been smart and had left Cora with Matt.
“That won’t be possible, but you can come back.You need to give all of them time to wrap their minds around what’s happening.You haven’t been in their life in a long time, Pamela.Don’t force them into something they’re not ready for.”
She looked like she wanted to protest, but eventually, she nodded.“I’ll be back,” she said.
It sounded more like a threat than a promise.
Matt walked her outside.Del stayed where he was, so tense he felt he might break.He listened to the sounds of a door opening and closing, then a car driving off.When his father reappeared, Del stepped away from Angus and grabbed his dad.He pulled him into his arms, hugging him like he hadn’t in a long time.
“We’ll do everything we can to keep Cora with us,” he promised.
His father nodded against his shoulder.“I know.”
“I don’t know why she’s here, but we’ll find out and make sure she can’t hurt us.”
There was no doubt in Del’s mind that whatever his mother wanted, it wasn’t genuine.The problem was that he didn’t know if they could find out what it was without putting Cora in danger.
Chapter Seven
Angus scrolled through the data he’d gotten from Colbert’s cloned phone, but it was hard to focus on his work and stop obsessing over Del and how he’d taken his mother’s arrival.
Angus couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to have his mother back.Of course, she hadn’t abandoned him the way Pamela had abandoned Doyle, Del, and Cora.Angus’s mother had died, and Angus would be overjoyed if he saw her again.Unfortunately for him, that wouldn’t happen.Unfortunately for Del,hismother was back, and no one knew how to deal with that or why she was actually here.
Angus wasn’t sure Del was right about her having a hidden goal, but he also didn’t think Doyle was right to give her a chance.Her appearance in their life so suddenly and the way she’d managed to find them even though they’d moved in with the Rosewood pack sent alarms blaring in Angus’s mind, and he couldn’t ignore them.He didn’t want to dismiss that she might actually want a relationship with her family from the get-go, but he also suspected there was much more to this than what she’d said.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to find anything when he’d dug into her past.She’d had a gilded life without children, partying, traveling, and getting married several times.If that was what she wanted, then it was good she’d left, because she would have made her children’s lives miserable otherwise.
But why was she here if she seemed so happy in the pictures Angus found?Why did she suddenly want a relationship with her children?That was what he couldn’t make sense of, and he was terrified that something bad would happen unless he did.
But something bad would happen if he couldn’t make sense of the data on Colbert’s phone, too, so after taking a sip of his energy drink, he forced himself to focus on his computer screen again.He was looking over the blueprints of Colbert’s home, trying to find an entry point.If they were going to rescue Pembroke and whatever other shifter was stuck there, they needed a bulletproof plan, and that started with Angus.
As he worked, he tapped his fingers on the keys, a plan forming in his mind.With Colbert’s phone cloned, Angus had access to the security system that protected the house.He had access to pretty much everything, and luckily for him, that included the passwords.
That meant he could get inside.
He grabbed his phone from the desk and quickly opened the group text where he, Cam, and the others shared information.Need a meeting ASAP.
The reactions weren’t slow to arrive.We’re available now.Just give us time to get there, Ryland answered.
My office is always open.Come whenever you want, Cam texted back.
So Angus went.
His new office was in his home, and it wasn’t much yet.The house wasn’t exactly comfortable.It wasn’t well insulated, and considering it was winter, it made Angus regret he’d already moved out of Cam and Toby’s home.But he liked feeling free and like this was the one place where he truly belonged.No matter how much of a mess the house was, it was his, and that was all he cared about.
Still, he wouldn’t have said no to functional heating and a nice chair for his office.
Del was working in the entrance, sanding the railing of the stairs that led up to the bedrooms.He paused when he saw Angus carrying his messenger bag, then started putting his tools away.
“You don’t have to come with me,” Angus pointed out.
