Page 32 of Healed in the Alpha's Embrace
“Mom’s on the phone.” She held her phone out to me, and I checked the time. No wonder Heather was yawning. It was two in the morning.
“Shit.” I scrambled to sit up, cursing under my breath for forgetting to send Mom my new number. I took the phone from Heather, my chest already tightening with the possibilities of why she’d be calling at this hour. “Hello?”
“Move over,” Heather whispered as she climbed onto my bed. She leaned against the mountain of pillows as I fumbled with the phone, pressing the speaker button.
“Zoey? Heather?” Mom’s voice crackled through, tinged with a tremor that set my nerves on edge.
“Mom, we’re here,” I said, forcing myself to sound calm. “What’s wrong?”
“It would have been nice if one of my daughters had thought to inform me you’d left George, Zoey,” she began. “At least then I could have been prepared,”
“Prepared?” I repeated. “What do you mean? What happened?” A jolt of adrenaline dumped into my system, banishing any remnants of sleep and filling me with terror.
“There was a… gentleman who came by tonight, asking for you and Roland,” my mom said. “If you were here.”
My heart skipped a beat, thudding erratically against my chest. I swallowed hard. “What did you say?”
“I told him that of course you weren’t here, and I made damn sure he knew it.” Her words dripped with fury as she continued, her volume rising to match the intensity of her anger. “But the nerve of him, showing up at my home unannounced, looking like a thug from one of those terrible gangster movies.”
“Heather, he found her,” I stammered to my sister, my whole body shaking. The phone was cold and slippery in my clammy hand.
“Relax,” Heather said, her brows furrowing with concern. “It’s not like we didn’t expect this.”
I tried to steady my breathing. This was part of the plan—evade George long enough to get our lives back on track. But he’d found my mom faster than we’d expected, and now that it was happening, it felt like a noose tightening around my neck.
Mom continued, “He had the cheek to tell me he was only doing his job because you took Roland. Kidnapping.” She scoffed. “I told him if it were truly kidnapping, the police would be knocking at my door, not some hired muscle. He wasn’t happy, but I let him search the house. Then, as he was on his way out, I told him that when I said I hadn’t seen you in years, it was because his piece-of-shit boss kept us apart and that if you have left George, I hope to hell he never finds you.” She sighed, her tone softening. “I’m glad you’re out of his grasp, sweetheart. I just wish you’d given me a heads-up, girls. When I tried calling and it was disconnected, my imagination began concocting all kinds of scenarios, each worse than the last.”
I let out a heavy sigh, my hands still shaking. “I’m sorry, Mom. But you have to understand. George has connections that are hard to comprehend. His reach is?—”
“Zoey, I spent too many years being scared of men like him, and I’ll be damned if I go through that again,” my mom spat. “George feels powerful because he belittles others, but not this time. Not with me.”
I could almost picture her: chin up, eyes blazing with the same ferocity I remembered from my childhood.
“He’s nothing but an abuser and a bully,” she continued, doing nothing to hide her disdain.
“Mom, I didn’t even have control of my own phone until recently,” I said, the guilt gnawing at my insides. “But you’re right. Once Ro and I were safe, I should have found a way to warn you.”
“Should-haves aren’t going to help us now, Zoey.” I could hear the undercurrent of worry in her voice. “What’s your plan? I assume George doesn’t know where Sam and Heather are yet, but it’s only a matter of time before he starts looking. Are you planning to stay in Boldercrest or take off again?”
I chewed on my lip, weighing my options. Leaving would just give George more power over me. But staying... staying meant risking more than just my own safety. It meant putting Ro in danger, too.
“George probably doesn’t even know where Sam and Heather live,” I said, more to convince myself than them. “We’ve been estranged; he made sure of it. He probably thinks they wouldn’t hide me or Ro.”
“Even if he did find out where we lived, what’s he gonna do?” Heather was defiant. “March into town with his goons?”
I let out a slow breath, feeling the magnitude of the decision on my shoulders. “It’s not just about him finding out,” I said. “It’s about staying safe. But I’m not entirely defenseless here.”
“Zoey’s under pack protection,” Heather stated, her gaze meeting mine with an intensity that bolstered my resolve.
“Pack protection?” my mother asked.
“Let’s just say George would be stirring up a lot more trouble than he bargained for if he tried anything here,” I said, and for a moment, I believed it. “The pack won’t stand for any threats against their own.”
“Good.” The relief was evident in her tone. “Stay protected, Zoey. That man... he’s not going to stop easily.”
She was right. George was relentless. But for now, I had something he didn’t: allies, and a sanctuary he’d think twice about challenging.
I shivered involuntarily, Noah’s face flashing through my mind. I’d watched a video of him boxing. The strength in his arms and the quiet assurance in his stance had left me with no doubt that he could handle George. But the thought of bringing more trouble to his doorstep made me uneasy.
