Page 29 of Lycans & Lattes

“Of course, I would.”

“Well, it’s just that you don’t participate a lot in pack things . . . and you brought a human.”

I rolled my eyes. Here we go.

“I brought my mate,” I countered, looking between my mom and my aunt, who nodded along with her sister. “And you’ve met Willow a million times before at the Witch’s Brew. Stop looking at her like that.”

“Oh, alphas and their mates,” Edie cut in with a laugh. “Yes, we know Willow.”

“But you’ve never formally introduced us,” Mom countered.

“Mom,” I warned.

“What? You’re not going to introduce your mate to your mother?” She balked. “Go on, I’ll be nice.”

“I’m not so sure about your kind of nice,” I gritted out, but did as she commanded, fetching Willow.

I held onto her hand as we walked back to my matriarchs. “This will be quick and painful,” I whispered down to her, but she only squeezed my palm. “Have I apologized enough yet?”

“Yes, and you don’t need to. It’ll be fine,” she reassured me, already sounding like the authority she would become.

My mother’s eyes lit up as we approached.

“Mother,” I began, though the introduction was unnecessary, “I’d like you to formally meet my mate. Willow Miller.”

Willow stood at my side and extended her hand.

My mother only wrinkled her nose.

Edie cut in before I could, “It’s wonderful to have you here. Pack events are important, and having both of you here means the moon to us. Isn’t that right, sister?”

My mother’s eyes flashed as if she hadn’t realized her face had contorted in disgust. She put on her best fake smile and acknowledged Willow. “It’s lovely to make your full acquaintance. Anyone who can corral my son into showing up when he needs to is someone I would love to get to know better.”

The statement sounded rehearsed and likely snipped from a speech my aunt had given her before we’d shown up.

“What makes this pumpkin patch field trip so important that I needed to be here?” I looked around us, trying to perceive what benefit my presence was to everyone else.

Mom shot me a look, but I didn’t back down.

“I tend to be a workaholic, too,” Willow started. “But it’s nice to take the afternoon off for a gathering.”

It was a neutral sentiment, but nothing was neutral to Sandra Sullivan. My mother reeled back as if Willow had told her she was a lowly mutt. “Every gathering is important to the pack,” she scolded. “Our proximity isn’t only about our community. It’s for our protection. A close and strong pack will survive.”

I sighed. “No one is attacking the pack, Mom.”

She gave me a sickly sweet grin. “We are lucky to still have your grandfather to ensure that fact, aren’t we?”

I’d stepped right into that one.

“You see, dear one,” she directed at Willow. “When an alpha takes his place, it’s a lifelong commitment to the welfare and well-being of his pack. To every single wolf.”

Willow shifted at my side. “It sounds like an incredible responsibility to take on.”

“It is,” my mother insisted, the silence between the two women holding a challenge. “I know you’re important to Maple Hollow, and most of the monsters here have accepted humans into the fold, but it will take the wolves a bit longer to accept your . . . relationship.”

Anger bubbled up inside of me.

“If I am to be the next alpha, then they will need to accept my mate,” I snapped, emphasizing again that Willow was more than just any human. “And if you want to be standing beside me on the day that I take my place in the pack, you would be wise to work on accepting her, Mother.”