Chapter Eighty-Nine

I left them all in the kitchen and retreated to my room. I closed the door and settled myself and Nix, finally shifting back to my normal face.

"I’m sorry I lost control in there." Nix sounded softer, almost embarrassed.

"It’s okay." I smiled as I flopped onto my bed. "They deserved it." I chuckled softly as I thought of their surprised faces as they hit the ground.

"What you both just did will put them on their toes. They won’t think they can easily maneuver around you anymore because your wolf has manifested itself." Megan’s voice was confident as she chastised us. She knew that this would make our lives a little harder. "You both should have held it together back there."

I thought about it. "You’re right," I admitted, and Nix nodded with me. "We should have behaved back there. It would have been easier to move in the shadows without them knowing I could shift. But we still have the upper hand." I pointed out the fact, and they both agreed.

I pushed up from the bed and made my way to my closet. I entered it and I couldn’t smell anything, but I knew it smelled like my actual scent. I pulled all of my clothes and dumped them onto the floor of my room. I felt panic bubble up from my center. If Brandon walked into my room, or even by it right now, he would figure out the truth.

I heard the door slam on my last trip from my closet, and then there was a knock. I froze. Please, goddess. Please. I slowly made my way to the door and waited. A second knock came, and the door opened. I moved to slam it shut, but my mother’s voice stopped me.

“What are you doing?” She fully came into the room and made a small circle. She turned to me, eyes wide.

“My scent…” I trailed off and looked down at the clothes at my feet, then back to the closet. I turned and realized that I was screwed. “My scent, my actual scent, is stuck in this room. My clothes can be washed, but what about my bed? Mom, I don’t know what to do.”

My mom quickly surveyed the damage. “Well then, let’s use your outburst to our advantage.” My mom grabbed my basket and pushed a load of clothes into it. “Grab your dry clean only stuff and put it on your bed, along with any coats.”

“What are you doing?” I was still frozen, unsure of what to do.

“I’m helping you. Now do as I said.” I nodded as she left the room. I heard her head downstairs as I went back to my closet. I pulled all my coats and dropped them on the bed, then I pulled out anything that had to be dry cleaned like she told me to do. She came back in and nodded, then pulled out zippered dress bags and zipped my dresses and coats in the bags.

“Mom?”

She stopped and looked at me. “We are going to wash your clothes with descenting spray. We will bring these to the dry cleaners and explain that someone else wore these and your wolf has become territorial and refuses to keep these in your room. They need to be cleaned and descented. Then we will go to the furniture store and buy a new mattress with same-day delivery and take-away for the same reasons.”

“Will that work?” I grabbed for her hand and she cupped my face.

“We will just have to sell it, babe.” She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I won’t allow you to go–to that family, not if you don’t want to.” She pulled back and stared into my eyes. “Are you sure? Living without your mate will be hard.” I saw something flash in her eyes, pain and something else.

“I’m sure. I would rather be alone than dead.” I grabbed for the clothes that were already bagged up. “I’ll put these in the car.” She nodded her head and continued bagging more clothes. I left the room and ran down the stairs, grabbing my keys on the way into the garage.

I went to my Jeep and stuffed the clothes into the back seat before I locked it and ran back upstairs. My mom handed me the rest as she stripped my bed. “Just toss the bedding.” My mom looked up at me.

“Why?”

“I wanted a new comforter anyway. This way, it saves us more laundry. Just bag up everything and toss it all.” I turned to leave but turned back. “Will dumping descenting spray on everything cover my scent until garbage day?”

“Yeah. It will work. But we will need to buy more.” I nodded and left to dump the clothes in my car.