Free Alpha Moon (The Cain Chronicles) (Seasons of the Moon) by SM Reine Page A

is the Union. Open up!”
    Rylie slammed the inner door and locked that one, too. All four of them were confined in the back office. But how long would it last? How long would the Union try to enter peacefully before breaking windows? She could only hope that the threat of werewolves on the other side would make them cautious.
    Jessica had backed herself into a corner, face pale.
    “Someone needs to tell me what’s going on,” she said in a strangely calm voice, as if she had snapped, gone somewhere far beyond panic.
    “Your daughter’s an Alpha werewolf,” Abel said. “I’m her mate. The government’s out to get us, and we just bought land to turn into a sanctuary where they won’t be able to find us. That explanation enough?”
    “Alpha,” Jessica echoed. “ Mate ?”
    Rylie’s head throbbed. She clutched her temples in both hands, fighting back the urge to cry. It was the wrong time for tears—she needed to think, formulate a plan, figure out how they would escape without the Union following them.
    “I’m so sorry, Mom,” Rylie whispered.
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Because it was a secret. And when it wasn’t a secret anymore, when the whole world knew, it was because some senator got assassinated and everyone feared us,” she said. A sob ripped from her, making her body shake. “I don’t want you to think that I’m evil.”
    Jessica’s face melted into disbelief. “Oh, baby,” she said.
    “When would I have told you anyway? When I stopped visiting you during the summer? When you stopped calling during holidays? When I sent you a wedding invitation and you never responded?”
    “You sent me a wedding invitation?” Jessica asked.
    Now that Rylie had started crying, she couldn’t stop. She pressed her face into Abel’s arm. He rubbed her shoulder—an awfully comforting gesture, considering he was still glaring death at Bert and growling low in his throat. “It doesn’t matter. I didn’t get married. But you didn’t know that, did you?”
    “Sweetheart, I never got an invitation.” Now that the first rush of shock had passed, Jessica was composing herself. It was a visible process: sweeping her hair behind her ears, tugging her shirt into place, grabbing the lipstick out of her purse. She didn’t put it on, but holding it seemed to give her strength. “When did it happen?”
    “The wedding?”
    “The…bite,” Jessica said stiffly.
    “At summer camp. When I was fifteen.”
    She paled with the second punch of shock. “Oh. When you disappeared for two weeks.” Rylie nodded mutely. “I had no idea.”
    “You haven’t had any idea about who I am in ages, Mom,” she said. “Maybe ever.”
    A ghost of a smile crossed Jessica’s mouth. “And you don’t know me, either. Not if you think I would care that you’re a werewolf.”
    “You don’t?”
    The pounding on the front door grew louder. Jessica straightened her spine, eyebrow lifted. “Of course not. You’re my daughter. You could be gay , and I would still love you.”
    Rylie felt a confusing mix of relief and anger—like being gay was somehow worse than being a werewolf? She would never understand her mother.
    But maybe she didn’t need to.
    Jessica carried on. “And Alpha, you say? That means you’re…what, the head werewolf?”
    “The most powerful of them all,” Abel said.
    Hearing that coming from a man twice Rylie’s size seemed to mean something to Jessica. Her smile grew. It wasn’t a happy smile, but a proud one. “Of course she is,” she said.
    The pounding outside silenced. Footsteps creaked in the lobby. Shadows crossed over the frosted glass of the door.
    The Union had come inside.
    “Oh God,” Rylie whispered, hugging Abel’s arm tighter. All it would take was one well-aimed silver bullet, and they’d have her.
    Abel turned to Bert. “Is there a way out through the back?” Abel asked.
    “Just past the bathroom,” Bert said, raising a shaking finger at the short hallway beyond his