This was the first time Audrey had seen Fen in days.
Eight years. Eight long, brutal years she had raised him as her own cub, believing—desperately, painfully—that he was her blood. Every late night spent rocking him back to sleep, every tear she had wiped from his cheek, every tantrum she had soothed, every feverish moan she had nursed through… it had all been for him. And now, none of it mattered. He wasn't hers. Not a single thread of him. He belonged to Lisa.
Her chest tightened, a cold, constricting pressure that wrapped around her ribcage and froze her breath. Fen's small face twisted in disgust, his wolfish eyes flashing with fury and entitlement as he glared up at her.
"I was sick in the hospital. Why didn't you come see me?"
Audrey's blood roared beneath her skin, fury coiling around her like icy steel. Her pulse hammered in her ears, a deafening rhythm, but she forced her voice to remain steady, cold as winter moonlight.
