My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 89

Nina

My eyes widened at my mother’s words.

“What?” I asked, momentarily pulling away from Taylor as my hands started to shake. “How do you--”

My mother sighed and bowed her head. She was silent for several long moments that felt like an eternity before looking back up at me with tears in her eyes and speaking again. “There’s so much I haven’t told you, Nina,” she said. She patted the seat next to her.

I stood there for a few moments, blinking incredulously, before slowly and warily sitting down. My mother turned toward me in her chair and took both of my shaking hands, squeezing them gently as she leaned closer to me.

“I found the baby picture in your room when I went to visit you,” she said, reaching into her pocket with one hand and producing the photograph. I snatched it away and stared at it for several moments before looking back up at her.

“Why didn’t you say anything then?” I asked.

My mother sighed again. “I wanted to be sure before I said anything that might scare you,” she replied, then reached out and tapped the part of the photograph that showed the blanket with the oddly familiar pattern on it. “You were wrapped in that blanket when I found you. This picture was tucked into your basket, too. It was burned like this already, though; if it wasn’t, I would’ve found your real parents by now.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” my mother said quietly. “I immediately recognized the pattern on the blanket as being something related to werewolves, but I wanted to be completely sure that you were one before I scared you. You never showed any signs of being one, so I thought it was just a coincidence. But when I saw the way Taylor’s condition improved just now, I knew it was because of you. Because of your gifts. They’re finally blossoming.”

“So you’ve known about werewolves all along,” I muttered. And to think that I felt so alone at the beginning of this semester when I first learned about werewolves being real, when I could have had my mother there to guide me. If only she had been open about things with me, I would’ve maybe felt even remotely comfortable telling her about my predicament.

My mother nodded. “I’ve never told anyone. Not even my first husband, before we got divorced when you were little.”

“How did you know?” I asked.

“I knew werewolves in college. When I was your age, actually.”

My eyes widened as I suddenly remembered the photograph that I had seen in Tiffany’s office; the photograph that contained my mother, looking happier than I had ever seen her. Had the knowledge of werewolves killed the light in her eyes, or was it something else?

“You went to Mountainview University,” I said suddenly. “I saw a picture of you with the hockey club.”

I watched as my mother’s eyes widened for a moment before she reluctantly nodded. “Yes. I went to the same university you’re attending now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because…”