Chapter 24

Sarah POV

I admit I awoke in the morning with an outrageously good mood. I was living with my daughter and my goddessdaughter, and we had a glorious day to enjoy, a Saturday at that.

I had given a list of good prospects to Zane last night over dinner, telling the girls about some of the impressive people who had come to the villa in the hope of becoming their tutor. To their credit, both pretended to be interested, nodding in all the right places.

The girls had slept with me, so I carefully slid out of bed, but it was no use. By the time my feet were on the floor, they were up and bouncing, demanding to know what we would be doing after breakfast.

“Can we go to the park?” Chloe asked.

“To swing on the swings?” I asked. She always liked that.

But Chloe looked a little uncertain. “I was hoping we could paint.”

“Paint? That’s new,” I said.

Chloe looked at Grace, who looked at her bare feet.

“Do you like to paint, Grace?” I asked.

She nodded at the floor.

“How lovely,” I said. “I had no idea. I would love to see you paint.”

Grace looked up at me and smiled so sweetly my heart hurt. Then she frowned and mumbled something.

“What was that, sweetie?”

Chloe snorted. “She said Miss Ella said painting was unworthy of an alpha.”

“I don’t think she said that many words,” I said.

Chloe crossed her arms. “Grace told me before. Miss Ella said she needs to stick to wood carving and tea services. She told Grace painting is for betas.”

“Well, I’m sure Ella was only trying to help,” I said, lying through my teeth. “But I have to say history is full of great alpha painters, so I’m not sure Miss Ella’s advice is accurate. I think Grace should paint all she wants.”

Grace looked at me then with eyes so full of gratitude I almost cried. I knelt down and hugged them both. Grace kissed my cheek and laughed the loudest laugh I had ever heard from her.

“Let’s all get dressed for the park and then meet your father for breakfast, OK?”

The girls nodded and darted out for Grace’s room. Most of Chloe’s clothes had migrated over there, and I knew soon it would be time for Chloe’s bed and dresser to follow. The girls deserved to share a room of their own.

After sharing our plans with Zane over breakfast—seriously, I would never get used to the high quality of the coffee—he suggested we turn the whole thing into a picnic. The chef put together all sorts of delicious-looking things in a basket, along with a bottle of wine and small squeeze boxes of juice. Grace fetched her art supplies, including a drawing pad and charcoal for Chloe.

Ollie took us to a park I had never been to before, one with acres of green grass and dozens of tall, study trees, and from the quality of the playground equipment I knew it was a werewolf-only park. That wasn’t an official designation, of course, for all that it mattered. A place like this wouldn’t be deemed “safe” for “mere” human children.

But as we set up our blanket and basket in a nice shady spot near the lake but not far from the playground, I couldn’t help looking over the swings, jungle gym, climbing wall, and the rest with a jaundiced eye. There was nothing there more dangerous or challenging than what you’d find in a “for humans” park. It was all just a lot nicer, with fresh paint and soft new mats.

While Zane and the girls were diving into the basket, laughing with delight at all their goodies, I knew I should be helping, but my attention was further drawn away by the sight of a small human boy standing outside the chain link fence, shining bright silver in the noonday sun. He was looking in at the werewolf children playing somewhat wistfully, I thought.

I flinched when a soccer ball slammed into the fence right in front of the human boy, obviously kicked at him by a much older and larger and obviously alpha werewolf boy who sneered at him. The human boy ducked his head, stuck his hands in his pockets, and walked off. I would have given a lot then for the power to call him back.

“Ice cream, please!” Chloe cried, drawing my back to my group on the blanket.

“I think we need to eat our sandwiches first,” Zane told her, but I could tell his heart wasn’t in it, and I’m sure Chloe could too.

Sure enough, she gave him puppy eyes. “But it’s a picnic.”

Rolling his eyes and patting Grace on the head, he stood. Grace smiled at him, but she was more interested in setting up her paints and small easel than ice cream, I could tell. Her hands were surprisingly expert for a five-year-old, werewolf or not, and I knew I was going to enjoy watching her do something she obviously cared about so much.

Noticing, Chloe reached for her sketchpad and charcoal. “What should I draw, Mommy?”

“What looks fun?” I said, looking around. Unfortunately, the older boy with the soccer ball was staring at us, or rather, at me. And as soon as we made eye contact he came striding forward, his permanent sneer deepening with each step.

“Get out,” he told me, standing only a few feet from our blanket. “I want to sit there.”

“We were here first,” I said calmly. “The rules of such public spaces are well known to everyone. There are many other—”

“Look, you human piece of crap who doesn’t know any better than to step foot in this park when it’s obviously not for your kind, get the hell out of here. I’m going to sit there.” He sneered at Grace, taking her shyness for weakness, and looked like he was going to say something else nasty.

Hating it, I stood and put myself between him and the girls. “I have to ask you to leave us alone, young alpha.”

“Who told you I’m an alpha?” he demanded.

“And as an alpha, you know your duty is to the pack, and my duty is to my—”

He shoved me. He put his stupid hands out and shoved my shoulders, making me pinwheel my arms and stagger back to stay upright.

“Mommy!” Chloe screamed, and then launched herself at the boy, and bless her, she knocked the little demon off his feet, landing on his stomach, and shouted in his face to leave us alone. Torn between rescuing her and going to Grace, who was crying, I hesitated only a second, but it was enough for the alpha’s mother to show up and scream at Chloe to get off her son.

“You nasty little pup!” she shouted. “How dare you touch my son?”

Chloe did a trick I hadn’t seen before, raising up and then bouncing back down hard on the boy’s stomach. He ooofed loudly. I knew he was debating whether to attack Chloe or act pathetic so his mother would fight for him.

“He’s a bully! He can’t touch my mommy!”

The boy reached up to push her off him, though somewhat pathetically, and she slapped his hands away.

“Ouch! She scratched me!” the boy cried to his mother.

“You little creature!” the mother shrieked, raising her hand and stepping forward.

I found myself in front of her in an instant. “Step back,” I snapped.

“You dare, human filth!” she howled, slapping me hard enough to drive me to the ground, then digging her nails into my arm before she ripped off my bracelet.

“No!” I shouted, but she smiled mercilessly and hurled the bracelet into the lake.

“How dare you wear zebrawood, human scum! Who knows who you stole it from, filthy whore!”

Angrier than I had ever been before, I stood tall and was about to rush her when a voice rang out and the werewolfess had fallen, mouth agape, to her knees.