C2

"Where is my drink, sweetheart?" I asked.

I had to change my voice so nobody would know who I was.

"I got it right here, Mommy!" Zuberi Blackthorne said. He handed me the cold can with a huge smile.

He looked so beautiful in his little blue clothes. His long eyelashes looked like a doll, and all the women walking around the Ravenmoor International Gateway stopped to stare at him. They were all wondering how a kid could look so pretty. Then they looked at my face and gasped.

I was wearing a big, ugly mask that made my nose look totally flat and my skin full of brown spots. I looked like the ugliest wolf in the whole Ravenmoor Moon City.

"Mommy," Zuberi whispered as we walked through the big crowd. "How long do you have to wear that super ugly thing on your face? It makes me sad."

"Are you saying your mommy is ugly, baby?" I teased him, keeping my eyes on the big glass walls.

"No way!" He shook his head fast. "I just think it feels hot. You are the prettiest alpha queen ever. I just don't want you to feel stuffy."

I smiled under the fake skin. He did not know that his older brother, Tavon Blackthorne, looked just like him. Zuberi always thought he was the least cute one, so he never dared to say mean things about how I looked.

The other wolves around us were whispering. They thought it was crazy that a super ugly mother had such a handsome little pup.

I did not care what they thought. I looked out at the huge territory of our old pack. It had been five long years since my sister tried to burn me alive. Five years since I ran away into the dark woods.

I am finally back, I thought. And I am going to make everyone pay for what they did to my little family.

Suddenly, a tiny body hit my legs.

Oof!

A little girl stumbled and fell right onto the hard floor. I dropped my bags and knelt down fast to pick her up.

"Are you okay, little one?" I asked, checking her tiny arms. "Did you hurt your paws?"

Amara Blackthorne opened her big eyes and stared right into my face. She did not cry at all. Her nose twitched like she was smelling my scent.

"M... Mommy..." she whispered.

"Hey! No way!" Zuberi yelled, pulling my arm. He looked super jealous. "You cannot just call her that! She is my mommy, not yours! Go find your own!"

But the little girl did not listen to him. She threw her small arms around my neck and held on with all her power. She was shaking so much, like she was scared I would vanish if she let go.

Zuberi looked like he wanted to cry from jealousy. I gave him a sharp look, so he just stood there and drank his water super fast to stay quiet.

"Did you get lost from your pack?" I asked the little girl softly. "Where is your family? I can help you find your home."

She shook her head back and forth really fast. She looked so worried.

I felt so bad for her. I rubbed her soft cheek with my thumb. "Do not be scared. I am a good wolf. I will help you."

This little five-year-old girl had never made a sound in her whole life. The Blackthorne Bloodmoon Pack had tried everything to make her talk, but she never did. But the second she smelled my wolf scent, her heart felt safe. She wanted to stay with me forever.

"Mom... Mommy..." she said again, her voice very small.

I was totally shocked. Before I could say anything, a big shadow fell over us.

"Thank the Moon Goddess!" a man shouted.

It was Magnus Wraith, a high guard from the Blackthorne pack. He looked like he had been running for hours. If he lost the King's little girl, Supreme Alpha Idris would have ended his life right there.

He saw me holding her and stepped forward to grab her away. But then he stopped dead in his tracks because he heard her tiny voice.

"Mommy..." Amara babbled, pointing her small finger right at my spotted face.

Magnus looked like he saw a ghost. He dropped to his knees and grabbed her shoulder.

"What did you just say?" Magnus gasped, his voice shaking. "Say that again, little princess!"

Amara just kept pointing at me. "Mom... Mommy..."

Magnus looked up at my fake, ugly face. He looked totally confused and angry.

"What did you do to her?" he barked at me. "Who are you?"

"Are you her father?" I snapped back, standing up straight. My inner wolf growled a little. "How dare you yell at me when you lost your own pup in a huge transit hub! You should take better care of her. She must be so sad if she is calling a stranger her mother!"

Magnus blinked his eyes fast. "She called you her mother?"

"Are you deaf?" I rolled my eyes at him. "She did not say it to the walls!"

Magnus could not even speak for a minute. He had to look at the girl three times to believe it.

"I am not her dad," Magnus said, lowering his voice so the other wolves wouldn't hear pack business. "I am Magnus Wraith, a protector for the Blackthorne Bloodmoon Pack. I am only shocked because this little girl has been mute since the day she was born. She has never spoken a single word to anyone until now."

My heart squeezed tight inside my chest. I looked down at the poor little thing.

"Can we trust this man, Amara?" I asked her.

The tiny girl gave a small nod.

"Is he really part of your pack?"

She nodded again.

"Then you have to go home with him now," I said, giving her head one last gentle pat. "Be a good girl."

I turned around, grabbed Zuberi's hand, and walked away fast into the crowd before anyone else from the Blackthorne pack could see us.

Magnus stood there watching us go. He wanted to run after me and ask how she spoke, but then he looked down at the little girl's face.

Amara's big eyes were totally full of hot tears, and she was crying completely silently as she watched me disappear.