All Chapters of Riley and The Riptide: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

My apartment has never felt so silent. I pull a picture frame off of my nightstand. Three heads of blonde hair, two sets of ocean blue eyes, a pair of eyes like liquid gold, and three identical smiles beaming at the camera. The picture was taken that day exactly one month before Cameron was murdered.I lean the photograph to my forehead, willing it to bring back memories of my mate. It’s difficult to focus with everything that happened tonight. Even his scent is just out of reach.“Come on, Prim. Help me out here.” I swallow back tears. “You have the memory of an elephant.”“Maggie, I can’t bring back memories you’ve lost. It’s going to be okay. Our baby girl is coming home. We’ll get to make new memories.” She coos soothingly.I lay back on my bed. “I suppose so.”“You remember the night we met him?” Primrose whispers.“Of course.” I wipe a tear away.I was nineteen. I didn’t want a mate. I wanted to finish law school. My older sister, Jemma, convinced me to go to the street races an

Maggie’s POVI wait for Lucas to park the car before I approach. My heart is pounding. I want to throw my arms around my daughter. I want to pull her to the ground and hold her in my lap so I can tell her how much I love her and how sorry I am that I sent her away. I want to kiss her face endlessly and cry messy tears of relief. She needs to know that I didn’t abandon her. I was doing what I had to do to keep her safe. I want to hold her and never let go.But I don’t.Everyone warned me it could upset her in an already overwhelming situation if I’m overly emotional about her return. So, I do what I do every day. I keep it all in.I calmly open the back door of the car and lean down to look at her. She looks like an angel sleeping peacefully.Her long blonde hair is disheveled and bleached from the sun. She’s tanned with the bridge of her nose pink. I see the cuts on her face, reminding me why she’s here. They are dark pink swathes of color now. They will probably still hurt while the

“She’ll feel better when we get her to Caleb.” I reassure Prim.“Ainsley’s scent is making you loopy, Maggie.” She rolls her eyes in my mind and sits back.“Ainsley, I’ll call Healer Gomez when we’re done and see if she has ever noticed any anomalies with your vision. Let’s schedule a visit with an ophthalmologist to make sure everything is on the up and up. I’ll make the appointment today. Okay? We know your wolf vision is progressing, which is normal so close to your eighteenth birthday. Our specialist can advise if he has ever seen any wolves with similar patterns showing up on walls.” “You can do that?” She blinks away tears.“Like your mother said, we have resources that Alpha Holland doesn’t. This doesn’t seem to be an emergency. You aren’t having issues with your vision, and you don’t have any pain in your eyes. There’s no need to panic. We’ll take things slow and steady until we figure out what’s happening. If anything changes, we escalate accordingly. If your vision changes

Adrenaline surges through my body, making my heart pound so hard I can feel it in my ears. I set my shoulders to brace myself. I’m going to need to pull hard to miss the wolf. If I don’t miss it, the impact might be enough to kill both of us. Before I get close enough to swerve, ANOTHER wolf rushes out of the woods and pounces on the one in front of me. Their combined weight throws them to the ground, sending them rolling into the brush in a puff of dusty gravel as my bike races by. I can hear growling and barking even over the sound of my engine.Holy shit! What is happening right now?! Out of nowhere, another wolf sprints beside me. I veer off the road onto the gravel to get away from it. The loose stones spray into the wolf’s face. It yelps and stops chasing me as I pull away.Except for the roar of the engine and pounding of my heart, everything seems too quiet. I can’t stop checking the mirrors until I reach the highway. Thank God, there are no other signs of wild animals. I do

“Ainsley, wh-what are you doing here?” Charlotte runs to the side of the bed and tries to crush me in a hug, but Caleb puts his hand out to stop her.“No, Sunshine!” He says quickly. “If you hug her, it’s gonna hurt both of us.”“But, Cal I just wanna-” She drops her arms and scrunches her nose. “Wait. Both of you? What’s that supposed to mean?”“Caleb.” Mom appears in the doorway. She lowers her chin and glares at him.“Just that… you know, I-I’m still in a lot of pain, and shaking the bed is gonna hurt.” He changes his tune. “Plus, Ainsley hasn’t had to struggle to escape your death grip in eleven years. Give her a minute to get acclimated.”“Oh, um, yeah.” Charlotte looks deflated. “You’re right. Sorry, Ainsley. I’m happy to see you, but I still don’t understand what you’re doing here.”I look at Mom who has her jaw clenched, glaring at me now, too. Clearly, she doesn’t want Charlotte to know the truth.“It’s alright. My mom and your parents freaked after what happened to Caleb, so