Chapter 26. The Tense Drive Home

Riley POV

I wanted to laugh, but it would have come out as a sob. He had no idea that the person who hurt me was about to come back from the bathroom, that she would smile and thank him for protecting us, that she would wait until we were alone to show me her real face again.

“She’s coming back,” he said, and I looked up to see Mama walking toward us, with a smile on her face and a look in my direction to warn me that I should not have said anything I shouldn’t say.

She’d cleaned most of the coffee out of her hair and had removed the stains from her face, and her makeup had been fixed, but her clothes were still damp and stained.

She looked smaller somehow, more fragile like she needed someone to take care of her. But I knew it was all an act. She just wanted to curry favour with this Alpha.

“How is he?” she asked softly, reaching out to stroke my hair.

I flinched before I could stop myself, and I saw something flash across her face – anger