Chapter 146

Erin’s POV

5 months later.

I sat at the bakery, staring at the many pieces of cake that sat before me on incredibly fancy dining ware.

“I think all the cake is delicious,” Jill, who sat beside me, said with a mouthful of cake.

“Yes, but I need to find the best one,” I said in return.

“I really love red velvet,” Kelsey said from the other side of Jill as she took a big spoonful of the red velvet cake.

“I never get to eat like this. I’m always worried about my figure. Let me have my moment,” Jill pleased. “Besides, I spent the last few months hiding in a safe house.”

After months of searching for Jessie to no prevail, we decided to move on with our lives. Which meant bringing Gavin’s family home.

“In just a few days, I’m going to be walking down the aisle to marry my mate,” I breathed, a large smile spreading across my face. “Everything has to be perfect.”

“Oh, don’t forget, you have lunch with my mother this afternoon,” Jill reminded me.

A knot formed in my stomach.

Gavin’s mother had asked me to lunch, and she failed to tell me what it was about.

But I could only imagine.

His mother, Laura, never liked me. I remember she tried to convince Gavin to break up with me because my family came from a large sum of money. She thought I was only after Gavin for his Alpha title.

“You look like you’re about to throw up,” Jill said, eyeing me carefully. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, touching my stomach gently. “The baby is just kicking.”

Which wasn’t a lie, the pup was incredibly active, and my stomach had popped. It was bittersweet because my pup was growing, but at the same time, I was never going to be able to fit into my wedding dress now.

Not to mention my hormones were monstrous.

“Maybe they don’t like cake,” Jill shrugged. “But you should probably get ready so you can make it to lunch. She made a reservation at the fanciest Italian restaurant in the city,” Jill said with a pleased smile.

That only made me feel more nervous as I stood up from my seat.

“I’ll see you girls later,” I said waving to them before leaving.

I went home to change before having lunch with my future mother-in-law. I needed to wear something classy and proper to impress her. I remembered her not liking flashy clothing and clothing that was too tight.

I settled for a nice pink blouse with a black skirt that rested just above my knees. I pulled my hair out of my face and pinned it with a barrette, leaving part of it down and flowing evenly down my back.

“You look beautiful,’ Anna said as I showed off my appearance.

“I feel like I weigh a thousand pounds,” I said in misery as I touched my swollen stomach.

“You are pregnant, and you are glowing,” Anna said with a chuckle from behind me.

I took a deep breath and went down the stairs where Beta Seth was waiting for me.

“You ready?” He said, raising his brows.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Laura said that she would meet me at the restaurant.

We arrived at the restaurant a couple of minutes behind schedule, and I rushed through the doors to quickly get to Laura.

She was seated by a booth at the window, sipping on wine and glancing through the menu.

“Sorry, I’m a little late,” I said. “

“No need to apologize,” she said as I sat down in front of her. “I was a little early, so I ordered myself some wine. I’m a bit nervous if I were to be honest and I worried I would talk myself out of this if I didn’t arrive early.”

I frowned, glancing at her.

“What do you have to be nervous about?”

She was quiet for a moment as she continued searching the menu.

I was frozen in my seat, staring at her with a definite shocked expression.

She was nervous about this lunch?

“I’m incredibly embarrassed about my behavior when you were young,” she finally said, putting her menu down. “I said some cruel things to you, and I know I can never take that back…”

“It was so long ago,” I said, giving her a nervous laugh. “You really don’t have to—”

“I do have to,” she said cutting off my words. “You are going to be my son’s Luna. You are going to be my daughter-in-law. I don’t want you to think poorly of me because of the things I said to you in the past.

“I don’t think poorly of you…” I said to her, but before I could say anything more, the waiter interrupted asking for my drink order.

I glanced over the wine list and ordered a glass of white wine.

Once the waiter left, I looked back at Laura and saw that she was staring at me intently, assessing my every feature.

“I know you are telling the truth,” she breathed. “My ability is to know when someone is lying or not. Very effective. It feels good to be able to use them again.”

“Your powers?” I asked, raising my brows. “You got them back??”

“The Moon Goddess gifted them back to us recently,” she explained with a fond smile.

“That’s amazing news,” I said happily. “I’m incredibly happy for you.”

She gave me a fond smile and then it fell back into a frown.

“I’ve been so scared for so long…” she breathed, staring down at her hands. “My entire world was ripped from my arms, and I never thought I would see him again…”

She was talking about when Gavin was kidnaped.

I put my hands on my stomach and thought about my little pup being taken from me. The thought was too painful to bear.

“When we got him back, after giving up our abilities, we felt like we couldn’t properly protect him… we felt weak…” her voice broke as tears filled her eyes. “I only ever wanted what was best for him. So, when you came into his life…I was worried for him.”

“You were protecting him. You don’t need to explain—”

“Yes, I do,” she said quickly. “You’ve always made Gavin so incredibly happy and the idea of someone taking him away scared me. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that Gavin is no longer my baby boy. He doesn’t need me to take care of him anymore—”

“Gavin loves you so much, Laura…” I said slowly, reaching my hand out to touch hers.

“I know he loves me,” she said with a kind smile. “But he doesn’t need me to take care of him. He’s capable of making his own decisions and right now, his decision is you.”

…

The evening came quickly.

Soon, it was another day close to marrying Gavin.

My conversation with Laura was still fresh in my mind, hours after we separated from one another. It was kind of her to want to start fresh and basically give me her blessing. I’m sure that would mean a lot to Gavin too once I tell him about this conversation.

If he wasn’t the one to put her up to it.

Speaking of Gavin, I was starting to realize I hadn’t heard from him all day. Usually, he would text or call me if we spent the day apart.

While he’s been busy restoring the pack from the damages of the Killers and Slayers, I’ve been running around with Jill and Kelsey with wedding preparations.

So, we hardly had enough time for one another these last few days.

When I went home for the evening, I was relieved to see that he was at the packhouse.

“I’ve missed you,” I breathed, hugging him. “I had the best lunch with your mother. I have to tell you about it.”

“After,” he said, taking my hands. “First, I want to show you something.”

There was excitement in his eyes and in return, that made me excited as well.

I went with him upstairs until we reached the guest bedroom I used to stay in before I moved into Gavin’s room.

He grinned down at me and furrowed my brows together.

He wanted me to go into that room.

As I walked into the room, I stood frozen, and I couldn’t help the loud gasp that escaped my mouth.

“Holy Hell,” I breathed, staring around at the glorious newly decorated room. “You built a nursery?”