Rebirth of the Alpha's Slave Mate (Samantha and Kade) novel Chapter 195

Chapter 195

Kade jogged over to her, snow seeping into his shoes, and helped her up. She wiped her snotty nose with her mitten and stared after the shrinking car.

“Mommy…” she whimpered.

“Why do you keep calling her that?” Kade asked, frowning. Ivy had been chattering away about Elena all night, and kept referring to her as her mother.

“Because she is,” Ivy replied matter-of-factly. The same response she’d been giving all night.

Kade sighed. Of course she thought that; even now, seven years later, Elena still looked so much like Samantha. Even more now that she let the silver dye fade out of her hair.

But she wasn’t Samantha. Kade had come to terms with that a very long time ago. Perhaps Ivy needed a reminder.

“Wait here while I get my coat,” Kade said, already turning back to the house. “We’re going out.”

An hour later, Kade, Serena, and Ivy approached the small burial plot that sat beneath the tree in the cemetery. No one had visited Samantha’s grave since Kade and Ivy had last come-the headstone was covered in frost, and the flowers they had last put there were wilted and frozen.

Kade picked up the old flowers, tucking them into his pocket, and handed the new bundle to Ivy.

“I think your mother will like these ones,” he said, crouching down to her level. “Don’t you think?”

Ivy gripped the bundle of red roses in her mittened hands and studied them for a few moments. This had been their ritual for four years, ever since Ivy was old enough to care-every month, they visited Samantha’s grave, tended it, spoke to her, and left flowers for her. It was always a rare moment of peace for them, and it was something that Kade looked forward to.

Despite everything that Samantha had done in the past, it made Kade happy to see Ivy sit on Samantha’s grave, press her little hands into the dirt, and speak softly as if her mother could hear her.

He never sullied Ivy’s image of her mother by telling her about everything that she had done. He didn’t plan on doing that for a very long time. For now, he just wanted his daughter to love the memory of her mother, and to cherish these moments.

But today was different. Ivy threw the flowers on the ground and turned away, folding her arms.

“I’m not doing it,” Ivy declared.

Kade stared at her in shock. “Why not?”

“Because my mommy isn’t in there.”

“In… her grave?” Kade asked.

“Yup. There’s someone else in there, but it’s not her. My mommy is the healer lady-she just doesn’t know it yet.”

Kade didn’t have a chance to say anything else before Ivy skipped away, kicking her feet through the snow. Not

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Chapter 195

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that he knew what to say, anyway. He stared after her in shock, and then back down at the snow-covered roses.

“This is precisely why you shouldn’t have let Elena come here.” Serena, who had been standing off to the side quietly throughout this entire exchange, suddenly spoke up. Kade looked up to see her shivering beneath the tree, bundled in her coat and scarf. “She’s confusing Ivy with her resemblance to my dead sister. And for all we know, she’s filling her head with this nonsense.”

“Why would she do that?” Kade gathered up the roses and gently placed them in the holder attached to the grave, then brushed off the headstone. Samantha’s name was etched into the stone, just as it always was and always would be.

Serena shrugged. “Perhaps because she still thinks she can be your Luna after all this time. First she lies about being able to heal Debbie, and now she’s going to mess with your daughter-all in an attempt to get closer to you.”

“She’s with Alpha Tyler now.” Kade stood. “Besides, her reputation as a healer precedes her. If she were faking it, she wouldn’t have made it this far.”

“Still, she’s not a healthy influence for Ivy. She spent one day in Crescent Hollow, and already Ivy is disrespecting her mother’s memory.” Serena gestured to Ivy, who was currently piling snow up a ways off, making a very misshapen snowman. “That house is no place for a child, anyway. She belongs in boarding school.”

At the mention of boarding school, Ivy jerked her head up and shot to her feet. “Nuh-uh!” she said, stomping her boot in the snow. “You’re just trying to send me away because you don’t want me to be with my real mommy! I hate you!”

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