Page 87 of Moonlight & Mayhem

“Do I?” Moon wasn't sure anymore. Every truth she'd been given had cracked open tonight. “My mother got sick.”

Morrigan's face went pale. “What?”

“She had cancer,” Moon said.

“No, that’s not true,” Morrigan said.

Moon froze. “What do you mean, it’s not true?”

“Silver Blood healers don't get cancer,” Morrigan explained.

The world tilted off-kilter, and Mayhem caught her. “Moon.”

She barely heard him. “What are you saying?”

Morrigan stared at her. “Selene didn't die from cancer.”

“I watched her die,” Moon insisted.

“I believe you,” Morrigan said.

“Then what killed my mother?”

Morrigan looked horrified, truly horrified. “They must have found her.”

Moon stopped breathing. “Who?”

“The Hollow.” Mayhem's arm tightened around her, and Morrigan continued. “If her death looked like disease, they used withering.”

Moon's doctor brain fought through the panic. “What is that?”

“A compound similar to night root. Death just comes slower,” Morrigan said.

Moon shook her head. “No,” she breathed.

“It destroys a wolf from the inside while suppressing the shift. It can take months,” the older woman said.

“Stop,” Moon shouted. Her voice echoed through the trees. Every wolf around them lowered its head, but Moon didn't notice. She couldn't breathe. Her mother had wasted away for nine months with weakness, pain, and weight loss. Her wolf had stopped shifting near the end. Doctors hadn't understood why the treatments weren't helping. Moon had held her hand and had promised she would find another option. She watched Selene smile at her and say—You were always my best thing. Then, she'd died.

Moon bent forward. “Fuck,” she screamed.

Mayhem caught her face. “Look at me.” She couldn't. “Moonlight.” Her eyes found his. “Breathe.”

“I couldn't save her,” she sobbed. “I was a doctor, and I couldn’t save her.”

“You were her daughter,” Mayhem said.

“I should have known that it wasn’t cancer,” Moon insisted.

“How?” he asked.

“I should have—” she whispered, not sure what the right words were.

“No.” Mayhem's voice turned hard. “You don't get to do that.”

Her eyes burned. “I was supposed to save her.”

“You loved her,” Mayhem said.