Page 161

“You’re right here,” he says, kissing the top of my head. “You are safe, so I never lost you.”

I want badly to tell him that I saw Mom, but I don’t know if that was her or not. I don’t know if it was just Morwen trying to hurt me or if that was actually her. If it was, how do I tell him that his wife is not only alive but hurt the person he thought she essentially gave her life to save? I think being betrayed by his mate and the mother of his children would hurt worse than her dying.

I can’t even begin to comprehend how it could even be Mom. Dad felt her die. That is a feeling you can’t replicate, right? My mates felt the pain of me dying, but I actually was dying. If Thuly hadn’t gotten to me when he did, I probably would have died. I need to find answers before I let him know about her. I don’t want to hurt him all over again.

Striker comes into the house and sets the pizzas on the coffee table. It fills the room with a mouthwatering scent. “Thank you, Bolt,” I say to my brother with a smile.

“Oh, Gods. Not you too,” he groans. Leli giggles and sits on the couch across from us with Vash. Everyone else sits with us as I get a slice of pizza.

“Eat slowly,” Leli says. “Magic won’t protect you from barfing if you eat too quickly. I already know you all haven’t had much to eat.”

“Uhm… No. Not much,” I say between bites. When I have had more than enough, I look up at everyone and sigh. “So, do you want to know the version I’ll tell the public or the detailed account of what happened?”

“Like you told me, tell us whatever you are comfortable with us knowing,” Leli says.

I tell them everything from the kidnapping itself to the twenty members of his pack. I explain what the witch did but don’t explain who she appeared to be. I tell everyone about how I tricked Zypher and what I did to him in his dreams. Dad and my siblings found that especially humorous. I tell them about the vines and how they were creeping closer over time before explaining how Zypher and Morwen died.

“Wow,” Dad says. “I didn’t think I could be proud of someone for assaulting another person.”

“I wanted him to feel as humiliated and hurt as he made me feel,” I say. “I was so fucking mad… To go that far to try and make me reject my mates… That didn’t just hurt me either. That hurt them… That is what makes me angry the most. It’s one thing to hurt me, but… The pain on their faces and in their voices while they begged me to understand that it wasn’t them… They deserved far more than I gave them. They deserve to get whipped until they can’t move. They deserve to be isolated and deprived of their reason for living. They don’t have mates. They don’t know what it’s like to sit across the room from someone while they sob and plead with you to forgive them for something they never wanted to do. They don’t know what it’s like to have someone hurt you while they are in your head telling you they can’t make themselves stop. You feel the pain, but you have to force the logic into your head that the person touching you is not the one hurting you.”

“Morwen was trash, but Zypher was the epitome of evil. The devil himself would have had mercy for me before Zypher would. I just can’t wrap my head around why… Why me? Why not find some she-wolf who would happily bend for the pack alpha? Why go after the maiden? What did I do to deserve that much pain and suffering?”

“Lilith,” Brenna says as she moves to sit in front of me and take my hands. “You did nothing to deserve that pain. He went after you because his pride was hurt. He had you and thought you were brainwashed… He thought it would be simple to get you back. What he didn’t count on was how strong you are. He didn’t expect you to fight or to outsmart him. He severely underestimated who he was hurting. But baby… he’s dead. They are both dead. That means you get to put them in your past. There is no threat of them coming around the corner again one day. You are free, Lilith. You’re free because you fought and survived them.”

“You know… He said I didn’t understand the storm I was putting myself in. I told him I was the storm. I told him he wouldn’t survive the monster he created…”

“And he didn’t survive. He is currently a pile of ash somewhere in Estroria,” Brenna says with a smile.

“Thank you,” I say as I hug her. “You were the closest thing to a mom I had growing up. Now I get you, Dad, and siblings. I can’t imagine a better outcome to all of this darkness.”

“Me either, sweetie,” she says, tucking a stray hair behind my ear. “I wish your mother was here to see the woman you’ve become. She’d be a big ball of nerves trying to wait on you hand and foot, but you’d never question her love for you.”

“Yeah,” I say with a weak smile. The possibility that the witch who had my mates hurt me was actually my mother is already crushing. Part of me doesn’t want to find out and just leave the woman from the abandoned building where Leli took her, but I know it won’t get it out of my head until I can get some answers.

“Lilith…” Volis starts to say.

“Stop it,” I say. “Don’t apologize again. Please. If I blamed you, you’d know.”

“After hearing all that… I’d say you wouldn’t be breathing if she blamed you,” Striker laughs.

“Speaking of,” Leli says. “What are you doing with Fermin?”

“When I’m ready to go into public again, I’m going to go see him. I’ll decide from there how he will be executed.”

“Well, we are going to get out of your hair,” Striker says. “The portal is still open, so we are going to go back to the house in Voradia for the evening.”

“Okay,” I say as I stand to hug him. “I’ll be more social later on. I just need to rest.”

“Don’t worry about it, sis. Just call us if you need anything, okay?” He asks as he hugs me tightly.

“I will. I’ll call you all in a few days, and we can plan to sit down with the council. I’m sure that needs to happen before we address the public.”

“Stop making plans and just focus on resting,” Dad says.

“You can be productive by showering and resting,” Callum says.

“You three need rest also,” I say.