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SKYE

I stood up from the plastic chair tucked against the edge of the hangar, ready to start pacing again when Tate grabbed my arm. I looked down to see her glaring up at me.

“If you start that pacing shit, I’m going to tie you to a chair,” she threatened.

I slowly sat back down, but I couldn’t help when my knees started bouncing from nervous energy.

“It’s taking forever,” I muttered, looking around the hanger as people hurried back and forth to ready the plane for takeoff.

Nikolai and Dimitri had disappeared behind one of the doors a few minutes ago, but there were plenty of people around working to ready the large plane for our departure.

“Actually, this is going much faster than usual,” Alexei remarked from where he was leaning against a wall to my left.

I had asked him to sit, but he declined. Judging by the way he was watching Tate and I like a watchdog, I had a feeling Nikolai or Dimitri told him to keep an eye on us.

“There’s only three helicopters,” Tate pointed out. “They can only carry so many people at a time.”

She was right. The first helicopters had brought all of us along with a few more people and luggage back to the miniscule airport we would depart from.

After spending the day with Nikolai in Narodnaya, I was fairly in love with the small town. We’d had brunch at a small bistro and he’d taken me into a few shops that specialized in delicate items like hand painted china and blown glass that were made in town and shipped out to cities where they sold for insane amounts of money.

By the time he finished taking me on a tour of the estate he lived in, which Tate joined us for, I was more than ready to leave for the airport. I was hours away from seeing Remy, my mom, and my pack. I was anxious and my wolf was starting to drive me crazy.

Natasha had been the one who convinced me to pack a bag of the things in my room, which Nikolai adamantly said was my room . I was welcome to visit anytime I wanted, and no one else would ever use it except me.

It was a touching gesture, and maybe once things settled down, Remy and I could come here. I didn’t hate the idea of visiting the family I had found here.

Natasha selected some clothes and a few pieces of jewelry, even when I tried to tell her no. I hadn’t planned on taking anything back with me.

The clothes I was okay with, but I could only imagine the price tag attached to some of those family heirlooms.

I had no idea when I would have time to wear a diamond bracelet, let alone where I would be wearing it, but Natasha insisted I take it, going so far as to clip it around my wrist.

I glanced down at the bracelet with a sigh. At least it wasn’t the same bracelet I had come to this pack with.

“There,” Alexei said, pointing to the horizon. “Those are the last helicopters.”

Finally .

He smiled down at me. “We will leave soon.”

“Define soon,” Tate demanded before I could.

“Within the hour,” he replied.

The side door opened and Nikolai came out, followed by Dimitri.

Now I stood up and headed for them.

“Ready to go, love?” Nikolai asked me with a smile.

“More than ready,” I answered.

“I’m starting to think you didn’t enjoy your time here,” Dimitri said with a smirk.

“I might have if I’d known I was taking the trip,” I retorted lightly, still a tiny bit annoyed that he had essentially kidnapped me.

He made a face. “Most girls love surprises.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “I’m not most girls.”

Respect shone in his eyes. “No, you aren’t, little sister.”

I groaned, rolling my eyes. “I’m barely your sister.”

He wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his side. “You love it.”

I hid a smile. I didn’t hate it.

Nikolai shook his head at us. “If you two are quite done, we need to get everyone ready.”

“On it,” Dimitri said, letting me go and jogging down the runway.

I glanced around as the two approaching helicopters landed on the other end of the airstrip. “Is this everyone going?”

“For now.” Nikolai answered. “More will meet us after we land. I didn’t want to overwhelm your Alpha with all of us at once.”

“And how many is that?”

“About thirty of us on this trip,” he replied calmly. “Another three hundred will be prepared to take off when we land, if he is agreeable. Once the rest of the packs sort out their numbers, another thousand or so will be ready should he want them.”

My jaw dropped a little. “All these people are willing to just go help us?”

He nodded.

“Why?”

His gaze snapped to mine. “Because you are my daughter. These men will fight for me, and I will fight for you. My war is theirs. And your war is mine, little wolf. Never forget that.”

I was still wrapping my head around that when a figure exiting the first helicopter snagged my attention.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” I snarled, every muscle in my body tensing as Linden was led down the runway towards us.

Nikolai simply smiled down at me. “It’s rude not to bring a gift when visiting another pack.”

“My uncle?” I choked out, staring at him incredulously. “How the hell is he a gift ?”

“Based on what you’ve told me, I believe your mother may have some questions for him. She deserves answers, as do you.” His voice lowered. “Dimitri also told me of your aunt and cousin. Perhaps they need closure as well?”

I nodded mutely for a second, until my eyes rounded for a second time. “And him?”

Nikolai grimaced as Elias started being led down to us. “He may yet prove useful.”

Linden glared at me as he came closer, but the swelling around his eyes dimmed the effect. His skin was mottled with purple and yellow bruises.

“They’ll be locked away with guards in the back of the plane,” Nikolai told me. “And you see the bracelets? They cannot shift. They are no threat to you, sweetheart.”

“I’m not worried about them,” I answered honestly as Elias walked by. My eyes narrowed into thin slits as they were led to the plane. “I’m more worried I might kill them before we land.”

Nikolai tipped his head back and laughed, the sound warm and inviting. “You are most assuredly my daughter.”

I didn’t hate that, either.

T en hours in, and almost everyone was asleep on the plane. Tate was curled up in a ball against the window seat beside me. Across from me, Dimitri’s head was resting on the back of his seat, his eyes closed. Oddly enough, Lulu was sitting to his right, her head on his shoulder as she slept soundly. Our seats were separated by a table that my phone rested on.

I lit up the screen, unlocking it so I could see the last message sent ten hours ago before we took off.

SKYE: We’re leaving now. Expect 30 people, not counting Tate and me. I love you.

REMY: See you soon. I love you, babe.

I let the phone go dark, wishing I could fall asleep like the others. The cabin had been dimmed a few hours after departure for us, but my mind wouldn’t turn off enough to sleep.

Half of Nikolai’s council was on this plane, scattered around the plush, spacious interior. It was the same plane Dimitri had brought me to Russia in, but I hadn’t taken the time to really pay attention to the interior. I had been too busy freaking out to appreciate the buttery soft leather, the shiny wood accents, and the gold finishes.

Blackwater’s plane looked tiny and a little worn down by comparison.

I was still looking around the plane when my eyes landed on Nikolai’s. He wasn’t sleeping either from where he sat further down the plane on a long couch-like bench.

Carefully, he lifted Natasha’s head from his lap and stood, sliding a pillow under her head before he headed down the aisle towards me.

Alexei was across the aisle from me, and his eyes opened at the Alpha’s approach. He got out of his seat and moved towards the rear of the plane while Nikolai sat down.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked quietly. His accent was a little more Russian now, and I could see he was tired, too.

I shook my head. “Too anxious.”

“I’d imagine this is something like Christmas morning for you,” he replied with a smile. “Too excited to sleep because tomorrow holds the promise of great joy.”

I tried to smile back and failed. “I didn’t have those. Christmas wasn’t a thing we celebrated when I was a kid. All the major holidays were just another day.”

His mouth flattened. “I’m sorry. I should have known.”

I reached across the aisle and touched his hand. “You couldn’t have known.”

“You told me how your mother suffered,” he said slowly, fear and loathing swirling in his eyes, “but you were a child. I would have imagined you didn’t suffer the same fate.”

I was quiet for a long minute. “Not the same fate, but I was her daughter. Proof that she had violated the marriage treaty between Long Mesa and Stone Valley.”

“And for that sin they punished you as well?” He breathed the question, letting it hang between us for an agonizing pause.

“At first I was too young to understand what was going on,” I admitted hesitantly. “I didn’t understand the bruises and why Mom cried all the time. Why everyone in the pack hated us. Why there was never enough food or how people could do nothing while we struggled to survive each day.”

He stayed quiet, waiting for me with endless patience and zero judgment or pity.

That made it easier to keep talking.

“Most of the time it was just us in the omega house,” I said. “But then more were added when... when it became clear that more people wanted to visit my mother than she could handle.”

His eyes closed in sheer agony for a second, his hand curling so hard around the armrest that the metal groaned and began to twist.

“None of the other omegas made it,” I added, thinking of Maisie and how scared she had been. “The two left after Mom and I escaped were killed for helping us, even though they didn’t. The ones before them died from the abuse or suicide. Mom was the only one who survived.”

“Because your mother is no omega,” he hissed. “She’s strong. She’s a fighter.”

I nodded. “Yeah. But she’s also been hurt in more ways than either one of us can imagine. So, if you’re planning on doing what Natasha suggested? On trying to rekindle some kind of connection?”

“Don’t do it?” he finished for me coldly.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Be careful. Don’t break her heart anymore than it has been. Please.”

I didn’t realize I was crying until Nikolai’s fingers swept the tears from my cheeks.

“You don’t think I should let her go? Let her live her own life?” he asked, his voice breaking a bit.

“Natasha said that out of everyone she knows, you deserve happiness the most,” I replied. “Out of everyone I know? My mom deserves that, too. Maybe what was broken can be fixed, maybe it can’t. But isn’t it worth taking the time to find out? I know that every time Mom was stressed or sad or close to breaking, she touched this.”

I closed a hand over my own claiming mark, feeling the raised scars. I traced the mark, letting myself relive that night and that moment.

I met his eyes and struggled to catch my breath. There was so much pain there. So much regret.

I touched his hand again, gently prying his fingers off the armrest and lacing them with mine. “I don’t believe that the time you spent together meant nothing to her, Nikolai. I don’t believe that you meant nothing to her.”