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“I wanted to go to the archives and find my daughter. He wants me to wait.”

“Why?” I ask, thinking it is a little odd of him. He knows Tandi wants her daughter back, as any mother would after learning they are alive all this time.

“He wants to be sure. He said he is worried Larkin is lying and she is dead. He wants to check it out himself first,” she sighs.

“Yeah, I would say he is just looking out for you,” Trey tells her, coming over with a blanket. He drapes it over my shoulder, eyeing the wine glass in my hand that Tandi gave me. I sip it, finding the taste somewhat bitter.

“What about you and Gannon after last night?” Tandi asks Abbie.

The room falls quiet at her question, and I definitely didn’t want to think of the state we found her in. Abbie leans into me, resting her head on my shoulder.

“I’ll be fine. Though I learned a lot about Sia, who was Gannon’s real mate,” Abbie tells us. I have my own questions about this woman. As I’m about to ask them, Liam clears his throat awkwardly. .

“Liam was with Sia when Gannon was,” Abbie says.

“Damn! And you think I am trouble? First, the Gamma’s mate and then the Beta’s mate. I’m starting to see a pattern with you,” Tandi laughs.

“So what about Sia?” I ask Abbie.

“She was my aunty,” she tells us. Tandi stares at her, wide eyed, before downing her glass.

“I’ll get more wine then, shall I,” she says, about to get up and retrieve the bottle off the small Lego table leaning against the wall.

“I’ll do it,” Liam says, plucking the glass from her fingers and wandering off. Abbie sighs.

“So your aunty then?” Tandi asks.

“Dead. Gannon and Liam killed her,” Abbie answers.

“And you are still with him?” she asks, aghast.

“I don’t remember her. It was before I was born. All I know is what my mother told me about her.”

“And what was that?” Tandi asks curiously.

“That they had a fight. It was why my mother and father left the pack. So I have no memory of her. I only remember my grandmother when mum would sneak me to see her when I was little.” I had hardly any memories that I could recall of Abbie. In fact, I could scarcely remember a time without Abbie.

“I don’t remember you ever leaving?” I tell her, confused.

“What?” Abbie asks, looking at me, just as confused as I felt.

“You and Marrissa came with us a few times. My grandmother! She had curly red hair and always wore those bone things around her neck. You told me she looked like the wicked witch,” Abbie laughs.

My brows pinched together as I tried to recall this memory or anything of that she spoke of.

“She used to have the giant tire swing out the back under the banyan tree?” Abbie tells me. I shake my head.

“Well, turns out you were right about her. She was a witch and human,” Abbie tells me with a laugh, yet I am still wondering why I have no memories of this.

Liam comes over to us and hands Abbie a glass, making me sniff the air.

I looked at Liam, swearing I could smell blood, but he looked fine.

I shake my head, believing I imagined it, and sip my glass of wine that I still hadn’t finished.

Abbie sips her glass and pulls a face at its bitterness.

“Wait, your grandmother was a witch?” Trey asks, sounding curious.

“That’s what Gannon said. Why?” Abbie answers him.

“Nothing, just the name Sia sounds familiar to me for some reason,” Trey tells her but offers nothing else.

“So where is your grandmother now, then? Maybe she can do a location spell on my daughter,” Tandi says, mumbling the last part.

“Dead. We killed her when she came after Gannon for killing her daughter,” Liam says matter-of-factly as if Abbie wasn’t sitting across from him.

“Woah, hold up! You killed her grandmother too?” Tandi asks, shocked.

“Yep, and…” Liam’s words suddenly cut off when the door opens. The lights flicker on, and we turn toward the doors.

“Okay. I was woken up by a guard saying someone was messing around in my kitchen, only to find my Mud cake gone, along with half the pantry!”

Simultaneously, everyone points at Trey, who throws his hands up, and I giggle.

“And no one thought to invite me?” Clarice demands, wandering over. She plucks the whiskey bottle out of Liam’s hand and drinks from it before sighing.

“Fuck, I needed that! Those kids have been running rings around me all damn night,” she states before falling into our little circle on the floor. She hands the bottle back to Liam, who smirks and rolls onto his back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

“If you’re going to raid my kitchen next time, an invitation would be nice, girls. Now, where is that cake?” she says.

“I’ll get it,” Trey says, wandering off.

I watch everyone get wasted while I remain nursing the same wine glass.

They look like they need to let loose. Yet I can’t bring myself to drink when I am constantly at Kyson about his drinking.

It doesn’t feel right, and I am still sober along with Clarice when the sun comes up.

Who, I think, is sticking around to supervise, so we don’t cause trouble.

Meanwhile, Abbie can barely walk and is in fits of giggles, her face bright red from all the wine.

She has also lost a slipper. Tandi is dancing on top of a table with Liam, while Dustin is on the verge of having a heart attack every time she gets too close to the edge.

Liam is singing about some made-up song and keeps calling Dustin his sweetpea, which ends with him being snapped at by Dustin.

I laugh, watching them make fools of themselves while sitting with Trey and Clarice. “Always fun watching. Reminds me of when I was young,” Clarice says, sipping her glass of wine.

“How old are you?” I ask. As far as Clarice is concerned, I don’t know much about her. Only now has it occurred to me.

“Too old,” she laughs.

“Have you always lived at the castle?” I ask her while watching Abbie hunt beneath one of the bunk beds for her slipper. She comes out and jumps up victoriously, clutching it.

“Pretty much. When I had my mate, we lived in town, and I used to walk here, but after he died, I preferred being at the castle. I was lonely in the house by myself. This place kept me sane,” she tells me.

Just the thought of something happening to Kyson twists my heart. I can’t even imagine losing him.

“What happened to him?”

“He was a werewolf. I had been holding off on changing him, knowing how horrific it is to do so?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, remembering that Gannon had tried to change Abbie. Clarice shakes her head.

“That is something best explained by your mate.”

“So what happened to him, then?”

“This was just before your parents’ deaths.

The hunter attacks were quite frequent, but they usually hit the packs.

It was as if they used the packs for training when they hit them.

Anyway, when we learned of the attacks, he wanted to help protect them, that they were his people, and he had family there.

I refused at first, but he snuck off. Kyson found him dead and brought him home for me.

He is buried in the cemetery by the river. ”

“And you never thought to find a new mate?” I ask her.

“No, I loved my mate. After that, I focused on helping here. Put all my time into this place.”

“When I first came here, I was hired as a nanny. I raised Kyson, Liam, and Gannon all here. Damian, too; I love all the staff as if they were my own. Then, once the King was older, he kept me on, and I stayed. Then I found my mate, then lost him a short time later, and all I had was this place, so I moved back into the castle,” she tells me.

“So you never had a chance to have kids?”

She shakes her head.

“No, but I am hoping one day I will get to help you raise yours. When you’re ready, of course, to try again,” she tells me.

I smile sadly and nod. A short time later, Clarice rises to her feet and says she had to check the boys. Yet moments after she leaves, the fun abruptly stops when Damian bursts through the doors furiously.