Page 6 of Pack Rage (The Splintered Bond #4)

Chapter 5

Lily’s Story

FLOR

T he light that streamed through the window into the room where they’d brought Mama lit up her white hair for a moment, making her look almost angelic as she smiled at me. Her eyes were clear, the gold irises sparkling with what I wanted to think was love. The scars on her face might have been laugh lines, if I hadn’t known how she’d gotten them. If there hadn’t been so many.

I cleared my throat, my eyes darting to Sergeant, who circled her bed and perched on the far side, taking one of her hands.

“Who’s that?” Mama asked when she caught sight of Glen entering the room. Her voice had gone slightly brittle. Maybe it was because he was an Alpha. Maybe just because she didn’t know him.

I wasn’t about to tell her he was my mate. She’d warned me for years not to let a true mate near me, and I had a feeling it would set her off. I mouthed the word Go? at my Northern mate. He blew me a kiss and slid back out of the room, understanding flooding our bond.

Sergeant answered for me. “No one to worry about, Lily. A goodhearted rogue.”

Mama tasted the air for a lie, her nostrils flaring, and relaxed. “I like those rogues. Such nice boys.”

“They are, aren’t they? Really shaping up.”

I stood with my back to the side wall of the room, not certain if I should approach her, but Sergeant nodded to me to step closer. I took a seat on the mattress opposite him, fearful that I could set her off again. That something I said or did would pop the bubble of peace, like I’d always done in the past.

But she reached out with her hand, took mine, and squeezed it, her smile widening. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too, Mama,” I managed to say at last. “How are you feeling?”

She winced. “Stomach hurts.” I refused to let my gaze drop from her face to her abdomen, where the fatal wound was hidden under bandages. I could smell it, though. Her blood, tainted with the acrid stench of silver.

If I ever saw Torran again, I would return the favor. Though not with silver. I would make his death long and slow, and let him appreciate all the skills Del had taught me.

“If you rest, maybe you’ll feel better soon.” I had to work to keep from lying.

“I’m dying, baby,” Mama said after her next labored breath. “It’s okay. I’ve been dying ever since… since Calvin…”

Her eyes clouded for a moment, and it seemed like she was slipping away, but Sergeant placed both hands over her small one and spoke quietly, his voice thrumming with power. “Stay with us, Lily.”

I wasn’t sure what he’d done, but her eyes fluttered open again and fixed on my face. She stared for a long moment, then said, “You were supposed to be Violet.”

What? “Violet?”

“Your name. I was going to name you Violet, in the tradition of our family. All the girls are named for flowers.”

My heart felt like someone was squeezing it. “What about the boys?”

She grinned slyly at Sergeant. “They got the normal names. I was so jealous, I gave the boys ridiculous nicknames to get revenge. Uncle Jonquil. That’s what I used to call Julian.”

“Uncle Jonquil?” I wiggled my eyebrows at his scowl. “I’ll have to remember that.”

The room went quiet, until she whispered, “I remember. I remember everything, like I’m waking up from a dream.”

Sergeant murmured, “Our connection, our family bond, makes us stronger.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the warmth in the room that wasn’t just sunlight. Magic. It moved in the air around us. “Wolfcraft,” I breathed. “Your Alpha power… it’s healing her?”

“As much as it can. Her own power is helping. Her other power.” He didn’t say witchcraft, but I understood.

I opened my eyes and smiled at Mama’s hand, running a thumb over the scars that crisscrossed her skin. “Violet. I like that name.”

“My mother did, too. If I had a sister, she said, she would have called her that. But I was the only child. Not many were being born, even then. The children of the moon were already lost, long before the war. Long before the Betrayal.” She took a breath and began telling a story. Her story, of a life I’d never imagined she’d lived. And with every sentence, every word, a piece fell into place that showed the deeper truth of what had happened, and when.

“I was a young girl at the Betrayal. So I didn’t see it. All I knew was that half my family didn’t come home. And the ones who did were broken inside. We were shunned, cut off from meeting with the other packs, even speaking to them. Those who’d mated outside our pack began to show up at our borders. Mates rejected from their new packs, tainted by association. More of them were killed before they ever reached the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Within a decade, we lost so many… And the ones who were left lost sight of what it had meant to have honor.” Her face turned toward Sergeant. “Julian. You sent me and Mama away.”

“It was so hard to let you go. You hadn’t even shifted yet.” He sighed, and her eyes returned to me.

“He gave us directions to a pack on the border of Texas. We were set upon by some rogues on the way. Mama didn’t make it. I shifted for the first time, and ran, following my wolf’s instincts. Her guidance. She seemed to know where we were going, and wasn’t about to give me control when she was so damned certain. But she was on the hunt for her mate, not safety. She led us here, to the borders of Southern. We hid in a cave we found, at first, grieving our mother. We used a little spell to hide, one Mama had taught me on the run. It worked, too, until she smelled him, her mate, and lost her mind. And found him.”

Tears flowed unchecked down her face. “He didn’t want me. Didn’t let me mark him, said it was too dangerous.”

My gut churned. Too dangerous for him, he’d meant. I wanted more than ever to find him, to make him suffer. Maybe saw his head off like I’d done Van Blackside’s.

Mama’s voice was growing raspy. “He hid me in a shed, telling me he was coming up with a plan. A plan for us to be together, I thought. He was Alpha now. I’d thought he would speak for me and my pack, help the rest to understand that we were all the moon’s children. To forgive us. Instead, he brought in a witch. A strong one. She was meant to kill me. She’s the one… the one who took your name.”

“Took it?”

“Bought it. She’d almost died, trying to break our mate bond. To kill me. She didn’t know you were already on the way. You were so strong, even before you were born.” Her narrow fingers tightened in mine. “He didn’t know about you, baby girl. He didn’t know he’d already given me…” Her breathing rattled, and she began to cough. I sprang to the small table and poured a glass of water, bringing it to her lips when her coughing had stopped.

She drank, then lay back on the pillow, her eyes closed. “She forced him to promise… not to kill you. He had to swear to give you her name, so she could force a connection.” She smiled hazily, or sneered; I wasn’t sure which. “Stupidest shifter I ever met. Florida… Witch…”