Page 39 of Property of Mako (Kings of Anarchy MC: Louisiana #1)

The Calm After the Storm

Mako

The room was too damn quiet after the chaos.

Zeus and Thing Three had taken off to fetch Dexter and Lily from wherever the hell they’d actually landed, and the clubhouse was a flurry of activity—patches moving and torching Thane’s body, cleaning blood, reinforcing security. My brothers would handle it. They always did.

But right now, there was only one thing that mattered.

Lyra.

She sat on the edge of my bed, shoulders hunched, hands clenched tight in her lap. Her eyes were fixed on the floor, haunted, like she was trying to scrub the memory of Thane’s blood from her hands even though she’d washed them clean.

“Lyra.” My voice was low, rough. I sat down beside her, close but not touching. Not until she let me.

She flinched, whispering, “What have I become?”

That question cut deeper than any blade.

I reached out, catching her chin, making her meet my eyes. “Mine. That’s what you’ve become—what you’ve been from the start. My mate.”

Her brows furrowed. “You keep saying that, Calix. Mate. Like I should know what it means.”

I swallowed, the words heavier than I expected.

“It’s not just a word, baby. It’s a bond.

Soul-deep. It’s rare as hell, and once it’s there, it doesn’t break.

It’s why I changed you, even though it was the last thing I wanted to force on you.

It’s why I couldn’t let you go.” My throat tightened.

“But I should’ve told you. Should’ve asked. I’m sorry.”

Her breath hitched. “You didn’t give me a choice.”

“I know.” I dragged a hand down my face. “And I’ll carry that. For the rest of my life if I have to. But I won’t lie to you. If I hadn’t done it… you’d be dead. And I’d be walking around with half my soul missing.”

Her lips trembled, but her eyes didn’t leave mine. “What if I don’t want this life? What happens to Lily now? What if I hurt her?”

My heart actually clenched as I brushed my thumb across her cheek, gentle, steady. “You won’t. We’ll figure it out. Together.” Then, softer, “Tell me the truth, Lyra. About Lily. Please.”

She froze. “Wait a minute… You go out in the sun. You sleep. You eat food. I thought vampires slept in coffins and only drank blood.”

Laughter burst free. “Oh, baby… I have so much to teach you. Always remember that a lot of the shit you’ve grown up hearing was spread by people who didn’t understand us.

For one, we don’t go hunting people down to feed from them anymore—well, not often anyway.

One way we get blood humanely is through our research company that takes donations from humans under the guise of research for bloodborne pathogens.

I mean, they do that too, but it requires such a small amount of blood from each bag. ”

Her brows shot up.

“I don’t want to drink blood at all,” she said with sad, sad eyes.

“I know,” I murmured. “I’m sure it doesn’t help at this moment, but you will get used to it. We also mix it with a lot of everyday things that make it more palatable for new vampires.”

For a long moment, I thought she’d shut me out again. But then her shoulders sagged and the dam broke.

“She’s not my sister.” Her voice cracked. “She’s my daughter.”

The words hung heavy in the air.

She buried her face in her hands, tears slipping through her fingers. “I was a stupid kid. My parents covered it up, told everyone she was theirs. She doesn’t know. God, Calix, she doesn’t know. And I don’t know how to tell her.”

Hating that she’d been carrying this burden alone, I pulled her hands down and kissed her knuckles. “Then you don’t have to do it alone. We’ll tell her together. When the time’s right.”

Her gaze searched mine, desperate, broken. “She still asks about our parents sometimes. If I tell her the truth, she’ll want to know about her father. What am I supposed to say?”

“Tell me about him.”

Her voice dropped to almost nothing. “He left before she was born. Just… disappeared. But he left that necklace and a note. Said it was for the baby when she was old enough. I never saw him again.”

Then she described him and how, at her young age, she thought she was in love.

She shook her head as she gave me a sad smile.

“I know better now, but I was young. Impressionable. Idealistic. Then when he just disappeared, I had to watch my daughter raised as my sister, and it broke me. Every single time she called her grandmother Momma. Every time I had to say she was my sister.”

I stilled. My mind replayed every word, every detail she gave as she described him—tall, too beautiful to be real, eyes like the bluest sky, a presence that felt like sunlight and storm all at once.

Trying to keep my astonishment in check, I kept my mouth shut for a moment. Except I knew enough. Enough to see the truth—insane as it seemed.

“Lyra.” My voice was low, certain. “I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. He wasn’t human. He was fae.”

Her breath caught, horror flashing across her face. “Fae? That’s impossible. Those are just stories.”

“Not impossible. Just hidden. The powerful ones can cross the veil when they reach maturity.” My jaw clenched. “It explains Lily. Why Thane wanted her so badly. She’s more than just human, more than just marked. This isn’t simply about you or her legacy blood. She’s got fae blood.”

Lyra shook her head like she could deny it away, but I cupped her face, forcing her to hear me. “Listen to me. None of that changes who she is. She’s still Lily. She’s still yours. And she’s mine now too. Nothing will ever take her—or you—from me.”

Tears spilled over, but this time she didn’t look away. She leaned into my touch like she wanted to believe it.

Unable to hold back, I kissed her, slow and reverent, a promise sealed in blood and fire. When I pulled back, I pressed my forehead to hers.

“I’ll be by your side until the end of time, Lyra Callahan. That’s the bond. That’s more than love, baby. That’s forever.”

Her small hands framed my face, her lips moving against mine as she spoke. “I love you, Calix. And though this is all still a little unbelievable to me, I can feel the bond. And I’m not going anywhere. You, me, and Lily—a team.”

“No… a family,” I corrected.

A tear slipped free and trailed down her cheek. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed.

And for the first time since the world fell apart, she let herself breathe.