Chapter 205
Darian had to hurry off and help with the cleanup after which he needed to get word out to all the members of the pack and let them know what had happened.
I was aimlessly strolling around the bottom floor, unsure of where to start and what my job was right now. When I neared the door I saw Nora’s back as she sat hunched on the stairwell.
She didn’t turn her head when I sat down to join her and she looked with a void over the path in front of the house. Beautiful warm colors were emerging on the bushes and the cold was sticking to the skin.
“I’ll pack my things,” she said. I turned my head and watched her.
“Why?”
“I was disloyal to you. I can’t stay here, and I’m sure that Darian would agree,”
I scoffed and leaned my arms on my knees.
“Darian should understand the sacrifices one makes for his family- more than anyone else. That pack was your family and he promised their safety. It’s been a year of sacrifices and I think it’s important to remember the distinction between sacrifices and disloyalty. You never actually did what he asked,”
I scanned her trembling hands and bare arms.
“I’m more sorry for you,” her head turned and her brows furrowed at my statement.
“Why?”
“You drank it, Nora. You can’t…I mean, you…” I couldn’t say the words. A reluctant smile tugged on her lips but her eyes remained dull- it was like the life
had been sucked out of them.
“It didn’t do anything that hadn’t already been done,” I waited for her to continue.
“As a Bell, my job was to sleep with Alphas, Councilmen, bankers, and other powerful men. I was the side course, something fun to take the edge off- they did to me what they couldn’t do with their mates, and getting impregnated would’ve been bad for business. The last step of every Bells introduction is sterilization. I was barren before I ever drank the herbs,”
A weight might have lifted off my shoulders when she told me that but it also broke my heart. Nora took my hand, her cold skin pressed against mine and she squeezed.
“But I would’ve done it either way. The way you’ve been played with like a doll since the Hunt is unfathomable. You deserve a good life, and kids were never in my cards but I’m going to love those little lives you carry with all my heart. I’m going to be the fun aunt,” she nudged my shoulder and I laughed.
This palace had no job judging someone for what they had chosen to do to protect the ones they loved. The ghosts of everyone who had paid the price for our actions would linger in these hallways for eternity- if they were to materialize, there wouldn’t be any rooms left.
Nora headed to her room for a shower and a nap and I sat in the family room when the sound of loud squeals and quick feet tapping made me look into the hallway. Kiera came jumping up on the couch with a drawing, and her bunny in a firm grip.
“Hi!” I was careful at first but when she leaned into my arms I wrapped them around her and brought her in.
“Look!” she handed me the drawing and snuggled her bunny between us.
I flipped the paper and looked at the palace she’d drawn in grew crayon, in front of the palace, standing in a line was Darian, myself, between us was Kiera and then Gabe, Mathilda, and Nora.
She had drawn flowers in every color crayon she had and a sun behind one of the towers.
It was a fresh breath of air from the drawing I’d found in the room in the Council, of a lonely girl. She had drawn her family and her smile reached her eyes with a dimple visible for the first time.
Chapter 205
“I love it,” I said and sunk into the couch next to her.
“Next year, in spring, we’ll go to that field I told you about- the one with the many flowers, and we’ll run around all day long,”
Kiera leaned her head on my elbow and smiled contently.
Elise came in with Mathilda, they were discussing a book and Mathilda ran over and hugged me with tears brimming in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry for what I said,” she whispered against my shoulder.
When she pulled back, I saw the spitting image of my mother across her face. My heart skipped a beat, and my eyes fell with my sisters.
“I know, it’s okay,” I stroked her warm, soft, cheek and felt a chill stretching up my arms. We hadn’t said goodbye, we hadn’t even had a funeral. Everything happened all at once and it wasn’t until now that we could take a breath and realize everything that we had lost on the way.
A soft hand laid on my stomach and I looked down at Kiera’s curious gaze.
“You have babies,” she laughed.
Her almond-shaped eyes gazed up at me with a deep fascination.
“How…” I began but Kiera put her head down, her ear pressed against my belly and she made herself comfortable.
“I can hear them. I hear the hearts,” she made the sound of the heartbeats and giggled.
Mathilda’s jaw dropped and I grinned up at her. “You’re going to be an aunt,” I said. A loud squeal filled bounced against the walls of the large room and Mathilda jumped in place.
Elise cleared her throat behind her and gestured to Kiera.
“The girl is changing,” she said softly. “I don’t know what happened but her strength and her hearing- it’s remarkable,”
How on earth is that possible? She hadn’t exhibited any sign that she would have those abilities.
“Kiera, honey?” She lifted her little head and her eyes brimmed with playfulness and energy. What a nice change. I took that to mean that she was starting
to feel safe with us.
“When did you start hearing so good?”
“When we were in the library,”
That was a couple of days ago.
She lifted her sleeve and an indent in her skin appeared.
“I haven’t taken the magic potion,” she stroked her finger over the scar.
“The potion?” The edge of my tone startled her and I smiled and cursed myself. But an anger stirred and I couldn’t control it anymore.
“Mommy said it was a magic potion, it was in a big needle. I got them in that room you found. Remember?”
I nodded and let her continue at her own pace but holly hell was it hard not to snarl.
“She said it would make my Lycan sleepy and that it was good,”
“How often?” I tried to relax my voice but it pressed out through my clenched teeth.
“Every two weeks,” she said with certainty.
2/3
Chapter 205
Whatever shots Ophelia had given her daughter had made her weak but it was starting to wear off.
I looked up when a dark energy surrounded us and found Darian and Gabe standing in the vault of the room.
The Alpha’s Hunt
