Chapter 21 – Lilith
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
LILITH
I run. I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t know how long I’ve been running.
The night wraps around me like something alive, thick, suffocating, swallowing every breath I drag into my lungs.
The road curls along the mountainside, endless and unforgiving, and I follow it blindly.
I don’t look back. I don’t slow down. I can’t.
Because if I stop… if I even hesitate… then I have to face it.
The truth. And the truth didn’t creep in gently.
It didn’t whisper. It hit me, violent and sudden, like a two-tonne truck tearing straight through my chest.
Pain. Rage. Betrayal. It floods me, drowns me, fills every inch of me until I can’t tell where I end, and it begins. My body starts to give out. My legs burn; my body pushed to exhaustion. “No,” I sob, shaking my head, forcing myself forward. Faster. Harder. “No, no, no.”
The road dips into a valley, and in the distance, lights appear. Headlights. Engines rumble low at first, then grow louder and closer. I don’t move aside. I don’t care who sees me. Fear claws at my spine, but it’s nothing compared to what’s chasing me inside my own head.
“Lilith!” The voice cracks through everything. I skid to a halt. Motorbikes—lots of them—roar to a stop behind me. And him. Lucian. He strides toward me, his expression carved from concern, his amber eyes searching mine like he has any right.
“What happened?” he asks, voice low, urgent. “Are you okay?”
Something inside me snaps. All that pressure, all that fury erupts. My hand moves before I can think, slamming across his face with a crack that echoes into the night. His head whips to the side. “Fuck. You.” The words tear out of me, raw and venomous.
I’m so focused on him, I don’t see her. Not until it’s too late. A savage growl rips through the air, and Evelynn slams into me, driving me to the ground. Her hand clamps around my throat, crushing. “You don’t ever hurt what is mine,” she snarls, her eyes wild, feral and protective.
A broken laugh chokes out of me. “Ask him why,” I rasp, the sound hollow and splintered. “Ask him why he and all of them lied to me. For years.” My voice rises, cracks, shatters. “Ask him!”
Silence stretches, and her grip loosens. She knows. “You knew,” I whisper, the words barely there.
Evelynn’s expression shifts, just enough. She releases my throat and sits back, pulling me up with her. Her hand wraps around mine, steadying me. “I only found out a few days ago,” she says quietly. “And for what it’s worth…” She pauses. “I don’t think they should’ve kept it from you.”
I blink, my fury flickering, faltering under the weight of something deeper. “I loved a man who killed me,” I say, my voice shredded and raw. “And then I fell for his brother… who got my family killed.” The words land like a death sentence.
Evelynn frowns. “What do you mean, Silas caused it?”
I look at her, then at Lucian. His silence says everything. “You didn’t tell her,” I breathe.
“Didn’t tell her what?” Clutch steps forward, the rest of the club closing in behind him.
The air tightens. “Silas enrolled Morbius into the Dominion,” I say. Each word feels like dragging glass through my throat. “He’s the reason my family was slaughtered.” Shock ripples through the group.
“Wait,” Clutch shakes his head. “I thought all he did was change you.”
Lucian exhales sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Can we not do this here—”
“No,” Viktor cuts him off, anger flaring. “We do this now. You kept secrets from your own club. Seems like the perfect time to bleed them out.”
Evelynn’s hand tightens in support around mine. She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t need to.
“Morbius nearly got Clutch killed,” Lucian says finally. “He was unstable. Dangerous. You all voted to cut him loose.” The brothers shift, unease creeping in. “But Silas…” Lucian continues, his voice heavy. “Silas couldn’t turn his back on him. No matter what he’d done.”
His eyes flick to me.
“He went to the Dominion. Told them Morbius was a threat to vampires. That if he weren’t controlled, he’d expose everything.” He swallows. “But he also said Morbius could be an asset, if they trained him.”
A bitter laugh breaks from Cain. “Yeah,” he mutters darkly. “And Morbius repaid that by slaughtering them all and taking control.”
The weight of that truth settles over us like ash.
Lucian nods slowly. “We didn’t know. Not until he came back.
” His gaze locks on mine, softer now. Regretful.
“He did what he thought was right, for the club. For Morbius.” A minute passes.
“For you. He knew Morbius would get you killed one day. And he couldn’t live with that.
” My chest tightens painfully. “That’s why he changed you,” Lucian adds quietly.
“You were dying in his arms. He’d already lost his brother. He couldn’t lose you, too.”
Silence. Then the rage comes roaring back. “Oh, don’t,” I snap, tears burning down my face. “Don’t act as if you care now. You still punished him.”
Evelynn stiffens. “Punished?” No one answers. That’s an answer enough.
“You told me about Silas and the Dominion,” she says slowly, her voice sharpening as she turns on Lucian. “You left that part out.”
I laugh bitterly.
“They cut him open,” I spit. “Sliced into him. Then forced him to sit in the sun so the wounds would blister and never heal.”
A horrified gasp tears from Evelynn. “What did he do that was so unforgivable?” she demands.
I meet her eyes. “He changed me.” The words fall like a blade.
“But you—” She stops. Realization hits her like lightning. “You changed me.” Her breath catches as she glares at Lucian. “That’s why he hated me,” she whispers. “Because he loves you,” she says, looking at me.
The truth lands between us, sharp and inescapable. “I’d hate me too,” she murmurs, then looks back at them, fury igniting. “How could you do that to him, to your own brother?”
“We have rules,” Marko says stiffly. “A code. He knew it better than anyone.”
“Your code is monstrous,” Evelynn snaps. We both rise to our feet. Lucian steps toward her. She holds up a hand, stopping him cold. “Don’t.” Her voice is ice. “You lied to me. To her. I’m not ready to forgive that.” The words hang heavy.
“Where is Silas?” Cain asks suddenly. All eyes turn to me.
My throat tightens. “He’s back in Velmora,” I say quietly. “He’s…” The words won’t come.
Cain steps in close, lifting my chin, forcing me to meet his blazing red gaze. “He’s what?” he demands. My vision blurs.
“He made a blood oath with Morbius,” I whisper. “For my freedom.”
Lucian moves closer now, something dark and lethal burning in his eyes.
“What was the oath?” he asks, voice low, dangerous.
My lips tremble. “Himself,” I choke. “As a vessel.”
The world tilts. Everything breaks. Cain pulls me into him as I finally shatter, the sob ripping out of me uncontrollably, years of pain collapsing all at once. And this time…I don’t fight it.
“Fuck!” Lucian roars into the night sky, the sound echoing off the mountains. “Cain, you ride with Lilith on the back of your bike. We ride the last sixty miles into the town. Go to his room, and we fucking plan and find a way to break the blood oath that doesn’t end in him dying.”
My body jolts as if I’ve been stabbed in the chest.
“Petal, you can be pissed at me all you want. I will take your wrath later, but right now. You are to get on the back of my bike, do as you’re told,” Lucian orders.
I don’t hear Evelynn argue. I lift my head from Cain’s chest, looking up at him.
He looks down on me, his hands lightly caressing my cheeks.
“We will get him back. I promise,” he states firmly, before placing a chaste kiss on top of my head.
As we ride back toward the town, my arms wrapped around Cain, my cheek resting against his back. My anger and hurt dim, but the growing, gnawing pain coiling in my gut is: what if we can’t break the oath? I’m angry at Silas, furious. But the thought of losing him causes agony.
As we ride into the town, my eyes are drawn to Velmora. I can’t tear my gaze away from it. Is he still him? Are we too late?
We descend on the B I’m guessing to talk to the owner.
He’s not in there long before he comes out.
“I’ve paid and hired the entire place. She’s just leaving now,” Lucian states.
“What about other guests?” Evelynn asks in disbelief.
“Paid them off, too.” He shrugs.
I get off Cain’s bike, my eyes falling back on Velmora. “We will get him out of there,” Cain swears beside me.
I give him a side glance. “Right now, I can’t decide if I want to kill him myself or rescue him,” I sigh honestly.
“You can kill him once we’ve got him out of there.” Cain smirks.
Evelynn comes to my side. “Come on. You’re sharing with me,” she urges.
“With me?” I ask in disbelief, my eyes flickering to Lucian, who looks like he’s about to burn down the entire town.
“Yes, I’m still mad at him for lying to me, to you, to his brothers. Lies always get found out,” Evelynn snaps.
“In the doghouse.” Cain’s lips twitch as he walks inside the B&B.
Evelynn and I shut ourselves in the room. Lucian calls court, meaning they’re all downstairs discussing various tactics and how to approach Velmora. I did warn them about the hundreds of vessels.
I sit in the chair at the window, staring up at the dark shadow of Velomora. “So, you love Silas?” Evelynn asks, I look over at her sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard, her feet crossed at the ankles.
I shrug. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly.
“So, when did you two sleep together?” she asks bluntly, catching me off guard and distracting me from my dark thoughts.