Chapter 39
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
SUNDAY
Everything seemed to stop as the monster disappeared from view.
“Is that it?” Kingston asked, dropping his wolf form as he reached my side. “Did we do it?”
Some innate sixth sense had me shaking my head. “There’s no way it was that easy.”
“I don’t know if I’d say it was easy,” Noah said, gesturing to the demon horde still running rampant.
“Thorne’s right. We’re not even close to done,” Caleb murmured.
I couldn’t look away from the crater, an almost magnetic pull keeping my gaze there.
“What do you see, Sunny?” Alek’s large palm settled at the base of my spine.
“I’m not—”
Before I could finish, I was suddenly very sure what I saw.
I opened my mouth, prepared to shout a warning, but between one breath and the next, I was ripped out of the jungle and pulled into a completely different reality. One I remembered from my dreams.
No.
No. No. No.
Not again.
“Hello, daughter. Have you missed me?” my mother crooned, her voice like nails down a chalkboard as she stepped out of the mist and into view. Her smile was like the cat who caught the fucking canary.
But I wasn’t some small wounded bird anymore. And I refused to play into her mind games.
“Like a hole in the head,” I deadpanned.
She faked a wounded frown. “Is that any way to speak to me? I did give you life, after all. You wouldn’t have any of this without me. Not your mates, your beautiful daughter . . .” She paused and looked around. “Where is little Eden?”
My gut twisted, but I kept myself calm in the face of absolute terror. “Somewhere far from your reach.”
“Are you so sure about that?”
My sweet little girl appeared at my mother’s feet, her curls in cute little pigtails, mismatched eyes shining with joy as she played with the wolf stuffy Kingston had given her for Christmas.
“Mama! Wolf go awooooo. I go awooooo!” she crowed.
No. This couldn’t be real.
Eden was in Novasgard with her grandmother. There was no way my mother could have reached her there.
Logic was a poor friend in the wake of my maternal fear. I couldn’t seem to shake myself out of its clutches.
“Eden, come here. Come to Mommy.”
My child looked at me, then looked up at my mother and clutched at the vile woman’s leg.
“Mama?” she asked, her gaze still on the horsewoman.
Eyes locked on mine, Minerva stroked Eden’s head. “That’s right, dearest. Mama’s right here.”
Oh, hell fucking no.
I almost bled out on the floor of Caleb’s church bringing my baby into the world. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for her. There was no reality in which this monster was going to take my place. This wasn’t real. Eden was safe and sound.
This scenario was a distraction, nothing more.
“A stor!” Caleb’s voice broke through the haze of whatever trance my mother had me in.
“Come back, Sunshine. We need you. Eden needs you.”
The misty in-between place swam in and out of focus. I gave my mother a feral grin. “Nice try. You almost had me.”
She dropped her act instantly. “Oh well, can’t blame a girl for trying.”
Reaching for the hilt of the saber, I laughed. “Sure I can.”
Instant heat and humidity coated my skin as I returned to my body, the tropical air grounding me along with touches from my mates. My mother slowly advanced toward us, her armor already in place as she stepped on the bodies of the fallen, demons and humans alike.
“Go, Sunny. This is what we trained for.” Alek was at my ear, his presence a steady comfort amidst the chaos.
“We’ll be right behind you,” Noah added.
With a curt nod, I gripped the weapon tighter in my hand and summoned my own armor.
Then I took off at a dead run.
My mom continued her lazy stroll, but I practically parkoured my way across the death-strewn battleground.
As promised, my men kept pace with me, mowing down the monsters who mistakenly thought to stop me.
Meanwhile, she was laughing. The cunt was laughing at me, and she didn’t stop when I reached her.
“Oh, Sunday. We’ve done this before. You failed then, you’ll fail now, so why even try?”
I held up my blade and flashed her a wicked grin. “But it’s so fun to stab you, Mother.”
“You don’t even have Michael’s sword this time. What do you think that’s going to do? Just join us and share your power. You don’t have to die.”
“No . . . but you do.”
Without giving her a chance to prepare or counter the move, I thrust my sword forward. It slid through her armor like butter, and her eyes went comically wide.
“B-but . . . how?”
The shock on her face told me I’d hit my mark.
She’d underestimated me and my weapon so drastically that she hadn’t made a single move to defend herself.
Her hubris was the only reason this worked.
It would likely be the same for the others.
The heirs needed to act fast before the rest of the horsewomen caught on, or we’d be dead in the water and all of this would be for nothing.
But I couldn’t worry about them right now. I needed to see this through.
“You were right about one thing, Mother. I don’t have Michael’s sword. I have something better. Something sure to finish the job this time.”
Twisting the hilt of the blade, I shoved it as deep as it would go and released my hold on the weapon.
Blood poured from my mother’s mouth as she grabbed for the saber, but she didn’t have the strength to pull it free of her body.
With a raspy gurgle, she fell to her knees, then crumpled to the ground, dark blood pooling around her.
“You did it, Sunny,” Alek said, coming up behind me.
“We thought the same thing last time. I’ll believe it’s over when the rest of them are gone.”
Caleb pointed to Rosie and her men, facing off with Pestilence on the other side of the beach. “Looks like we won’t have to wait long.”