Chapter 14
Creed
I saw the hit coming and cursed myself for leaving Aurora’s side, but then Theresa stepped up and helped her mother. My jaw almost fell open at what she said, mentally thanking the witch again for using magic on me so I could understand French. I couldn’t speak it, but understanding it was enough.
While trying to ignore how hot Aurora was speaking it.
Theresa got an evil look in her eyes as she squatted down in front of Mrs. Graves.
“You always wanted me to come here, Grandmother. Well, here I am. I wanted to see the useless sheep who believed whatever she was told and allowed her own daughter to be sold and abused.” She angled her head and spat at Mrs. Graves. “You’re as pathetic as I expected.”
“So are you to think you are a man who can—”
“I’ve never once thought I was a man,” Theresa drawled. “It’s not even hundreds of years ago when that drivel was common to hear. Now you just sound like a relic from a cult.” She looked at Aurora. “You were right that there was nothing here for me, but I hope you understand why I had to come.”
“I do, and I’m proud of you for being so strong and never falling into the traps others of our bloodline did,” Aurora replied, gesturing to the dozen women who were clearly on the same side of her mother. “Not all women are strong enough to hold out and are our worst enemy.”
She turned to the others who were behind her who were coming with us and smiled.
“I know this is difficult and you’re scared, but remember this moment and that you were strong enough to hold out for help. You stayed true to yourself and knew you were worth more.”
“Thank you for coming to save us, Cousin,” one said, and several said the same, a few saying that her daughter was a warrior or praising Theresa in other ways.
Aurora beamed at the praise of Theresa before turning back to her mother. “This is your last chance, Mother. I know you won’t take it, but I had to try.” She let out a shaky breath. “I pray the gods are merciful when you meet them and maybe one day you see the truth.”
“I know the truth, girl!” her mother snapped as she pushed to her feet. “I pray the gods punish you as harshly as you deserve for ruining this family. You are my greatest shame.”
“No, you are ours,” Theresa sneered, shocking everyone there. “You are no mother. You are—you truly are a cow who was bought and bred. You have no idea how to be a mother or parent, you sow.”
Everyone there was shocked, conversations dying and even people freezing in what they were doing, but Aurora completely understood. She went over to Theresa and took her hand, raising it to her lips and kissing her daughter’s skin.
“There is nothing my daughter could do that I would wish the gods punish her for, much less harshly. No matter what crime she might ever commit, I would beg for their mercy or to pay her punishment myself so she never suffered.” Aurora met Mrs. Grave’s gaze.
“That is a mother’s love and I knew you never had it.
“You were broken and too full of hate. You are the broken one, not me. Not us. You want the world to burn and everyone to suffer like you have. That is the truth. You hate me for freeing the others and breaking your illusion. Your pride is your prisoner.” She looked around and found who she wanted. “What do you see in her aura?”
The witch smirked at her. “You know. Jealousy. Hate. Rage. So much rage that if she had magic, she would destroy you with a look. None of it is righteous. She does believe some of the drivel she spews, but she wants to still be free of it. She just can’t admit she was wrong or did horrible things like letting her daughters be sold or hurt. ”
That was the closure Theresa and Aurora both needed. They turned away and went to help the others, but I went by her mother.
“Translate,” I told one of the men there who clearly understood.
“And she will be taking a new name of her own choosing so she will never think of Graves or any of them again. The only thing this woman did right was to have an amazing daughter who rose from the ashes of this place to save others and shut this hell down.”
I mentally winced when I saw Aurora was watching me. I simply winked at her… And missed what her mother was doing.
Whatever, I simply wiped the spit off my cheek.
“Pathetic,” I mumbled and went to join my mate. “The place ready?”
“No, and there’s a lot to do, but we have the keys,” she said with a sigh.
“We will help however you need, Cousin,” one of the women said in amazing English.
She dipped her head to me. “I am—I was living in an English-speaking country. I was sold twenty years ago and my mate—he is not a good man, so Aurora—many of us were pulled out by the European police and brought here with our children to be handled at once.”
“That can’t be good,” I muttered. “That sounds like a setup.”
I was glad when Theresa clearly agreed and went to talk to one of the witches with us.
I went over to the female cop Aurora had been working with and while she didn’t say anything, her eyes said a lot.
She also authorized a large group to go through the first portal Theresa had opened.
I lied to Aurora that everything was fine but to get people going and she had the keys.
“No lying,” she reminded me but still went.
“I’ll apologize later,” I sighed, but she was already gone.
“What are you thinking?” Theresa asked.
“Too many cops for a hit or something but maybe just a way to make it look like a clusterfuck? I would think…” I saw a weird flash and turned. “Press. Up there.”
“Always something,” Theresa sighed and went to handle that.
But the hair on the back of my neck was standing up. I realized what it was after studying the men all around me.
Amusement.
I went over to the head cop. “You’ve undoubtedly looked into me, yeah?” I waited until she shot me a look and nodded. “I’ve been in enough setups to know when shit’s about to get real. Check out the men on their side. They’re amused. They lost. Why would they be amused?”
She was smart enough to listen to a warning no matter the source and tuned in to her own powers to sense more than what I was even getting. “I feel some of these people will need medical attention. I think we should bring a large group to ASH now and handle the logistics later.”
“I think that smart,” I muttered, not seeing the connection but willing to go with whatever she wanted to handle as the play.
She jumped up onto the front of a vehicle so she was higher and easily able to be seen.
“Any person who wishes to leave this place or give information about crimes they have witnessed is allowed to.
Given the level of abuse we have seen, we are relocating to a medical facility since we were not prepared for this situation.
“Officers can return for your belongings later. We will make it clear that additional charges, penalties, and damages will be claimed, but we have limited time. So please make haste and come with us now if you wish to depart.” She glanced around and told officers to quickly do sweeps while the magics opened portals.
Which pissed off the once-amused men around us.
I texted Ellie and warned her what was going on and what we were worried about.
She told me it was fine and ASH could handle it, thanking me for the heads-up and she would handle the legal logistics.
I was relieved when a portal opened and some of our North American Police came through shocking the European ones.
There was a quick, quiet conference and they played nice together.
I was eternally fucking grateful for that because three portals opened not long after and all hell was about to break loose… Because Andrew Graves stood there with a man I assumed to be Aurora’s father.
“Corruption at its finest,” I said with a snort. “You sell and buy children as well. Really, evil always has the same fucking stick.”
“Do not speak in my presence, dog,” the man sneered, not even cutting me a glance.
I shot the cop a glance that I hoped she understood, basically to hurry up and I was going to give a distraction. “I’m a lion, idiot. And actually soon to be your daughter’s mate. Should I call you ‘Dad?’”
The horrified look he gave me while others gave me an array of amused or disgusted ones was fucking hilarious. But it worked. My distraction cut through what could have exploded before others could have jumped in.
The police from North America had time to identify themselves and why they were there with their warrants… Which Mr. Graves hadn’t counted on. He had something about revoking the paperwork the European police had and using the media with him to try and stuff it all back in the bottle.
He did a double take when he saw Theresa, thinking it was Aurora, but then the rage was replaced with something sick as he figured it out. I took a step to block her.
“Maybe I was wrong about you after all,” she said as she moved her hand to stop me.
“But I don’t need your protection, Creed.
Not against one impotent bully who is used to only women he breaks or abuses standing before him.
” She looked him up or down. “You’re shorter and uglier than I expected, Grandfather. ”
Dayummmmn!
“Probably smaller too, right? That’s why you get hard beating women? Abusing and selling them?”
“How dare you think you can speak to me like that or in my presence without being spoken to first,” he seethed.
“Well, the law says so, and while we all know you don’t follow those, you’re not king or a god, so you don’t have authority over anything,” Theresa said, gesturing out to the land we were standing on. “Not even this property at the moment.”
“What madness do you speak of, wench?” Andrew demanded.
“Oi, have some fucking respect of your niece, asshole,” I snapped. “Or do you need another lesson?” I snorted. “One punch and you were out.” I turned to the cops next to me. “You should have seen it. Just out. I didn’t even hit him full out. I just wanted him away from—”