Chapter 7 #3
I looked around at the gathering crowd, wondering where my father was. “Where is my father? The last I saw of either of you was over twenty years ago, when you were sobbing over his broken body. Oh, and then you slashed your own throat. Very dramatic. I thought you were dead.”
A slight sob escaped. “You must be mistaken. Rozlee’s husband was killed by a rogue pack, dear, along with her beloved child.” The alpha squeezed his mate’s shoulder.
Clarity hit me. The woman in front of me had orchestrated the entire thing with Greta. Again, I didn’t know what my mother had to gain. From what I’d seen back at the estate, the old woman was now living in the main quarters.
“I’m sorry, Alpha, but I can assure you I am her daughter.
I can tell you exactly what happened that day.
I can tell you how I escaped my room, how I ran, and how I tried to save my parents.
Of course, I was only six and had been confined to my room every day and night except for small moments when nobody could see me.
The night of the massacre, I slipped out in time to witness what I thought was her choosing death over being taken by rogues.
Obviously, she and the crone orchestrated the attack.
The only thing I have to show for my efforts is this scar.
” I lifted my shirt and showed him the heart-shaped scar that rested on my hip bone.
He gasped. “This can’t be possible.”
My mother stood up. “My daughter had red hair. You...you have colored yours to look like mine. And those contacts only look the same as my husband’s.
You can buy them anywhere nowadays. I give you credit for doing your research on my family history, but you’re not my child.
She was an abomination.” Her mother’s voice shook as she pointed an accusing finger toward LeeLee.
Like a knife to my heart, I stumbled back.
“Ah, I see you’ve met our guest of honor. It is time, RozLee. Now, I know she is not a full-blood, but she has your family blood, although diluted.”
“Mother, she says she is the daughter,” Bianca said.
Greta seemed to grow in inches. “What is this?”
“You’re a horrible female. I’d say a human being, but I don’t think you are one of those.
Are you? Why? Tell me why you hated me? Why did you treat a child so terribly?
I was three when you came into our home.
Until then, my parents tolerated me. But once you came into the picture, all of a sudden, they hated the sight of me.
Why?” I cried, looking at my mother for answers.
Greta laughed, the sound wholly evil. “Haven’t you figured it out yet?
Your father thought you weren’t his. Your mother blamed you for his distrust. I came in and let them refocus on each other.
Little did they know, there was never another man in your mother’s life.
It was all glamour. I don’t know how you unlocked it, but it doesn’t matter.
You will give me what I need to stay young.
Only now, it will last longer than a mere twenty years. ”
“You did what?” RozLee screamed.
I was sure the woman, who’d allowed someone to treat her child like trash, would have launched herself over the table, but her mate pushed her behind him.
“I want you off my lands, woman,” the alpha growled. Power surged in the room.
“Oh, you fools. Do you think I am just an old woman? Tell them, RozLee. Tell them the deal you made with me all those years ago.”
Like watching a ping pong match, my head snapped between the two women.
“I loved my mate. When our child’s hair grew such a shade of red, I...
I feared she wasn’t my mate’s. I had no recollection of sleeping with another man.
Sabin became distant. He wouldn’t believe me when I said she was his.
Our bond was true, though. We were mates.
Every day, he would see the child, and his anger grew.
He couldn’t even look at me, but he loved and wanted me.
Then, out of the blue, Greta came to me and offered to make it better.
I had two choices. The man I loved, or the child I’d born.
I loved Sabin since I was a child myself.
There was no competition. I chose my heart.
” RozLee looked at me, wanting me to understand.
“He was a wolf. He should have been able to scent a lie. If you’d been with another man, he’d have known.” LeeLee didn’t scream the accusation. Every shifter who has a mate should be able to scent their own bloodline.
I felt nothing. My blood turned to ice, running through my veins. A bitter laugh came from the woman who’d birthed me.
“You don’t know about magic. None of you understands the magic in the world that can be wrought. She is not what she appears. I made a bargain with her all those years ago. I gave her...it was a blood bargain.”
“A fat lot of good it did you. My father was killed right in front of you. And by whom? This new pack, that you call yours? How did you survive anyhow?” Disgusted, I flung my hand out. If anyone should’ve survived, it was my father, not the traitorous bitch of an egg donor.
The alpha growled. “We heard about this land from another pack. When we arrived, I found your mother half-starved and on the verge of being feral. A handful of your original pack survived. Look around. You can probably pick them out. I’d guess it was due to their age since most were probably too young to be in this very hall that night. ”
“Enough, I grow weary of this. I need this one to complete my ritual and gain immortality. With her life, I will allow you, RozLee, and the rest of this pack to live. Make no mistake, nobody can stop me.” Greta’s anger surged. Power whipped around her. Bands of steel encircled me.
“Take the girl,” RozLee muttered.
The alpha’s eyes widened. “You can’t mean that. She is flesh of your flesh. Blood of your blood.”
“It is her or us. Who would you choose?”
“I would choose to fight.” Growls echoed around the hall.