Chapter Thirty-Three #2
I wouldn’t want my chosen mate touching me or anywhere near me. Even worse, I worry that my chosen mate, who will have done nothing wrong, will perceive that distance. And that wouldn’t be fair to her.
That’s what makes a witch the perfect choice. The only one who hurts in the end is me.
“What about your mate?” She rejects the idea. “No. I won’t give you my blessing for this. We will wait for her. She is the one who should be leading beside you.”
“You heard them. We are losing the upper hand the more time passes. And you can’t wait.”
“You are not to mate a witch, and that’s final. Further, what is this I hear about the pack losing all its resources? Honestly, Caleb. I thought I could trust you to handle everything . . .”
Are you kidding me?
“You haven’t been around, and now you’re lecturing me on who I should and shouldn’t mate? I have been running this pack without you for months. I begged you for help, but as soon as I make a decision you don’t agree with, you’re suddenly all in?”
“How dare you throw it in my face that I haven’t been there for my pack. I am grieving.”
“So am I! But you don’t see me laying in bed.”
“You don’t know what it’s like. You didn’t lose your mate.”
I scoff in disbelief. “I lost my father!”
She folds her cardigan over and crosses her arms, turning her head away. But I’m not letting her shy away this time. I round the table to position myself in her line of sight. I will make sure she sees me.
“The day I lost him, I lost you, too. You have no idea what that’s like.”
“Pfft, don’t be so dramatic. You didn’t lose me.”
“I am. More every day. Ever since he’s been gone, you sleep most of the day and cry the rest of it. I practically never see you. You haven’t gone to church once. Mom, you forgot my birthday.”
She shifts her gaze to her feet, rocking in place on her heels.
“Please, Mom. Look at me. Please,” I beg.
She hesitates, but when she does finally look at me, her eyes soften. Her grown boy, fragile like the baby she remembers me to be.
“I need you, Mom.”
She rushes to embrace me and strokes the back of my hair down to my neck. “I’m so sorry, honey. I’m so sorry. I’m here. I promise I’ll be better. Okay?”
I’m not even bothered that she’s soothing me like a child.
It doesn’t bother me that she has decided after all this time to finally be a leader again.
I’m just thankful for some normalcy—of evidence of a spark left in her.
She is still in there. My mother isn’t lost. She’s right here.
Pissed as hell at me but alive. And I want to know what brought her back.
“Help me upstairs?”
I don’t argue. I help her.
She struggles to walk as our argument took a lot of energy out of her but holds up better.
I’m getting my mother back.
“Thank you for coming,” I say once we approach her room.
“Well, I wasn’t going to. But Jay practically made me.”
“Jay did?”
Why would she do this for me?
Because she cares for us, my wolf says.
No . . . Does she?
“Yes. I am so sorry I haven’t been there for you. I know how hard it must be for you. I’m so proud of you for handling it all. From now on, I’ll be better. I promise.”
Did Jay just give me my mom back?
“I’ve gotta go.” I kiss my mom on her forehead and rush out of the bedroom to find Jay.
Jay’s scent lingers in the hallway. I follow a honey scent, and my heart drops into my stomach when I see where it leads.
The back door. And it’s currently ajar.
By the smell, the royal council didn’t exit this way but rather through the front entrance. The back door leads to endless woods. I’ve explored them all, but there are some spots even I wouldn’t dare wander twice.
Jay knows not to leave my home without permission. She’s had plenty of opportunities to run before now. Although I made a rather convincing argument as to why she couldn’t. I try not to panic and gather more information.
I mindlink Tyler to come to me. He reaches me in seconds.
Always close, never far. As much as he irks me at times, I could never say he doesn’t do his job.
Maybe it’s time I started letting him do it, then.
He should’ve been part of that meeting. People won’t respect him if I don’t extend it to him first.
“Yes, boss?”
“Have you seen Jay?”
“No. Haven’t seen her.”
“Hmm . . .”
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
I’m truly not. Jay wouldn’t just leave, but something isn’t adding up.
I sniff once more, searching for more info. A single hair on the floor stops me. I pick it up, inspecting the black specimen. And when I sniff it, my wolf rattles its cage.
I squat again. Their footprints are faint, but they’re there. No stagger in her walk pattern to suggest she’s been dragged out. It looks like she followed someone willingly. And why does that enrage me even more?
Tyler senses my tension rolling off me in waves. It causes him to bare his neck in submission. He whimpers. “What’d you find?”
Having caught their scents, I walk farther, crossing the threshold. Deep in the woods, there are a million directions to go, but only one of those paths leads to her. It happens to be the worst of them—the one that leads to the darkest of covens.
And they hate surprise visitors.