Chapter 20
~Lazriel~
Laughter ran out all around me.
It was ours.
My mom’s and mine.
We were running in wolf form together through the grounds of her secluded home.
It had been way too long since we’d done this.
I’d really missed it, just like I’d missed our closeness.
With everything that had been happening since the start of my fourth year at Wraeven Academy, we hadn’t even managed to keep up with our regular calls, let alone our dinners.
The dinners had been something I’d never missed before.
But then she’d been called away by the Shifter Stabilization Unit and everything else had gone down.
A whole fucking lot.
But now, here we were—running and bounding, leaping over rocks, weaving through trees, just letting loose and enjoying the mother-son moment.
We’d just come back from a meeting with Jaxon Silver and Vorzyr Titanus where we’d been ironing out the relaunch of a revitalized version of my mom’s former wolf pack, Vyrn Hollow.
Not only was it going to be the first fully-inclusive pack ever, not just focused on the pureblood shifter concept, but it would also function as a haven and learning environment for shifter hybrids.
They were going to incorporate my idea into the creation of it, and it had been locked down now that I’d be taking a position to oversee it, alongside some older experienced wolves who weren’t backward or old guard types.
It was going to change so much.
Right now, in fact, Jaxon Silver and Mia Snow were consecrating the former Silverwood Wolf Pack grounds to rid it of the tainted nature of the massacre that had taken place there a couple of decades ago when Draco had risen.
It would become the new site of what was gonna be termed Vyrn Hollow Shifter Habitat.
Everything was in motion.
And that was what I was focusing on to tamper down the uneasy feeling I had about the Victor thing happening today—my dad and Sylas ending his life.
I didn’t like things going that route, but I did understand it was necessary for a vicious beast like him.
It was also bringing up some shit, though.
I was working though it, but of course it still affected me.
I was actually going to see the specialist Healer, Brandise Parker soon, so I figured that would help.
I was pulled back to the moment as my mom suddenly leapt right over me, her auburn fur flying by my vision.
I called my fangs as she spun on me in challenge and an excited howl sounded from her. Yeah, it was the first time she was seeing me bring my vampire side alongside the wolf. It had to be a major thing for her. Just like it had been for me when I’d first pulled it off.
I took it further, calling my claws and talons at once, which afforded me some major grip.
Then I burst forward with my vampire speed, shot up the oak tree just behind her, my talons and claws stabilizing me as I tore all the way up, leapt onto the highest branch, then somersaulted in full wolf form, before landing right in front of her in a deep crouch.
Her eyes shone at me.
Then she trotted forward and laid her paw on my head, patting and stroking.
“I’m so proud of you,” she told me in Wolf Tongue.
“Thank you, Mom.”
She bumped her snout gently against mine, then we bounded back toward the house in the distance, racing, then leaping at each other in good fun.
We reached the patio at the rear of her timber lodge.
I padded to where I’d left my clothes on the wall near the torches emitting multicolored light, heavy magic coming off them that warned of the presence of magical beings.
The whole place had also been encompassed within a blood-magic ward by my dad’s magic-wielders as an extra precaution to protect us—especially with Puritas still wanting to make an example out of me to further their twisted agenda against hybrids.
I blinked those disturbing thoughts away. At least for the time being.
And then I shifted back.
As I set to dressing myself, I heard my mom over on the other side of the patio doing the same.
“I’m sorry, Laz.”
I started as I finished up, pulling on each of my tactical gloves in turn. “Sorry for what?” I asked over my shoulder.
Her hand landed on it, and I turned to see her dressed in her jeans and dark blazer, her go-to look.
Just like my tactical gear had been to me.
Something I’d moved away from for a while, until things had come to a head.
Hopefully, once this last leg was done, I could go back to moving beyond that state of constant battle readiness.
“Mom?” I urged, as she stood staring at me, emotion welling in her eyes.
While she’d never been cold with me or anything, she wasn’t particularly emotional, and she had a way of just swallowing things down.
But right here and now that wasn’t the case. It was all over her.
Pain.
“I’m sorry for what I did. For keeping you away from your father. For having Oblivisca performed on you that erased that one day in your childhood that you actually spent with him.”
“Well, Dad really knows how to paint a vivid picture, so it was almost like I remembered when he told me about it.”
She shook her head sadly. “You don’t need to inject humor to absolve me. You don’t need to make me feel better. I know I failed you. Keeping you from him, you suffering from so much shame and identity confusion. It hurt you. I hurt you through the decisions I made on your behalf.”
“There were issues, yeah. That’s undeniable. But it’s all over now. We’ve all moved beyond that. Things are becoming better.”
“Lazriel—”
“Mom,” I said, grasping her hands and holding them between us, needed her to really hear me, because I didn’t want this festering for her. She’d endured a fuck of a lot too.
And I was done with it.
Done with the regret and pain.
The shame.
The mistakes of the past impacting the present.
No.
It didn’t need to be that way.
“It was a complicated, majorly difficult situation. You did the best you could. It didn’t always pan out how either of us wanted, but what matters is that you fucking tried.
I know you did. You worked so hard to protect me, to raise me, in a dangerous and fucked-up situation when you were hurting too and under a shitload of pressure as Alpha.
No kid comes out of their childhood unscathed.
Things happen, mistakes are made.” I smiled.
“And I’m sure I’m gonna experience that firsthand from the other side with my kid coming into the picture shortly. ”
Her lips lifted and she gave my hands a squeeze. “You surely will. But you will do better than I did.”
That familiar feeling rolled through me, before we were both jolting as my dad appeared behind my mom in a burst of speed.
She smiled as he linked his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Than we did. We were equally responsible for the failings of Lazriel’s parenting, my beloved. Don’t carry that alone. I won’t allow it.”
“She won’t be carrying anything. It’s done. The past. Things are different now.”
My dad gazed out at me. “I wholeheartedly agree.” He kissed my mom’s cheek.
I smiled then looked around, frowning. I’d expected Sylas to teleport in. “Where is he?” I asked my dad.
“Victor has been disposed of. His army has been found and they are being processed by the Guardian Movement as we speak.”
“You turned them over?” my mom asked, in surprise.
“We’ll call it a tactical olive branch.”
She nodded, not needing more than that to understand his complicated thought process.
Before I could ask more, or even begin to fully process the news that Victor was gone, my dad went on, “Sylas is with Ryker Morgan and the Guardian Movement. Before Victor met his demise, he gave up the location of Genexis.”
And the shocks kept on coming.
“This is incredible,” my mom uttered. “A massive hit to Puritas.”
“Indeed it is. My sources confirm the facility has been taken and cleanup is underway.” My dad eyed me.
“Ryker will be meeting with Sylas to discuss the new division that will change the face of interactions between the supernatural underground and overarching authorities like the Guardian Movement and the Unity Council.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “So this would really mean that you could emerge above ground and stay above for much longer without the danger it currently puts you—and us—in?”
“That is correct.”
I fell quiet and it didn’t escape their notice for even a moment.
“Laz?” my mom spoke, concern bleeding from her.
“Fine. I’m fine. Just… processing.” My gaze flicked to my dad. “I get that it was complicated for you… with the Victor part, I mean. He was your sireling and—”
“It wasn’t complicated.”
“Dad.”
“The moment he laid hands on you, the complicated nature of it dissolved. Entirely.”
I grasped his shoulder and he leaned in and held me to him.
As we pulled apart, I saw my mom beaming out at us.
“There is more to celebrate also, as I’ve been made aware.
Congratulations to you both,” he said, looking between us.
“Vyrn Hollow Shifter Habitat has now been officially mandated and the schematics are most impressive, particularly the systematic recalibration of what it will mean for hybrid kind.”
“What? How do you… it just happened.”
His lips curved. “Word travels swiftly in what outsiders refer to as my whisper network.”
My mom gave him a look. “Especially when you have agents specifically cloaked on SSU territory during the very meeting that laid out all of those plans.”
“Seriously?” I asked, looking between them.
My dad actually broke into a laugh.
“She knows all too well how I operate.”
She brushed her knuckles over his cheek. “When it comes to those you love so dearly.”
The sweet intimacy and familiarity between them was really nice to witness, kind of comforting as well.
Unfortunately, it was interrupted all too soon as my dad flinched, then swung his head toward my jacket that was hanging over one of the patio chairs a few feet away. “Your phone is buzzing.”
I’d been so immersed in our conversation that I hadn’t picked up on it at all.
I burst over there and pulled my phone free, swiping it open to see the Group Chat had some new messages.
Velra: My parents are gone. Darethor took them out. Stopped Dark Fae mind-meddling, dozens apprehended by Thryne. Cassius absorbed Celestial magic. We’re okay.
Cassius: We are with Ketheron who has absorbed it into himself well. No damage will come to him, given his unique makeup. Velra and our child are well.
Velra: They weren’t using black magic with the Celestial power and mind-meddling, so don’t worry. Cassius wasn’t infected. The baby and me weren’t around it either.
Sylas: So much for just doing recon. Glad you’re both unharmed. We’ll talk more when I get to Solumira. Heading out from Ryker soon. Got some updates, one that Lazriel is gonna be over the moon about. For now, I’ll just say that the deal is done.
I also saw a missed call from Sylas from a few minutes after the texts. I frowned. He hadn’t left a voice message.
“Dammit,” I uttered. They must have all come in while I’d been running in wolf form with my mom.
“Go. Get back to your loves,” my mom told me as I turned back to her and Dad.
Before I could respond, an eruption of crimson magic sliced through the atmosphere and a tiny portal opened up.
My dad’s lightning-fast reflexes had him dodging in front of me protectively to take the brunt of whatever it was.
But then something even tinier shot through straight into his hand.
“Shit,” I rasped as I saw it was the pewter rose baby rattle.
My dad looked down at it, a rumble starting in his throat. Because he knew what it meant. Sylas had sent this through to me. And there was only one reason he’d do that.
If he’d been compromised.
The portal closed and dissipated into nothingness, then my dad turned to me and handed the rattle over.
“No,” I uttered, as I turned it over in my hand. “No.”
I was vaguely aware of my dad stepping back and pulling his phone out, mobilizing The Shadowed, then my mom reaching out to Jaxon.
But in the moment all I was fully aware of was the fact that it took something absolutely major and painful to take down Sylas Morgrave. Or some really twisted means.
He couldn’t be… he couldn’t be dead.
Sylas couldn’t… no.
Morien must’ve come for him. But even that was just a step away from death itself. That fucker’s plan for Sylas had been made all too clear.
So, if he had him now… it meant… it meant that….
Fuck.
Sylas was at death’s door.