Chapter Fourteen
“Okay, this is so much fun!” Destiny said excitedly.
Lyric had been smiling constantly for the last hour and a half with the girls of the Rogue Pack.
They’d finished up at the first stop on the wine tour and were on the shuttle to the next stop.
The boys had decided to sit this one out because they were all working, so it was a girl’s trip, and whooo, Lyric had not realized how fun these could be.
“Okay, lean in everyone!” Nory said, aiming the camera at them for a selfie.
Lyric leaned in and smiled even bigger. She caught a glimpse of herself in that picture, and it warmed her to her soul.
The last two weeks since Vic had Changed back had been the happiest of her life.
She’d also been learning so much about herself as a woman, as a person, as a friend, and as a werewolf outside of the constraint of the Elder’s strict rules for her.
Oh, the Rogue Pack wasn’t perfect. The boys fought like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day, all of them had the same goal, and that was to build this Pack, and to bond it.
She’d seen Eden in town one time, and she’d done as Lyric had asked. She’d met her eyes and then left the store. Time would heal her feelings about her old life. Time had a way of doing that.
Nory was showing them the pictures she’d taken today, and Lyric couldn’t remember being this happy at any other time in her life, other than that memory of being held by her mother.
She felt lucky for stumbling into this life. Lucky for meeting Vic, and lucky that he reveled in giving her such security.
She pulled her phone from her purse and texted him. I miss you, Hot Vicious. Send.
His response took just a few seconds. You won’t have to miss me long, Pretty Lyric.
Her cheeks heated. They’d furnished his home…their home…and now they slept comfortably in a king-sized bed at nights. She’d never felt safer in her life than she did now.
Last night, he’d needed a Change, and she’d been scared in the lead-up, because she was afraid the wolf would keep his skin for a long time again.
But he didn’t. She and Vic Changed together, stayed wolf for a couple of hours, and then Changed back.
Vic had taken her right into the house and reminded her body that she belonged to him, and that he belonged to her.
She loved her mate. She adored Destiny, Nory, and Delta, and appreciated the boys. She felt fulfilled in her job. She couldn’t name anything that could make her life better right now, and that was a first.
The shuttle stopped in front of a stone building that looked like a miniature castle.
“I have a feeling this one will be our favorite stop,” Destiny said, excitement filling every word. She was looking at Lyric with bright, bi-colored eyes.
Nory and Delta looked mushy.
“What’s going on?” Lyric asked suspiciously.
“We’re about to taste three new wines,” Nory rushed out. “That’s all that’s going on. Let’s go, ladies!”
She led them off the bus. Lyric adjusted the hem of her sundress as she followed the girls around the side of the building and across a stone patio with outdoor lights strewn above it. Destiny held the heavy wooden door open for her, and her eyes were rimmed with moisture.
Lyric frowned. “What’s happening?” she asked, suspicious. “What’s wrong?”
Destiny didn’t answer. Instead, she just gestured to the cavernous room.
It was dim in here, and the floor was made of polished stones that matched the walls.
There were wooden shelves all around the room with potted plants on them, and in the corners were huge plants.
The greenery gave a nice ambiance in the rustic looking space.
A bar with wine bottles and wine glasses lined up was located on the left, and on the right were round tables with iron chairs.
She’d expected this place to be full of wine tasters, like the last winery, but when she followed where Destiny pointed, all she saw were her people.
Vic stood leaning against the end of the bar, his gold eyes bright as if his wolf was close to the surface. All of the boys were here with him. Every member of the Rogue Pack was in here right now.
“What the heck?” she asked. “I thought all of you were working.”
“We decided to call out and join you ladies,” Liam said.
There was something in the air. Some emotion that the Rogue Pack was running that was different from their normal energy.
She smiled and waved at Vic, and began to approach, but stopped when she laid eyes on the woman who stepped out from behind him.
Chills rippled up Lyric’s spine. The woman was older, with gray hair and wrinkles around her tear-filled eyes. Lyric knew those eyes. They were the soft brown of her memory.
“No,” she said, denying what she was seeing. “This isn’t real.”
Vic stood to his full height. “Lyric,” he said softly.
“No, it’s not her,” she choked out, not daring to hope. “She’s dead.”
“She’s not,” Vic said. “Eden lied.”
The woman approached slowly, clutching her purse to her stomach. She studied Lyric, and her eyes were so open and vulnerable, and filled with the same hope that was blooming inside of Lyric.
Lyric was overwhelmed, and tears streamed down her cheeks as the woman came to a stop in front of her.
She had so many questions she wanted to ask.
What had this woman named her on the day she was born?
Was her name really Lyric? What had her childhood been like?
What had happened the day Lyric had been taken?
What had this woman’s life been like from then until now?
None of those questions mattered in this moment right now though.
“I have been looking for you,” Lyric’s mother said in a breaking voice. “For so long.”
Lyric’s shoulders shook with her crying, and she leaned in and melted into her mom’s embrace, and it. Was. Everything she remembered. Everything.
“Mom?” she whispered brokenly.
“I’m here now, baby,” she whispered back.
Lyric hugged her tighter but stayed gentle enough that she wouldn’t hurt her human mother. She had so much to tell her. So much to catch up on. So much to say, but words were failing her right now.
She looked up at Vic, and he had his head cocked, and a sweet smile on his masculine lips. His heart was in his eyes.
Thank you, she mouthed.
He nodded.
She had no idea how he’d done it…how he’d tracked her mom down, but now a dozen little moments clicked into place. Him taking quiet calls outside. Him having little meetings with Liam. Him spending more time on his laptop this week.
He’d tracked her down and planned this. From the happy, emotional looks on her Packs’ faces, they were all involved in this moment. Destiny was straight-up sobbing.
God, did they understand how much this meant to her?
“Come here,” Lyric said in a hitching voice, gesturing to them.
Vic reached them first and wrapped them up in a hug, and the others came and joined.
Oh, they stood like that for minutes, in the middle of this beautiful stone room, and for the rest of her life, Lyric would never forget just swaying and hugging her mom, Vic holding her hand so tightly as the others silently hugged them.
It was the most healing moment of her entire existence.
“Can you stay?” Lyric asked her mom.
“Vic got me a place in town. I can stay as long as you want. He did this for you,” Mom murmured. “And for me.”
Lyric squeezed Vic’s hand tighter. The Mating Bond was already strong between them, but Vic was bonding them even more.
She used to think she’d been born unlucky.
Some were born to suffer their whole lives, and somewhere along the way, Lyric had grown to accept that of herself.
Her destiny had been to hurt for always…
But Vic had come along and changed that.
He’d changed everything.
He was giving her back the pieces of herself she’d yearned for.
The pieces of her that had been pushed to the side and forgotten.
For the rest of her life, Lyric would never forget this moment right here, surrounded by her people, holding her mother, enveloped completely in Vic’s love.
She’d finally found a home worth protecting.