Chapter Sixteen #7
“I want his head on a silver platter for what he has done to our family. Make him pay. If she can’t, I need you both to promise me that you will take him apart, piece-by-piece in the most painful way possible. I want his father to hear him scream all the way down in Hell.”
Well, that certainly said it all.
Devon Slater was about to meet the team who was serving up vengeance.
Once and for all.
In the office, she was just tying her one boot when the door opened and in came Caspian.
Immediately, she stood, expecting a battle. Deep down, she had nothing left to fight with, since she was reserving the rest for the asshole they were about to hunt.
“Can we talk?” Caspian asked.
She nodded.
As he moved closer, he noticed she took a step back to keep space between them.
That horrified him as part of her family, and as a man who had never laid his hands on a woman in anger before.
Oh, he had some amends to make.
Big.
Time.
“I hate that I’ve made you fear me,” he stated. “That is the worst part of how I reacted.”
She wasn’t sure what to say to him, so Elizabeth went with something non-confrontational. She was tired and didn’t want to play games right now.
At that very moment, Elizabeth was focused on getting everything ready to take down Devon Slater.
“Don’t stress it.”
He stood there.
There was one person he’d always been able to talk to when he needed, and he’d damaged that. Now, he was there, needing her again.
He put his faith in her.
“In a matter of minutes, I lost everything,” he admitted. “I lost Rayna, and then, I blamed you. I lost you, too, Mom,” he stated. “I don’t know how to get back from this. I’ve never been in love before, and losing it so quickly…”
When he had tears in his eyes, he stared at her.
“My mother never loved me like you did,” he said. “She tried, but my father was a tough man. He wouldn’t let her show me gentleness. He was afraid I’d be soft. You came into my life and loved me because you were afraid that I’d be hard.”
She let him talk.
The whole time, she wanted to hug him. Like with Takoda, she loved him like her own. All of them were hers, and that was why she was struggling with this.
They lost Jet.
Now this.
Her biggest fear after Rayna’s death would be losing him too.
“You have always just loved me when I needed it most. You gave me a mother, and I blamed you. Thank you for getting to Rayna before he could do anything to her. I’ll always be grateful of that.
I know that I broke that bond between us, and you’ll never trust or feel that way for me again, but that’s my burden to carry for shoving you.
I can’t forgive myself for that. I’m not a man of violence, but this has made me it. I’m a monster.”
Oh, well, she knew the feeling.
Very.
Very.
Well.
She moved closer as she saw him hurting.
“I’m not angry with you, Cas. I’m angry with him. I’m furious that he took her away from you, and that I couldn’t stop it.”
He let her continue.
“What you don’t understand is that the bond between a mother and a child is unbreakable.
You can’t make me hate you for a mistake.
I’m not able to do that. Half of my kids aren’t of my body—more than half.
I’ll never not think of you as my child or be angry with you.
Yes, shoving me was wrong, but you were just told something horrible.
I understand that. Part of being a mom is forgiveness. ”
Still, he was ashamed that he hurt her.
“I scared you. By putting my hands on you, I did something I never thought I would do. I’m a pacifist by nature, Elizabeth. I don’t hurt animals by eating them, and I would never hurt a woman, but I did.”
She put her hand on his arm.
“What do you need from me?” she asked.
He was to the point.
“Your forgiveness, your love, and the promise he’ll pay. That’s what I need now in my life. Chris said that Rayna’s father will likely never let us near her grave. He’ll punish me because I’m White and so are you. I’ll never get to see her or say goodbye.”
She was aware.
Lance was going to go nuclear, and while that was justified for losing his child, there would be payback directed at them.
“I need to know that he went screaming from the world in the most horrific way possible. I need to know he wept tears of blood as you peeled his flesh from his body. That’s how angry I am.
He’s made me want vengeance for the first time in my life.
I’ve suffered at people’s hands before, but never like this.
He took one of my treasures, and I lost the other on the same day. I lost you, too.”
Yeah, that was a familiar sentiment across the board. If anyone knew loss, it was her.
“And I need to know you still love me.”
She moved at him and hugged him. Caspian began crying again, and she held him as he did.
“I wanted to start a life with her, and now, I can’t breathe,” he whispered. “I never considered not having her with me forever. Now, I’m trying to navigate that.”
Elizabeth being the mother she was, kissed him on the cheek.
“I know, Baby. I know.”
He held onto her.
“Please don’t get hurt and make sure you come home. We all need you. We’re going to need you to put us all back together again.”
And that was the problem.
She didn’t have enough to put herself back together again, let alone them.
“We’ll work on it,” she said, giving the only response she could. There had been plenty of lies today, and she couldn’t dole out any more.
Elizabeth was empty.
He held on for a few more minutes, and when he was better, he set her free.
“I’ll be okay,” he said. “I’m sorry that he dug up your parents. That had to be horrible. You’re the strongest person I know, and I know deep down, you’re hurting too. I can see it in your eyes.”
Oh, she absolutely was.
Only, she had a duty thanks to Timothy giving her the title of head of this tribe.
“I’ll be okay, Cas. So will you. It’s one day at a time, and that’s advice we could all use. I’ll take out the trash.”
He held out his big hand.
When she put hers in his, he squeezed it lovingly.
Nothing more needed to be said. When you loved someone, you just knew what they were thinking and feeling.
She took that moment.
Then, she was honest.
“I have to go now,” she said. “I’m catching up to him, and I need to get out there.”
Yeah, they were burning daylight.
“I know,” he said.
Elizabeth finished tying her boots, and then she braided her hair, making sure it was out of her face. It was time to go off to war, and when she came back, if she came back, something had to give.
And it was her.
Heading out, she held Caspian’s hand in hers. When she passed him off to Chris, she was ready to go.